UPSC & Civil Services · Government Exams

UPSC ESE 2027 Notification, Vacancies, Exam Dates and Eligibility; ESE 2026 Result, Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Cut-off and Free Mock Tests

The Engineering Services Examination recruits Class I technical officers for central government engineering departments and public sector organisations — the Indian Railways engineering services, the Central Engineering Service, the Border Roads Engineering Service, the Indian Ordnance Factories Service and others. It is the most demanding technical recruitment the Commission conducts.

What makes it hard is not breadth but depth combined with format. The mains papers are conventional — you write full engineering solutions by hand, with derivations, diagrams and numerical working — which is a skill most candidates have not practised since their degree examinations.

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UPSC ESE · checked 19 September 2026

UPSC ESE at a glance, from the official notices

The dates, vacancies and rules below are read on the conducting body’s own site and rewritten as each notice appears. The guide beneath carries the full pattern, syllabus, cut-offs and free mock tests.

Free UPSC ESE mock testUPSC ESE syllabusToday’s current affairs
6Oct 2026

Next deadline

UPSC ESE: the facts that matter now

  1. 01

    Notified 17 September 2025 with about 474 vacancies; prelims 8 February 2026, result 26 February; mains 21 June, result 24 July; interviews in…

    2026 cycle

  2. 02

    Notified 16 September 2026 with 480 vacancies — Civil 199, Mechanical 85, Electrical 72, Electronics and Telecommunication 118, of which 19 for…

    2027 cycle

  3. 03

    Union Public Service Commission — Engineering Services Examination for Group A engineering services in civil, mechanical, electrical, and…

    Conducted by

  4. 04

    Engineering degree in the discipline; age 21–30 on 1 January of the examination year (35 for the listed government servants)

    Eligibility

Notification

UPSC ESE notification and key dates

Checked 18 September 2026 on upsc.gov.in. The Engineering Services (Preliminary) Examination 2027 was notified on 16 September 2026 with 480 vacancies — 199 Civil, 85 Mechanical, 72 Electrical and 118 Electronics and Telecommunication, including 19 for persons with benchmark disabilities — and applications run to 6 October 2026 with a fee of ₹200 (nil for women, SC, ST and PwBD) and the age band 21 to 30 on 1 January 2027; the preliminary examination is on 31 January 2027 and the main examination on 18 June 2027. The 2027 notice adds a one-time edit of the online application, mandatory live-photograph and signature uploads, face authentication at the venue and a five-day answer-key representation window. Engineering Services Examination 2026 was notified on 17 September 2025 with about 474 vacancies including 26 for persons with benchmark disabilities; applications closed on 16 October 2025. The preliminary examination was held on 8 February 2026 with the result on 26 February, the main examination on 21 June 2026 with the written result on 24 July, and the interview schedule has been published — the final result follows. The 2027 examination is notified on 16 September 2026 with applications to 6 October 2026, the preliminary examination on 31 January 2027 and the main examination on 18 June 2027. ESE 2025 finished on 17 December 2025 with 458 candidates recommended.

Key dates of ESE 2026 and ESE 2027.
EventESE 2026ESE 2027
Notification17 September 202516 September 2026
Last date for applications16 October 2025 (extended from 7 October)6 October 2026
Preliminary examination8 February 202631 January 2027
Prelims result26 February 2026—
Main examination21 June 202618 June 2027
Mains result24 July 2026—
Interviews and final resultInterviews scheduled from September 2026; final result to follow—
ESE 2025 recommendations and general-category cut-offs, from the final result of 17 December 2025 and the cut-off sheet of 19 December.
BranchRecommendedPrelims cut-off (out of 500)Written cut-off (out of 1,100)Final cut-off (out of 1,300)
Civil Engineering202233498719
Mechanical Engineering61See sheetSee sheetSee sheet
Electrical Engineering79See sheetSee sheetSee sheet
Electronics and Telecommunication116See sheetSee sheetSee sheet
Total458

Prelims marks count

Unlike most UPSC examinations, the 500 preliminary marks of candidates admitted to the mains are added to the final total — the prelims is 38 per cent of the 1,300-mark merit. A candidate who scrapes through the prelims starts the mains with a deficit that the conventional papers rarely recover.

Overview

What UPSC ESE is, and who it suits

Engineering Services officers occupy senior technical positions across central government engineering organisations, with responsibilities spanning design, execution, maintenance and project management on public infrastructure of national scale. It is a Class I gazetted entry, and the selection process is correspondingly demanding.

