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ESE (ECE) prepration Tips by All India Topper of 2013

(Gautam Surabhi)
31

Monday

MAR 2014

POSTED BY IES HELPLINE BY ASHISH AND ANKUR IN POSTS FOR GATE EXAM, POSTS FOR IES EXAM
42 COMMENTS

Tags
2013, 2014, EC, ECE, electornics, electronics & Telecommunication, electronics and communication, engineering
services, ESE, GATE, Gautam Surabhi, IES, ies topper, Indian Engineering Services, rohit, rohit jain, Shahid Malik,
telecom, topper
Dear friends and all IES2014 aspirants,
All the best for ESE2014.
I am sharing my experience and preparation strategy and I wish it would be helpful for you.
IES is one of the topmost exam conducted by UPSC andcompeition is ge2ing tougher and
tougher so if you want to make a dierence you really need to have something dierent from
all others..
I started to prepare seriously from sept 2013 and almost 9 months to get a perfect grip . I
prepared all gate subjects before gate exam and practised them very extensively so that after
gate they just needed revision and practise ..no theory part after that.
For every single subj of gate,my plan was to cover each and everything and that may be a reason that I was not
able to secure a very good rank in gate as it was not the need of this exam. But I was really not concerned with
gate as my nal plan was IES. So I continued with my preps after gate without thinking twice about what had
happened in gate.i never cared as my days were valuable for me more than useless regrets.
I started with class room notes then I went for workbook question,then previous year questions then ques from
instrumentation and electrical branch then question from standard books I have reered during my semesters.
For standard books I want to make one point clear that I relied more on books Ireered in semesters rather
than going for any new one that I have never read. Yes,for unsolved questions and derivations that were not
covered, I impatiently read new books but only that part , because the moment we get a new book we madly
start turning pages and reading it all ,that is totally waste of time.
by gate I think we need to gain a good grip over those all 8 subjects. aftergate,it was serious time for gs and

English section.so from march I started reading almost everything I got to read related with gs. For GS I was
quite concerned from very beginning so I felt veryintresting to read it.i read all madeeasybooklets,made notes
from newspapers and I gave mppsc,ssc exams because they were really helpful for gssections.for geography I
read oxford atlas and notes simultaneously.i photocopied maps of india and xed them at various places on
wall.it was a fulltime reading of maps. Even when I was reading newspaper I read it with atlas so any news of
india or other country was marked in mind with its location.polity I read from classnotes and current aairs
from monthly magzines ,you can pick anyone you feel good.revision is very important for gs part and it really
takes time to have a command over it.
For English I took barrons and made it a ritual to memorize at least 10 words daily and I did it by a method
called ridiculous thinking in which we associate something odd with meaning of word and then we keep it in
our memory ,initially it takes time but friends it is really very helpfulgrammerportion I did from the booklet
and classnotes nothing else.
For subjects like measurements and instrumentation I relied on classes and then I solved all question from all
possible resources. I want to mention one thing that always be open for discussion ,it makes you to think
dynamically and your logical connection with subject grows as you share ideas about it in group. Select some
classmates(YES,ONLY FEW) and religiously give some time for discussion ,it is very helpful.
For microwave I read liao and kulkarni,though la2er is not precise but really it is good to read it once. For
optical and satellite I covered extra things from net. I read k. d. Prasad for antenna .for all those subj in which
shaums outline was available I bought and solved itonce. Then for network sadiku is one book from which I
solved almost all unsolved question and it was really helpful. And for once,do solve kanodia,it is not standard
book but in beginning it is really helpful,later on raise your level high and dont refer it again.
If you are done with good no. of revisions you really need not worry much for conv marks.(good no. of
revisions means AT LEAST 3 TIMES.).to score good in conv. You need to put your answers precisely ,to the
point,presentable in format,no need to use dierent colour pens really. Cleanliness is enough to have a good
impression. And dont just try answers if you cant solve themfully,it makes a bad impression. Rather than
practicing previous question by writing them try to get the logical sequence of answer .be ready with all
important points and never write anything extra.you can a2empt theory questions with priority if they are
with some diag. or schematics. But always try to go for numericals rst.booklist I dont think I need to mention
as they have been posted many times and are almost same.
My interview was all about my work prole at BARC and too many questions from practicle implementation
of electronics. All it needed was presence of mind, condence in words, respect in persona, hard work in
words and dedication in answers. If they get convinced that you have really worked hard and you respect the
positin you want to achieve they never keep you away from this.rest part you can leave on your luck and your
day(1%).
So it was something I could share about my preparations bu2he very important part is your own will power
and desire to cross the hurdle and be in elite group.coaching is not a panacea and it is not a must have
thing.but if you can aord and give time ,be2er to join classes. They never cover entire syllabus but they help
you to cover it on your own .and how much you cover apart from classes always gives you edge specially in
conv.
You dont need to count how many hours you studied ,but how many minutes you were focussed is important.
If you had dreamt it ,then denitely you have the potential to do it and this is something you have to believe
in.never decide about how far you can go ,just start walking and be ready to take risks.because limits are not
there ,they appear only when you let them to. Invade your comfort zone and live your fears. If I can do it ,I
think everyone can.
Please feel free to put yourquerries and I will try to answer them whenever I will get time and if I will be able
to answer them.
All the best.
SurabhiGautam

