PREPARATION STRATEGY BY UTKARSH AGARWAL ESE2015 RANK 17

Hii friends ,first look at my objective marks of ESE 2015:

General Ability Test 95.55 Engineering - I 109.45 Engineering - II 131.67

With 336 marks in objective can you imagine the selection of candidate with 700 as cutoff..(just to motivate everything can happen).When I started preparing for ESE 2015, I first analyzed my weaknesses and strengths. In ESE 2014, I got 307 marks in obj with 82 marks in GA paper. So GA was my biggest weakness, but my strong point was conventionals. As,I am gold medalist in B.E., I knew how to get good marks in written exams. So, I decided to prepare well and score maximum marks in conventionals. I first saw conventional papers of 2013 and 2014 and analysed which all books UPSC is following to make the papers. I purchased some, some books were with me. I tried to solve all the solved examples of all those books.I used to self conduct test for myself and then evaluate, it helped me a lot to improve accuracy and speed. During ESE 2015 ,when I saw the  conventional question papers I was very happy most of the questions were similar to what I had practiced, It gave me confidence and speed. I was able to attempt 175 marks in paper 1 within 3 hours and I got time to recheck my answers also. (remaining 25 marks  I was not able to answer) and 180 marks in paper2 .(unable to solve more because of lack of time)

My conventional marks:

paper1: 161 (one of the highest scores in ESE in ece).

paper2: 129 (less marks than expected, I felt checking was hard, as paper was too simple)

I concluded the following from the marks I got:

1. They do good step marking, its not like that if your answer is wrong, you will loose about 50% marks.(In paper 1 there was question to find resistance, I did mistake in that question and got wrong answer,if they  have just given me 3-4 marks i wont be able to get 161 as I did some  more mistakes in other questions also)

2. Attempt as much as possible. But dont write anything irrelevant, it may annoy the checker.

3.Be neat and precise, one of the reason for less marks in paper2 was this, In few answers, I initially did mistakes and then my work became little untidy.

4.Try to write the used formulae. 

5. Draw a line with pencil and scale after every question.

6. Cross the leftover pages.

7. Keep 5 mins to fill front page details. Dont do mistake in that.

Books followed by me for conventionals:

Material Science:  S.P.Seth( read it Wiedemann law is there!!! )

EDC: S. Salivahanan, few chapters of Neamen

Measurements: Sahani (I did only few chapters of it CRO,transducers, errors,bridges) mostly they ask these topics.

Networks: Network analysis and synthesis by gosh  and chakraborty (very gud book)

Signals: Schaum series +Singh and sapre (random variable+ fourier transform)

EMT: Schaum series+ Sadiku ( I have not prepared much for this subject)

Analog: Halkias and Sedra Smith( few chapters)

Digital: Morris Mano 

Communication: Singh and Sapre(best book for ESE communication),Kennedy.

Microwave: Liao, Kulkarni.

Contol: jairath( lot of examples)

8085: gaonkar( not prepared Computer part…..time nhi bacha tha)

You will see I followed mostly Indian writers book instead of reputed foreign writers. Reason is UPSC follows these types of book only, like last year(ESE 2014) question on graph theory came it is given nowhere but in Gosh book.

Books followed by UPSC in ESE 2015(may b followed in 2016)

Measurements: GATE instrumentation papers ( there is special subject of transducers for them )

Digital: digital electronics by Tocci

Control :jairath

Microwave: liao+kulkarni

Communication: Kennedy+Senior for optical communication

Analog:Some questions from Millman Halkias

Signals: first question from Singh and Sapre.

8085: Gaonkar

Networks: gosh  and chakraborty

solve only solved examples of the chapters given in syllabus.

Some suggestions:

1.Buy Ace conventional papers not madeeasy (they are topic wise you  can identify the weight age of each topic, they cover more years than madeeasy).

2.Join Madeeasy test series, you will feel the real competition, give every test seriously.

3. 4- 5 months are enough if you are not preparing for first time.

4. Make a time table and follow it seriously. Keep some empty gaps in timetable to complete the pending work.

5. Do practice conventional questions, It will increase your speed. I find people who can get answer of the question easily, but don’t know how to write /present it to fetch maximum marks.

See hard work always pay. You have to aim for 600+in written exam. Your selection depends on your written, rank is decided by interview.(in maximum cases)

About my Interview: I got 116 marks (average marks in ESE interview)

Though I prepared a lot for interview, but I could not fetch good marks. The problem with my preparation was I focused more on current affairs , hobbies, DAF related questions and not a single question was asked from all these topics.

Interview date: 2nd December 2015

My Back ground: I am currently doing M.tech in optoelectronics and optical  Communication from IIT Delhi.

Board: Mr.Chattar Singh

Questions asked:

Chairman: What do you like more electronics or  communication? What is HAM radio? What was earliest form of communication?Have you seen a satellite phone? Why Ambani don’t have satellite phone?

Techincal Persons: How did communication took place at the time of cloudburst in kedarnath? What is iridium project? Why it failed? Explain function of transponder. Limitations of satellite communication. Size of VSAT antenna, value of attenuation constant at particular values of wavelength in optical fibers, Some questions on LASER,  modulation  schemes used in optical Communication

Coaching Taken: Joined Rank improvement batch of madeeasy.(but I was  able to attend only few classes due to my M.Tech exams and works)

Its upto you there are 5 papers you have to identify your strengths and plan accordingly to score 140+in at least any 2 papers then you will be in. Have faith in you and your hard work. This is the last chance for this pattern, grab the opportunity, give your best.

Best Wishes,

Utkarsh Agarwal

Rank 17,  ESE 2015 

Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering