IES Syllabus 2023: UPSC ESE Syllabus PDF for Prelims & Mains

IES Syllabus 2023 Overview

The IES syllabus is divided into various sections per the pattern of the Prelims and Mains phase. The General Studies Engineering Aptitude syllabus is common for all branches- Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Electronics Telecommunication Engineering. Understanding the UPSC ESE Syllabus is essential to strategize your preparation level to get through the exam.

The examination is conducted in three stages which are as follows:

• Stage I: Engineering Services (Preliminary) Examination
• Stage II: Engineering Services (Mains) Examination
• Stage III: Personality Test

The IES syllabus is released for the first two stages i.e., Prelims and Mains in four domains. The exam is conducted in the following four domains: Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Electronics Telecommunications Engineering.

The IES syllabus 2023 includes General Studies, Engineering Aptitude, and Engineering branches for preparing for the Prelims and Mains exams. Thus understanding the syllabus is important before going deep into the exam preparation. The UPSC Indian Engineering Services (IES) examination is conducted annually by UPSC to recruit engineers for techno-managerial posts.

By referring to the UPSC ESE syllabus, candidates can get clarity about the important topics they must cover for the examination. Hence, below we have provided the subject-wise syllabus in detail.

IES Syllabus for General Studies and Engineering Aptitude

The IES exam syllabus 2023 for General Studies and Engineering Aptitude for Paper 1 is common for all four domains. It contains questions on all the topics mentioned below. Each topic has a weightage of 5% to 15% of the total marks of the exam.

• Current issues of national and international importance relating to social, economic, and industrial development
• Engineering Aptitude covering Logical reasoning and Analytical ability
• Engineering Mathematics and Numerical Analysis
• General Principles of Design, Drawing, Importance of Safety
• Standards and Quality practices in production, construction, maintenance, and services
• Basics of Energy and Environment: Conservation, environmental pollution, and degradation, Climate change, Environmental impact assessment
• Basics of Project Management
• Basics of Material Science and Engineering
• Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) based tools and their applications in Engineering include networking, e-governance, and technology-based education.
• Ethics and values in the Engineering profession.

IES Syllabus for Civil Engineering

The important topics of the UPSC IES Civil Engineering syllabus, both for the Prelims and Mains examination, are mentioned below:

IES Civil Engineering Syllabus for Paper-1

The IES syllabus 2023 for Civil Engineering paper-1 consists of important topics such as building materials, structural analysis, steel structures, construction, etc. Let us discuss these in detail.

Sections	Topics
Building Materials	Classification, characteristics, and selection criteria for aggregates, stone, lime, glass, plastics, steel, FRP, ceramics, aluminum, fly ash, basic additives, timber, bricks, types, compositions, properties, applications, specifications, and numerous tests for cement, tests of lime and cement mortars and concrete, concrete mixture design: aggregate proportioning and mix design approaches.
Solid Mechanics	Constants of elasticity plane stress, plane strain, elastic failure theories, stress bending, shear, and torsion, Mohr’s circle of stress and strain.
Structural Analysis	Basics of material strength, stress, and strain types bending moments and shear force, the concept of bending and shear stresses, analysis of structures that are both determinate and indeterminate, trusses, beams, and plane frames, rolling loads, influence lines, the unit load method, and other methods, vibrations of a single degree of freedom and a multi-degree freedom system, both free and forced, suspended cables, computer-aided design concepts, and applications.
Design of Steel Structures	Industrial roofs, girders, principles of ultimate load design, working stress methods, tension, and compression members design, beams and beam-column connections, and built-up sections.
Design of concrete masonry structures	Bending, shear, axial compression, combined forces, limit state design, beams, slabs, lintels, foundations, retaining walls, tanks, and staircases are all pre-stressed concrete design principles, covering materials and procedures, structures designed to withstand earthquakes, masonry structure design.
Construction- Practice, Planning Management	Planning, equipment, site Investigation, and management, estimation using the most up-to-date project management tools and network analysis for many types of projects, rates of various sorts of works are analyzed, tendering and contract management, quality assurance, productivity, and operational costs, land acquisition, and worker safety and welfare.

IES Civil Syllabus for Paper-2

The IES syllabus 2023 for Civil Engineering paper 2 comprises topics such as hydrology, the flow of fluids, photogrammetry, remote sensing, water supply, and a lot more. Let us discuss these topics in detail.

