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Updated By Pratha Shishodia on 21 Jan, 2026 20:50
Get UPSC ESE Sample Papers For Free
UPSC ESE Exam Analysis 2026 – The UPSC ESE (IES) 2026 Prelims exam is on Feb 8, 2026, spanning two shifts: from 9:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. and from 02:00 P.M. to 05:00 P.M. Conducted in pen-paper mode and the candidates were required to fill up the OMR sheet. The UPSC ESE comprised a total of 500 marks where Paper 1 worth 200 marks and Paper 2 carries 300 marks. Paper 1 of the UPSC IES covered General Studies & Engineering Aptitude, while Paper 2 focused on Specific Disciplines. Based on candidate feedback, the difficulty level of the UPSC ESE Exam 2026 was rated as ‘Moderate to Difficult.’
In terms of attempts deemed good by candidates, there were approximately 155 in Paper 1 and 245 in Paper 2. By analyzing the UPSC ESE Prelims and Mains question papers, candidates can learn about the difficulty level of the exam. This will provide students with in-depth knowledge of the topics covered in the question paper. Candidates can also learn about the number of questions asked from all subjects. The article provides applicants with a detailed analysis covering the topic-wise weightage of different subjects, the difficulty level of the exam paper, and the expected cutoff of the Prelims and Mains. The Mains exam is expected on June 21, 2026.
The overall difficulty level for the UPSC ESE Prelims was moderate. The UPSC ESE 2026 Mains exam will be conducted to recruit engineers for various central government positions. Paper 1 of the ESE exam includes General Studies and Engineering Aptitude, with a common paper for all engineering branches, including Civil, Mechanical, and Electronics Engineering. Candidates can refer to the analysis of UPSC ESE 2026 Prelims Paper 1 to understand the distribution of subjects and marks. The UPSC ESE 2026 exam analysis will be based on various factors, including feedback from candidates, expert reviews, and initial reactions to the exam. After the exam, the analysis will include information such as the difficulty level, types of questions, and other important patterns. This information will be released to help candidates evaluate their performance and prepare for the next stages of the exam.
| Details | Status |
|---|---|
| Difficulty Level | Easy to Moderate |
| Question Types | Single Correct Answer MCQs |
| Subjects | General Studies and Engg Aptitude |
| Topic Areas Covered |
|
| Feedback from Candidates | Questions were mainly on assessing the candidate's logical ability, problem-solving skills, and engineering aptitude |
| Subjects | Difficulty Level | Feedback from Candidates |
|---|---|---|
| Civil Engineering | Moderate | Balanced paper, mix of theoretical and numerical questions |
| Mechanical Engineering | Moderate to Difficult | More numerical questions, particularly focused on core concepts |
| Electrical Engineering | Moderate to Difficult | Lengthy questions focused on in-depth concepts |
| Electronics and Telecommunication Engg. | Moderate | Mostly theoretical questions with a few numericals |
The UPSC ESE 2026 Prelims exam will be held on Feb 8 , 2026. Candidates can check out the important highlights on UPSC ESE exam 2026 as tabulated below:
| Exam Name | UPSC ESE Prelims 2026 |
|---|---|
| Conducting Authority | Union Public Service Commission |
| UPSC ESE Prelims 2025 Exam Date | Feb 8, 2026 |
| UPSC ESE Prelims 2025 Exam Mode | Offline |
| Number of Papers in UPSC ESE Prelims 2025 exam |
|
| Total Marks |
|
| Exam Duration |
|
| Marking Scheme |
|
The major highlights of Prelims Paper 1 including the overall difficulty level, type of questions from each topic is shared in the below-mentioned points. The gist is provided based on the UPSC ESE 2025 prelims paper 1 analysis. It also has the reviews added by the candidates who appeared for the examination.
The ESE Prelims Exam consists of two papers, details are listed below.
Paper | Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|
Paper I: General Studies and Engineering Aptitude Paper | 200 Marks | 2 Hours |
Paper-II: Core Engineering Paper | 300 Marks | 3 Hours |
Total | 500 Marks | 5 Hours |
The section-wise exam analysis of Paper 1 for the UPSC ESE 2026 exam will be shared after the exam is over.
| Subjects | Questions Asked & Difficulty Level |
|---|---|
| Current issues of national and international importance | TBU |
| Engineering Mathematics and Numerical Analysis | TBU |
| Engineering Aptitude | TBU |
General Principles of Design, Drawing, Importance of Safety | TBU |
Standards and Quality Practices | TBU |
| Basics of Energy and Environment | TBU |
| Basics of Project Management | TBU |
Basics of Material Science and Engineering | TBU |
| Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) | TBU |
| Ethics and values in the Engineering profession | TBU |
The table below represents the subject-wise weightage described as per UPSC ESE 2026 Prelims Paper 1 Analysis for the General Awareness and Engineering Aptitude Paper.
