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UPSC Engineering Services (ESE) prelims

ESE is UPSC's examination for the central government engineering services and posts its notice lists, in four disciplines: prelims, then mains, then an interview. Every line below is from UPSC's own site, read 2026-10-27.

ESE 2027

Notice: Examination Notice No. 02/2027-ENGG. dated 16.09.2026
Applications: 16.09.2026 to 06.10.2026 (6:00 PM) — closed
Prelims: 31.01.2027
Mains: 18.06.2027
Vacancies: about 480, including 19 for persons with benchmark disabilities (the notice says the number may change)
Disciplines: Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering. A candidate applies for one discipline only (p. 8).
Age: 21 to 30 years on 1 January 2027 (born between 2 Jan 1997 and 1 Jan 2006), with the relaxations on pp. 10–14.
Qualification: A degree in engineering, or one of the equivalents the notice lists (pp. 15–16). Final-year students may apply.
Fee: ₹200; women, SC, ST and PwBD candidates pay no fee (p. 17).

UPSC exam page: Engineering Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2027 · UPSC calendar 2027 (as on 20.05.2026): PDF

Prelims pattern

Paper	Marks	Time
Paper I — General Studies and Engineering Aptitude (Common to all disciplines; objective)	200	2 hours
Paper II — your engineering discipline (Objective)	300	3 hours
Prelims total	500

Four options per question. A wrong answer costs one-third of the marks of that question; marking more than one answer counts as wrong; a blank costs nothing (Note II, p. 36).
Mains: Two conventional (written) papers in your discipline, 300 marks each, 3 hours each.
Interview: Personality test, 200 marks, no minimum; about twice the vacancies are called.
Prelims, mains and interview marks together decide the final rank (500 + 600 + 200).
Syllabus: Section III of the notice, pp. 42–50: Paper I p. 42; Civil pp. 42–45; Mechanical pp. 45–46; Electrical pp. 46–48; Electronics & Telecommunication pp. 48–50.

Source: the ESE 2027 notice, pp. 36–40.

UPSC's own past prelims papers

UPSC lists ESE prelims papers for 2017–2026 (2024–2026 on the main page, older in the archive): previous question papers · archive. ESE 2026 prelims:

UPSC's answer-key page lists no ESE prelims key on 27 Oct 2026, so these papers cannot be scored against an official key here.

ESE 2025 prelims cut-off (General category)

Civil: 233 / 500
Mechanical: 238 / 500
Electrical: 210 / 500
Electronics & Telecommunication: 176 / 500

Out of 500, subject to at least 15% in each paper (10% for PwBD). Other categories and the written and final cut-offs are in the same PDF. Source: UPSC cut-off PDF · all UPSC cut-offs.

Practise the engineering subjects

ESE Paper II covers the same core engineering subjects as GATE in your branch. GATE's own past papers, scored against the official keys: Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics. These are GATE papers, not ESE papers.