The examination runs in four branches — civil, mechanical, electrical, and electronics and telecommunication — and a candidate competes only within their own branch. Eligibility is an engineering degree in the relevant branch, and the syllabus is drawn at degree level rather than diploma level, which distinguishes it sharply from technical recruitments such as SSC JE or RRB JE.

The three stages, and what changes between them

  • Preliminary — 500 marks — two objective papers: a general studies and engineering aptitude paper of 200 marks, and a branch paper of 300 marks. A screening stage whose marks do carry forward.
  • Main — 600 marks — two conventional branch papers of 300 marks each, written by hand with full solutions. This is where the examination is genuinely decided.
  • Personality Test — 200 marks — an interview assessing technical grounding, awareness and suitability for a senior technical role.

Unlike UPSC CSE, prelims marks carry forward

A candidate familiar with the Civil Services Examination may assume the preliminary stage is discarded. In the Engineering Services Examination it is not — prelims marks form part of the final total alongside the mains and personality test. That changes the calculus: performing well in prelims is worth real marks, not merely a seat in the next stage.

Eligibility

Who can apply for UPSC ESE

Eligibility is judged on the closing date for the degree and on 1 January of the examination year for age. The branch chosen at application fixes the papers and the services competed for.

Qualification

  • Degree — A degree in engineering from a recognised university, or the equivalents the notification lists — Sections A and B of the Institution of Engineers (India), the Aeronautical Society of India, the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, and for some posts an M.Sc. with wireless communication, electronics, radio physics or radio engineering as a special subject.
  • Final-year candidates — May apply and must produce proof of passing with the detailed application form for the mains.
Age 21–30 on 1 January 2026 for ESE 2026 (born 2 January 1996 – 1 January 2005); 1 January 2027 for ESE 2027. Relaxations of the upper limit.
CategoryRelaxation
Government servants in the listed departmentsUp to 35 years
SC and ST5 years
OBC (non-creamy layer)3 years
Persons with benchmark disabilities10 years
Ex-servicemen with 5 years’ service5 years

Other conditions

  • Fee — ₹200 online; women, SC, ST and PwBD candidates are exempt.
  • Physical standards — Some services — the Railways, Border Roads and others — have physical and medical standards set out in the notification and examined before appointment.

Selection process

How UPSC ESE selection works

Each stage in order, and what it actually tests.

Stages change between cycles. Confirm the structure in the notification for the cycle you are sitting.
StageFormatWhat it involves
Stage I — Preliminary examinationTwo objective papers, 500 marks, one dayPaper I, General Studies and Engineering Aptitude, 200 marks in two hours, common to all branches; Paper II, the engineering discipline, 300 marks in three hours. One third of a mark per wrong answer. Unlike the Civil Services prelims, the marks of qualified candidates are carried into the final merit.
Stage II — Main examinationTwo conventional papers of 300 marks, three hours eachBoth papers are in the engineering discipline and are handwritten in the question-cum-answer booklet. Candidates above the Commission’s prelims cut-off, with the minimum in each paper, are admitted; the written total of 1,100 (500 + 600) sets the call to interview for about twice the vacancies.
Stage III — Personality testInterview at UPSC, 200 marksCandidates above the written cut-off are interviewed; the final merit is prelims 500 + mains 600 + interview 200 out of 1,300, by branch, and services are allotted by rank, category and preference across the ministries and departments participating.

Application to allotment

How UPSC ESE runs, from the September notification to the prelims, the conventional mains, the interview and service allotment

The steps in the order they happen, with the fees and windows the notification specifies.