S. No. | Subjects | Total Qs. |
|---|---|---|
1. | Current Affairs | TBU |
2. | Engineering Aptitude | TBU |
3. | Engineering Mathematics Numerical Analysis | TBU |
4. | Basics of Project Management | TBU |
5. | Material Science | TBU |
6. | Ethics Values | TBU |
7. | Design, Drawing Importance of Safety | TBU |
8. | Energy Environment | TBU |
9. | Information Communication Technologies (ICT) | TBU |
10. | Standards and Quality Practices | TBU |
Total | 100 | |
The following table will be updated after the conduction of the exam. This will help candidates in analysing the expected cutoff, difficulty level, and more details.
S.No. | Subjects | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
1. | Current Affairs | TBU |
2. | Engineering Aptitude | TBU |
3. | Engineering Mathematics Numerical Analysis | TBU |
4. | Basics of Project Management | TBU |
5. | Material Science | TBU |
6. | Ethics Values | TBU |
7. | Design, Drawing Importance of Safety | TBU |
8. | Energy Environment | TBU |
9. | Information Communication Technologies (ICT) | TBU |
10. | Standards and Quality Practices | TBU |
Total | 100 | |
UPSC ESE CE analysis 2026 will be represented here after the exam. Read the analysis to get information about difficulty level, good attempts, topic-wise weightage, and so on.
Subject | No of Questions |
|---|---|
Strength of Materials | TBU |
Soil Mechanics | TBU |
Engineering Hydrology | TBU |
Highway Engineering | TBU |
Surveying | TBU |
Irrigation Engineering | TBU |
Building Materials | TBU |
Construction Planning and Management | TBU |
Design of Steel Structures | TBU |
Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulics | TBU |
Open Channel Flow | TBU |
Railways, Airports, and Tunneling | TBU |
Structural Analysis | TBU |
Design of Concrete Structures | TBU |
Environmental Engineering | TBU |
Total | 150 |
The difficulty level of the UPSC ESE Mechanical Paper will be mentioned here after the conduction of UPSC ESE Mechanical Prelims exam. Carefully go through the table to get the details.
Subject-wise Analysis
S.No. | Topics | Questions |
|---|---|---|
1 | Fluid Mechanics | TBU |
2 | Thermodynamics | TBU |
3 | Heat transfer | TBU |
4 | Refrigeration and Air conditioning | TBU |
5 | I. C. Engines | TBU |
6 | Power Plant Engg. | TBU |
7 | Engineering Mechanics | TBU |
8 | Strength of Materials | TBU |
9 | Theory of Machines & Vibrations | TBU |
10 | Machine Design | TBU |
11 | Manufacturing & Engineering Materials | TBU |
12 | Industrial Engineering | TBU |
13 | Renewable Sources of Energy | TBU |
14 | Mechatronics & Robotics | TBU |
UPSC ESE 2026 electrical paper is for testing the problem-solving and analytical skills of candidates. Check the detailed weightage analysis of the Prelims exam in the table given below:
Subject | No. of Questions |
|---|---|
Electromagnetic Fields | TBU |
Electric Circuits | TBU |
Measurements | TBU |
Power Electronics | TBU |
Communication Systems | TBU |
Basic Electronics Engineering | TBU |
Digital Electronics | TBU |
Power Systems | TBU |
Electrical Machines | TBU |
Materials Science | TBU |
Microprocessors | TBU |
Control Systems | TBU |
Signals and Systems | TBU |
Analog Electronics | TBU |
Computer Fundamentals | TBU |
Engineering Mathematics | TBU |
UPSC ECE exam analysis is provided here candidates from ECE Engineering branch. Check out the topic-wise weightage, expected cutoff, and more details.
