Indian Engineering Services remains the most sought-after career for the engineering graduates in India. An all India level competitive examination, called Engineering Services Examination (ESE) is conducted every year by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for recruitment to the Indian Engineering Services. The examination constitutes a two stage written examination and followed by an interview. ESE is considered as one of the toughest examination in India due to the difficulty related to the examination and the selection procedure. Also there are less number of posts and more number of aspirants.

The candidates, who get selected for ESE, enjoy a very high respect and stature in the society. Candidates who are selected for ESE are appointed as Assistant Executive Engineer in various departments under central government for Group A and Group B posts. The various services in which recruitment is made through ESE include Indian Railways, Central Engineering, Central Water Engineering, Border Roads Engineering, Indian Defense Service of Engineers, Indian Ordinance Factories, Central Power Engineering, Indian Naval Armament Service, Central Electrical & Mechanical Engineering, Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering, Indian Telecommunication Service, Wireless Planning & Co-ordination Wing etc.

ESE 2018: An Overview

• Date of Notification:  27-09-2017
• Last Date for Receipt of Applications : 23-10-2017
• Engineering Services (Preliminary) Examination : 07th January 2018
• Engineering Services (Main) Examination : 01st July 2018
• ESE Examination is conducted in following Engineering Streams:
  1. Civil Engineering
  2. Mechanical Engineering
  3. Electrical Engineering
  4. Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering
• Age Limit: 21 to 30 years (01^st August of Examination Year)
  (However certain categories of persons (SC, ST & OBC) and certain departmental candidates are eligible for age relaxation).
• Educational qualifications: A degree in Engineering from a recognized university or equivalent. M.Sc. degree or its equivalent with Wireless Communications, Electronics, Radio Physics or Radio Engineering as special subjects is also eligible. Candidates appearing their final year engineering degree examination or equivalent are also eligible.

Engineering Service Examination
Year	Vacancies (Approximately)
	CE	ME	EE	E & T	TOTAL
2009	205	130	59	75	469
2010	178	134	102	170	584
2011	248	170	112	163	693
2012	269	169	103	94	635
2013	233	150	181	138	702
2014	242	125	104	118	589
2015	151	99	86	98	434
2016	225	179	106	94	604
2017	258	135	59	48	500
2018	—	—	—	—	588

Scheme Of Examination

UPSC announced 3 Stage Pattern for ESE – 2018

STAGE – I	ENGINEERING SERVICES (PRELIMINARY/STAGE – 1) EXAMINATION (OBJECTIVE TYPE PAPERS)			MARKS DURATION
Paper I (Common for All Candidates)	General Studies and Engineering Aptitude Paper.			Duration: 2 hours Marks : 200 (Max)
Paper II	Engineering discipline – Specific Paper (CE/ME/EE/E&T)			Duration: 3 hours Marks : 300 (Max)
STAGE – I	Sub – Total			500 Marks (Max)
Minimum Qualifying Marks for each Paper will be at the discretion of the commission. Only those candidates qualifying at this Stage to be permitted to appear for Stage – II examination.
STAGE – II		EXAMINATION (MAINS/STAGE – II) EXAMINATION (CONVENTIONAL TYPE PAPERS)	MARKS DURATION
Paper I (Common for All Candidates)		Engineering discipline – Specific Paper – I (CE/ME/EE/E&T	Duration: 3 hours Marks : 300 (Max)
Paper II		Engineering discipline – Specific Paper – II (CE/ME/EE/E&T)	Duration: 3 hours Marks : 300 (Max)
STAGE – II		Sub – Total	600 Marks (Max)
STAGE – I + STAGE – II		Total	1100 Marks (Max)
Only those Candidates qualifying at this stage (i.e. Stage – I + Stage – II) to be permitted to appear for Stage – III examination

 

STAGE III		MARKS
STAGE – III	Personality Test	Marks : 200 (Max)
STAGE -I + II + III	Grand Test	Marks : 1300 (Max)
Only those Candidates qualifying at this Stage ( i.e, Stage I + Stage II + Stage III) to be included in the Final Merit List of Engg. Services Exam.

