How to start preparing for UPSC ESE 2026?

UPSC ESE Preparation

Every year, the UPSC conducts the engineering services examination. Students have started their UPSC ESE preparation and are working hard to clear the exam and ensure a safe and successful career. Indian Engineering Services (IES) is considered one of the toughest examinations in the nation due to the high level of competition.

The Engineering Services Examination (ESE), also referred to as the Indian Engineering Services (IES) exam, is highly coveted among engineering graduates. Along with providing a job with high respect and demeanour, IES allows engineering graduates to put their four years of hard work into practice while also serving the country. Thus, the job provides for all one wants and aims for in his or her future.

The Engineering Services Examination is conducted in three phases:

ESE Stage I:

It is a preliminary (Stage-I) Examination that has objective-type papers for the selection of applicants for the Stage-II Engineering Services (Main/Stage-II) Examination. There will be negative markings. One-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question will be subtracted as the penalty for every wrong answer.

S No.	Paper	Time Duration	Marks
1.	Paper-I (General Studies and Engineering Aptitude)	2 hrs	200
2.	Paper-II (Engineering Subject)	3 hrs	300
3.	Total	5 hrs	500

ESE Stage II:

Applicants who qualify in Stage-I (preliminary) will appear in the Engineering Services (Main/Stage-II) Examination, which is a conventional type of paper.

S No.	Paper	Time Duration	Marks
1.	Paper-I (Engineering Subject)	3 hrs	300
2.	Paper-II (Engineering Subject)	3 hrs	300
3.	Total	6 hrs	600

ESE Stage III: Personality Test. (200 Marks)

The Engineering Services Examination consists of written tests followed by an interview for the personality test. Qualified applicants will be recruited in the following areas:

• Civil Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering

The above information will provide you with a brief overview of the examination, along with the pattern and type of subjects needed. After a summary of the exam, it is time to actually know how to start your preparation for ESE.

Every year, lots of students, some after their graduation, start preparing for the ESE examination to reap maximum benefits. There are some important pointers that one must know during the preparation phase in order to beat the cutthroat competition.

Before we learn about the expert-recommended ways associated with IES preparation, let’s get to know the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions.

ESE Mains 2025 Didn’t Go Well? What’s next?

The ESE 2025 Mains results were declared on 4th September 2025 in the late evening. The ESE Mains 2025 exam was conducted on 10th August 2025. Heartiest congratulations to all those candidates who have cleared the ESE Mains 2025 examination. After the Mains examination, the next stage is the personality test/interview. After the interview, medical and DV would be conducted for the selected candidates, and then services would be allotted on the basis of the marks scored by candidates and preferences filled by candidates. However, in this blog, we are not going to discuss the selected or successful candidates. In this blog post we will talk about those candidates who could not perform well in the ESE Mains 2025 exam. We would see what they can do next, what some other available options are, what their next step should be, and many other things. This blog by MADE EASY would be helpful for those candidates who, for any reason, couldn’t perform well in ESE Main 2025.

ESE Mains 2025 results

As said in the above sections, the ESE Mains 2025 results were declared on 4th September 2025. This declaration of results brought a stream of joy among those candidates who have qualified for the next step. However, there are lots of candidates who missed the ESE Mains 2025 cut-off by some marks. Mostly everyone talks about those candidates who were successful; there are very few people/institutions who talk about the rest of the candidates, and MADE EASY is one such institution because at MADE EASY we believe every student has the capability to clear ESE, GATE, or other engineering-related exams if they get proper guidance.

ESE Mains 2025 Next Step

Those candidates who have clear ESE Mains 2025 are eligible for personality test/interview. Candidates can join MADE EASY interview guidance program for strengthening their preparation.

Let us talk about those students who couldn’t clear ESE Mains 2025.

It is very disheartening for any aspirant to know that he or she has failed in any stage of examination even after doing so much hard work. Failures create self-doubt in aspirants. Candidates start to question their abilities, intelligence, and knowledge. They start blaming themselves for their loss/failure. At that moment, no words can pacify the agitation of the aspirant’s mind. However, aspirants need to understand that one single exam can’t decide their future. Everyone has different capabilities and a different mind. Aspirants should keep in mind that in an exam, there are only two possibilities: either they will get selected or they won’t get selected. There is no third possibility. There is a popular Urdu quote that goes like this:

“गिरते हैं शहसवार ही मैदान–ए–जंग में, वो तिफ़्ल क्या गिरे जो घुटनों के बल चले”

It means that only real warriors or brave people fall or struggle in the battlefield. The person who does not struggle and crawls on his knees is a child, and how will he fall?