AIR 1 ESE 2013

BRANCH ECE

ESE preparation tips By Rohit Jain(ESE-2012 Rank-2)

26

Wednesday

MAR 2014

POSTED BY IES HELPLINE BY ASHISH AND ANKUR IN POSTS FOR IES EXAM
9 COMMENTS

Tags
2012, 2013, 22014, EC, ECE, electornics, electronics & Telecommunication, electronics and communication, engineering
services, ESE, GATE, IES, ies topper, Indian Engineering Services, rohit, rohit jain, telecom, topper

1. Complete subjects one by one starting from the subject that you nd easy and mixing the order with the
subjects that can be nished in less time. Subject must be studied from objective as well as conventional point
of view.
For example if you nd Digital easy you can complete it rst and then after nishing some more subjects, you
can nish material or measurement like subjects which require less time.

2. After completion of each subject, practice 10 year questions both objective and subjective.

3. While practising objective, take a clock and set 1 hr alarm and a2empt 60 questions (as in ESE u are
supposed to do 120 ques in 2hr). After doing 60 ques, verify your answer but dont look at the solution.
Suppose you a2empted 40 right and 20 wrong. Then a2empt those 20 again without any time limit. Let this
time you got 10 right. Now a2empt rest 10 by going through notes, books etc. And in the end you will be left
with only 2 or 3 questions whose solution will need to be looked. And in this way you will be able to revise
more and understand more and make more concepts regarding the quality questions. So dont look the
solution right away, wait till all your doors get closed.

4. In subjective also do the same procedure, set a time limit and proceed.

5. Generally students have a belief that one cannot score good marks in conventional but it is wrong. You are

supposed to pay a2ention to some of the facts and you can score well in conventional.

6. In subjective paper, the rst answer that you write must be of the question that you can answer best because
it will create an impression on the mind of checker.
7. Always explain each and every formula or expression used in the answer and if a symbol is used its meaning
must be provided. You are supposed to treat examiner as a layman who does not know anything.
8. You can use pencil to underline a good point or fact (I hv used it). Try to inculcate gures or block diagram
to provide be2er understanding of your answer.
9. If you can provide an additional information on the question than write it as a note. For example, if a
question of dierential amplier came than you can write, NOTE: Practically instrumentation amplier is used
instead of dierential amplier as there is gain and input resistance trade-o in dierential amplier.
On reading this examiner will came to know that you not only know the answer but have understanding of
practical things. And this impression will fetch you more marks.

