How to prepare for GATE 2026 along with ESE 2026?

Exam season is here, and soon all candidates will be busy preparing for exams. For engineers, two major exams are coming: GATE and the Engineering Services Examination. While the syllabus for both exams is obviously similar, the exam pattern and types of questions asked differ.

Most students are now confused about whether they should prepare for ESE or GATE, or if they are preparing for both, how they should manage it. Many students may be confused about whether they should choose one exam or prepare for both GATE and ESE. This confusion is further exacerbated when they ask inexperienced people who advise them to prepare for only one exam instead of two. In today’s blog, we want to help students by explaining how to prepare for GATE alongside the ESE Preliminary Exam. However, before we begin, we need to be clear about the similarities and differences between the two exams.

GATE vs ESE

S. No.	POINTER	IES	GATE
1.	Basics	IES exam is conducted by Union Public Service Commission(UPSC)	GATE exam is conducted by the Indian Institute of Science(IISc), Bangalore, or any of the 7 Indian Institute of Technology(IITs).
2.	Syllabus	IES exam syllabus covers the entire engineering syllabus along with general studies and it aims to test your conceptual capability.	GATE exam syllabus covers specific topics which are going to be of use in higher studies and it tests your problem-solving capability along with English and Reasoning Ability
3.	Branches eligible	Only 4 branches are eligible: 1. Civil Engineering (CE) 2. Mechanical Engineering (ME) 3. Electrical Engineering (EE) 4. Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering (E&T)	This year 29 papers are available for candidates to choose from for the GATE examination.
4.	Exam Pattern	IES exam paper pattern includes both Objective & Conventional type questions. A total of 4 papers are conducted in IES written exam IES written exam conducts in 2 stages. Usage of Calculator is allowed only for conventional type papers but not for objective papers.	GATE exam paper pattern: Only Objective type questions. Written exams contain only 1 paper. GATE written exam is conducted in only 1 day.   Virtual Calculator is provided in GATE paper.
5.	Competition	In terms of the number of vacancies versus the number of candidates appearing in the examination, the competition ratio is about 1:300.	The competition ratio in terms of the number of candidates qualified versus the number of candidates appearing in the examination is nearly 1:10.
6.	Exam Preparation	Speed is a key factor in the IES exam. There are more questions in less time. E.g. 120 questions in 120 minutes for the GS paper. Conceptual clarity is required for IES exam. Writing practice is required for IES conventional type paper.	The faster thought process is a key factor in the GATE exam. There are Less questions in more time. 65 questions in 180 minutes. More than 2.5 minutes per question. Concept application ability along with concept clarity is required for GATE exam. Writing practice is not required for GATE paper. There is no conventional type of paper
7.	Main purpose	Main purpose of IES exam is: (1) Central government jobs in various Engineering Departments under Govt. of India.	The main purpose of the GATE exam is: (1) Higher education (i.e., M Tech, Ph.D., etc.) (2) Jobs in PSUs or Govt. Organizations. (3) Other Lucrative Opportunities in Research & Development

 

This comparison will help in establishing the further flow of how one can prepare for both exams simultaneously.

The ESE prelims examination is conducted in January, whereas the GATE examination is conducted in February. As the exams are conducted so close by, one has to prepare for both ESE Prelims and GATE together.

Why prepare for both GATE and ESE examinations?

Every year, Lakhs of candidates complete their engineering/technology courses in various branches of engineering. Most of these students start preparing for the GATE and IES exams in order to secure admission into an M.Tech or Ph.D. program and obtain Group A/B jobs in government departments, respectively.

While some students choose their particular exam, GATE or ESE, depending on their priority, but many candidates want to prepare for both exams simultaneously. There are many reasons why candidates like to prepare for both of these exams simultaneously. Here we have listed a few of them:

1. It opens more future opportunities for the candidate.
2. It will be an opportunity to save a whole year for those who want to prepare for IES just after clearing GATE.
3. GATE exam preparation covers almost 70% of the total preparation required for the IES exam. Leaving only a few technical topics and the GS portion.
4. Preparing for two high-level exams with almost the same syllabus will help to prepare for both exams directly or indirectly.

With so many benefits, most of the students prepare for both the exams and work hard to crack them. To simplify your preparation journey, MADE EASY has introduced the GATE and ESE 2026 Foundation Course, which allows you to prepare for GATE and ESE without any hassle.

How can you prepare for both exams?

Preparing for both exams:

1. Preparation Strategy :

Before you start your preparation, know about the common topics in the two exams, as these topics will be easier to cover. Also, you must know the topics that are different in the two exams. These topics will require special attention and care during preparation.