The UPSC ESE process, from registration to recommendation

  1. Create the account and the Universal Registration Number profile on upsconline.nic.in The Commission’s portal has four modules: account creation, universal registration (the URN profile with your identity, photograph, signature, photo-ID and educational particulars), a common application form, and an examination-specific form. The first three are filled once and reused for every UPSC examination; the URN profile must be locked before an examination form can be submitted, and the photo-ID entered there is the one carried to every stage.
  2. Fill the examination-specific form in the notified window Choose the centre, the medium and language options, the optional subject or service preferences where the notification asks for them, claim any category, PwBD or fee-remission benefit with the certificate details, and submit before 6 p.m. on the last date. A withdrawal window of about a week usually follows the closing date for candidates who no longer wish to appear.
  3. Pay the fee ₹200 online; nil for women, SC, ST and PwBD candidates.
  4. e-Admit card Issued on the portal about a week to ten days before the examination; it is not posted. Print it, check the photograph and the centre, and carry it with the photo-ID named in the URN profile. Centres are allotted first-come, and a candidate who does not get a preferred centre is allotted another in the same region.
  5. The written examination Objective papers are answered on an OMR sheet in black ballpoint pen, with the question paper series and roll number coded by hand — the Commission publishes a note on the common OMR mistakes that lead to rejection. Conventional papers are handwritten in the question-cum-answer booklet. Provisional answer keys are opened for representations on the portal within a week of an objective paper.
  6. Result and the next stage Results are published as roll-number lists on upsc.gov.in with a press note; marks and cut-offs are released only after the final result. Qualified candidates get a window on the portal to pay the next-stage fee, update details and submit the detailed application form where the examination has one.
  7. Prelims result and the detailed application form Candidates above the prelims cut-off, subject to the minimum in each paper, are admitted to the mains. Admitted candidates file the detailed application form with service preferences and proof of the degree.
  8. The main examination Two three-hour conventional papers in the discipline on one day, handwritten; the Commission publishes a note on the common mistakes in conventional papers.
  9. Interview, final result and allotment Candidates above the written cut-off of 1,100 are interviewed for 200 marks. The final merit is out of 1,300 by branch; services are allotted by rank, category and preference, and the Commission publishes marks and the reserve list afterwards.

Exam pattern

UPSC ESE exam pattern and marking

The UPSC ESE exam pattern below is the scheme in the notification and the examination rules: an objective preliminary stage that counts, a conventional main stage and an interview, 1,300 marks in all. The full treatment, with the branch syllabi, is on the exam pattern and syllabus pages.

ESE preliminary examination (Stage I): objective; one third of a mark deducted per wrong answer; marks carried into the final merit.
PaperSubjectMarksTime
IGeneral Studies and Engineering Aptitude (common)2002 hours
IIEngineering discipline — civil, mechanical, electrical, or electronics and telecommunication3003 hours
Total500
ESE main examination (Stage II) and interview (Stage III).
StagePaperMarksTime
MainsPaper I — engineering discipline, conventional3003 hours
MainsPaper II — engineering discipline, conventional3003 hours
Written total (prelims + mains)1,100
InterviewPersonality test200
Final merit1,300

One third of the marks assigned to a question is deducted for every wrong answer in the objective papers; a question left blank costs nothing, and a question with more than one answer marked counts as wrong. Minimum marks apply in each paper of both written stages — 15 per cent in each prelims paper and 20 per cent in each mains paper for non-PwBD candidates in 2025, per the cut-off sheet.

Study plan

How to prepare for UPSC ESE

ESE is a two-paper discipline examination taken twice — once objectively and once conventionally — with a general studies and engineering aptitude paper that many candidates under-prepare. The prelims counts, so accuracy there is not optional; the mains rewards derivations, diagrams and units written cleanly against the clock.

A twelve-month plan for ESE 2027

  1. Months 1–4: the discipline, subject by subject Core subjects of the branch from standard texts with previous years’ objective and conventional questions solved alongside; formula and unit sheets from the start.
  2. Months 5–6: General Studies and Engineering Aptitude Current affairs, engineering aptitude and reasoning, engineering mathematics, design and drawing, standards and quality, energy and environment, ICT, ethics — the ten areas of Paper I, worth 200 of the 500 prelims marks.
  3. Months 7–9: prelims mode A full 500-mark mock every week with the deduction applied and an error log; speed on Paper II’s 150 questions in three hours.
  4. Months 10–12: conventional writing Timed three-hour papers with worked derivations and neat diagrams, then interview preparation on the branch, projects and the services applied for.

Sources

Official notifications and sources

Checked 18 September 2026 against the ESE 2027 notification of 16 September 2026, the ESE 2026 notification, the prelims and mains results, the ESE 2025 final result and cut-off sheet, and the Commission’s 2026 and 2027 calendars.

Official documents

Engineering Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 — notification (17 September 2025) ESE 2026 prelims result (26 February 2026) ESE 2026 mains result (24 July 2026) ESE 2025 final result (17 December 2025) ESE 2025 cut-off marks (19 December 2025) UPSC annual calendar 2027 UPSC — Engineering Services (Preliminary) Examination 2027 UPSC online application portal

Exam resources

Everything for UPSC ESE

Six resource pages, each kept in step with the latest official notification.

