ESE 2024 Preparation: How to avoid Common Mistakes?

We are sure you, being an ESE aspirant, must have been focusing on the ESE 2024 preparation. And working dedicatedly with reading books, revising, practicing, and re-revising everything to score a rank that ensures that you land a dream job. Today, we want to talk about a topic that most ESE 2024 aspirants will relate to; therefore, do not forget to read until the end to get a better direction for your exam preparation.

Let’s have a brief idea about the ESE exam first:

To recruit engineers from the four streams—civil, mechanical, electrical, electronics, and telecommunications—every year, UPSC conducts the ESE (Engineering Services Examination). Candidates after the final selection are posted in various ministries and departments of the GOI, such as Railways, Telecom, Border Roads, CPWD, CWC, CPES, NHAI, Naval Armaments, IDSE, MES, Ordnance Factories, etc.; however, they can move to any cadre, organization, agency, department, ministry, or PSU of the Government of India depending upon certain criteria and vacancies. All the final selected candidates receive the designation of Class-I officers.

What are the stages in UPSC ESE 2024 Exam?

Exam	Paper	Type	Subject	Time	Marks
Preliminary Examination	Paper I	Objective	General Studies and Engineering Aptitude	2 Hours	200
	Paper-II	Objective	Engineering Discipline (CE/ ME/ EE/ E&T)	3 Hours	300
Mains Examination	Paper I	Conventional	Engineering Discipline I (CE/ ME/ EE/ E&T)	3 Hours	300
	Paper-II	Conventional	Engineering Discipline II (CE/ ME/ EE/ E&T)	3 Hours	300

 

After looking at the exam and its pattern, let us now move ahead and start discussing the ESE 2024 preparation. We talk to toppers, asking them their strategy to crack the exam, but what we forget to think about are the common mistakes that students make before or during the exam, which create a fine line between those selected and those rejected. Today we will focus on some common mistakes that we tend to ignore during our paper preparation.

 

Common Mistakes During ESE 2024 Preparation

There are plenty of mistakes that students make during their preparation, but here we would like to point out the few most common mistakes. This blog will act both as your guide and as a sense of understanding of what you should avoid doing. You might already be aware of some mistakes that you may have made, but this article will help you identify some habits that you have unknowingly developed and that may act as an obstacle in your preparation.

 

1. Following the toppers blindly:

Every person’s story of success is different. During the exam, we all tend to read articles and blogs, listen to their struggles, and see their achievements. These not only motivate us but also act as a guiding light because we tend to apply those strategies in our preparation too. While trying a similar approach during your preparation is not a bad idea, using the same strategy and planning can land you in trouble.

We must remember that no two people on earth are the same; therefore, their habits, mental capacity, and even learning approach cannot be the same. Therefore, you must not blindly follow any topper but instead, adopt good aspects and points from their preparation and make a strategy of your own.

 

2. Unaware of the syllabus:

If you have started your preparation in full swing now but have not looked at the syllabus even once, then you need to take a pause. ESE aspirants must visit the UPSC official website and look at the syllabus of the ESE 2024 Prelims Exam. You can also check the Engineering Services Examination syllabus on our official website. This is not a customary thing to do before an exam but is a vital part of the preparation for the ESE exam. You must keep your exam syllabus handy at all times so that you do not waste time reading the topics that are out of the syllabus.

 

3. Jack of all trades, perfect in none:

We as students have a habit of collecting books, and during the ESE Preparation, though reading books is not a bad habit or approach, reading 10 books without knowing about the concepts is a mere waste of time and effort. So make sure you read one book carefully, make notes of it, and then switch to the next one and follow the same pattern henceforth.

 

4. Enrolling in a coaching institute:

You should enroll in a coaching institute if you require guidance while preparing for the ESE. It provides you with the right path to prepare, along with a study environment. Choose an institute that not only provides a study environment but also teachers who inspire you to give your best with strategic planning and direction. Along with education, it will also provide you with interaction with students preparing for the same exams. In this manner, you can assess your level of readiness and that of your competitors. But before joining any course in a coaching institute, make sure you read the course manual, visit the institute (if possible), and take reviews from the students (which are easily available today on the internet on websites like Quora, reviews on the respective coaching institutes’ portal, etc.).

