Engineering Services Examination

Indian Engineering Services (IES) remains the most sought-after career for engineering graduates in India. The Engineering Services Examination, commonly known as ESE, is conducted annually by UPSC to recruit engineers in four domains, namely Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics & Telecommunications for technical managerial posts. UPSC ESE is a golden opportunity for aspiring engineers to secure highly desired & prominent positions within various government departments and organizations. The examination is a two-stage written examination (Prelims & Mains) followed by an interview. The Engineering Services Examination is a prestigious and challenging examination in India due to its unique difficulty level and limited available positions. Owing to a highly competitive selection procedure, IES officers carry high respect and status and are mandated to manage and execute activities in diverse technical and managerial fields

These candidates, after the final selection, are posted in various Ministries and Departments of the GOI such as Indian Railways, Telecom, Border Roads Organisation, CPWD, CWC, CPES, NHAI, Naval Armaments, IDSE, MES, Indian Ordnance Factories, etc.; however, the selected candidates can move to any cadre, organisation, agency, department, ministry, or PSUs of the Government of India. All these final selected candidates are designated as class-1 gazetted officers.

ESE 2025 Eligibility

A candidate must be either:

A citizen of India or
A subject of Nepal or A subject of Bhutan or
A Tibetan refugee who came to India before the 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India or
A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka or East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire and Ethiopia or from Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

Provided that a candidate belongs to categories (b), (c) and (d) above shall be a person in whose favor a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.

Age Limits:

The upper age-limit of 30 years will be relaxable upto 35 years in the case of Government servants of the following categories, if they are employed in a Department/ Office under the control of any of the authorities mentioned in column 1 below and apply for admission to the examination for all or any of the Service(s)/Post(s) mentioned in column 2, for which they are otherwise eligible.

A candidate who holds substantively a permanent post in the particular Department/Office concerned. This relaxation will not be admissible to a probationer appointed against a permanent post in the Department/Office during the period of his probation. However, this relaxation will be admissible to a probationer so appointed provided he/she already retains a lien on a permanent post in a Department/Office under the control of any of the authorities mentioned in column 1 below.
A candidate who has been continuously in a temporary service on a regular basis in the particular Department/Office for at least 3 years on the 1st January, 2024.

Column 1	Column 2
Central Public Works Department	C.E.S. Group ‘A’, CE&MES Gr ‘A’
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways	Central Engineering Service (Roads) Gr. ‘A’
Ministry of Communication, Deptt. of Telecommunication	Indian Radio Regulatory Service Group ‘A’ Indian Telecommunication Service Group ‘A’, J.T.O. (G.C.S. Gr. ‘B’)
Ministry of Defence, Deptt. of Defence Production, Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance	Defence Aeronautical Quality Assurance Service(DAQAS)Gr ‘A’
Ministry of Science and Technology, Deptt. of Science and Technology	Survey of India Gr ‘A’ Service
Geological Survey of India	Assistant Executive Engineer Gr ‘A’
Border Roads Organisation	BRES Gr. ‘A’
Indian Navy	Indian Naval Armament Service, Asstt. Naval Store Officer Grade-I
Military Engineer Services	Indian Defence Service of Engineers (lDSE) Group ‘A’ AEE(QS&C) in Military Engineer Service (MES) Surveyor Cadre
Ministry of Jal Shakti, Deptt. of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Central Water Commission	Central Water Engineering Group-A Service.
Central Electricity Authority	CPES Gr ‘A’ & CPES Gr ‘B’.
Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship	Indian Skill Development Service

The upper age-limit prescribed above will be further relaxable:

Up to a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe.
Up to a maximum of three years in case if candidate belongs to the OBC category.
Upto a maximum of three years in case of defence service personnel disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area, and released as a consequence thereof.
Upto a maximum of five years in case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on 1st January 2024, and have been released
- On completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due) to be completed within one year from 1st January 2024) otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency, or
- On account of physical disability attributable to Military Service or
- On invalidment.
Upto a maximum of five years in the case of ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years of Military Services as on 1st January 2024, and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and they will be released on three months notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.
Up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of candidates of PwBD (Low vision Locomotor Disability including Cerebral Palsy, Leprosy cured, Dwarfism, Acid Attack victims & Muscular Dystrophy and Hard of Hearing).
A candidate of ESE-2024 will be eligible to get benefit of economically weaker Section reservation only in case the candidate meets the criteria issued by the Central Government and is in possession of requisite Income & Asset Certificate based on income of financial year 2022-2023 and issued on/after 01.04.2023 (after the completion of FY 2022-23) but not later than the closing date of the application for Engineering Services (Preliminary) Examination-2024 i.e. 26 September, 2023.
The OBC candidates applying for ESE- 2024 must produce OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) certificate based on the Income for the Financial Year (FY) 2022-2023, 2021-2022 and 2020-2021 and issued on/after 01.04.2023 (after the completion of FY 2022-23) but not later than the closing date of the application for Engineering Services (Preliminary) Examination-2024 i.e 26th September, 2023.

