IES: Latest Exam Syllabus, Pattern, Books & Preparation Tips

UPSC conducts the IES exam once a year. For candidates to appear in this exam, every candidate must go through the said topics. In this view, UPSC formulates the IES syllabus and exam pattern. Moreover, this helps the candidates in understanding the IES exam topics in a better way. Besides, this exam consists of three stages, so UPSC formulates the syllabus for three different stages. Moreover, the subjects in prelims and mains are not the same, so the IES syllabus and pattern are different for all stages.

Furthermore, here in this article саndidаtes will find аll the tорiс-wise detаils аbоut the IES exаminаtiоn. Aраrt frоm IES syllаbus, саndidаtes can also find information about preparation tips, recommended books, and the exam pattern.

IES Exam Latest News

As the IES prelims exam is over, UPSC declared its results on August 6, 2021. However, all the details about IES important dates and notifications, including IES results, shall be available on UPSC’s official website. As of now, some essential information for the IES exam year 2021 is here.

IES releases the application forms for this exam nearly in April. Besides, UPSC follows the same procedures every year. Sometimes there can be a change in this pattern but, there will be some cause behind it. Furthermore, there is a separate notification about the IES syllabus and exam pattern available on the website. These are available in PDF format. Candidates can download it anytime they want. 

Moreover, UPSC conducts this exam often in June. However, the admit cards are available three weeks before the exam, and UPSC declares the IES prelims results within a month after the exam. Therefore, candidates must be aware that the IES important dates for results must be somewhere in July.

Also, UPSC conducts the IES main’s exam after the prelims results are out. All these exams are based on the IES syllabus given by the UPSC. Similar to the prelims exams, the availability of IES admit cards and IES results is the same. Moreover, the tentative dates for the mains and final results are December 2021 and January 2022, respectively.

Particulars	Details
Application form	April 7-27, 2021
Application form withdrawal	May 4, 2021
Prelims Admit Card	June 24, 2021
IES prelims exam	July 18, 2021
Prelims result	August 6, 2021
Mains Admit Card	September 2021
IES mains exam	October 10, 2021
Main’s result	November 2021
Interview	December 2021
Final result	January 2022
Website	upsc.gov.in

IES Exam Pattern

Here we will discuss the pattern of prelims and mains separately. However, the IES exam pattern is the same for each stream. Therefore we will discuss it briefly.

Prelims Exam Pattern

The IES prelims exam pattern includes only objective-type questions. These carry a total of 500 marks. As IES prelims consist of two papers, Paper-I is for 200 marks whereas, Paper-II is for 300. Moreover, the candidates who qualify at this stage of the IES exam will be eligible to sit in the mains exams.

The UPSC takes the IES prelims exam online. Though, there is a negative marking for each wrong answer. However, the answers with no response are not marked. Furthermore, candidates have to select a correct response from four given options. Coming towards the exam duration, Paper-I is for two hours whereas, Paper-II is of three-hour duration. Apart from this, Paper-II in each subject is about the same category. Like in electrical engineering, the Paper-II in prelims will be about that subject itself. The same goes for the other categories.

Mains Exam Pattern

Now talking about the IES mains exam, the paper pattern is somewhat different from the prelims. As we know that prelims are objective; the mains are descriptive. We also call this a conventional type. This exam also includes two papers; Paper-I and Paper-II. But these are both about the category they belong to.

Each paper of this exam is of 300 marks. Also, the duration is of three hours each. This means the total duration of IES mains is six hours. Being descriptive, the mode of this exam is offline. Moreover, the candidates must opt for all the questions unless there is any choice.

IES Syllabus

UPSC uploads the IES syllabus on its official website. Also, the IES syllabus is available for four different streams and two stages. The stages include the IES prelims and IES mains exam stages. Moreover, the four streams include; Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and; Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering.

Now further in this article, we will know about the topics and units in every paper. To make it clear for the candidates, we will mention all the chapters as well. Moreover, candidates will also get an idea about paper-I and paper-II in each stream. So we will start with the syllabus of prelims for each stream.

IES Syllabus for Prelims

Starting with the first stage, we will now discuss the prelims syllabus for each stream. The first in line is Civil Engineering. In this one, there are two papers. This one is the Paper-I also known as the General Studies and Engineering Aptitude. Moreover, there is another paper known as Paper-II. However, the IES Syllabus for Paper-I is the same in every category. The questions are all objective type.

Now, we will talk about the total chapters in this paper. The IES syllabus of paper-I constitutes ten chapters. A few of the topics are:

• The first one here is Engineering Aptitude
• Then comes Material Science and Engineering
• The next one is Engineering Ethics and values
• Another topic is economic and industrial development

These are some of the topics in the IES syllabus from prelims. However, the Paper-II of prelims is the same as the Paper-II in mains. The only difference is that it is objective. We will discuss the IES syllabus of prelims paper-II in the main’s section. Moreover, this applies to every category.

IES Syllabus for Mains

The IES mains syllabus is different for each category. In this section, we will discuss the mains syllabus category-wise. We will start with our first category; Civil Engineering

IES Syllabus of Mains for Civil Engineering

As we already know that the mains exam consists of two papers. Therefore the IES syllabus of both papers is briefly given below.