You must ensure that the institute is fulfilling your needs. It is not just a mere waste of time and money. You must also look for scholarship programs like NST at the institute so that the coaching fee is not heavy on your pocket. MADE EASY is one of the premium coaching institutes for GATE and ESE. So, choose wisely.

 

5. Improper Time Management: 

Time management is most important during preparation, so take the utmost care of your time and manage it well. As mentioned earlier, go through the syllabus and make sure that your preparation is in line with it. Also, give special attention to the core subjects and main topics depending on the previous years’ papers, and do not waste much time studying and revising the lesser important topics, as it would only make your task tedious and ineffective.

 

6. Lack of practice and revision in ESE 2024 preparation: 

‘Practice makes a man perfect’ so the utmost attention must be given to revise what you have read from time to time and not leave your books and notes lying around the shelf after just one read. Only reading any concept once will never embed it in your brain because your brain has to realize that it is important, which is only possible if you keep revising it frequently. You must from time to time revise it, for which you must make notes, as it will reduce your task of revision and inspire you to revise it now and then.

Also, along with revision, practice previous year questions, and if possible, join some test series, as it will help you get real-time analyses and judgments of your strategy and preparation as you will compete with your other contenders and know how much more hard work is required and in which direction and for which subject it is required.

 

7. Fantasy world: 

Well, most of the aspirants will relate to this on a very personal level. Right from our engineering days, we have heard of the ESE examination and the perks that are a part of clearing the exam. All these things now and then take us to an imaginary land where we think of how happy our parents will be and how happy we will be, and the dream goes on and on, and before you know it, you have wasted 1 hour of your study time imagining something that does not even exist yet.

Therefore, you for sure cannot stop dreaming about this very fantasy world, as it inspires you to work harder for this exam, but it would help if you could cut down on the time and the number of hours you spend in this delusion. If you only look at the goal without taking care of the steps needed to reach it, you may falter in your journey.

 

8. Procrastinating: 

‘The greatest amount of wasted time is the time taken to get started’. So instead of putting down things and your preparation until tomorrow, start with small steps today, right at this moment. If you are unaware of where to start, go through the syllabus, as that will inspire you and instill confidence in you that you can easily ace the exam. During the preparation time, make sure to be punctual with your classes, studying hours, test series, food, and most of all, the revision part. Do not leave things for tomorrow, as that may never come.

 

9. Friends and Health: 

The ESE Examination is one of the toughest examinations in India and thus requires proper concentration and sincere effort. It is also important that you take special care of what you do during your free time. You must have friends and companions who inspire you and help you in your preparation. Friends with whom you can discuss and analyze concepts and theories so that they are embedded in your memory forever. Along with your friends and companions, you must also take care of your health.

Eating street food, oily food, and skipping proper meals are some common mistakes that many students make, though in the short run, it may buy you some time to study. In the long run, it will kill your time by making you weak and sick. So be careful to eat healthy, exercise (maybe just for 15 minutes a day) and drink lots of water.

Now that we have come to know about how you can avoid common mistakes that usually occur with the ESE 2024 preparation, let us find out some equivalent important information related to the ESE 2024 preparation.

 

How to prepare for UPSC ESE 2024?

UPSC ESE examination is one of the most challenging examinations for most aspirants due to the extensive competition. Therefore, it is crucial for the aspirants to take their ESE 2024 preparation to the next level. Here are some of the tested and proven ways to prepare for the UPSC ESE 2024 examination.

Set your expectations right: Most of you might feel confused when your expectations are discussed before starting with the ESE 2024 examination. However, you must understand that this particular segment must be set right to avoid setting larger-than-life goals or getting distracted from the major goals. Therefore, you must check the syllabus properly before diving into full-fledged ESE 2024 preparation. It will help you mentally prepare to put in the required effort for the ESE examination.

