UPSC ESE

The notice gives the approximate number of vacancies as 480, including 19 vacancies for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities. The number of vacancies is liable to alteration.

The notice does not print a service-wise or category-wise (SC/ST/OBC/EWS/UR) split of the 480 vacancies, so none is shown here.

You compete within the engineering category you choose. Your allotment among the services of that category depends on your merit rank, the preferences you express and the vacancies. Services marked with an asterisk in the notice (AEE posts in the Border Roads Engineering Service) carry a note that the eligibility of transgender candidates will follow a future government decision.

The notice does not print a pay level or pay scale for these services, so none is shown here.

Age is counted on 1 January 2027. You must have turned 21 and must not have turned 30 on that date, which means you must be born between 2 January 1997 and 1 January 2006 (both dates included).

SC, ST and OBC candidates who are also ex-servicemen or persons with benchmark disabilities can claim relaxation under both categories together (cumulative relaxation).

You need a degree in Engineering from a university incorporated by an Act of Parliament or a state legislature in India, or an institution deemed to be a university under the UGC Act, 1956. The notice also accepts passing Sections A and B of the Institution of Engineers (India), certain foreign engineering degrees or diplomas recognised by the government, Graduate Membership of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (India), Associate Membership Parts II and III / Sections A and B of the Aeronautical Society of India, and Graduate Membership of the Institution of Electronics and Radio Engineers, London (held after November 1959).

IETE (India) and Aeronautical Society of India qualifications obtained on admission after 31 May 2013 are not admissible; Institution of Engineers cases after that date depend on the government's decision.

For two services an M.Sc. route is open as well: the Indian Naval Armament Service (Electronics Engineering posts) and the Indian Radio Regulatory Service Gr 'A' accept an M.Sc. or equivalent with Wireless Communication Electronics, Radio Physics or Radio Engineering as a special subject (for the Radio Regulatory Service, also a master's in Science with Physics and Radio Communication, Electronics or Telecommunication as a special subject).

If you have appeared, or will appear, in your qualifying examination, you can apply provisionally. If you are called for the personality test, you must upload proof of passing within 10 days of the Main result; otherwise you cannot appear and your candidature may be cancelled.

You must be a citizen of India, a subject of Nepal or Bhutan, a Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1 January 1962 to settle permanently, or a person of Indian origin who migrated from one of the countries listed in the notice to settle permanently in India. Non-citizen categories need a Government of India eligibility certificate before an offer of appointment.

Stage-I, the preliminary examination, has two objective papers: Paper I, General Studies and Engineering Aptitude (2 hours, 200 marks), common to all categories; and Paper II, your engineering discipline (3 hours, 300 marks). It is answered on an OMR sheet with a black ball pen.

Stage-II, the main examination, has two conventional (descriptive) papers in your engineering discipline, each of 3 hours and 300 marks. Question papers are set in English only.

Stage-III is a personality test of 200 marks, with no minimum qualifying marks. The final order of merit is based on the marks obtained in all three stages; added up, that is a maximum of 1,300 marks (our sum: 500 + 600 + 200).

In the objective papers, one-third (1/3) of the marks of a question is deducted for each wrong answer. Marking more than one answer counts as a wrong answer, even if one of them is correct. There is no penalty for a question left blank.

Battery-operated pocket calculators are allowed only in the conventional papers, not in the objective papers, and may not be lent or exchanged in the hall.

Paper I is common to all four engineering categories. The discipline papers (Prelims Paper II and both Mains papers) follow the syllabus of your chosen category, printed in Appendix I of the notice; read it there.

The notice lists 48 centres for the preliminary examination and 24 for the main examination. Centres may be changed at UPSC's discretion, and requests to change a centre are not granted.

Main examination centres: Ahmedabad, Aizawl, Prayagraj (Allahabad), Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cuttack, Dehradun, Delhi, Dispur (Guwahati), Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla, Thiruvananthapuram and Visakhapatnam.

Preliminary centres also include, among others: Agartala, Agra, Aligarh, Bareilly, Gangtok, Gaya, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Gurugram, Imphal, Itanagar, Jorhat, Kochi, Kohima, Madurai, Nagpur, Panaji (Goa), Port Blair, Sambalpur, Srinagar, Tirupati, Udaipur and Varanasi.