General Studies and Engineering Aptitude (Common for all streams)
The questions in Paper-I of Stage – I will be from the following Topics :
1. Current issues of national and international importance relating to social, economic and industrial
development
2. Engineering Aptitude covering Logical reasoning and Analytical ability
3. Engineering Mathematics and Numerical Analysis
4. General Principles of Design, Drawing, Importance of Safety
5. Standards and Quality practices in production, construction, maintenance and services
6. Basics of Energy and Environment: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, Climate Change, Environmental impact assessment
7. Basics of Project Management
8. Basics of Material Science and Engineering
9. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) based tools and their applications in Engineering such as networking, e-governance and technology based education.
10. Ethics and values in Engineering profession
Note:
The paper in General Studies and Engineering Aptitude will include knowledge of relevant topics as may be expected from an engineering graduate, without special study. Marks for each Topic may range from 5% to 15% of the total marks in the paper.

Cut Off Marks for ESE-2018

The candidate should secure minimum qualifying marks in each paper and also in aggregate of the three objective papers. The total marks of the last candidate finally selected for appointment are given below.

Marks Secured by the last recommended candidate (out of 1300 Marks)
Discipline		Category
		General		OBC	SC	ST		PH-1	PH-3
Civil Engg.		691		650	564	578		437	311
Mech. Engg.		723		673	576	550		452	502
Electrical Engg.		769		742	658	698		575	428
Electronics & Telecom Engg.		713		675	611	590		471
The All India 1st Ranker in ESE-2018 secured following marks (Written Exam: 1100 Marks; Interview: 200 Marks; Total: 1300 Marks)
AIR	Discipline (Engg.)		Written Exam Marks				Interview			Total
1	Civil Engg.		703				128			831
1	Mechanical Engg.		711				126			837
1	Electrical Engg.		778				138			916
1	Electronics & Telecom Engg.		672				124			796

In view of the mammoth syllabus and tough competition in ESE, only a few candidates can get good ranks in their very first attempt. Majority of the candidates get good ranks in their 2nd or 3rd or higher attempts. A proper guidance and good coaching will help a lot in the preparation for ESE to secure a good rank. ACE Engineering Academy with its vast experience in the coaching for competitive exams in engineering, good track record and its honesty in declaring the results, is the best choice for the aspirants.

 

 ESE Vs GATE

ESE	GATE
Recruitment test for central government    jobs in various Engineering Departments	Entrance test for admissions into ME/ M. Tech and also for recruitment of candidates for jobs in PSUs.
Prelims will be of Objective Type & Mains will be of Conventional type questions. Calculator is allowed only for conventional type papers but not for objective papers.	Objective type questions. Conventional type problems are also given with multiple options / choices as answers and also numerical type questions. Virtual calculator will be provided to solve these questions.
Competition ratio in terms of the number of vacancies versus the number of candidates appearing the examination is about 1:300.	Competition ratio in terms of the number of candidates qualified versus the number of candidates appearing the examination is nearly 1:7.
Only a few candidates could get good IES ranks in their very 1st attempt. Candidates could get good ranks only in their 2nd or 3rd or higher attempts.	A good number of candidates could get very good ranks, in their very first attempt.
Relatively, tough competition.	Relatively, easy competition

The GATE preparation will cover almost 70% of the total preparation required for IES, The GATE examination is in January/February. The ESE written exam is held in two phases. Prelims (Stage-I) in the month of January and mains (Stage-II) after wards in the month of May.

Special note to 3rd and final year students of B.E/B.Tech
Summer short term batches: For GATE about 50 to 60 days will be arranged at DEHRADUN. These batches will be arranged during the summer vacation of the students. This will be very much useful for 3rd, final year & passed-out (who cannot stay for long time) students who cannot take long-term regular batches.

Winter short term batches: For GATE about 50 to 65 days will be arranged at DEHRADUN. These batches will be arranged during the winter vacation of the students. This will be very much useful for 3rd, final year & passed-out (who cannot stay for long time) students who cannot take long-term regular batches.