The subject-wise analysis of the ECE exam is provided below:
Subject | No. of Questions |
|---|---|
Control Systems | TBU |
Electromagnetic Field Theory | TBU |
Networks | TBU |
Analog Circuits | TBU |
Basic Electronics | TBU |
Microprocessor | TBU |
Digital Circuits | TBU |
Communication Systems | TBU |
Material Science | TBU |
Advanced Electronics | TBU |
Advanced Communication | TBU |
Electronic Measurements and Instrumentation | TBU |
Basic Electrical Engineering | TBU |
Computer Organization and Architecture | TBU |
Total | 150 |
Check out the UPSC ESE ECE Paper Analysis 2026 highlights provided here:
Candidates can check out the section-wise exam analysis of Paper 1 of 2025 exam from the table below:
| Subjects | Questions Asked & Difficulty Level |
|---|---|
| Current issues of national and international importance | 7 Questions |
| Engineering Mathematics and Numerical Analysis | 9 Questions (Easy + Moderate) |
| Engineering Aptitude | 12 Questions (Easy) |
General Principles of Design, Drawing, Importance of Safety | 10 Questions |
Standards and Quality Practices | 9 Questions (Easy + Moderate) |
| Basics of Energy and Environment | 12 Questions |
| Basics of Project Management | 12 Questions (Moderate) |
Basics of Material Science and Engineering | 9 Questions |
| Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) | 10 Questions |
| Ethics and values in the Engineering profession | 10 Questions |
UPSC ESE 2025 Exam Analysis of Paper 2
The examination consists of two papers: Paper 1 covering General Studies & Engineering Aptitude, and Paper 2 focusing on Specific Engineering Disciplines such as Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, and Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering. The UPSC ESE 2024 exam analysis for the Prelims provides insights into the perceived difficulty levels of each paper and the approximate number of attempts considered favorable by candidates during the examination. The overall difficulty level of UPSC ESE Exam 2024 is of 'Moderate' level and the number of good attempts in UPSC ESE Exam 2024 was 160 in paper 1 and 250 in paper 2.Below is a table summarizing the difficulty level and number of good attempts for each paper in the UPSC Engineering Services Examination (ESE) Prelims 2024.
Name of the Paper | Difficulty Level | Number of Good Attempts |
Paper 1: General Studies & Engineering Aptitude | Moderate | 160 |
Paper 2: Specific Engineering Discipline(Civil/Electrical/Mechanical/Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering) | Moderate to Tough | 250 |
The section-wise exam analysis for UPSC ESE Prelims 2024 has been provided below.
Section Name | Number of Questions | Difficulty Level |
|---|---|---|
Current issues of national and international importance | 13-15 | Moderate to Difficult |
Engineering Aptitude covering Logical reasoning and Analytical ability | 7-9 | Easy to Moderate |
Engineering Mathematics and Numerical Analysis | 13-15 | Easy to Moderate |
General Principles of Design, Drawing, Importance of Safety | 5-7 | Moderate to Difficult |
Standards and Quality practices | 7-11 | Difficult |
Basics of Energy and Environment | 5-9 | Moderate to Difficult |
Basics of Project Management | 13-15 | Moderate to Difficult |
Basics of Material Science and Engineering | 8-9 | Moderate to Difficult |
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) based tools | 8-10 | Moderate to Difficult |
Ethics and values in the Engineering profession | 8-9 | Moderate to Difficult |
The UPSC ESE 2023 Mains exam was conducted on June 25, 2023, and the Prelims exam was conducted on 19 February 2023 to recruit engineers for various positions in central government departments of India. Paper 1 of the ESE exam includes General Studies and Engineering Aptitude exam papers. All candidates get a common paper for all engineering branches, i.e., Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, and Electronics Engineering. Candidates can go through the UPSC ESE 2023 prelims paper 1 analysis.
The table below represents the subject-wise weightage described as per UPSC ESE 2023 Prelims Paper 1 Analysis for the General Awareness and Engineering Aptitude Paper.
S. No. | Subjects | Total Qs. |
|---|---|---|
1. | Current Affairs | 15 |
2. | Engineering Aptitude | 15 |
3. | Engineering Mathematics Numerical Analysis | 15 |
4. | Basics of Project Management | 4 |
5. | Material Science | 7 |
6. | Ethics Values | 10 |
7. | Design, Drawing Importance of Safety | 8 |
8. | Energy Environment | 9 |
9. | Information Communication Technologies (ICT) | 11 |
10. | Standards and Quality Practices | 6 |
Total | 100 | |
To make it clear to candidates, we have compared the last few years' data that helps in analysing which subject's weightage is similar to previous years. The comparison with the previous year's data provides an overall trend of the examination. This helps candidates to analyse the exam's expected cutoff, difficulty level, and more.
S.No. | Subjects | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Current Affairs | 15 | 16 | 18 | 10 | 8 |
2. | Engineering Aptitude | 15 | 11 | 15 | 10 | 10 |
3. | Engineering Mathematics Numerical Analysis | 15 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 5 |
4. | Basics of Project Management | 4 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 6 |
5. | Material Science | 7 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 9 |
6. | Ethics Values | 10 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 12 |
7. | Design, Drawing Importance of Safety | 8 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 12 |
8. | Energy Environment | 9 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 14 |
9. | Information Communication Technologies (ICT) | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 |
10. | Standards and Quality Practices | 6 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 14 |
Total | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | |
UPSC ESE CE Prelims exam was conducted for the candidates who successfully registered for the Prelims examination. UPSC ESE CE analysis 2023 was done by our expert faculty. Read the analysis to get information about difficulty level, good attempts, topic-wise weightage, and so on.