10. And last but not the least YOUR HARD WORK WILL ALWAYS FETCH YOU SUCCESS.

Please let me know if somewhere I am wrong or if anyone needs more information

- ROHIT JAIN
RANK 2 IES 2012
RANK 15 GATE 2012

Strategy for ESE Objective and Conventional exams

23

Sunday

MAR 2014

POSTED BY IES HELPLINE BY ASHISH AND ANKUR IN KUNAL SRIVASTAVA (AIR 1 IES 2012, AIR 44 GATE 2013) (E&T)
7 COMMENTS

Tags
1200, 2012, 2013, 2014, books for ECE, conventional, Coomunication, E&T, EC, ECE, Electronics, Electronics &
Telecommunication Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Engineering, ESE, GATE, IES, Indian

Engineering Services, Kunal Srivastava, objective, Rank 1, Rank 44, subjective

ESE OBJECTIVE and CONVENTIONAL PAPERS
Since both papers have common syllabus so it is advisable to prepare for both
together, one subject at a time.
First categorise subjects as GATE and Non-GATE subjects and take one standard
book per subject. I have mentioned books I referred to during my preparation.
GATE Subjects must be focused upon most for technical section.
Booklist is mentioned below:
RANK 1 IES 2012
RANK 44 GATE 44

1.NETWORK THEORY
SADIKU (or) VALKENBURG + SCHAUMs SERIES

2. EDC
MILLMAN, HALIKAS + STREETMAN +SCHAUMs SERIES
.
3. ANALOG ELECTRONICS
MILLMAN, HALKIAS + SEDRA SMITH (or DONALD NEAMEN)+SCHAUMs SERIES

4. DIGITAL ELECTRONICS
MORRIS MANO

5. EMT
SADIKU

6. SIGNALS & SYSTEMS

OPPENHEIM + SCHAUMs SERIES
..
7. COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
SIMON HAYKINS (or) BP LATHI + P SRI HARI (for Digital Modulation) + SCHAUMs SERIES

..
8. CONTROL SYSTEMS
BS MANKE + SCHAUMs SERIES
..
9. MICROPROCESSORS
R. GAONKAR
For non-GATE subjects, books are not recommended as the syllabus is selective and books are vast. Still
some topics are important, so the list is as follows:
10. MATERIAL SCIENCE
S.P. SETH
11. MEASUREMENTS
A.K. SAWHNEY
12. OPTICAL COMMUNICATION
SENIOR
13. SATELLITE COMMUNICATION
PRATT & BOSTIAN
14. COMPUTER ENGINEERING
STALLING
15. MICROWAVE ENGINEERING
SAMUEL L. LIAO
But I had mostly used dierent coaching institutes class notes for these non-GATE subjects available in
market and selected numericals from books.
All GATE subjects are core ones must not be ignored and prepared thoroughly for both Objective and
Conventional.
Non-GATE subjects must be prepared for conventional. Focus more on important derivations and
numerical questions must be thoroughly studied. For example Microwave by Samuel Liao has many solved
examples that come as it is in ESE conventional. But for Objective papers too-much in depth knowledge
may be required which may not be feasible in an 8 to 10 months preparation time, so it can be left out.
Anyways, if conventional concepts are strong one can expect to score above average marks in Objective
questions from these Non-GATE subjects.
How to prepare?

12 months of preparation for 12 hours of exam.