• The IES syllabus consists of twelve units. Each paper constitutes six chapters. Some of the chapters are building materials, environmental engineering, Design of Steel Structures, Solid Mechanics, Design of Steel Structures, etc.
• Some of the topics include Principles of Working Stress methods, Suspended Cables, Stress, Land acquisition, etc.

IES Syllabus of Mains for Mechanical Engineering

Our second category is mechanical engineering. Here are the chapters

• Chapter one is  about Fluid Mechanics
• The second chapter talks about Thermodynamics and Heat transfer
• The third one is about IC Engines; Refrigeration and Air conditioning
• The next one is Turbo Machinery
• Then comes Power Plant Engineering
• Renewable Sources of Energy is also part of the syllabus
• Then comes Engineering Mechanics
• Engineering Materials is in the syllabus
• Mechanisms and Machines is another chapter
• Moreover, the Design of Machine Elements is the next one.
• Further, the next one is Manufacturing, Industrial and Maintenance Engineering
• The last one is Mechatronics and Robotics

As we have mentioned all the chapters in the IES syllabus, now given here are some of the topics. We will start with topics from Paper-I. It includes SI and CI Engines; Thermal resistance; Emissions and Emission Control; Flow through pipes and head losses in pipes; Bio-mass and Tidal Energy; Evaporators and Expansion devices, etc. Besides, condensers and compressors are also in it.

Moreover, the topics from Paper-II include Analysis of System of Forces, Basic Crystallography, Types of Kinematics Pair, Law of gearing, Design for static and dynamic loading; Metal casting-Metal forming, Field Balancing of Rotors, Pneumatic and Hydraulic actuators, etc. Furthermore, some other topics are Robot Classification, Hall effect sensor, NDT Techniques in Condition Monitoring, etc.

IES Syllabus of Mains for Electrical Engineering

The IES syllabus for this category is also divided into two parts. The two papers include twelve units; six units each. The six units from Paper-I cover Engineering Mathematics, Electrical Materials; Electric Circuits and Fields; Electrical and Electronic Measurements; Computer Fundamentals and Basic Electronics Engineering.

Moreover, the six units from Paper-II include Analog and Digital Electronics; Systems and Signal Processing; Control Systems; Electrical Machines. The last one in this paper is Power Electronics and Drives.

Furthermore, we now move towards the topics. Some of them are Semiconductor power diodes, DC-DC switched-mode converters; HVDC transmission and FACTS concepts; Circuit breakers, etc. Also, DC machines, the Routh-Hurwitz criterion, Fourier series representation of continuous periodic signals, etc., are there in the syllabus.

IES Syllabus of Mains for Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering

This category also includes twelve units; six units each. Moreover, some of the topics are Communication Networks, Controllers & uses; Elements of vector calculus, Elements of programming languages, Memory management, etc.

Moreover, some of the chapters are Electro Magnetics; Computer Organization and Architecture; Analog and Digital Communication Systems; Basic Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, etc.

Preparation Tips

Above all here are some of the tips for exam preparation: 

• First and foremost, start preparing 
• Always, know your IES syllabus 
• Subsequently, prepare your timetable 
• Start making notes 
• Most importantly, dedicate the most time to your studies 
• Above all, solve previous year question papers
• Give mock tests positively based on the IES syllabus. 
• Furthermore, buy recommended books for the IES syllabus and read them. 
• Additionally, read toppers interviews  
• Last and most important, improve your interpersonal and communication skills. 

Know More – Indian Engineering Services – Complete Guide

IES Recommended Books

Here are some of the suggestions: 

• Our first suggestion is a book for civil engineering. It is a book written by C.S. Reddy. Moreover, the book is available under the name Basic Structural Analysis.
• The second one is also for civil engineering. It is the book under the name Design Of Steel Structures written by S.K Duggal.
• The next one is for mechanical engineering. The publisher is ME Editorial. Furthermore, the name of the book is General Studies & Engineering Aptitude Practice book.
• Another suggestion is also from ME Editorial. The book is available under the name ESE Prelims General Studies & Engineering Aptitude Practice book.
• Furthermore, C. L. Wadhwa is the author of the book Electrical Power Systems. Moreover, it is about Electrical engineering.
• Apart from this, another book for the same category is Power System Engineering. Besides, the authors are I Nagrath and D Kothari.
• Moreover, Control Systems Engineering is another suggestion for this category. Its author is I.J. Nagrath and M. Gopal.
• Also, Benjamin C. Kuo is our suggestion for electronics and telecommunication engineering. The book is available under the name Automatic Control Systems.
• Lastly, Principles of Communication Systems by Goutam Saha, Herbert Taub, and Donald Schilling are also in our suggestions.

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FAQs

Q.1 What is the duration of the IES prelims exam?

Ans. The IES prelims exam is of a five-hour duration.

Q.2 How much time is sufficient to prepare for the IES exam? 

Ans. One year of preparation is enough to complete the syllabus of the IES prelims and mains. Besides, if candidates are in proper preparation, they can easily qualify. 

Q.3 How many categories are there in the IES exam?

Ans. There are a total of four categories in IES exams.

Q.4 How many papers are there in the IES syllabus for mains?

Ans. The IES syllabus for mains constitutes two papers; Paper-I and Paper-II