 

If you want to know more about the ESE 2024 syllabus, check out the following blogs:

• ESE 2024 Civil Engineering: Syllabus, Books, and FAQs
• ESE 2024 Mechanical Engineering: Syllabus, Books, and FAQs
• ESE 2024 Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering: Syllabus, Books, and FAQs
• ESE 2024 Electrical Engineering: Syllabus, Books, and FAQs

In the next stage, it is better to divide the ESE 2024 preparation journey into two stages, which answer your query regarding ‘how to prepare for IES?’.

 

ESE Prelims exam preparation tips:

1. Cover the complete syllabus: Yes, you heard that right! ESE Prelims is the most challenging stage in the entire ESE selection process. Therefore, you need to put 100% effort into understanding, learning, and building concepts related to the topics specified in the ESE 2024 syllabus. Experts highly recommend that aspirants not take shortcuts to complete the syllabus and have a fair idea about almost all the topics present in the updated syllabus.
2. Emphasize the scoring topics: Each of the engineering branches eligible as per the ESE eligible criteria comprises certain sections and topics that allow the aspirants to prepare for the ESE examination in the required manner. In this way, you will understand the priority topics in the subjects included in the ESE examination. Your primary goal must be to complete these topics and put efforts into building a strong base for the Engineering Services Examination 2024.
3. Focus on current affairs and maths: Both of these papers hold a critical position in the entire ESE 2024 exam. Therefore, if you want to crack the exam successfully, you must work towards preparing well for these two subjects. It will help you have an edge over your competitors. The popular books for math include Engineering Mathematics for GATE and ESE 2024.
4. Take practice tests as a priority: Only studying for the competitive exams will give you internal satisfaction, but it will not give you a reality check about your ESE preparation strategy. Therefore, you must understand that taking practice tests or mock tests will show you the areas on which you must emphasize during the remaining preparation journey.

 

ESE Mains exam preparation tips:

1. Work on handwriting: Most candidates appearing for the ESE 2024 examination must keep one thing in mind- ESE exam paper checkers have several papers to check along with your ESE Mains paper. Therefore, you must write your answers in such a way that the examiner can even scan your answer sheet while checking the answers. You need to put in your best efforts to make your handwriting easily readable, thus making your answer sheet much better than other answer sheets. In this way, there are high chances of the exam paper checker marking the best marks for the respective marks. Answer-writing exercises will help you improve your handwriting skills. In this way, you will build a balance between answer presentation and quality right from your IES preparation journey.
2. Utilize diagrams: Do you remember how our school teachers asked us to draw the information we wanted to write in our notebooks? Absolutely! You must similarly treat the ESE examination. Present your answers in the form of diagrams (wherever possible). It will help you save ample time, present answers in the best way, and better understand the exam paper checkers. Therefore, you must combine diagrams with your answers to attempt the exam in the best possible manner.
3. Practice numerical: Numerical is a critical part of the ESE examination. Therefore, you must get rid of the fear of attempting the numerical type of questions and create a dedicated schedule to practice the numerical type from guidebooks, practice books, and previous years’ question papers.
4. Focus on the difficult part as well: You might feel motivated to attempt the easier level of questions, but you need to focus on attempting the questions that are considered difficult. It will help you keep your ESE preparation strategy rock-solid and secure the desired results without affecting your confidence in the long term. It is always wise to strengthen the difficult parts of the syllabus associated with civil, mechanical, electrical, electronic, and electronics and telecommunications engineering. This depends on the respective stream of engineering that you have chosen for the Engineering Services Examination (ESE).

 

Lastly, you need to be confident that you can do it! Filter negative thoughts and voices to stay on track toward becoming an Engineering Services officer with the prestigious Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

We hope you will be able to relate to this blog post, and it will help you take the utmost care to not repeat the above-mentioned mistakes because, with this level of preparation combined with dedication and enthusiasm, we cannot let some simple mistakes hamper your rank in the ESE Examination.

Wish you all the very best for your ESE 2024 preparation and attempt!

 

 

Dear Aspirants,

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