(Syllabus) Graduate School Admissions at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)

Mathematics:

Physics:

In general, the syllabus for the Admissions Tests in Physics (Written and Interview) is typically a course of studies in Physics as the main subject in the Undergraduate and Masters levels in an Indian University. The questions in the written test (multiplechoice type) and the interviews are distributed over the following areas: Classical Mechanics; Mathematics relevant to Physics; Electricity and Magnetism; Quantum Mechanics; Heat, Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics; General Physics; Modern Physics; Electronics and Experimental Physics.

Chemistry:

CHEMICAL SCIENCES:

The syllabus for the Written test in Chemistry is similar to the typical standard syllabus followed in any Indian university for the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree course. The questions are aimed at testing the basic understanding and knowledge in the areas of physical, organic, inorganic, analytical, electro and quantum chemistry, biophysics, thermodynamics, spectroscopy (NMR, fluorescence, IR, UV and X-ray), logic and statistics and mathematical methods.

Biology:

The test will be extremely basic and cover topics in mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology.

Computer & Systems Sciences:

Instructions for the written test

There are two streams in the School of Technology and Computer Science:

1. Computer Science.
2. Systems Science.

Topics covered in the two streams, as well as some sample questions, are given below.

The question paper will have three parts. Part A is common to both the streams. It will test the general mathematical aptitude of the candidate. There is no prescribed sylabus for Part A. Part B will be oriented towards the topics listed under ‘Computer Science’ below; and Part C will be oriented towards topics listed under ‘Systems Science’ below. Only one of Parts B, C, should be attempted. The duration of the written test will be three hours. The test will be of multiple choice type, with negative marking for incorrect answers. The use of calculators will not be allowed during the test.

Computer Science:

1. Discrete Mathematics: Sets and Relations, Combinatorics (Counting) and Elementary Probability Theory, Graph Theory, Propositional and Predicate Logic.

2. Formal Languages, Automata Theory and Computability.

3. Data Structures and Algorithms: Arrays, Lists and Trees, Sorting and Searching, Graph algorithms, Complexity of problems and NP-completeness.

4. Fundamentals of Programming Languages and Compilers: Control structures, Parameter passing mechanisms, Recursion, Parsing and type checking, Memory management.

5. Operating Systems and Concurrency

6. Switching Theory and Digital Circuits

7. Theory of Databases