These lines suit best those candidates who couldn’t clear UPSC ESE Main 2025 by a few marks.

To all the candidates who could not make it into the ESE 2025 interview round: you all are capable of getting selected in UPSC ESE; you all had the same chances of getting your desired result. You failed this time, but it doesn’t mean you are not capable. It was just not your day, or you had some shortcoming in your preparation, so there’s no need to get demotivated or question your abilities.

Instead of getting demotivated or disheartened, candidates should try to find the reason for their failure, and the main reason why a lot of candidates fail in ESE Mains 2025 is because there was some lag/shortcoming in their preparation. A wise aspirant doesn’t get affected negatively by failures and doesn’t get too excited by small success.

Let us look what are the options available to the aspirants who couldn’t clear ESE Mains 2025.

Before going on to the next available option, candidates should analyse themselves, their weaknesses, and where they lagged in their preparation. Candidates should try to find out the reason for their failure. Whether it was the lack of practice, or it was the conceptual clarity, or something else. Candidates should first find the reason why they failed and try to work on that.

After analysing the reason for their failure, candidates should start preparing for the next upcoming exams, and they should make sure not to repeat the mistakes they made in ESE Mains 2025. Some of the upcoming exams are given below:

• ESE 2026
• GATE 2026
• SSC JE
• MPPTCL AE
• MPPTCL JE
• RRB JE
• BEML MT
• UPPSC AE (Mains)
• NIACL Risk engineer
• Oil India recruitment for senior engineer
• West Bengal Municipal Service commission
• APSC JE
• HPSC AE
• DSSSB JE

Candidates can check more jobs from the MADE EASY job box page. All the recent job openings for engineering students/graduates are posted here.

Candidates who failed to clear UPSC ESE Mains 2025 should start preparing for their next lined-up exam without delaying much and wasting time on the ESE Mains 2025 result because it would hamper their preparation for the next exam.

Those candidates who are preparing for AE/JE exams like SSC JE, DSSSB JE, APSC JE, HPSC AE, MPPTCL AE, MPPTCL JE, RRB JE, etc. can join MADE EASY online courses for strengthening their technical/non-technical part. All these jobs are good for engineers, and their pay scale is also quite good. After getting selected, if candidates want, they can again prepare for ESE in the upcoming years.

Some exams which candidates should definitely prepare who failed in ESE Mains 2025.

• ESE 2026
• GATE 2026
• UPPSC AE Mains (if cleared prelims)
• SSC JE
• RRB JE

Let us look why candidates should definitely prepare for these exams.

ESE 2026

Candidates who didn’t perform well in ESE Mains 2025 should start preparing for ESE 2026 from the very next day of the result. This will help them prepare more effectively for the next attempt, as they will have plenty of time. Since they have already cleared the prelims exam, they have a good understanding of the question level in prelims. This means they don’t need to devote much time to the prelims stage and can instead focus more on mains preparation. Aspirants should also analyse their shortcoming and mistakes and make sure not to repeat the mistakes in next year.
Candidates can start attempting MADE EASY ESE prelims test series to strengthening their ESE 2026 prelims preparation

GATE 2026

Although GATE and ESE have different exam patterns, those students who have prepared for ESE have already covered the syllabus of the GATE exam; they just need to practice questions. Since the GATE exam majorly consists of calculative-type problems, aspirants should align their preparation in such a manner so that they can easily solve such types of problems. Also, candidates should be well aware of the use of scientific calculators. The preparation of ESE teaches how to solve a large number of questions within a limited time, and this skill is useful for the GATE exam, as both speed and accuracy are required in the GATE exam. The short notes prepared during ESE preparation are helpful in GATE also. However, candidates should take care to not spend time on such topics, which are not relevant from the GATE exam point of view but are asked in the ESE.

UPPSC AE Mains

UPPSC AE mains is another good opportunity in front of engineering students/graduates who have cleared the UPPSC AE prelims exam. The most important thing is that along with the preparation of ESE Mains 2025, the syllabus of UPPSC AE Mains (technical) is already covered, and even if some part is left, it is very minute, and aspirants can do it without any great difficulty. It is a good opportunity for those candidates who could not clear ESE Mains 2025 but have cleared the UPPSC AE prelim exam. Candidates can prepare for ESE again once they get selected in UPPSC AE.

