Success Stories

Engineering Services Examination (ESE) is one of the prestigious recruitment examinations in India. UPSC has announced the results of ESE 2018 recently. Cherukuri Saideep from Andhra Pradesh has secured all India 2nd rank from ECE category. More than 1 lakh candidates appeared in Electronics paper for ESE. Selected candidates will be appointed in Central Engineering Services of various departments. Following are the success tips given by Saideep for the aspirants:

Preliminary Exam:

I have prepared for an year for this examination. ESE prelims is a bit easy. I have concentrated more on Paper 1 as it is general in nature. I used to read newspapers daily. The Hindu daily helped me a lot to answer current affairs questions. Paper 2 is completely technical. Candidates are expected to have basic understanding of all the engineering branches. Hence one should read the basic books along with coaching material. About 700 candidates were shortlisted for mains from more than 1 lakh candidates.

Practice is important for mains:

Mains is the crucial stage as it is allotted 600 marks. Both the papers in mains are descriptive. Questions will test the understanding of the subject in depth. Daily practice is compulsory to score well in Mains exam. I used to practice 3-4 questions everyday. I have also attended mock tests before the examination.

Also Read: UPSC – ESE Preparation and Success Tips

Interview is a mix of all:

My interview was lasted for 30 minutes. I have mentioned movies and solving cubes puzzles as my hobbies. The board has asked me questions on Bahubali movie and puzzles along with my work experience in pipeline industry.

Personal Profile:

Cherukuri Saideep is from Gajuwaka in Visakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh. He has completed B.Tech from NIT Raipur and pursuing M.Tech from IISC Bangalore. He secured all India 9th rank in GATE and secured seat in IISc Bangalore. His specialisation is Electronic System Engineering.

Prelims is the first hurdle of Civil Services examination conducted by UPSC. The syllabus has been vast and sources are not prescribed. The average aspirants always feel that cracking preliminary examination itself is a halfway success. Anudeep Dureshetty, topper of Civil Services Exam – 2017 has been generous enough to guide the aspirants and Civils exam. He has listed out the books, materials and resources has had followed during his long preparation for the coveted examination. Anudeep is from Telangana State.

Anudeep also suggests the Civils aspirants to understand the syllabus carefully and cover it completely, and do not refer to more than one standard material for each subject.

Here is the list of books and materials he followed for Civil Services Preliminary Exam:

The list of books:

Polity

1) Indian Polity by Laxmikanth

Economy

1) Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh
2) Mrunal.org articles
3) Macroeconomics – NCERT Class XII
4) Indian Economic Development – NCERT Class XI
5) Economic Survey (Selective reading from Prelims perspective)
The Hindu
6) Internet for understanding concepts (Arthapedia, Google, Youtube)

Also Read: Civils Prelims – Preparation Strategy Guide by Experts

Ancient History of India

1) Old NCERT by RS Sharma

Medieval History of India

1) Old NCERT by Satish Chandra (Selective Reading)

Modern History

1) A Brief history of Modern India- Spectrum Publications
2) India’s Struggle for Independence – Bipan Chandra (Selective Reading)
3) NCERT by Bipan Chandra (For the period 1700s to 1857)

Indian Art and Culture

1) An Introduction to Indian Art – Class XI NCERT
2) Chapters related to culture in Ancient and Medieval India NCERTs
3) Centre for Cultural Resource and Training (CCRT) material
4) Heritage Crafts: Living Craft Traditions of India -NCERT

Environment and Biodiversity

1) Shankar IAS book

General Science

1) General Science books – IX and X standard
2) The Hindu (Note down and read about the latest scientific terms, discoveries and inventions frequently mentioned in news)
3) Google and YouTube

Geography

1) Fundamentals of Physical Geography XI NCERT
2) India: Physical Environment XI NCERT
3) Fundamentals of Human Geography XII NCERT
4) India: People and Economy XII NCERT
5) Certificate Physical and Human Geography: GC Leong
6) PMFIAS (Excellent resource for understanding complex topics)
7) Google and YouTube

Govt Schemes

1) Govt schemes compilation by the website Civils Daily

General Trivia (Eg: Global groupings, Reports, Institutions, Rankings etc)
1) Any coaching material
2) Google

Current Affairs

1) The Hindu
2) Civils Daily
3) ForumIAS

About Anudeep Durishetty:

Anudeep is from Metpally in Jagityal district of Telangana. He got IAS in his fifth attempt of Civil Services exam. He has completed engineering from BITS Pilani in 2011 and presently serving as IRS officer in Telangana. Before selection for IRS, Anudeep worked in Google Hyderabad and belong to OBC category. Anudeep has chosen Anthropology for Civils Main Exam.