UPSC ESE mock tests

Engineering Services Examination

Free practice tests

UPSC ESE Civil prelims practice test 1: A full Category I preliminary practice test: 100 questions in General Studies and Engineering Aptitude (2 hours) and 150 in Civil Engineering (3 hours), 2 marks each and 0.6667 off for a wrong answer.
UPSC ESE practice questions 1: Untimed practice for every topic in the Civil prelims, plus electrical-engineering items, three or more on each skill.

About UPSC ESE

The Union Public Service Commission holds the Engineering Services Examination for engineering posts in the civil services. Examination Notice No. 02/2027-ENGG (16 September 2026) is for the 2027 examination: the preliminary examination on 31 January 2027 and the main examination on 18 June 2027. A candidate applies in one category only: Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, or Electronics and Telecommunication. The notice expected about 480 vacancies, including 19 for persons with benchmark disabilities, and said the number can change.

Stage I, the preliminary examination, is two objective papers on one day, each with its own time. Paper I, General Studies and Engineering Aptitude, is common to every category: 2 hours and 200 marks. Paper II is the candidate's engineering discipline: 3 hours and 300 marks. The preliminary total is 500. Only candidates the Commission declares qualified are admitted to the main examination, about six to seven times the vacancies, and the preliminary marks of those candidates count in the final merit. The Commission fixes minimum qualifying marks in each preliminary paper at its discretion.

Every objective question has four alternatives. A wrong answer, or more than one answer marked, costs one-third of the marks assigned to that question. A blank answer costs nothing. The 2027 notice states the marks and the hours, not the number of questions. The 2026 preliminary booklets, which used the same marks and hours, contain 100 items in Paper I and 150 items in Civil Paper II, all of equal marks, so each item is of 2 marks and a wrong answer costs 0.6667. Answers are marked on an OMR sheet with a black ball pen. Calculators are not allowed for the objective papers. The question papers of the conventional stage are to be answered in English, and the notice says the question paper is set in English only.

Stage II, the main examination, is two conventional papers in the candidate's discipline, 3 hours and 300 marks each (600 in all). Battery pocket calculators are allowed for those papers only. Stage III is a personality test of 200 marks, with no minimum qualifying mark; about twice the vacancies are called. Final ranking adds Stage I, Stage II and Stage III (1,300). Marks are rounded to two decimal places. Ties go first to the three engineering papers plus the personality test, then to the three engineering papers, then to age.

UPSC ESE (IES) Prelims exam pattern

5 hours (Paper I 2 hours, Paper II 3 hours, separate sittings on one day)

Paper I: General Studies and Engineering Aptitude: 2 hours, 100 questions, 200 marks
Paper II: Civil Engineering: 3 hours, 150 questions, 300 marks

UPSC ESE (IES) Mains exam pattern

6 hours (two papers of 3 hours each)

Paper I: Civil Engineering (conventional): 3 hours, 300 marks
Paper II: Civil Engineering (conventional): 3 hours, 300 marks

UPSC ESE Personality Test exam pattern

A single interview, not a written paper

Personality test: One interview, 200 marks