SSC JE 2025

SSC JE paper 1 is another upcoming opportunity for engineering graduates. With the comprehensive preparation of ESE prelims and mains, candidates can easily score good marks in the technical section of SSC JE. However only good marks in technical wouldn’t be enough for selection in SSC JE, candidates need to prepare non-technical section also, but even then, if the technical section is prepared well then candidates can confidently prepare the non tech portion and easily clear paper 1 of SSC JE 2025. After clearing Paper 1, the preparation of ESE would be useful in SSC JE paper 2 also. Students preparing for SSC JE 20205 can attempt MADE EASY SSC JE test series to strengthen their preparation.

RRB JE 2025

RRB JE is a wonderful chance for all those aspirants who unfortunately missed their selection in ESE Mains 2025 but dream to work for Indian railways. Although the notification for RRB JE 2025 isn’t out yet, it will be released very soon. The preparation and notes for the ESE Mains exam would be very helpful in the RRB JE CBT 2 exam. Students aspiring to work for Indian Railways should not wait for the official notification to start their preparation. Preparing from today would give ample time to aspirants for practice and revision. Candidates preparing for RRB JE can enrol in the MADE EASY LIVE online course to start their preparation. Those candidates who can’t watch live online classes can also go for the recorded course of RRB JE.

Other AE/JE exam

Other than the above mentioned exams, candidates can prepare for various AE/JE exams. To help students in their preparation of AE and JE exams, MADE EASY brings JE&AE live online course. This course is a one stop solution for lot of AE and JE exams. Candidates can target multiple exams with this one course.

How many attempts are allowed to clear ESE?

UPSC ESE aspirants who are into full-fledged IES preparation often worry about the number of attempts available for the IES examination. But now you can relax, as the IES exam has unlimited attempts.

How do I start UPSC ESE Preparation from zero?

Almost every UPSC ESE aspirant feels lost or confused while getting started with the exam preparation, especially if he or she aims to crack the UPSC IES (ESE) examination. It is because the exam syllabus is vast, which makes it essential for the aspirants to build a strong ESE preparation strategy. Here are some of the points you need to keep in mind if you are about to start UPSC preparation from zero.

• Build the right mindset to kick-start your ESE preparation.
• Understand the UPSC ESE syllabus properly.
• Allot specific time slots to prepare for both strong and weak areas, focusing your efforts on improving weak areas.
• Analyze your performance based on the mock tests. Accordingly, you can change and improve your study schedule and focus areas to achieve the best possible results.
• Make it a priority to avoid comparing your ESE preparation to others. It will help you to have a peaceful mind.
• Finally, remain dedicated to your UPSC ESE preparation strategy and achieve success in the IES examination.

Ready to prepare ESE?

We hope you have decided to prepare for the ESE and are all set to clear it with full dedication and sincerity. While some of you may have already begun your studies, others are still awaiting the right moment. You must have had a brief idea regarding how to prepare for the UPSC ESE. Now, read the following points to find out the best ESE preparation strategy created for all the students to guide and help them on their journey to excellence.

1. Begin with a bang:

Every start should be filled with enthusiasm and lots of confidence. This makes the start all worth it, and you want to continue and enjoy the journey ahead. So, when starting the ESE preparation, make sure to be clear about the exam, why you want to give it, and other important things. This will help motivate you for the journey ahead. So, some ways in which you can actually start your preparation with a bang are:

1. Know your syllabus: Before starting, know the syllabus of the ESE with respect to your stream. As the syllabus is vast, you don’t waste time on the not necessary parts of the exam but instead on the important subjects and topics.
2. Make a plan: Based on your syllabus, make a study plan for yourself. This will help you avoid derailing from the studies and systematically complete all the subjects that are necessary for the examination. Making a plan and following it sincerely is half the work done for the preparation; the rest is to be true to yourself and then your subjects.
3. Books: A plan will not make sense if you are not aware of which books to read. There are lots of books in the market; the shops are flooded with multiple books on a single subject. Reading it all is a waste of time and energy, and you will not be able to complete the syllabus on time. So choose the best books that are suitable for your style and align with the syllabus, and go ahead. Study material from coaching institutes like MADE EASY is also a great way to read the correct books. You can either join an institute or opt for postal study courses.
4. Coaching or not:  The high level of competition that the exam has to offer requires correct guidance in every step of preparation. For this guide, you can always opt for coaching institutes like MADE EASY that have highly efficient and experienced teachers from the ESE domain. Also, looking at the current scenario, you can prepare from the comfort of your home by enrolling in LIVE Online Classes offered by MADE EASY.

