Full Form of ESE
Girijesh Singh16 Sept, 2023
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ESE stands for Engineering Services Examination. UPSC conducts this national-level exam to recruit officers for technical sector government jobs. Additionally, it has three selection rounds, comprising objective papers, descriptive papers, and a personal interview.
Officers who qualify for ESE are appointed by the President of India. Additionally, they need to manage and work in various technical fields such as power generation, roads, railways, construction, etc.
ESE Main Exam Pattern
This round consists of two descriptive papers. Additionally, they include questions from the specific branch opted for by the candidate. In order to score good marks, candidates must write their responses in a crisp manner by using proper words.
The following table gives a view of the Mains exam pattern:
ESE Interview
This is the final selection round, where all the Mains-qualified candidates are called for a personality test. Additionally, candidates are tested according to their leadership, intellectual skills, character integrity, social qualities, and analytical abilities.
Moreover, the Interview comprises 200 marks. Therefore, candidates must practise enhancing their performance in this round.
Highlights of ESE Exam
ESE is regarded as the most competitive engineering exam in India. Moreover, candidates are recruited to various departments and ministries of the Indian government. Therefore, they are highly respected throughout the country. In order to qualify for this exam with a good score, candidates must be aware of basic highlights. These include the following:| Exam name | ESE or IES |
| Exam frequency | Once a year |
| Vacancies | Varies every year |
| No. of selection rounds | 3 (Prelims, Mains, Interview) |
| Mode of exam | Offline |
| Application mode | Online |
ESE Exam Eligibility
To take the ESE exam, candidates must be at least 21 years old and not more than 30 years old. In the official notification, UPSC specifies the detailed IES eligibility requirements. Additionally, these criteria are grouped under various sections such as age, nationality, educational qualification, etc. Therefore to prevent disqualification, every aspirant must meet the IES ESE qualifying criteria. The following are the specific requirements: Nationality- To be eligible for the IES, the candidate must fall into any of the following categories.
- An Indian national living in Bhutan or Nepal Subject
- A Tibetan refugee coming to India before January 1, 1962, with the motive to stay permanently.
- A person of Indian heritage moved to India from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, or the East African republics of Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania, Malawi, Zaire, Vietnam, or Ethiopia.
- An engineering qualification from a recognised institute or university is required.
- Additionally, a candidate may have an engineering degree/diploma from a recognised overseas university.
- Furthermore, candidates need to pass the A and B sections of the IEI.
- Candidates also need to qualify for the Graduate Membership Exam of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunications.
- Additionally, applicants may qualify for the Associate Membership Exam Indian Aeronautical Society.
- Moreover, applicants may provide documents for the Graduate Membership Exam for the Institution of Electronics and Radio Engineers.
UPSC ESE Application Process
ESE aspirants who meet all the eligibility requirements can proceed to complete the online registration. Additionally, to fill out the application form, they need to take the following steps:- Go to the official website of UPSC. Further, they need to click on the ESE exam notification.
- On the next page, they need to click the ‘apply online’ link.
- Afterwards, fill in all the details on Part 1 of the Prelims application form. Once they submit their details, their unique registration number and password are sent to their mobile number.
- Next, aspirants can use login with their registration number and DOB to fill out the application form.
- After filling in all the necessary information in the application form, applicants must cross-check for any errors. Once they are certain about the accuracy of the details, they can submit the form.
- Following this step, applicants must submit scan copies of all the supporting documents.
- Subsequently, they will be directed to make an online payment. Here they need to pay the application fee according to their category.
- After completing all these steps, applicants need to click on the declaration and complete the application process.
ESE Exam Pattern
As mentioned, the ESE exam consists of 3 stages. Additionally, all the candidates must qualify for all the stages to make it to the final merit list. Furthermore, the ESE exam is held every year to recruit qualified candidates for the following four branches:- Mechanical engineering
- Civil engineering
- Electrical engineering
- Electronics and Telecommunication engineering
| Paper | Subject | Total marks | Exam duration |
| Paper 1 | GS and Engineering Aptitude | 200 | 2 hours |
| Paper 2 | Engineering (Mechanical/civil/Electrical/Electronics and Telecommunication) | 300 | 3 hours |
| Paper | Subject | Total marks | Exam duration |
| Paper 1 | Engineering (Mechanical/civil/Electrical/Electronics and Telecommunication) | 300 | 3 hours |
| Paper 2 | Engineering (Mechanical/civil/Electrical/Electronics and Telecommunication) | 300 | 3 hours |
Conclusion
ESE is an extremely challenging recruitment exam. However, the candidates who qualify for this test are posted to the most respectable positions in the engineering department. Therefore, ESE aspirants must follow a rigorous preparation schedule to thoroughly cover all the syllabus topics and earn excellent scores in each examination round. [wp-faq-schema title=" FAQs" accordion=1]Does ESE Mains have a negative marking?
No, there is no negative marking for the ESE Mains exam.
What is the total number of questions for the ESE mains exam?
The ESE mains exam comprises a total of 16 questions.
Is there any language option for the ESE Prelims exam?
ESE Prelims question papers are set only in the English language. Therefore, candidates don’t get any option to choose another language.
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