UPSC ESE SyllabusUPSC ESE syllabus — the general studies and engineering aptitude paper, and the branch-wise syllabus for all four engineering disciplines.UPSC ESE Exam PatternUPSC ESE exam pattern — the 500-mark objective prelims that counts, two 300-mark conventional mains papers, the 200-mark interview, negative marking, cut-offs.UPSC ESE Previous PapersUPSC ESE previous year papers — using past prelims and conventional mains papers to identify recurring topics and practise presentation.UPSC ESE Mock TestsUPSC ESE mock tests — objective practice for prelims and full written practice as the equivalent for the conventional mains papers.UPSC ESE PreparationUPSC ESE preparation strategy — degree-level branch revision, conventional answer practice and the general studies paper.UPSC ESE Study MaterialUPSC ESE study material — guidance on degree textbooks for branch preparation, plus notes for the general studies paper.

Related

More UPSC & Civil Services preparation

All UPSC & Civil Services examsEvery exam in this categoryPrevious-year papersPast papers with solutionsCurrent affairsDaily, weekly and monthlyExam updatesNotifications and results

Questions

UPSC ESE — FAQs

What does "conventional" mean in the ESE mains?

The mains papers are descriptive rather than objective: you write full engineering solutions by hand, including derivations, labelled diagrams, stated assumptions and complete numerical working. This is the format that distinguishes ESE from every other technical recruitment, and it requires a skill most candidates have not used since their degree examinations. Being able to solve a problem and being able to present the solution fully within time are different abilities, and only the second is what these papers measure.

Which branches can apply for UPSC ESE?

Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering. Candidates compete only within their own branch, and eligibility requires an engineering degree in that branch. The syllabus is drawn at degree level rather than diploma level, which makes ESE substantially more demanding than technical recruitments such as SSC JE or RRB JE even though the subjects sound similar.

How important is the General Studies and Engineering Aptitude paper?

It carries 200 of the 500 preliminary marks, and since prelims marks count towards the final total, those are real marks rather than a threshold. Much of its content — project management, standards and safety, ethics in the profession, environment and impact assessment, materials science and ICT — is not covered by an engineering degree at all, so it requires its own preparation rather than being absorbed alongside branch revision.

How long does ESE preparation take?

About a year for most candidates. The branch syllabus spans degree-level material across most of a four-year programme, the general studies paper covers content engineering study does not include, and the conventional writing skill needs months of rebuilding. Candidates planning for six months typically underestimate the writing component in particular, which is where the examination is most often decided.

What are the UPSC ESE 2026 and 2027 dates?

ESE 2026 was notified on 17 September 2025; its prelims were held on 8 February 2026 (result 26 February), its mains on 21 June 2026 (result 24 July) and interviews are in progress. ESE 2027 is notified on 16 September 2026 with applications to 6 October 2026, the preliminary examination on 31 January 2027 and the main examination on 18 June 2027.

What is the UPSC ESE exam pattern?

Three stages that all count. Prelims: Paper I, General Studies and Engineering Aptitude, 200 marks in two hours, and Paper II, the engineering discipline, 300 marks in three hours, both objective with one third of a mark off per wrong answer. Mains: two conventional papers in the discipline of 300 marks and three hours each. Interview: 200 marks. The final merit is out of 1,300, and prelims marks are carried forward.

What was the ESE 2025 cut-off?

For general candidates in civil engineering: 233 out of 500 in the prelims, 498 out of 1,100 for the written stage and 719 out of 1,300 at the final stage, subject to 15 per cent in each prelims paper and 20 per cent in each mains paper. The Commission recommended 458 candidates on 17 December 2025 — 202 civil, 61 mechanical, 79 electrical and 116 electronics and telecommunication.

How many vacancies are there in ESE 2026?

ESE 2027 offers 480 — Civil 199, Mechanical 85, Electrical 72 and Electronics and Telecommunication 118, with 19 reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities — across the participating services and departments. ESE 2026 offered about 474 including 26 PwBD, and ESE 2025 recommended 458.

Who is eligible for UPSC ESE?

An engineering degree in the branch applied for — or the listed equivalents from the Institution of Engineers, the Aeronautical Society of India and the IETE, and for some posts an M.Sc. in the specified subjects — and an age of 21 to 30 on 1 January of the examination year, relaxable to 35 for government servants in the listed departments, with five years for SC and ST, three for OBC and ten for PwBD. Final-year candidates may apply. The fee is ₹200, nil for women, SC, ST and PwBD.

Does the ESE prelims count in the final merit?

Yes. The 500 preliminary marks of candidates admitted to the mains are added to the 600 mains marks and the 200 interview marks for the 1,300-mark merit, which makes the objective stage more than a third of the result — unlike the Civil Services prelims, which is discarded.

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