• The flow of fluids: Fluid characteristics, dimensional analysis and modeling, fluid dynamics, including flow kinematics and measurements, fluid mechanics, open channel flow, pipe flow: viscosity, boundary layer, and control, drag, lift, open channel flow principles, flow controls surges, pipe networks, hydraulic jumps.
• Hydrology: Streams and their gauging, river morphology, flood, drought, and their management; hydrological cycle, groundwater hydrology, well hydrology, and related data analysis, reservoir capacity, water resources engineering: water for multiple purposes; river basins and their potential water demand assessment, irrigation systems, resources – storages and yields, waterlogging, canal, and drainage design, gravity dams, falls, and weirs, energy dissipators, barrages, and distribution works, as well as their design, river training, measurement, and analysis of rainfall, concepts in canal design, building, and maintenance.
• Environmental Engineering: Water supply sources, estimation, quality standards, and testing, as well as treatment, water supply in rural, institutional, and industrial areas, drinking water standards, water treatment plants, and water distribution networks, physical, chemical, and biological features, estimation of water demand, planning and design of residential waste-water, sewage collection, and disposal. Se sewerage system components and layout, domestic waste-water disposal system planning and design, industrial waste-water and effluent treatment plants, institutional and industrial sewage control, and sludge management.
• Geotechnical Engineering: Permeability and seepage, compressibility, consolidation, and shearing resistance, earth pressure theories, and stress distribution in soil, properties, and geo-synthetics.
• Surveying Geology: Survey classification, diverse procedures, tools, and distance, elevation, and direction measurement analysis, global positioning system, field astronomy, photogrammetry, concepts of remote sensing setting out of curves, culverts, canals, bridges, road/railway alignment, and buildings survey layout.
• Transportation Engineering: Highways, railway systems, tunneling, harbors, airports- planning and design.

IES Syllabus for Mechanical Engineering

The important topics of the IES syllabus for Mechanical Engineering, both Prelims and Mains examinations are mentioned below.

IES Mechanical Syllabus Paper-1

The IES Mechanical syllabus for Paper-1 consists of multiple important topics: fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, IC engines, turbomachinery, power plant engineering, and sources of energy. Further, let us discuss these in detail.

Topics	IES Mechanical Syllabus
Fluid Mechanics	Manometry, fluid statics, buoyancy, equations of motion, basic concepts and properties of fluids, the equation of Bernoulli and its applications, laminar and turbulent fluxes, viscous flow of incompressible fluids, flow via pipes, and pipe head losses.
Thermodynamics Heat Transfer	Thermodynamic systems and processes, pure substance qualities, thermodynamics- zeroth, first, and second laws, entropy, irreversibility, and availability, Rankine, Otto, diesel, and dual cycles, ideal and real gases, compressibility factor, examination of thermodynamic cycles related to energy conversion gaseous mixtures heat transfer modes, both steady and erratic heat conduction, thermal resistance, fins, free and forced convection, convective heat transfer correlations boiling and condensation, radiant heat transmission – radiative heat transfer coefficient, the performance of a heat exchanger.
IC Engines, Refrigerators, and Air Conditioning	Refrigeration by vapor compression and other refrigeration systems includes vapor absorption, vapor jet, thermoelectric, vortex tube refrigeration, compressors, condensers, evaporators, and expansion devices. The properties and procedures of psychometrics, comfort charts, residential and commercial air conditioning, load estimates, and heat pumps.
Turbo Machinery	Pelton wheel, Kaplan and Francis turbines, velocity graphs, impulse and reaction principles, reciprocating and rotary pumps turbines, steam and gas, pulse jet and ramjet engines, reciprocating and rotary compressors- theory and applications.
Power Plant Engineering	Rankine and Brayton cycles with regeneration and reheat, fuel quality, analyses of flue gases boilers, steam turbines, and other power plant components such as condensers, air ejectors, electrostatic precipitators, and cooling towers- their theory and design.
Renewable Sources of Energy	Solar thermal energy storage, applications- heating, cooling, and power generation, solar photovoltaic conversion, wind, biomass, and tidal energy harvesting- methods and applications, fuel cell working principles.

IES Mechanical Syllabus Paper-2

The IES syllabus 2023 for Mechanical Engineering Paper-2 consists of important topics such as phase diagrams, engineering mechanics, machine elements, mechatronics, etc. Let us discuss these topics in detail below.