Subject | No of Questions |
|---|---|
Strength of Materials | 18 |
Soil Mechanics | 14 |
Engineering Hydrology | 1 |
Highway Engineering | 10 |
Surveying | 10 |
Irrigation Engineering | 12 |
Building Materials | 13 |
Construction Planning and Management | 12 |
Design of Steel Structures | 12 |
Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulics | 12 |
Open Channel Flow | 1 |
Railways, Airports, and Tunneling | 1 |
Structural Analysis | 7 |
Design of Concrete Structures | 13 |
Environmental Engineering | 13 |
Total | 150 |
The UPSC ESE 2023 Civil Paper highlights are provided here for candidates to understand the type of paper:
The difficulty level of the UPSC ESE Mechanical Paper was Moderate to Tough. After the UPSC ESE Mechanical Prelims exam got over, experts thoroughly analyzed the paper and provided meaningful information for candidates. Candidates can check the genuine exam analysis to focus on the essential points.
Subject-wise Analysis
S.No. | Topics | Questions |
|---|---|---|
1 | Fluid Mechanics | 17 |
2 | Thermodynamics | 9 |
3 | Heat transfer | 4 |
4 | Refrigeration and Air conditioning | 2 |
5 | I. C. Engines | 12 |
6 | Power Plant Engg. | 22 |
7 | Engineering Mechanics | 6 |
8 | Strength of Materials | 13 |
9 | Theory of Machines & Vibrations | 11 |
10 | Machine Design | 12 |
11 | Manufacturing & Engineering Materials | 11 |
12 | Industrial Engineering | 8 |
13 | Renewable Sources of Energy | 9 |
14 | Mechatronics & Robotics | 14 |
UPSC ESE 2023 electrical paper is designed to test the problem-solving and analytical skills of the candidates. The questions are structured to examine the in-depth understanding of the concepts and their practical applications. Hence, candidates possessing a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of Electrical Engineering and their practical applications can perform well.
Go through the detailed weightage analysis of the EE Prelims exam in the table shown below:
Subject | No. of Questions |
|---|---|
Electromagnetic Fields | 0 |
Electric Circuits | 9 |
Measurements | 10 |
Power Electronics | 12 |
Communication Systems | 8 |
Basic Electronics Engineering | 10 |
Digital Electronics | 1 |
Power Systems | 13 |
Electrical Machines | 14 |
Materials Science | 10 |
Microprocessors | 1 |
Control Systems | 13 |
Signals and Systems | 13 |
Analog Electronics | 10 |
Computer Fundamentals | 11 |
Engineering Mathematics | 12 |
Candidates from the ECE Engineering branch can find the detailed UPSC ECE exam analysis here. According to the experts, in-depth information like good attempts, topic-wise weightage, expected cutoff, and more aspects are available for students.
The subject-wise analysis of the ECE exam is provided below:
Subject | No. of Questions |
|---|---|
Control Systems | 13 |
Electromagnetic Field Theory | 23 |
Networks | 15 |
Analog Circuits | 7 |
Basic Electronics | 16 |
Microprocessor | 6 |
Digital Circuits | 7 |
Communication Systems | 14 |
Material Science | 1 |
Advanced Electronics | 10 |
Advanced Communication | 3 |
Electronic Measurements and Instrumentation | 7 |
Basic Electrical Engineering | 15 |
Computer Organization and Architecture | 13 |
Total | 150 |
Check out the UPSC ESE ECE Paper Analysis 2023 highlights provided here:
Some of the major highlights of UPSC IES ESE 2023 Mains Question Paper Analysis have been updated in the table below:
Overall Difficulty Level | TBA |
|---|---|
Paper 1 Difficulty Level | TBA |
Paper 2 Difficulty Level | TBA |
Time Duration | 3 Hours |
Papers | Paper 1 and Paper 2 |
Engineering Streams | Civil Engineering/ Mechanical Engineering/ Electrical/ Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering |
Marks Distribution | Paper I: 200 Marks Paper II: 300 Marks Total: 500 Marks |
Negative Marking | 0.66 |
The streamwise difficulty level of UPSC IES ESE 2023 Mains Question Paper Analysis has been updated in the table below:
Streams | Difficulty Level | Number of Questions | Questions with Highest Weightage |
|---|---|---|---|
Civil Engineering | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Mechanical Engineering | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Electrical Engineering | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering | TBA | TBA | TBA |
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