What ESE is
The Engineering Services Examination, conducted by UPSC, recruits engineering graduates into the Indian Engineering Services, gazetted Group A and Group B technical posts across departments such as Indian Railways, the Central Water Commission, the Central Public Works Department, Border Roads Organisation and telecommunications departments. It is the engineering counterpart to the Civil Services Examination: a graduate degree exam that places successful candidates into technical leadership roles within government departments rather than general administrative ones.
Recruitment is discipline specific. A candidate applies and sits papers in one of four engineering disciplines, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, or Electronics and Telecommunication, and the posts available depend on which discipline you sat.
Who can apply
A bachelor’s degree in Engineering, or an equivalent qualification the government recognises, in one of the four disciplines is required. The general age band is roughly 21 to 30 years as on the 1st of January following the examination year, with standard relaxations for reserved categories and persons with disability.
How the exam runs
The exam runs in three stages. The Preliminary Examination is an objective test of two papers: General Studies and Engineering Aptitude, common to all candidates, and a discipline-specific Engineering Discipline Paper. Only candidates who clear the Preliminary Examination’s cutoff advance.
The Main Examination consists of two conventional, fully descriptive papers in the candidate’s chosen discipline, testing depth of engineering knowledge rather than objective recall. This is a meaningfully different format from most other UPSC exams’ Main stage and closer to a university engineering examination in style.
Candidates who clear the Main Examination sit an Interview, referred to as the Personality Test. Final selection combines Main Examination marks and Interview marks.
Preparing the application
UPSC specifies exact photograph and signature requirements in each notification rather than a fixed year to year standard, so check the current notification’s dimensions and file size before uploading. The tools on this site can resize your photograph to whatever specific target the notification states.
On exam day
Arrive at least an hour before the reporting time on your admit card, with the printed admit card, a government photo identification matching the name and photo on the admit card, one recent passport size photograph, and a black ballpoint pen for the objective paper (a black or blue pen for the descriptive Main papers). No electronic devices are permitted, and only material issued by UPSC at the centre may be used.
The official UPSC notification and website, linked above, carry the current discipline-wise vacancies, syllabus and schedule for the cycle you are applying to.