INTERVIEW PREPARATION

If you're having Electrical Engineering related interviews, following are the tips for interview preparation.

1. Firstly, you must think up an impressive introduction containing your educational background, past
experience (if related to the job), research, achievements and a few details about your family background (if
necessary).

2. Secondly, you must cover EVERYTHING (skills, experiences, courses, hobbies, etc.) mentioned in your
CV.

3. Thirdly, you must know about the post (applied for) and the organization (applied in).

You may collect and revise general information about the organization from the official website and an
experienced person may also be consulted in this regard.

4. If you are a fresh graduate, your prime focus must be on your Final Year Project (FYP) and the core
subjects in your bachelor.

5. If you have completed (or enrolled in) Master’s Program (MS), try to revise everything from your Master’s
Thesis.

6. If you are having any relevant job experience/research, you must recollect all the important points about
that experience.

7. If you are possessing a degree in Power Engineering, you should look back on communication &
electronics related concepts too.

8. If the interview is related to a technical position in the Power sector, you must know about:
i. Various power plants and their generating capacity
ii. Current situation of power supply, demand and losses
iii. Current Energy Policy and most importantly the current Energy Mix
iv. Names and current status of various ongoing projects related to power generation, transmission and
distribution in Pakistan especially those being carried out under CPEC (Wind, Hydro, and Coal), CASA-
1000, HVDC, etc.

9. You must possess the basic information about various political and administrative heads like the names of
Current PM, President, CMs, Governors, Federal Ministers, Speakers, Deputy Speakers & Chairmen of
Senate, etc.

10. Your basic knowledge about Islamiat and the major national & international events (Current Affairs)
may also be tested during the interview.

11. You should follow a formal and professional dress code. A decent and clean dress is always favored.

12. Last but not least, your good communication skills, confidence level, and composure during the interview
matters a lot. Don't feel or at least look nervous, don't act under-confident or over-confident. Just be yourself.

Answer all the questions in a very clear and convincing manner. If you do not know the exact answer for a
question, request the interviewer politely to skip the question. In this way, you can tackle even the most
confusing and tough questions without losing your confidence. You may answer the questions in English (or
Urdu) depending upon the language in which the question has been asked by the interviewer.
For your ease, I am going to share some important topics for the interview.
 Important Topics for Interview Preparation (SDO post)

Transmission Lines
(From Principles of Power System by V.K Mehta theory book)
1. Components of Transmission Lines
2. Types of conductors used in Transmission Lines
3. Corona Effect, Skin Effect, Proximity Effect in detail
4. Transmission Line Parameters
5. Single line Diagram
6. Insulator types and purpose, tower & its types, poles and their types
7. Voltage Regulation and Efficiency
8. Transposition of lines and Bundling of Conductors
9. Types of Transmission lines
10. How can the voltage of transmission lines be boosted?
11. Surge Impedance Loading (SIL), Maximum Power Transfer
12. Types of Voltages; Low, Medium, High, Extra-high, Ultra-high Voltage
13. Define the terms:
a. Creepage Distance
b. Conductor Clearance
c. Ground Clearance
d. Basic Insulation Level (BIL)
14. Merits and Demerits of AC/DC Transmission
15. Lightening Arresters, Surge Arresters
16. What is Sag, is it good or bad?
17. Difference between Earthing, Grounding and Neutral
18. Underground Cables
19. Generation is in AC/DC? Merits and Demerits
20. Transmission is in AC/DC? Merits and Demerits
21. Distribution is in AC/DC? Merits and Demerits
22. Overhead/underground Transmission & Distribution, Merits and Demerits?
23. Why high voltages are used? Limitations on increasing Voltage?

Circuit Breakers
1. Purpose of CBs
2. Types of CBs on the basis of Voltage
3. Types of CBs on the basis of quenching media used
4. Types of CBs on the basis of operating mechanism used
5. Advantages & Disadvantages of SF6 CB
6. Advantages & Disadvantages of Oil CB
7. Advantages & Disadvantages of Air CB
8. Advantages & Disadvantages of Vacuum CB
9. Parts of Circuit Breaker
10. Circuit Breaker operates on which supply, AC/DC?
11. Protection of CB
12. Difference between CB & Isolator
13. Rating of CB

Relays
1. Types of Protection
2. What is Relay?
3. Types of Relay
4. Which Supply is used for Protection (AC/DC)?
5. CT, PT and their purpose
6. Buchholz Relay
7. Earth Fault Relay, Over-Current Relay, Distance Relay/Impedance Relay
8. Wave-trap, Surge Arrestor & Lightening Arrestor

Grid Stations
1. Purpose of a Grid Station
2. Types of Grid Stations: 33 kV, 66 kV, 132 kV, 220 kV, 500 kV
3. Components of Grid Stations
4. Transformers
- Construction of transformer
- Types of transformer
i. Single-phase, 3-phase Transformer
ii. Distribution Transformer
iii. Power Transformer
iv. Auto-Transformer
v. Shell type, Core type transformer
vi. Isolation Transformer
vii. Current Transformer, Potential Transformer
- Cooling methods of transformer
- Buchholz relay
- Tap changer (OLTC, NLTC)
- Why HV winding is outside?
- Losses of transformer
- Why transformers are rated in KVA?
- Breather system of Transformer, Purpose of transformer oil
- Purpose of Transformer bushings, Purpose of Transmission Fins
- Purpose of Transformer, Why Silica Gel is used in transformer?
5. Isolator
6. Transformer Bay, Line Bay
7. Circuit Breaker Schemes:
i. Single Breaker Double Bus-bar
ii. Double Breaker Double Bus-bar
iii. One & Half Breaker Scheme

DC System
1. What is a Battery?
2. Series Configuration of Batteries and Parallel Configuration of Batteries
3. Parts of Batteries, Types of Batteries
4. Specific Gravity, Hydrometer, Voltmeter, Ammeter
5. Battery Charger, Parts of Battery Charger, Boost and Float Charging of Batteries

Electronics
1. Gates, Encoders, Decoders, MUX, DEMUX, Adder, Subtractor
2. Rectifier, Diode, Thyristor, Full-wave and Half-wave Bridge

You may seek help from YouTube, different internet websites and theory books to grasp a thorough
knowledge/concept about these technical topics.

In my opinion, that’s all you need to ace an interview. Good luck!

Prepared by:
Engr. Maria Hameed