Minimum Educational Qualifications:

For admission to the examination, a candidate must have –

Obtained a degree in Engineering from a university incorporated by an act of the central or state legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as universities under section-3 of the University Grants Commission act, 1956 or
Passed Section A and B of the Institution Examinations of the Institution of Engineers (India) or
Obtained a degree/diploma in Engineering from foreign University/College/Institution and under such conditions as may be recognised by the Government for the purpose from time to time or
Passed Graduate Membership Examination of the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (India) or
Passed Associate Membership Examination Parts II and III/Sections A and B of the Aeronautical Society of India or
Passed Graduate Membership Examination of the Institution of Electronics and Radio Engineers, London held after November 1959

Provided that a candidate for the post of Indian Naval Armament Service (Electronics Engineering Posts and Engineer Group 'A' in Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing/Monitoring Organization) may possess any of the above qualifications or the qualification mentioned below namely:

For Indian Naval Armament Service (Electronics Engg. Posts) - M.Sc. degree or its equivalent with Wireless Communication Electronics, Radio Physics or Radio Engineering as a special subject.
For Indian Radio Regulatory Service – M.Sc. degree or its equivalent with Wireless Communication Electronics, Radio Physics or Radio Engineering as a subject or Master’s Degree in Science with Physics and Radio Communication or Electronics or Telecommunication as a special subject.

IES Officer’s Salary

Indian Engineering Officers join as Assistant Executive Engineers or Assistant Directors at the level of Junior Time Scale with a basic salary of Rs. 56,100/- per month and net salary of around Rs. 85,000/- per month.(As per 7th Pay Commission)

Level	Pay Scale	Time Frame
Junior Time Scale (JTS)	INR 56100-177500	On Joining
Senior Time Scale (STS)	INR 67700-208700	3-5 years
Junior Administrative Grade (JAG)	INR 123100-215900	10-15 years
Senior Administrative Grade (SAG)	INR 144200-218200	15-20 years
Higher Administrative Grade (HAG)	INR 182200-224100
HAG+	INR 205400-224400
Apex Scale	INR 225000

Indian Engineering Service Officers are among the top recipients of a good deal of privileges and allowances. Below is a list of allowances and privileges available for IES Officers apart from the basic pay :

Residential Quarters (Type IV to Type VIII) OR HRA (presently 24% of basic pay)
Official Vehicle
Dearness Allowance (presently 9% of basic pay)
CGHS Medical Facility
Leave Travel Allowance/ Tour Allowance
National Pension Scheme
Gratuity
Leave Encashment
Mobile and Briefcase Allowance
Newspaper and Mobile Bill Reimbursement
Laptops
Children Education Allowance
Transport Allowance (approx. 8000 per month), etc.

ESE Exam Pattern

Stage-I: Preliminary Examination (Objective Papers)

STAGE-I	PAPER TYPE	DURATION	MARKS
PAPER-I	GENERAL STUDIES AND ENGINEERING APTITUDE	02 HOURS	200
PAPER-II	ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE (CE/ ME/ EE/ E&T)	03 HOURS	300
TOTAL MARKS	500

Minimum Qualifying Marks for each Paper will be at the discretion of the commission.
Only those candidates qualifying at this Stage are permitted to appear for Stage – II examination.

Stage-II: Main Examination (Conventional Papers)

STAGE-II	PAPER TYPE	DURATION	MARKS
PAPER-I	ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE (CE/ ME/ EE/ E&T)	03 HOURS	300
PAPER-II	ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE (CE/ ME/ EE/ E&T)	03 HOURS	300
TOTAL MARKS (MAIN)	600
TOTAL MARKS (MAINS + PRELIM)	1100

Only those candidates qualifying at this stage (i.e. Stage – I + Stage – II) are selected for Stage – III which is the Personality Test (Interview).

Stage-III: Personality Test

STAGE-III	MARKS
Personality Test	200
STAGE-I+ STAGE-II+STAGE III	1300

The Candidates who have qualified all stages (Stage I + Stage II + Stage III) ,will be included in the final list of ESE(Engineering Services Exam).

ESE Syllabus

Stage I - Paper I, Objective type, Common to all Candidates, duration 2 hours, Maximum Marks 200.