Go one subject at a time. Preferably start with GATE subjects. The order of the subjects which I felt most
comfortable with is the same as mentioned in the above list. Mark the relevant chapters/topics from
syllabus. Read the theory rst from book. Make point wise notes and mark the points you are not
comfortable with. Read and solve solved examples and objective questions rst from book. Then go for past
years question banks of ESE, rst Objective then Conventional. Mark the questions you are not
comfortable with and whenever possible discuss with friends or teachers.
None of the notes available from various sources are comprehensive. Mostly they are made keeping view
of past 5 years questions. I have seen cases where after reading notes you can solve past years questions
but not unseen questions. So notes are not exhaustive. And if everybody is reading from same notes, where
is your advantage? Remember that there is no absolute cut-o. So, reading books is a much be2er option.
Coaching classes are not absolutely required if you can prepare from books. Self developed style of
answering adds weightage to your answers and may even get bonus marks. But if you feel you must join
any coaching institute, do not always go by their published results. First enquire about the who is going to
teach you. As many coaching institutes falsely claim famous faculties. Also inquire about studentto-faculty ratio because if you dont get doubt sessions and personal a5ention from faculty, then you are
wasting your time and money. Also it is be2er to have faculty who have themselves cleared exams like
GATE, ESE with good ranks because they are be2er at understanding your doubts and problems.
One subject after the other is the best strategy. Roughly, 3 to 4 weeks is sucient for any subject. Do not
mix up. After having nished one subject, make a short summary of your notes which must include
marked points, marked questions and any silly mistakes if done. This will serve as a ready-to-revise and
time-saving content in the last phase of preparation.
It is highly recommended to NOT study the whole book but selectively deal with topics.
About 6 to 7 hours dedicated to one technical subject per day, apart from 2 to 3 hours for GS + English, will
suce in a 12 month preparation time.
It is not required to study all the time. But mind should be always with your notes and questions and
doubts. Do not doubt your doubts, they are always legit. A friends circle with like-minded aspirants
where you can put your doubts and discuss is highly recommended. Keep asking. If possible upload them
on Facebook, we will be more than happy to help if we could.
How to practice?
First nish books and solved examples.
Since objective papers lay more emphasis on speed than accuracy, so practise accordingly. 45 seconds
per question is sucient. Try nishing 120 questions within 1h 30minutes.
Conventional papers must be practised with good-writing on plain white sheets. In fact, choose one pen
and use it till exam for lasting grip. Write legit answers. Roughly 5 marks questions require th of
space on one page surface and in that proportion. Always write point wise.
Mark questions not answered and note them in your summary sheet.
Revision
Keep at least last 2 to 3 months for revision. First revise your entire notes and then revise only your
short summary prepared earlier. Textbooks should not have any role in revision. The more you revise,
be2er you get at recalling concepts in the exam.
Now no need to see more practice question. Focus more on past years questions bank. Ideally, 10 or 15
years questions bank is more than sucient.
Identify your strong and weak areas during preparation. Revise weak areas more than stronger ones.
It is highly recommended to join some test series to gauge your preparation. Treat it as real test. The
more the number of aspirants in a given test series, the be2er you will realize where you stand. For

example I consistently got within top 5 in every test I gave at M.E.

Dos and Donts during exam
Read the instructions carefully.
Objective papers require more speed than accuracy. Limited number of calculated risks can be taken.
While a2empting objective paper, turning pages for rough work will consume unnecessary time.
Prefer doing rough work with pencil on the side of the question and then if required with a red pen
over the pencil. Do not encircle bubbles immediately. Mark answers in question paper with red pen for
visibility and before the end of exam encircle sequentially. Mark questions you think you can answer
later. Try nishing all known answers in 1h30min (45 seconds per question) keeping 20 minutes for
a2empting marked questions and 10 minutes for encircling. Do not look at watch frequently.
Conventional papers require in-depth knowledge, style of presentation and relevant content in
answering.
st
a) Write answers serially as per question numbers. Usually, 1 question is compulsory. A2empt all parts.
Then read the rest of questions and mark the questions you wish to a2empt. No need to show calculations
in detail or irrelevant knowledge.
b) Write answers with question numbers sequentially. Random answering is annoying for the person who
checks your sheet.
c) It is always be2er to write answers point wise. Draw neat diagrams, preferably with pencil, with proper
labels. Derivations or results if used must be mentioned. Draw a pencil line after every question to
demarcate answers.
d) Rough work must be crossed out.
e) Try to make your answer sheet error free.
f) Make index on the front sheet with question and page numbers.
My marks were:
Paper

Marks

General Studies +English

117/200

Objective 1

112/200

Objective 2

111/200

Conventional 1

132/200

Conventional 2

122/200

Interview

122/200

Sum total

715/1200

Wishing you all the best.