S No.	TOPIC	TYPE OF PAPER	IES	GATE
1.	Current Affairs	Objective	YES	No
2.	General English	Objective	NO	Yes
3.	General Aptitude	Objective	YES	Yes
4.	Engineering Aptitude	Objective.	YES	No
5.	Mathematics	Objective	YES	Yes
6.	Technical Subjects	Objective	YES	Yes
7.	Technical Subjects	Conventional	YES	No

 

The above table will give you an idea about the type of questions that are asked in both the exams and the ones that are specific to a particular examination.

1. Common topics: For the topics that are common to both exams, you may not face many problems, as they will already be in your plan and strategy. All you have to do is practice the previous year’s papers of both the exam and study as per both the exam pattern and requirements.
2. Different topics: Many topics are exclusive to a particular examination i.e. GATE or ESE. For these subjects, the extra time has to be taken out and studied well to master the subject and thus crack the exam.

The proper strategy has to be deployed while preparing for both the exam. A strategy that will include: reading the subjects, practicing past year papers for both, and solving test series for both. It is extremely necessary that for both exams, a separate test series is taken, as though the syllabus might coincide, but still the pattern of the exam is different.

For the students whose subjects might vary in GATE and ESE, they require double the effort. ESE allows only 4 branches, so students from any other branch must be careful while choosing their subjects in ESE. They need to strategize their plan well to study all the subjects.

2. Time Management:

While strategy is important, what is more important is time management. Every subject has to be given due regard and time, along with making deadlines for each subject. Time Management is a very important technique for cracking any exam, and when you are studying for two exams simultaneously, its significance increases multifold.

• Read the newspaper: General Studies is a part of the ESE examination for which you must know what is going on around the world. This will keep you aware of your surroundings and also help improve your general studies. Along with general studies, this will also help you in the General English paper of GATE.
• Practice aptitude: Aptitude is an important part of the GATE examination, and practicing it will not only increase your marks but also your chances of clearing the exam with a good rank.
• Pick up a revision book: Various coaching institutes, along with MADE EASY, have small books for various branches in which all the formulas are described briefly. While taking a break, you can also pick up this book to revise what you have read and master your subjects.
• Revise with friends: A group study is a great way of managing time. In a particular time period, you can revise and learn a lot of new things if you are doing a group study with friends. These group studies can be done with other candidates who are preparing for the GATE or ESE examination and will help you in your preparation.

Thus, time management is of utmost importance when you are preparing for both exams. This is too important for finding an answer to how to prepare for GATE.

3. Practice makes a man perfect:

You may learn all you want, but practice is the key to mastering any art. For the examination too, once you have read any subject or topic, pick up the GATE questions that have been asked from that topic, then pick up the ESE questions that have been asked from the same topic. This will help you know all the aspects of the particular topic, and you will have practiced all the types of questions for either of the exams.

To become really good at anything, you have to practice and repeat, practice and repeat, until the technique becomes intuitive. So practice as much as you can, and before you know it, you will be choosing your way to excellence. For practice, you can refer to the MADE EASY GATE test series. Here, we have given the link: https://onlinetestseriesmadeeasy.in/gate or the same for the ESE 2026,

4. Guidance:

When aiming for the sky, you need good guidance, and the same is the case with the GATE and ESE 2026 examination. Guidance will provide you with a pathway in the right direction. This guidance can be in the form of a senior, some previous years’ toppers, or any coaching institute.

The coaching institutes that have years of experience help the students by teaching them in a way that they can understand the concepts really well and solve most of the questions in the examination. Thus, one can opt for the guidance that they think will be best for them. If you are unable to join coaching, then their study material can also be of great help to you as you won’t have to juggle between numerous books that are available in the market for each subject.

5. Revise:

While the above pointers are necessary, revision lays the concrete in your preparation. As the prelims for ESE and GATE examinations get closer, one does not have enough time to concentrate on both individually. So what one can do is first revise only the common subject, followed by the subjects of ESE, and then in the time period between ESE and GATE, you can easily revise for the GATE examination. What is Important is a revision of the syllabus as only then your preparation will bear fruits.

6. Stay Motivated:

Always remember that it doesn’t matter what others are doing or saying; what matters is what you are doing. So always stay motivated. Every day when you wake up, say to yourself, ‘I will reach my goals and nothing will stop me. This daily motivation will keep you going, and you will realize that for a challenge as big as GATE and ESE 2026, you will have to push yourself, as no one else will.

With this blog, we aimed to help all the candidates choose what they want to prepare for and where they want to see themselves in the future. Opening more options for your future is always a great option, and in order for you to pursue the GATE as well as ESE, we have written this article to clear any confusion.

We hope this article helped you. Please feel free to write to us in case of any confusion. MADE EASY wishes you all the very best for your preparation and examination. We hope to meet you again with an interesting topic that will help you in your preparation.