The mains examination dates for the UPSC Engineering Services Examination are already out. The prelims examination for the same was conducted on January 05, 2020, and the result for the same was out in a few days on February 20, 2020. Those who are declared qualified as per the result PDF are eligible to appear for the Engineering Service (Mains) Exam 2020. Now that only 02 months are left for the mains examination, candidates are looking for authentic and credible preparation resources. We are going to share some quick and useful preparation tips with the aspirants of UPSC ESE 2020.
To start with the preparation, aspirants must get acquainted with the pattern of the examination. The Mains examination has mainly 02 papers. Both Paper 1 and Paper 2 has questions that are primarily based on the Engineering subject that aspirants have selected – Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics and Telecommunication and Civil. The syllabus for the mains examination remains the same as that of the prelims examination.
Stage II of Engineering Service (Main) is a conventional type examination. This means that candidates have to write descriptive answers to the questions asked. As the questions are descriptive type, there is no negative marking in ESE Mains Exam 2020. Candidates can answer the questions only in the English language. Each paper is conducted for 03 hours and carries 300 marks. There will be 08 questions out of which candidates have to attempt 05 questions mandatorily. Considering the previous year question papers, question number 1 and question number 5 are compulsory to answer. The remaining three answers (out of 05 compulsory questions to attempt)should be answered choosing at least one question from each section. For a better understanding, refer to the UPSC IES Previous Year Question Papers by Aglasem.
Next, we would like to discuss the preparation books for this stage. As the questions are asked in descriptive form, candidates need to practise more and more for the same. Refer to the preparation books such as “ESE 2020 Mains Civil Engineering Conventional Paper II Previous Conventional Questions with Solutions, Subject wise and Chapter wise” by Subject Experts of the ACE Engineering Academy. These books help to understand the format of how candidates should write for the mains examination to score more. Another book that candidates can refer to is “ESE 2020: Mains Examination: Civil Engineering Conventional Paper – I: Vol. 1”. There are some books by “Made Easy Publications” for all the subjects of UPSC ESE (Mains) Exam 2020. We advise our readers to not limit their preparation to the books mentioned here. There are several books available in the market that aspirants can refer for their preparation of the UPSC ESE 2020 Mains Examination.