KUNAL SRIVASTAVA
AIR 1 ESE 2012

AIR 44 GATE 2013.

Strategy for GS+English

23

Sunday

MAR 2014

POSTED BY IES HELPLINE BY ASHISH AND ANKUR IN KUNAL SRIVASTAVA (AIR 1 IES 2012, AIR 44 GATE 2013) (E&T)

1 COMMENT

Tags
2012, 2013, 2014, books for ECE, Coomunication, E&T, EC, ECE, Electronics, Electronics & Telecommunication
Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Engineering, ESE, GATE, IES, Indian Engineering Services,
Kunal Srivastava, Rank 1, Rank 44
General Studies + English
In my opinion, this paper produces dierences in the nal rank because most
people get too busy while preparing for technical papers.
Scoring in this paper is easy if youve studied selectively as there is no syllabus
dened here.
For GS part, divide the syllabus in contents like History, Polity, Geography,
Economics, Life Sciences and current aairs. First refer to the past 10 or 20 years
question papers of ESE and CDS exams of UPSC. Mark the topics mostly asked.
For example History has nearly lost its importance in ESE nowadays. But anyways
refer to the standard books like NCERT of +2 level and read only the topics asked.
RANK 1 IES 2012
No need to study the whole book. After youve nished selectively reading the
RANK 44 GATE 44
textbook, keep on practicing these past years questions. Ultimately you will
memorise and form a pa2ern of choosing the right option. If you wish more
practice refer to Lucents GS book containing only the past years questions of various competitive exams.
Even though current aairs is not important for ESE but you can read newspaper headlines from front
page, sports, and national and international sections. No need to make notes just read carefully once. The
Hindu is highly recommended. Else reading one magazine a month is more than sucient. I would suggest
Frontline magazine. One can read them online also.
English section must be focused upon more than GS section. For English part, more emphasis must be
given on grammar part like spo2ing errors, sentence & paragraph arrangements, word substitution and
comprehension. Antonyms and synonyms are not that important because if you cant recall exact words,
then you cant take risks in exam. I would suggest Hari Mohan Prasad book for competitive English. It is a
complete book covering all the aspects required in a very good fashion and large number of practice
questions. Even questions come directly from there.
GS + English should be dealt on a daily basis because basically you have to memorise. So 2 to 3 hours a day
is sucient in 7 to 8 months of preparation time.
Notes available on GS and English are not exhaustive. Be2er read books and magazines.
100/200 is more than good. I was able to score 116/200.

Wishing you all the best

KUNAL SRIVASTAVA
AIR 1 ESE 2012, AIR 44 GATE 2013

Strategy for GATE exam by Kunal Srivastava

23

Sunday

MAR 2014

POSTED BY IES HELPLINE BY ASHISH AND ANKUR IN KUNAL SRIVASTAVA (AIR 1 IES 2012, AIR 44 GATE 2013) (E&T)

