Along with my strategy, I am sharing my experience.

Let me confess that my result (AIR-5) is way more than my work/time/energy spent in preparation. I am
working in NTPC ltd (6 working days per week/no weekend)& I am a fitness freak too(usually spend
more than a one/two hr everyday in physical activity), bottom line is the time available for me was very
scarce. No need to say that I have availed any coaching neither joined any test series. The only external
help I got is free interview guidance from ACE Engg Academy(bcaz it was for free) &experience/guidance
shared in IES helpline website (https://ieshelpline.wordpress.com/) and IES made easy classroom notes
(which is much overrated) dont have any friend to discuss any topics or clarification of doubt (which I
really missed).
My target is to score 700 minimum (at any cost & worst case scenario). Here was my breakup of marks.
GAT paper-100
Objective I-140 (min 100 qsn attempt out of 120 & 88 qsn correct & 12 qsn wrong to score 140)
Objective II-140
Interview-120 (I had confidence that I will obtain 120 in interview even if it goes wrong)
Totaling of four: 500
So even if I wil get 100(very easy to score) in each conventional I will get 700. Any additional mark will
boost my score & rank. I knew that I have to get 750 to get branch of my choice (top rankers) & the only
thing to reach 750 is to score min 125 in each Conv (which is not easy but not tough either).
I spent approximately 15-20 days to understand the type and pattern of questions, analyzed last 3-4 yrs
previous year question papers. I started preparing from the Month of February (with a proper plan &
determination to execute it). My time line was from Februay 1st to 10th June 15 (for the record ESE Exam
was on 12th June).
February: read thoroughly once all subjects of Paper-I & make short notes of each subject (so that u
can quickly revise when U need to)
To cover one Subject thoroughly, U can choose whatever u r comfortable or u like or u think it is best for
u. Trust me Good books are the best.
In my case, for Network Theory I followed my own ACE classroom notes (for GATE) & book by D. Roy
Chaudhury only to cover network synthesis & graph theory which are not covered in ACE note. For
Device Physics, I went through Neaman book only. For Material Science, selected portion from S P Seth.
For measurement & Instrumentation, ACE Note (thanks to my friend Rajkiran for that note) & selected
portion from A K Sawhney. For EMT, Sadiku book is the best. Signal & system by Oppenheim.
One thing I will strongly recommended is to solve Objective Qsn at the End of each chapter in Sadiku &
A K Sawhney book.

PS-Dont get lost in books (dont fall in love with it). Focus on your goal/objective & Dont follow more
than one book per subject (as I hv said Time is scarce & precious).
March: read thoroughly all Subjects of Paper-II & take short notes(But I could not cover Microwave
properly &didnt even touch Computer technology )
Analog Electronics from Sedra & Smith,
Digital electronics from Morrios Mano,
Microprocessor 8085 form Gaonkar,
Communication from An introduction to analog and digital communication by Simon Haykins.
For Control System I used my prv ACE Note & book by Nagrath & M. Gopal.
For Mircowave Samuel Liao.
I will share two secrets of success here. (very very useful)
1. The syllabus of Paper-II subjects are sort of not limited & too wide. How much you read it is not
enough. And Good news is that not only the syllabi of Paper-I subjects are limited but also they are
relatively easy & highly scoring. I have seen people who have already scored more than 150 in
Conventioal of Paper-I.
Bottom line is cover as much as possible of Paper-I (objective as well as Subjective).
Thanks to ASHISH PANDA (AIR-6, ESE-2013) for sharing this secret.
2. There is one book named Electronic Communication System by Kennedy. It contains Analog,
Digital ,optical fiber, satellite communication, radar, Tx-line, waveguide & microwave devices too.
The best part is in ESE exam many question come directly (as it is) from the set of questions given at
the end of each chapter in that book.
I will strongly recommend to go through this book (particularly obj qsn)
My sincere thanks to Chandrakanta Mishra Sir for this secret & his valuable guidance &
motivation throughout my preparation.
April: Prv year OBJ Qsn Practice (this is the most important part in the preparation)
Many people follow IES Made easy book (that contains prv yr qsn Subject wise & Year wise) for
this. But that is the least effective way & I am not going to tell why. What I did follows next.
Take printout of Prv years IES QSn Paper (as it is, from UPSC Website & Internet) & what I meant is real
Qsn paper used in Exam. Take print out of 120 qsn OMR Sheet (U can find easily in Internet). Set Timer
for 2hr. Now let the game begin. (Its Real Exam Environment, Isnt it?).
Now 2 hr is over. Now the real exercise starts. You have to check 120 qsn by yourselves. You will ended
up with 3 types,
1. Qsn that u have done correctly ( thanks to yourselves & be happy)
2. Qsn u have attempted & not correct ( U have to look immediately that portion form book/ note
whatever, make a short note of that area on that qsn paper itself)