2. Keep up the spirit:

While starting strong is important, keeping up the spirit throughout is also necessary. The long process of IES preparation that the examination demands sometimes becomes too much for the students and they tend to lose their confidence. Social media also plays a very negative role during the examination if not handled with care. One must stay motivated and high-spirited all through the examination to continue the process until the final examination. Various ways in which one can keep up the spirit are:

1. Prepare properly: Always have a plan and prepare accordingly. Having no plan will result in not being able to take the correct path to success.
2. Keep yourself motivated: There are various ways to stay motivated: watch toppers talk, watch inspirational videos, do meditation, talk to your friends, and read good books. These activities will help you stay motivated and not lose yourself during the preparation phase.
3. Notes: Making notes is an art, and if practiced well, it really helps you keep up the spirit. If you are making notes, it will help you concentrate better on what you are reading. Also, once you have completed the syllabus or any particular topic, notes help you with easy revision and quick learning.
4. Take breaks: Only studying and taking no breaks will make you dull and your brain slow. Therefore, keep taking breaks in between your learning sessions. These breaks not only act as refreshments but as catalysts for your preparation. However, too many breaks can also hamper your studies, as you will have less time to study and more time to take breaks. During this break, go for a walk, talk to a friend, or do any recreational activity that freshens you up.
5. No procrastination: Do not leave anything for later, as that will never come. So whatever you have to study or whatever you think is important, do it there and then, and do not procrastinate. Even for the syllabus, read everything that is there and do not leave any topic or subject out.

3. End the game with success:

Starting and preparation are important phases and the phase that will decide your fate is the end game. To end the game with full confidence and attain success. Someone once said that you succeed when you want success as badly as you want to breathe. So make success part of you and do all you can.

1. Revision: As specified, always make notes, as they are great revision techniques. So revise all your subjects as and when they are completed, as well as before the exam. Along with your notes, revise the questions you have practiced, the rest you have given, and everything else that you think is important.
2. Practice: Practice makes perfect. So practice until you become perfect. From previous year papers to test series, sample papers, and online tests for the ESE 2026 examination. Practice will act as revision, and you may also learn new concepts or applications while practicing.

Right from the time when the first thought of giving the exam clicks in your mind to the time when you have finally given the examination, every part is important. Do not miss out or get slow in any phase. The examination calls for an energetic individual who can start strong and continue the spirit and the game with the same confidence. You also have to do the same.

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

Start your ESE preparation today if you haven’t yet. There is still a lot of time for miracles through your hard work. You can make the most of the time that is left. So instead of wondering about the time that has gone by, give your best shot at the time that is left.

We hope this article will really help you. Please feel free to contact us if you have any doubts. We’d love to hear from you. All the very best for your ESE preparation, and may you succeed in all your future endeavours.

Final words

Failure in ESE Mains 2025 is not the end of life; a wise aspirant always considers failure as another opportunity for success. If you failed in 2025, then it’s time to re-analyse your strategies and weaknesses. Once analysed, start working on your weaknesses and make sure not to repeat them in the upcoming exams.

Always remember

“कोई दुख

मनुष्य के साहस से बड़ा नहीं

वही हारा

जो लड़ा नहीं”

 Which means “No sorrow is greater than man’s courage, He is defeated who does not fight”

FAQs:

1. My ESE Mains 2025 didn’t go well. Should I give up on the exam?

Answer: No, aspirant should never give up on their dream. If you failed in this attempt, try harder for the next upcoming exam and prepare for ESE parallel.

2. Is it possible to clear ESE in the next attempt after failing once?

Answer: Yes, it is possible to clear ESE after failing once.

3. How do I stay motivated after not performing well in ESE Mains 2025?

Answer: There are no words, which can give constant motivation. Motivation comes from inside. Candidates should stay motivated, remember their goals, their desired departments and their dream when they

4. Can ESE preparation help me in GATE and other exams?

Answer: Yes, ESE preparation can help in GATE and other exams, however candidates need to understand that the exam pattern and level of questions of GATE is different from ESE.

5. When should I start preparing for ESE 2026 if my 2025 attempt didn’t go well?

Answer: If ESE 2025 didn’t go well, candidates should start preparing for ESE 2026 just after the declaration of result.

Stay tuned for more useful blogs!