Center for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) shall conduct a multipurpose test called CST 2011 (Competence in Software Technology (CST) Examination. This examination is useful for those willing to pursue higher courses and also seeking employment in software industry. The examination will be conducted in 4 levels. These are E, I, D, and G levels. All the levels have different eligibility criteria and uses. Candidates can get sample questions from the website cst.cdacmumbai.in. Old/ previous question papers of CST are not made available / distributed by CDAC. CDAC also provides recommended books for all levels of the CST exam. These are given in this post also. Following are details of syllabus of the exam, application procedure and eligibility for different levels:

1. Eligibility Criteria for E and I Levels: Any Degree or Diploma of Three / Four Years after 10th / SSC / Intermediate / 10+2.

2. Eligibility Criteria for D Level: Bachelors Degree in Computers/ IT (B.Sc.) or Diploma in Computer Science Engineering OR Any degree along with training in computers as prescribed by CDAC.

3. Eligibility Criteria for G Level: Four year Bachelor’s (BE/ B.Tech.) in Engineering in Computer Science / Computer Engineering / Information Technology / Electronics / Telecommunication / Electrical / Instrumentation. OR MCA, M.Sc. (Computer Science.), M.Sc. (IT), MCS, MCM OR PGDST or FPGDST or APGDST from C-DAC, Mumbai or Electronics City, Bengaluru.

Interested candidates can apply either online or offline. Details of application procedure are available on the website: Following are papers in the CST exam and recommended books for respective levels:

Useful Books for CST:

1. E and I Levels: There are no specific books for General Aptitude (GA). For Computer Concepts (CC) paper, you can follow these books: 1. Fundamentals of Computers by V Rajaraman, Prentice Hall of India 2.Programming in ANSI C by Ram Kumar and Rakesh Agrawal, Tata McGraw-Hill, 1993 (Chapters 1-6).

2. D Level: Along with above books, follow these also: For Computer Organization and Operating Systems (CO) paper, 1. Operating System Concepts (5th Ed) by Silberschatz and Galvin 2. Operating Systems (4th Ed) – Internals and Design Principles by William Stallings 3. Computer Organization and Architecture (4th Ed) by William Stallings, Prentice Hall India 4. Modern Operating Systems (2nd Edition) by Andrew S Tanenbaum, Prentice Hall India.

For Data Structures and Algorithms (DS) paper, you can follow 1. Data Structures and Algorithms in Java by Adam Drozdek, Thomson Learning 2. Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in Java (2nd Edition) by Mark Allen Weiss, Addison Wesley 3. Data Structures using C by AM Tanenbaum, Y Langsam and MJ Augenstein, Prentice-Hall India 4. Data Structures and Program Design in C by RL Kruse, BP Leung and CL Tondo, Prentice Hall 5. Data Structures, Algorithms and Applications in Java, 2nd edition by Sartaj Sahni, Universities Press.

3. G Level: Apart from the above mentioned in D level, you can follow these books:
1. Computer Networks (4th ed.) by Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Prentice Hall of India.
2. Data and Computer Communications (5th ed.) by William Stallings, Prentice Hall of India.
3. Database System Concepts (5th ed.) by Abraham Silberschatz, Henry F Korth and S. Sudarshan, McGraw-Hill International Edition
4. Fundamentals of Database Systems (4th ed.) by Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe, Addison Wesley.
5. Thinking in Java 4th Edition by Bruce Eckel
6. The Complete Reference Java J2SE 5 Edition by Herbert Schildt
7. Enterprise JavaBeans 3.0, 5th Edition, by Richard Monson-Haefel, Bill Burke or any other book with similar contents.
8. The C++ Programming Language (3rd ed.) by Bjarne Stroustrup, Addison-Wesley, 1991.
9. An Introduction to Object-oriented Programming by Timothy Budd, Addison-Wesley, 1991.
10. C++ Primer (3rd ed.) by Stanley Lippman, Addison-Wesley
11. Software Engineering – A Practitioner’s Approach (6th ed.) by Roger S Pressman, McGraw-Hill Intl. 2001
12. HTML and XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 5th Edition by Chuck Musciano & Bill Kennedy, O’Reilly and Associates.
13. Learning XML, 2nd Edition by Eric T. Ray & Christopher R. Maken, O’Reilly and Associates.
14. Webmaster in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition by Stephen Spainhour, O’Reilly and Associates.
15. Java Servlet Programming, 2nd Edition by Jason Hunter with William Crawford, O’Reilly and Associates.
16. JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 4th Edition by David Flanagan, O’Reilly and Associates.
17. Professional JSP, 2nd Edition by Karl Avedal et al., Wrox Publications.
18. ASP in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition by Keyton Wessinger, O’Reilly and Associates.

Important Dates of CST 2011:

1. Last Date for Receipt of CST application Form A-1 (Course Admission, Improvement in scores and Recruitment): January 17, 2011
2. Date of CST-2011 Examination: January 30, 2011
3. Last Date for Receipt of CST application Form A-2 (Only for CST-2010 appeared candidates): March 14, 2011
4. Announcement of results on website: On or before March 21, 2011
5. Announcement of Merit awards on website: March 24, 2011
6. Score reports to reach all candidates by post: April 30, 2011
7. Display of List of candidates eligible for recruitment: April 20, 2011
8. Interviews (Tentative): May 2011
9. Start date for receipt of applications for admissions to FPGDST and FPGDIS courses based on CST score: April 4, 2011
10. Last date for seeking admission to FPGDST & FPGDIS courses based on CST score: May 9, 2011
11. FPGDST & FPGDIS admissions finalised for candidates based on CST score: May 16, 2011
12. Open Admission test for those who are unable to take CST- 2011 in January 2011: July 10, 2011
13. Commencement of FPGDST and FPGDIS Courses: August 8, 2011

Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Mumbai is conducting CST- Competence in Software Technology Test since 1994 and the exam has been useful in many ways. Biggest advantage of the CST Examination is the use of CST score by software and IT companies to shortlist the candidates for recruitment. C-DAC, Mumbai and Electronics City, Bengaluru have started this examination. CST Exam has been described as Multipurpose exam that offers various options like education, training, employment etc. CDAC conducts CST at three levels. These are I, D, and G. G – level candidates are in great demand at the time of recruitment than other graders. Following are the some advantages of the CST of CDAC:

1. Eligible for Admission to FPGDST and FPGDIS courses conducted by CDAC.
2. Eligible for admission in reputed institutions / university courses. The list of CST accepting institutes is given below.
3. CST score will be considered at the time of Job opportunities at C-DAC centres
4. You can always improve your scores through regularly writing the exam. The candidate has to take the total examination and the best score in individual papers will be considered while providing score report.
5. CST qualified candidates are eligible for Dissertation Project fellowships at C-DAC
6. CST also helps to obtain standardised scores which can be used while applying for employment in the IT industry. You will be considered for roles such as Staff Scientists/ Member Technical Staff (MTS), Assistant Managers, Project Engineers, Visiting System/ Software Engineers and Software Trainees.
7. CST can also be used as standard score for admission to post-graduate courses of other educational institutions.

Following institutes use CST Scores for admission to various PG courses:

1. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s – BCIDS, Mumbai: PPM
2. Goa University: MCA
3. International School of Management Excellence, Bengaluru and Navi Mumbai: PGPM-IT
4. MPSTME, NMIMS, Mumbai: MCA
5. Smt. Parvatibai Chowgule College, Goa University: M.Sc. (IT)

Details of the test such as eligibility, test pattern, scoring method, application procedure and syllabus are available on cst.cdacmumbai.in