3. Qsn u have skipped (not attempted) : Action is similar to Part 2

Bottom line is, its no more 120 qsns for you but now you are looking at 120 concepts.
So for me, one paper took 2 hr for exam & 4-5hrs for evaluation part. So I ended up in completing
hardly one paper per day. Initially I was getting 110 marks only, but later I was scoring more than 140
marks. The moment I touched 150 marks, I knew that I am going to crack ESE this year.
I solved last 10 year qsn of both Paper-I & paper-II in the way described above.
May: Revision, GS & Conventional
Its time to revision your short notes that u have made & anything u have missed in Feb & March.
GAT Paper:
General English: I didnt prepare English at all (due to time constraint) & that was a terrible mistake. I
dont have any idea how to prepare English but what I know is English is damn easy & scoring. If u get
120/130 in GAT paper, your life will be much easier & ur chance of becoming Topper will be very high.
Put some effort in English too.
General Studies: My performance is not bad in this section & managed to score 100 in GAT. I did
prepare selectively.
History: only Modern India History from NCERT book
Geography: NCERT Book class-IX & X (really awesome), study with Map/Atlas
Life Science: NCERT books
Polity: Selected portion from book by M Laxmikanth
Environmental topics, Climate change & Biodiversity, UNs etc: From different Websites
PS: Many recommend me to go through IES made easy GS book. But I find that book really boring & too
much of information to digest. I did it in my own way & it worked out pretty well.
Bolte hai na General Studies to pura Samunder jaisa hi hai, jal wahan fekna jahan machhli hoThanks to Abdul Quadir Sir for his guidance & help in GS part. I wont thank to my roomie Pankaj
Ahrirwar (AIR-85, ESE-15 Mech) for those valuable discussion on GS topics & those memorable talk &
refreshing tea breaks, rather I will kick his ass.
Conventional: I didnt practiced conventional questions at all, that does not mean I was not prepared.
As far as conventional is concerned, what I did was, just had a look at IES made easy conventional book
to know what type of questions are being asked & from which area and to figure out those hot spots.
Prepare those hot spots well. But I knew that I have to focus in Conv Paper-I to get a good score & I did
fairly well.

Some important points that helped me a lot in Conventional

1.
2.
3.
4.

Try to maximize as much as u can in Paper-I. (prepare Paper-I thoroughly)

You have to write very precisely & to the point, otherwise 3hrs wont be enough.
Make good diagrams whenever needed. (no need of using color pens)
Write first two questions (out of five) very well, it will lead a good impression for the examiner.

I strongly recommend practicing at least one conventional paper of each in real time environment so
that you will come to know what can go wrong in the exam.
I must say in between this month you revise those short notes that you have made earlier. Give exam
for objective papers as in real time exam environment with same time as in real IES exam (9-11 am Obj
Paper-I & 2-4pm Obj Paper-II on same day). It will definitely help u a lot.
JUNE: (Last 10 days): only revision
I have made short notes such that I can revise entire syllabus within two days. Revise ur GK.
Few things I want to say Quantity does not matter, its always Quality. How many hours you are
studying is irrelevant, how effectively u r studying is important.
Believe in yourselves. There may be thousands or lakhs of students preparing for it. People are taking
coaching, studying for years (full time, without doing any job). Yah its true, but its also true that people
are cracking it in first attempt. Be the champion of your own heart.
Many says time available to me is not enough or its too late for this year etc. Trust me, sincere studies of
5-6 month are good enough. IES is not tough, what really tough is sticking to your plan and executing it.