• Engineering Mechanics: Stresses and strains-compound stresses and strains, bending moment and shear force diagrams, theory of bending stresses- slope and deflection-torsion, thin and thick cylinders, spheres, analysis of the system of forces, friction, centroid and center of gravity, dynamics, stresses and strains-compound stresses and strains, bending moment and shear force diagrams, theory of bending stress.
• Engineering Materials: Alloys, phase diagrams, basic crystallography, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, nonmetallic materials, heat treatment nanomaterials: fundamentals, mechanical testing, and properties, corrosion control and prevention.
• Mechanism and Machines: Free and forced vibration of undamped and damped SDOF systems, transmissibility ratio, vibration isolation, critical speed of shafts, gears – the geometry of tooth profiles, the law of gearing, involute profile, interference, helical, spiral, and worm gears, gear trains– simple, compound, and epicyclic, dynamic analysis – slider-crank mechanisms, turning moment computations, the balance of rotating and reciprocating masses.
• Design of Machine Elements: Design for static and dynamic loads, failure theories, fatigue strength and the S-N diagram, principles of machine element design, including riveted, welded, and bolted joints, shafts, spur gears, rolling and sliding contact bearings, brakes, and clutches, and flywheels.
• Manufacturing, Industrial, and Maintenance Engineering: CPM-PERT, metrology and inspection, computer-integrated manufacturing, FMS, production planning and control, inventory management, and operations research, reliability, failure analysis, machine vibration, data acquisition, fault detection, vibration monitoring, field balancing of rotors, noise monitoring, wear, and debris analysis, signature analysis.
• Mechatronics Robotics: I/O, architecture, and programming interfacing with computers, sensors, and actuators, pneumatic and hydraulic actuators, stepper motor, Piezoelectric accelerometer, Hall effect sensor, optical encoder, resolver, induction, pneumatic, and hydraulic actuators system of control physical system mathematical modeling, control signals, controllability, robotics, robot classification, and robot specification.

IES Syllabus for Electrical Engineering

The important topics of the IES Electrical Engineering syllabus for both Prelims and Mains exams are mentioned below.

IES Electrical Syllabus Paper-1

The IES syllabus for Electrical Engineering paper 1 contains topics like electrical materials, networks, dielectric capacitance, computer fundamentals, and much more. Further, let us discuss these topics in detail.

• Engineering Mathematics: System of linear equations, matrix theory, eigenvalues eigenvectors integral calculus, partial derivatives, maxima and minima, line, surface, and volume, initial and boundary value problems, complex variables, Fourier series, linear, non-linear, and partial differential equations, initial and boundary value problems, Laurent’s and Taylor’s series.
• Electrical Materials: Engineering, electrical materials, crystal structures and defects, ceramic materials, insulating materials, magnetic materials- fundamentals, properties, and applications, ferrites, ferromagnetic materials, and components, solid-state physics fundamentals, conductors, photo-conductivity, nanomaterials, and superconductors.
• Electric Circuits and Fields: Transient response of DC and AC networks, sinusoidal steady-state analysis, basic filter concepts, two-port networks, three-phase circuits, magnetically coupled circuits, gauss theorem, electric field, and potential due to point, line, plane, and spherical charge distributions, ampere’s and biot-laws, savant’s inductance, dielectrics, capacitance, maxwell’s equations.
• Electrical and Electronic Measurements: Measurement principles, accuracy, precision, and standards, Instrument transformers, digital voltmeters and multimeters, phase, time, and frequency measurement, Q-meters, oscilloscopes, potentiometric recorders, error analysis sensors, transducers, and data acquisition systems fundamentals.
• Computer Fundamentals: Number systems, boolean algebra, arithmetic functions, basic architecture, Central Processing Unit, I/O, and memory organization, peripheral devices, data representation and programming, operating system fundamentals, and networking, virtual memory, and file systems, elements of programming language.
• Basic Electronics Engineering: Semiconductor diodes and transistors- fundamentals and characteristics, oscillators and other circuits, feedback amplifiers, junction and field-effect transistors (BJT, FET, and MOSFETS), equivalent circuits and frequency response, oscillators and other circuits.

IES Electrical Syllabus Paper-2

The IES Electrical syllabus for paper 2 comprises converters, signal processing, electrical machines, etc. Let us discuss these topics in detail in the table mentioned below.

