To apply for Engineering Services Examination (ESE), a candidate should hold a Bachelor’s degree in the field of engineering from a recognized University. The four core engineering branches whose students write ESE are Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Electronics Engineering. As far as age limit is concerned, the candidate who wishes to write ESE must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 30 years as mentioned in that particular year’s ESE notification released by UPSC.

There is no difference between ESE and IES. UPSC conducts Engineering Services Examination (ESE), and the engineers recruited as class ‘A’ officers are commonly known as IES (Indian Engineering Service) officers.

A candidate who wishes to write ESE must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 30 years on the dates as mentioned in that particular year’s UPSC ESE notification. The maximum age limit is relaxed for candidates from different categories.

The Engineering Services Examination (ESE) is conducted in three stages – ESE Prelims, ESE Main, and finally Personality Test. Both the Prelims and Main stage papers are offline i.e. pen and paper-based tests.

In ESE Prelims papers calculators are not allowed. However, candidates are allowed to use calculator while writing ESE Main papers.

The ESE Online Test Series includes mock tests that match the level and orientation of the ESE Prelims and ESE Main papers. ESE test series consists of a good number of topic-wise tests, subject-wise tests, mixed subject tests, and full-length tests to equip ESE aspirants in the most complete manner to accept, attempt and challenge the UPSC Engineering Services Examination. By writing full-length tests, ESE aspirants get an opportunity to write ESE before the real ESE.

Negative marking is there in ESE Prelims stage papers only. The questions asked in ESE Prelims papers are objective type. In ESE Prelims papers, there are four options for the answers to every question. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one‐third (1/3rd) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty. If a candidate gives more than one answer, it will be treated as a wrong answer even if one of the given answers happen to be correct, and in this case also negative marking is applicable. If a question is not attempted by the candidate then there would not be any penalty.

In ESE Prelims stage, a candidate has to write two objective papers – Paper-I and Paper-II. The Paper-I is of General Studies & Engineering Aptitude, and the Paper-II is of Engineering Discipline. In ESE Main stage too, a candidate has to write two papers – Paper-I and Paper-II. Here both the papers are conventional type papers of Engineering Discipline.

ESE consists of three stages – ESE Prelims, ESE Main, and Personality Test. All the three stages take almost the entire year. Whereas GATE is a one-day exam of three hours. Secondly, the syllabus of ESE is very vast, completing almost the entire engineering syllabus. GATE syllabus includes only those subjects that are important from higher studies point of view. Also, the objective of GATE is to test a candidate’s conceptual clarity, problem-solving skills and in-depth knowledge, ESE on other hand is more of a speed test and it tests a candidate’s ability to cover the entire syllabus of General Studies and Engineering.

The syllabus of GATE and ESE is almost similar. The only difference between these two exams is how a candidate approaches the exams. To crack GATE, which includes objective type questions, a candidate should have perfect conceptual clarity and understanding of subjects, and should know short tricks to deduce the correct answer from the given options. In the case of ESE, which includes subjective type questions in the Mains stage, a candidate should have good answer writing skills as well as speed and accuracy in solving numerical problems.

To begin preparation for ESE, one should first go through the complete UPSC ESE notification of that particular year to understand the exam, know about the number of vacancies, go through the syllabus, check the physical and medical requirements for various posts, and also go through other important details. Evaluate how much time you have in your hands to prepare for the exam, do a self-analysis of your strengths and weaknesses by browsing through previous years question papers, etc. Once done, decide whether you need ESE coaching, research about the best ESE coaching, watch the videos of previous years ESE toppers, take the ESE test series, plan ESE preparation strategy, choose the best ESE preparation books, and then proceed accordingly.

The online applications for GATE are generally submitted in the first week of September month, and the last date for the submission of GATE online applications go up to the last week of September. To submit the GATE online application, a candidate has to visit the official website of GATE Online Application Processing System i.e. GOAPS.

To write GATE, a candidate should be either BE or B.Tech. degree (4 years after 10+2) holder in any of the various engineering streams such as Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, etc. from any recognized university. Candidates who are in the final year of their BE or B.Tech. degree course are also eligible to write GATE. There is no maximum age limit to write GATE.

GATE score is taken into consideration by many Public Sector Undertaking (PSUs) companies while recruiting engineers. So, if you want to begin your career as an engineer at any of the Maharatna, Navratna, or Miniratna PSUs then you can write GATE. Also, GATE score plays an important role if an engineering graduate wants to pursue higher studies from any reputed institute like IITs, NITs, or IISc Bangalore.

The prime purpose of GATE is to test a candidate’s knowledge and understanding of the subjects that have been studied during graduation. The GATE score reflects a student’s performance level.

There are many benefits of writing GATE as on the basis of GATE Score, which indicates a candidate’s command over technical knowledge as well as analytical and decision-making abilities, a candidate can get admission in any reputed engineering institute for Post-Graduation programs, recruitment in PSUs, scholarship in ME or M.Tech courses, etc.

No, application for GATE are not accepted offline. The entire GATE application process is done through GATE Onli ne Application Processing System (GOAPS).

Overall the GATE exam is considered as tough as it tests the technical knowledge of a student from the subjects and topics that one has studied during four years of B.Tech. In GATE, the vast curriculum of four years of engineering is tested in three hours. However, if a student has been sincere in college then for him or her, it would be of easy to moderate level.

As GATE score is considered by premiere institutes like IITs, NITs, IIITs, IISc, etc. for admitting students to M.Tech programs, and by many PSUs to recruit students as junior engineers, a good GATE score plays a very important role. A good GATE score for admissions can be different from that for PSUs recruitment. But, if we go by the past records, a GATE rank below 200 is good enough to secure a seat in any of these institutes for PG programs as well as getting recruited by the top PSUs.

No, clearing GATE is not mandatory for M.Tech. You can take admission in private colleges without writing GATE, the only thing you will not get is the stipend. However, for getting admission in IITs/NITs/IIITs for M.Tech, you have to clear GATE with a good score.

GATE is conducted jointly by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and the seven Indian Institutes of Technology i.e. IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Guwahati, IIT Roorkee IIT Kanpur, and IIT Kharagpur) on behalf of the National Coordination Board (NCB)-GATE, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India.

The GATE paper includes three sections – General Aptitude, Engineering Mathematics and technical subject as per the paper chosen by a candidate while filling the GATE application form.

To write GATE one should have either completed or pursuing his B.Tech. Second- or third-year students cannot write GATE.