Current issues of national and international importance relating to social, economic and industrial development
Engineering Aptitude covering Logical reasoning and Analytical ability
Engineering Mathematics and Numerical Analysis
General Principles of Design, Drawing, Importance of Safety
Standards and Quality practices in production, construction, maintenance and services
Basics of Energy and Environment : Conservation, Environmental pollution and degradation, Climate change, Environmental impact assessment
Basics of Project Management
Basics of Material Science and Engineering
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) based tools and their applications in Engineering such as networking, e-governance and technology based education.
Ethics and values in engineering profession

Note: The paper in General Studies and Engineering Aptitude will include the knowledge of relevant topics as may be expected from an engineering graduate, without special study. Questions from all the 10 topics mentioned above shall be set. Marks for each topic may range from 5% to 15% of the total marks on the paper

SYLLABI OF FOUR ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES

ESE 2025 Preparation Strategy

There are two categories of ESE aspirants: (1) Freshers, preparing for the first time for the competitive exams (neophytes) (2) Repeaters who have already taken their exams once or twice (Rank Improvers)

(I) Strategy for Neophytes:

Big Journeys begin with Small Steps

If you are a fresher and preparing first time then we would suggest you the following approach to be adopted-

Define your aim and target the desired exam right from the beginning. You should examine closely the examination pattern, syllabus and the level of difficulty.

The first step for an amateur should be, to go through previous years’ question papers of the aimed exam and identify what type of questions are asked, whether it is theoretical (then what subjects/which topics are mostly asked) or derivations or numerical type.

Keep one best reference book for each subject. You are not advised to read so many books for each subject; practically it is not possible in a limited time frame.

The STUDY REGIME:

Make an overall plan of your career; define immediate and ultimate goals of your career, then make a roadmap to execute in the most effective manner. Being an engineer, you should understand the importance of planning and execution of the plan.

Overall plan may be further divided in three stages:

1. Six month /One year plan:

Divide months for different subjects and plan it so as to complete the entire syllabus in the left over time. In the current scenario of high cut-offs, do not go for selective study; instead cover the entire syllabus, because you never know “the topic left could be the topic of conquest.”

2. Subject-wise Plan/ Bi-weekly plan:best

For each subject, study should be exam oriented, i.e. you should get acclimatized with the subject , so that you know which area is to be focussed, whether theory has to be focussed or numerical or solving previous years' questions will suffice. Every subject requires a different approach .For example in mathematics you may be required to focus on practicing problems whereas the General Studies Paper requires a different approach. Similarly , in technical subjects the approach may differ from subject to subject.

If you are enrolled in any coaching institute, then concentrate and study well in the classroom. Your class notes should be complete and ready in the classroom itself, with simultaneous marking of IMPORTANT concept /formulae and also develop a habit of writing NOTE points ,wherever required. If only self study is your style of preparation without coaching, then also notes making is advisable.

One point to be kept in mind is “Work for Yourself”; i.e. make notes for yourself, it should be self hand written notes, as this will increase your writing efficiency in terms of speed, accuracy and handwriting and also help in memory retention.

3. Daily To-Do list /Daily plan:

This is basically for effective time management. Plan and freeze the study hours and abstain from using mobile phones, social media, whatsapp etc. during these hours. 10 to 15 minutes are sufficient to plan the next day's schedule, it will help in removing redundant activities from your schedule and you can make best use of your time for study. I would also suggest you to pre plan your area /subject /topic of your study for the next day, it would help in activating senses of your mind to stimulate for study which helps in better memory retention. Solving previous years’ questions of GATE & ESE (at least of the last 10-15 years) should be made contemporaneous with class notes. Do not postpone it for later, for all the topics that are covered in class or studied on your own, finish the previous years' questions on priority basis. While solving questions, mark the questions which you are not able to solve. Refer to the reference book for the clarity of concepts, and solve again. In front of the question write the Page Number and Name of the book referred and underline or highlight the concept. This methodology is to be followed for all workbooks and other materials also. After a few months while doing revision you should re-attempt these marked questions only and no need to solve other questions.

Make a Revision Plan:

Make a habit of reading and revising simultaneously.

While studying a particular subject; devote 70-80% of self study time in developing concepts of new subjects and rest 20-30% time should be religiously devoted to revision of already completed topics/subjects. And, towards months closer to the exam, increase the revision time for proper retention of concepts till exam day.

While revising, make sure you do the following:

Review of class notes.
Revise the underlined/ highlighted portion of the text book.
Then attempt only the marked questions once more.
If time permits, then start with a new set of questions.

Make Micro notes:

After finishing every subject make micro notes, which have only principal formulae/ diagrams/ concepts of utmost importance. Especially note down the area which you find difficult to remember. Then, once this is done, take a snapshot and store it on your mobile gallery. These will be your Digital Micro Notes, which can be revised anywhere and everywhere, while travelling, gap between two classes, and free time.