Topics	IES Electrical Engineering Syllabus
Analog Digital Electronics	Basics of filter circuits and applications, simple active filters, A/D and D/A converters, interfaces and applications of microprocessors, fundamentals of linear integrated circuits, basics of analog communication modulation and demodulation, noise and band, transmitters and receivers, signal-to-noise ratio, digital communication fundamentals, sampling, quantizing, coding, frequency and time domain multiplexing, and power line carrier communication systems
Systems and Signal Processing	Signal representation in both continuous and discrete-time, linear, time-invariant, and causal systems, shifting and scaling procedures sampling theorem, Fourier series representation of continuous periodic signals, discrete Fourier transform, FFT, linear convolution, discrete cosine transform, FIR filter, IIR filter, bilinear transformation, Fourier and Laplace transforms, Z transforms, Discrete Fourier, transform, FFT, linear convolution, discrete cosine transform, bilinear transformation.
Control Systems	Stability analysis, transient and frequency response analysis, state-space model, state transition matrix, controllability and observability, linear state variable feedback, PID and industrial controllers, Routh-Hurwitz criterion, Nyquist techniques, bode plots, root loci, lag, lead and lead-lag compensation.
Electrical Machines	Types of DC machines, windings, generator characteristics, armature reaction, commutation, motor starting, and speed control, starting and speed control of induction motors Synchronous machines: performance, regulation, parallel generator operation, motor starting, characteristics and applications, servo and stepper motors.
Power Systems	Performance of cables, insulation, corona, and radio interference, power factor correction, symmetrical components, fault analysis, protection system principles, solid-state relay basics, digital protection, radial and ring-main distribution systems, circuit breakers, power system matrices, load flow analysis, voltage regulation, and cost-effective operation Swing curves, system stability ideas, and the equal area requirement, FACTS and HVDC transmission concepts, power system dynamics concepts.
Power Electronics Drives	Static characteristics and principles of operation of semiconductor power diodes, transistors, thyristors, triacs, GTOs, MOSFETs, and IGBTs, triggering circuits, phase control rectifiers, bridge converters – fully controlled and half controlled, principles of choppers and inverters, DC-DC switched-mode converters, DC-AC switched-mode converters.

IES Syllabus for ECE

The important topics of the ECE IES Syllabus 2023 for both Prelims and Mains exams are mentioned below.

ECE IES Syllabus 2023 Paper-1

The IES ECE syllabus for paper 1 consists of various topics: Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Material Science, Network Theory, etc. Now, let us discuss these in detail.

• Basic Electronics Engineering: Diodes for various applications, junction field-effect transistors (BJTs, JFETs, MOSFETs), transistor amplifiers, oscillators, and other circuits, Bipolar, MOS, and CMOS ICs, basics of Integrated Circuits (ICs), linear integrated circuits, operational amplifiers, and their linear and non-linear applications, sources and detectors of light, fundamentals of optoelectronics and its applications.
• Basic Electrical Engineering: Ohm’s and Kirchoff’s rules in DC circuits, mesh and nodal analysis, circuit theorems, induced EMF and its uses, electromagnetism, Faraday’s and Lenz’s laws, electromagnetism, efficiency, transformers, induction, and synchronous machines, the hydroelectric, thermal, nuclear, wind, and solar power sources.
• Materials Science: Ceramic materials-structures, composites, processes, and applications, crystal structure and flaws, electronics, constructions, properties, and applications of insulating laminates basics of magnetic materials, categorization, ferrites, Ferro/ paramagnetic materials, and components basics, preparation, purification, sintering, nanoparticles, and applications of nano-optical/magnetic/electronic materials.
• Electronic Measurements and Instrumentation: Measurement principles, accuracy, precision, and standards, analog and digital measurement systems, measuring equipment for various uses, errors, statistical analysis, and curve fitting, static/dynamic properties of measurement systems, non-electrical quantity measurement systems, telemetry fundamentals, transducers and displays of various types, the basics of a data acquisition system.
• Network Theory: Wye-Delta transformation, network graphs, and matrices, Time-domain study of RLC circuits using linear constant-coefficient differential equations, 26 Laplace transformations used to solve network problems, the study of RLC circuits in the frequency domain, 2-port network parameters, including driving point and transfer functions, network state equations, steady-state sinusoidal analysis.
• Analog and Digital Circuits: BJT and JFET amplifier circuits’ biassing and stability, single-stage and multi-stage amplifier analysis and design, feedback and applications active filters, timers, multipliers, waveshapers, and A/D-D/A converters are just a few examples. Uses of Boolean Algebra Combinatorial/ sequential circuits, logic gates, digital IC families design, and applications of multiplexers, counters/ registers/ memories/ microprocessors.