1 COMMENT

Tags
2012, 2013, 2014, books for ECE, Coomunication, E&T, EC, ECE, Electronics, Electronics & Telecommunication
Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Engineering, ESE, GATE, IES, Indian Engineering Services,
Kunal Srivastava, Rank 1, Rank 44
Since the syllabus for GATE and IES is common so it is advisable is to prepare
for both exams comprehensively.
GATE
Gate questions are purely conceptual, test candidates on technical skills and
numerical aptitude and in my opinion, without strong concepts and good link-up
of subjects, scoring good rank in GATE is impossible. GATE exam has now opened
doors for PSUs making it all the more competitive. Over 2,56,000 candidates
appeared in GATE 2013 in Electronics branch only.
65 questions in 3 hours make it nearly 3 minutes per question. But if concepts are
RANK 1 IES 2012
not clear even this much of time is not sucient. So clearly more emphasis is on
RANK 44 GATE 44
accuracy than on speed. Large number of candidates gets caught in a very narrow
band of marks. One should not take chances while answering. So answers which
are not sure may be left.
Developing concepts comes from reading books and applying them in a variety of practice questions to
gain condence. One standard book per subject is sucient but often students are confused and use
multiple textbooks. A standard book explains theory and follows it up with ample number of practice
questions, but the book must be properly chosen. List of suggested books is given below.
Notes borrowed from dierent sources may not be that much helpful because they are prepared keeping in
mind latest exam questions and not syllabus. Pa5ern may change but syllabus is well dened, so book
reading is highly recommended. Also Ive seen cases where after reading notes one is able to solve past
years questions easily but not comfortable with unseen questions. So thats why I think notes available
in the market nowadays are not exhaustive.
Also if everyone is reading from notes, then where is your advantage?

Coaching classes are more benecial to aspirants because time spent with a good teacher is always more
fruitful than time spent with books. A teacher is himself a summary of various books and with experience
can give proper guidance. People who have themselves cleared these exams with good ranks are far be2er
at understanding problems of the aspirants and guiding them in the right direction than those who have
not appeared. So rst inquire about faculty proles, if possible ask their past years students then only
join. Results nowadays are published almost everywhere. Also keep in mind the student-faculty ratio of the
institute. If you are not ge5ing your required time, doubt sessions and personal a5ention from faculty
members due to whatever reasons, you are not beneting from them.
One of the most common mistakes while practicing questions is that students very easily refer to the
solution manual if they are not ge2ing answers right. Rather a habit of thinking properly and thinking over
and over again must be developed. Do not rush to answers, think properly and answers will rush to you.
Roughly 10 months is sucient time to prepare for GATE. While studying a subject, focus rst on theory,
then summarize your learning in hand-wri2en notes, then practice questions from standard book and then
from past years GATE questions. Mark the questions which you could not solve and keep thinking over
them. Re summarize your notes in as less space as possible. Keep these short notes with yourself and spend
time reading them whenever youre free like while traveling in bus. It is not required to study over 10 hours
a day but your mind should be busy with concepts and questions 247. A friends circle with like-minded
aspirants where you can put up your doubts and discuss is highly recommended.
Dedicate at least 2 months for revision. Do not panic if you forget previously studied topics rather revise
them whenever you get time. Revise the entire theory and practice only those questions which you were
not able to solve in the past or you feel are the tricky ones. The more variety of unseen questions you have
practiced, the more are your chances to solve GATE questions under examination pressure.
There are times during preparation when you would feel low, tired or depressed. Do not allow this to
continue. Talk to your parents or friends or teachers. Do not spend much time in a slump. If required avoid
studying for a few days and then come back fresh.
BOOK LIST
S. No.

Subject

Textbook

1.

Electronic Devices and Circuits

Millman & Halkias

2.

Analog Electronics

a) Millman & Halkias b) Sedra Smith (or) Donald Neamen

3.

Digital Electronics

Morris Mano

4.

Control Systems

B.S. Manke

5.

Signals & Systems

a) Oppenheim

6.

Electromagnetic Theory

Sadiku

7.

Network Theory

Sadiku

8.

Microprocessor

Gaonkar

9.

Communication Engineering

a) Simon Haykinsb) Schaums series

10.

Engineering Mathematics

HK Das

11.

Quantitative Aptitude

T. S. Jain

b) Schaums series

*Mathematics & Aptitude book may not be required for most aspirants.
Wishing you best of Luck

Kunal Srivastava ( ECE )

AIR-1 ESE-2012
AIR-44 GATE-2013

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