Flow like a river:

Be loquacious and discussion oriented with friends and seniors and keep on clearing your doubts, don't allow to accumulate the doubts which may result in mental stress. Let your doubts/thoughts flow like river water which when flows gets self-purified. Also interact with successful seniors and friends to know about their path of success/strategy.

Evaluate yourself:

Take tests in an examination environment and analyze your performance and make notes of areas of difficulty and make a roadmap to improve these before the next test.

Stay away from incompetent and non-achievers. Don’t let their failure demoralise you in any sense.

Make holistic and balancing approach:

Cover entire syllabus but more time should be given to important areas. Identify important subjects and mark important topics within a subject. Scoring and low scoring areas should be segregated. Make a balance study plan for technical and non technical subjects.

(II) Strategy for Repeaters:

“The road to success may be long and winding but, each step forward brings you closer to your destination”

Review your past performance and find the reasons for failure. Consider failure as the next stepping step. In fact you have not failed your success is little postponed.
Identify weak areas of each subject and start your preparation by first improving these areas.
Focus more on solving different types of problems and that too from an exam oriented & new source of material in each iteration.
Plan your study to maintain regularity and self motivation; daily scheduling and subject wise scheduling is very important for a systematic preparation.
Join some good test Series & appear for tests with full preparation and take the test in an examination environment. Solve previous years’ papers.
Maintain continuity and keep up the self motivation, form groups of 3-4 friends and make a schedule of group study once in a week to discuss complex questions and doubts.

Things to be kept in mind during preparation:

Never read too many books for the same topic. This will simply kill your time. To save time, always refer to material of coaching institute supplemented by the standard books.

Strengthen the key concepts of each subject. The questions are based on the basic concepts and they do not require much calculation. Cramming up the formulae won’t help until and unless you have a clear concept of the topic.

Focus on writing & presentation skills, theory, derivations & diagrams for subjective paper.

Solve all the previous 10 years' questions thoroughly. In the IES exam, a lot many questions are based on the concepts of previous years' questions.

Rather than solving five questions on similar concepts. It is better to solve one question with five different methods. It gives knowledge about the shortest methods to be used.

Strategy during the Exam:

Objective Papers:

Stay ahead of time, and not with it. Split your time into milestones like 28-30 questions per 30 minutes.
The questions from the same subject on the objective papers are mostly bunched together. Solve the questions from the easy subjects first to be ahead of time and your milestones.
Blind Guessing should be avoided. Always try to make a smart guess by eliminating some of the options which cannot be right.

Conventional Papers:

Selection of questions and time management is an important key for getting good marks in the conventional paper. The questions must be selected from the subjects which you are good at.
With the introduction of Question Paper cum Answer Booklet (QAB) by UPSC in the Main Exam, there is absolutely no reason to do the questions in the order they are printed in the paper. Solve the easiest ones first. Getting the easy questions safely under your belt at the start of an exam is a wonderful boost to confidence, and can help reduce any feelings of panic that might arise when looking at the harder questions. The easy questions are likely to take less time than the average. That means you’ll be ahead of schedule from the start – another good confidence booster.
Allot time appropriately for the theory questions as per the marks allocated against these questions.

ESE 2025 Exam Schedule

ReferUPSC website.

Medical Standard for ESE 2025

Candidates finally recommended by the Commission on the basis of Engineering Services Examination, 2025 shall be required to undergo medical examination.

Physical standards

Candidates must be physically fit according to physical standards for admission to Engineering Services Examination, 2025 as per guidelines given in Appendix-II of the Rules for the Engineering Services Examination, 2025 published in the Gazette of India

ESE 2025 Resources

Reference books play a significant role in the ESE exam preparation. We will share a list of reference books for registered members.

ENROLL NOW!

Engineering Colleges can contact us for :

Technical Fest/Seminar/Fairs
Guest Lecturers/Conference
Subject-wise/Class-wise online classes as per ESE Syllabus specially designed by expert faculties
Subject-wise concept papers , notes and e-books as per their school brand name and logo
Live Online Classes for Engineering Students Presently in Class 1st year , 2nd year , 3rd year and final year
Online Test Series ( Subject-wise/Topic-wise/Class-wise ) to test student knowledge and check where they stand.
To make open door assignments ( Class-wise)
To arrange career counselling for students.
To hire expert faculties for all subjects in offline/online mode.
To organize national level test series
To organize Virtual/Physical Educational Trips ( based on Engineering Subjects/Topics/Project/Industrial Training cum placement )
To design and develop academic program as per your Engineering College needs
To provide an opportunity to engineering students to start earning by part-time jobs allocated by industry partners as per their engineering branch and interest.

Email us at: [email protected] for more information.