What is the IOE entrance Chemistry syllabus?
Three areas worth 30 marks: physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry and organic chemistry.
Chemistry carries 30 of the 140 marks, ahead of English and behind Physics. The syllabus divides into the three conventional branches.
Physical chemistry. Chemical arithmetic, Dalton’s theory and stoichiometry, empirical and molecular formulae, limiting reactants, Avogadro hypothesis and equivalent masses. States of matter. Atomic structure and periodic classification. Oxidation, reduction and equilibrium. Volumetric analysis. Ionic equilibrium, acid, base and salt. Electrochemistry. Energetics, chemical kinetics, chemical bonding and shape of molecules.
Inorganic chemistry. Non-metals: hydrogen, oxygen, ozone, water, nitrogen and its compounds, halogens, carbon, phosphorous, sulphur, noble gases and environmental pollution. Metals: metallurgical principle, alkali and alkaline earth metals, coinage metals. Extraction of zinc, mercury and iron compounds.
Organic chemistry. Fundamental principles, purification, nomenclature, structural isomerism and reaction mechanism. Hydrocarbons: alkanes, alkenes, alkynes and aromatics. Haloalkanes and haloarenes. Alcohols, phenols and ethers. Aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids and derivatives. Nitro compounds and amines.
What sits inside each branch
Physical chemistry is the largest of the three by sub-topic count, and the official list runs: chemical arithmetic with Dalton’s theory and the laws of stoichiometry, atomic and molecular mass, empirical and molecular formulae, limiting reactants, Avogadro’s hypothesis and equivalent masses; states of matter across gaseous, liquid and solid; atomic structure and periodic classification; oxidation, reduction and equilibrium; volumetric analysis; ionic equilibrium with acids, bases and salts; electrochemistry; and finally energetics of chemical reaction, chemical kinetics, chemical bonding and shape of molecules grouped as one sub-topic.
Inorganic chemistry is narrower than students expect and is listed in three parts: non-metals, covering hydrogen, oxygen, ozone, water, nitrogen and its compounds, halogens, carbon, phosphorus, sulphur, noble gases and environmental pollution; metals, covering metallurgical principle, alkali metals, alkaline earth metals and the coinage metals copper, silver and gold; and extraction of metals, named specifically as zinc, mercury and iron compounds.
Organic chemistry runs in six sub-topics from fundamental principles, purification, nomenclature, structural isomerism and reaction mechanism, through hydrocarbons — alkanes, alkenes, alkynes and aromatics — then haloalkanes and haloarenes, alcohols, phenols and ethers, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids and derivatives in both aliphatic and aromatic forms, and closing on nitro compounds and amines.
What the paper actually asks
The booklet prints its own model questions, and the Chemistry samples are calculation-led rather than recall-led. Reproduced as printed: “21 grams of magnesium carbonate was treated with 50ml of 12N hydrochloric acid. How many molecules of untreated hydrochloric acid remain in this reaction?” And: “What weight of copper will be deposited by passing 2 Faraday of electricity through a solution of copper salt? — (a) 20g, (b) 31.7g, (c) 63.5g, (d) 100g.”
Both come from Section B, where questions carry 2 marks, and both are stoichiometry and electrochemistry problems requiring a full calculation rather than a remembered fact. That is worth noting when planning revision: on this paper the physical-chemistry sub-topics are not only the largest block by listing, they are also the ones the higher-value questions draw on.
Summarised from the Detail Syllabus of B.E./B.Arch. Entrance Examination-2083, Chemistry, Full Marks 30, printed pages 28 and 29 of the booklet. Model questions transcribed from the booklet’s Model Questions section, printed pages 29 to 31, which is set in Latin type and extracts reliably. Sub-topic wording follows the booklet’s own numbering; where this page and the booklet differ, the booklet governs.
Sources
- IOE B.E./B.Arch Booklet 2083 · published 7 August 2026 · read 18 August 2026
Last reviewed by Ram Raj Thapa, Admissions Officer, Imperial College of Engineering. Every figure on this page is cited to the document it came from.