ECE IES Syllabus 2023 For Paper-2

The UPSC ESE syllabus for paper 2 consists of important topics such as fiber optics, electromagnetics, control systems, advanced communications, etc. Let us discuss these further.

• Analog and Digital Communication Systems: AM, FM, transmitters/receivers, theory/ practice/ standards, SNR comparison, basics of digital communication: sampling, quantization, coding, PCM, DPCM, and audio/video multiplexing, ASK, FSK, and PSK, Multiple access: TDMA, FDMA, and CDMA, Fiber optics, theory, and practice/ standards in optical communication.
• Control Systems: Signal and system classification, signal and system theory applications, system realization, transforms and their applications Routh-Hurwitz criteria, root loci, and Nyquist/ bode plots, open and closed-loop feedback systems, stability analysis, steady-state, transient, and frequency response analysis, control system design, compensators, lead/lag compensation features, PID and industrial controllers.
• Computer Organization and Architecture: Basic architecture, CPU, I/O organization, memory organization, peripheral devices, and trends. Issues with the hardware or software, programming data representation basics, methods, properties, and applications of operating systems, memory management, virtual memory, file systems, databases- types, features, and designs, controlling transactions, and typical concurrency instances of programming language elements.
• Electro Magnetics: Basic ideas in vector calculus, Maxwell’s equations, gauss’ and Stokes’ theorems, propagation of waves across various mediums, transmission lines: kinds, basics, smith’s chart, impedance matching/transformation, s-parameters, pulse excitation, and applications basics, rectangular types, modes, cut-off frequency, dispersion, and dielectric types of waveguides, antennas: radiation pattern, monopoles/ dipoles, gain, active/ passive arrays, theory, and application.
• Advanced Electronics: Processing, lithography, interconnects, packaging, and testing, VLSI design: principles, MUX/ROM/PLA-based design, Moore Mealy circuit design, pipeline concepts functions, design for testability, examples; DSP: discrete-time signals/systems, applications, digital filters: FIR/ IIR types, design, speech/audio/radar signal processing applications, microprocessors microcontrollers, basics, interrupts, DMA.
• Advanced Communication: Principles, techniques, technology, OSI model and security, streaming/ scheduling of basic packet multiplexed streams, types of cellular networks, analysis, and protocols (TCP/TCPIP), satellite and microwave communication- LOS systems of the terrestrial/space variety, block schematics, connection computations, and system design, satellites for communication, orbits, properties, systems, and applications, block schematics.

Important Topics of IES Syllabus

Here are various important topics from the entire IES Syllabus carrying topics of each domain of the exam.

 

Discipline	Important Topics
Civil Engineering	Solid Mechanics, Structural Analysis, Design of Concrete and Masonry Structures, Fluid Mechanics, Hydraulic Machines, Water Resources Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Soil Mechanics.
Electrical Engineering	Electrical Materials, Electrical Circuits, Control Systems, Power Systems, Digital Electronics, and Drives.
Mechanical Engineering	Mechanics, TOM, MD, Industrial Engineering, Metrology, HMT, RAC, I.C. Engines, and Jet Engines.
ECE	Electronic Measurements, Network Theory, Analog Circuits, Digital Communication Systems, Control Systems, Electro Magnetics, Microwave Engineering, and Satellite Communication.

Books to Cover IES Syllabus

Here is the list of important books which are commonly recommended by experts and students who have successfully cleared the IES exam in the past.

Subject	Book Title	Author
Engineering Mathematics	Engineering Mathematics: GATE, ESE, and PSUs (Fully Solved)	Made Easy Editorial Board
General Studies and Engineering Aptitude	General Studies and Engineering Aptitude	Made Easy Editorial Board
Civil Engineering	Civil Engineering: Through Objective-Type Questions	S P Gupta
Mechanical Engineering	Mechanical Engineering: Conventional and Objective Types	R.S. Khurmi and J.K. Gupta
Electrical Engineering	Electrical Engineering: Objective Type	A Handa, M Handa
Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering	Electronics and Communication Engineering: Objective Type	GKP