ICAR AIEEA-PG — Agricultural Engineering & Technology (Major Subject Group 10) · India · National Testing Agency for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersMeasuring land, levels and volumes, from chain survey to total station and GNSS, and designing land grading.
In the exams: GATE AG Section 4 (surveying asked in 7 of 8 papers 2019–26); ICAR AIEEA-PG Unit VII; TNPSC Unit I; RPSC AAE Unit 1; NCEES PE surveying
ICAR AIEEA-PG — Agricultural Engineering & Technology (Unit VII)
Single-answer MCQs mixing definitions (types of bearings, contour characteristics, plane-table methods, theodolite axes, levelling terms) with quick calculations (back bearings, RLs, areas and volumes).
How our questions for ICAR AIEEA-PG spread across the units of Surveying & Levelling. Difficulty: 43 easy, 46 medium, 20 hard.
| Chain and tape surveying, including tape corrections | 12 | |
| Theodolite traversing and closing error | 12 | |
| Compass traversing and bearings | 10 | |
| Levelling: rise-and-fall and height-of-instrument methods | 10 | |
| Plane table surveying | 9 | |
| Reciprocal levelling | 9 | |
| Contouring | 9 | |
| GPS/GNSS surveying | 8 | |
| Computation of area: trapezoidal and Simpson's rules | 8 | |
| Earthwork volume computation | 8 | |
| Total station | 7 | |
| Land grading and levelling design | 7 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
In a prismatic compass, the zero of the graduated ring is placed at the south end because
A. sighting is through a prism opposite the object, so a north sight must read 0° at that end
The ring is fixed to the needle and read through the prism at the eye end, diametrically opposite the object vane; to read 0° on a northward sight the zero must sit at the south end, and the figures are written inverted to read correctly through the prism. It reads whole-circle, not quadrantal, bearings, and its ring does not rotate with the sight (that is the surveyor's compass).
Further reading: Punmia, Jain and Jain, Surveying Vol. I
Which method of orienting a plane table is the more accurate?
A. Back-sighting along a previously drawn line
Back-sighting relies on a line already plotted, so it is as accurate as the plotting. The trough compass is quick but subject to local attraction and needle errors, so it is used only where no back station is available.
Further reading: Punmia, Jain and Jain, Surveying Vol. I
A point on which both a foresight and a backsight are taken in a levelling line is called a
C. change point
At a change (turning) point the foresight closes one set-up and the backsight opens the next, carrying the RL forward. A benchmark has a known RL; an intermediate station has only one reading.
Further reading: Punmia, Jain and Jain, Surveying Vol. I
Which indirect method of contouring is most suitable for a long narrow strip such as a canal alignment?
B. Cross-sections at intervals along the centre line
For a route the ground is profiled along the centre line and cross-sectioned at regular chainages, which directly gives the data for earthwork. Grids suit compact areas; radial tacheometry suits hilly country.
Further reading: Punmia, Jain and Jain, Surveying Vol. I
A vernier theodolite has main-scale divisions of 20 minutes and 60 vernier divisions. What is its least count?
C. 20 seconds
Least count = value of one main-scale division / number of vernier divisions = 20′/60 = 1/3′ = 20″.
Further reading: Punmia, Jain and Jain, Surveying Vol. I
Taking the mean of face-left and face-right observations of a horizontal angle eliminates all of the following EXCEPT
D. error due to the vertical axis not being truly vertical
Face changes reverse the sign of collimation, trunnion-axis and index errors, so they cancel in the mean. A tilted vertical axis tilts the horizontal axis the same way on both faces, so it does not cancel; careful levelling is the only remedy.
Further reading: Punmia, Jain and Jain, Surveying Vol. I
The transit rule for balancing a traverse is preferred over Bowditch's rule when
D. angles are measured more precisely than distances
The transit rule distributes corrections in proportion to the size of each latitude and departure, which assumes angles are good and lengths poorer (theodolite with tape). Bowditch assumes equal effect of angular and linear errors and is the usual rule for compass traverses. Neither can be applied to an open traverse.
Further reading: Punmia, Jain and Jain, Surveying Vol. I
An RTK GNSS survey gives an ellipsoidal height of 18.6 m at a point where the geoid undulation N from the geoid model is −52.3 m. What is the orthometric height (height above the geoid)?
C. 70.9 m
H = h − N = 18.6 − (−52.3) = 70.9 m. Where the geoid lies below the ellipsoid (negative N), orthometric heights exceed ellipsoidal heights. Adding N gives -33.7 m; using the ellipsoidal height as if it were above mean sea level is the classic mistake.
Further reading: Ghilani and Wolf, Elementary Surveying
A 40 m long prismoid has end areas 12.0 and 24.0 m² and a mid-section area (computed from the mid-depth) of 17.5 m². What is its volume?
B. 706.7 m³
V = (L/6)(A1 + 4Am + A2) = (40/6)(12 + 70 + 24) = 706.7 m³. Average end area gives 720.0 m³ (an overestimate for a prismoid); using L/3 doubles the answer because L here is the full length. 1413.3 m³ uses L/3; 700.0 m³ multiplies the mid-section area by the length.
Further reading: Punmia, Jain and Jain, Surveying Vol. I
When is the plane method of land-grading design NOT the best choice?
A. On fields so irregular that a single plane would require excessive earth movement
A single best-fit plane is efficient for fairly uniform fields; where the surface is strongly irregular, profile, plan-inspection or contour-adjustment methods allow varying grades and cut far less earth.
Further reading: Schwab et al., Soil and Water Conservation Engineering
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