States with Commisssionerate System

Rajasthan
Haryana
Gujrat
Maharashtra
AGMUT
Karnataka
Punjab
West Bengal 

[Download] Study Material for IES Exam

My colleague and dear friend Naveen Jakhar, IES has been kind enough to share his hand written notes for various technical subjects. He has also created a page on facebook where you can like to get more such notes.

Naveen Jakhar's Notes

1) Network Theorems and AC fundamentals

2) Network Theory

3) OP Amps


Made Easy Notes (External Link)
Click Here

Ace Academy Handwritten Notes (External Link)
Click Here

Panacea Handwritten Notes (External Link)
Click here

Keep checking this page for more downloads. 

General Studies Preparation Tips for ESE - 2016

ESE-2016 is round the corner. Cut offs are skyrocketing for each branch. Last year cut off for ECE branch was 700, something which I predicted in my earlier post. In this post I would like to share my preparation tips General Studies portion which carry weight-age of 100 marks. 

Do not leave it for the last moment.  
Engineering students generally prepare well for technical portion of the exam but they neglect general studies preparation by leaving it to the last moment. This practice may be very fatal. I hope you have finished the syllabus till now. If you have not please do it soon. 

Revise, revise and revise. 
Competitive exams are just about revision. General studies might seem easier to grasp to a newbie but a veteran would tell you how difficult it becomes to recall all the facts under pressure of exam if you have not revised them properly. Try to revise at lease twice all that you have read. 

Read it every day
Now that less than two months are remaining, you should study GS everyday. Allocate 1.5 to 2 hours to it.

Solve previous years questions. 
Yes, questions are repeated in UPSC exams too. A careful analysis of various exams conducted by UPSC or SSC would reveal that examiner do not want to test your knowledge in every area. Rather, there are certain areas which attracts the attention of examiner more than other. 

So the ideas is you should solve last 10 to 15 years question papers of exams like ESE, IAS, IES/ISS, CDS, NDA etc. Does the list sound very long. Don't worry. There will not be more than thousand questions. You can do that for becoming an IES officer, right? 

Also make notes out of these questions and revise them.

Pay attention to more important sources. 
From last few years very few questions are being asked from ancinet history, mediavel history, hardcore biology. More focus is on modern history, geography, polity, environment and science and technology. Spend more time on these. Do not read the Hindu as only few days are remaining and you have to tackle other subjects also.

Resources -
Don't try to read too many books. Stick to the book that you have read previously. Generally student prefer Made Easy Publications book. If you have time than you can glance through Lucent selectively. Arihant's yearly GK book contains most important facts. And also it is very thin, useful portion is abount 40 to 50 pages. 

For previous year questions of ESE I would recommend Ace Academy's chapterwise book. For other exams' papers, you can buy any publications book which provides chapterwise papers.

ExamRobot is one site which contains previous year papers of all the exams. But it's interface is bit difficult to understand. 

I hope this post is helpful to you. If you have any question or suggestion leave the comments. If you find it helpful then share it with your friends. 

Thanks for reading. 

Photography Articles

Photography has been my passion since first year of college. I have not yet reached where I want to. But I am improving as a photographer. Photography has given me unique insights about other aspects of life as well but that is subject matter of any other article. This post lists all article written on photography on this blog -

Kerala - God's Own Country

Playing with the Shutter Speed

What is the value of national symbols?

Can few radical students shouting like 'Bharat Ki Barbadi Tak Jung Rahegi', 'Bharat Ke Tukde Ho Hazar' do any substantial harm to the world's largest democracy? A country so large that she is called a sub continent - what possible harm could be inflicted upon her by the words of a few misguided students. The debate on the demarcating line of freedom of expression is eternal. Which side of line do 'anti India slogns' fall?

On the similar lines, is hoisting national flag on each central university an instance of ultra nationalism? If it is so then, is Madras High Court also ultra nationalist? Lets examine these questions in this post.

As per a layman's understanding patriotism is a feeling of love and respect towards one's country. But why is patriotism needed? One answer could be because our country provides us food, shelter and everything. Desh hame deta hai sab kuch, hum bhi toh kuch dena sikhe. But this answer is again a patriotic person's answer. A non-patriotic person who does not love his country still gets food, shelter and everything else from the country. Still the need for patriotism is not justified.

One answer could lie in heterogeneity and chequered history of India.  There are 7 major religions in India. As per Guha people having 6 racial elements reside in this country. There are 22 major languages. The followers of various religions have different and often contradictory traditions and practices. In such a scenario of differences it's only the feeling of patriotism which can instill a sense of belonging in all the people from different backgrounds. The nation provides the common thread to various beads of different colours.

If we have a look at the history of India we find that because of the differences various rulers were always fighting with each other. The lack of unity among them gave many chances to foreigners to come and rule upon us. Even at the time of independence there were more than 600 princely states which Patel unified into one nation. As we know that India is still a nation in making. There are problems in Kashmir, North East and Naxal affected areas. In the name of freedom of expression, if we allow slogans breaking India into pieces, those 600+ riyasats can reemerge anytime.

Young students in universities and colleges are more prone to negative brainwashing. Especially students coming from troubled areas can be easily be provoked into anti national activities. In such a scenario, there is a strong need to instill sense of patriotism in them so that there energy can be channeled into positive endeavors. National symbols - national flag, national anthem play an important role in this. Hence mandatory hoisting of national flag or singing of national anthem in schools is not ultra nationalistic.

However only symbolic acts will not finish the job of nation building. We not only have to stop anti national slogans at universities but also have to find out what provoked young students to do so. If there are no vested interests, such students need empathy and proper guidance.

Analysis of IES-2014 Conventional Papers

With increasing level of competition, the importance of conventional papers is also increasing every year. Two three years back, marks in conventional papers were useful for getting a good rank. Now if you take conventional papers lightly, it would be very difficult to even clear the cutoff.

Here I am presenting the analysis of the conventional papers of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering.  In my opinion both the paper and paper 2 were difficult as compared to 2013 papers. Paper-1 was difficult in particular.

In general there are 7 questions in each conventional paper weighing 40 marks each. The candidate has to solve any 5 questions keeping first compulsory.

Paper-1 Comparison 2014 vs 2013

Subject	2014	2013
Network Theory	45	50
Signals and Systems	45	45
Measurement and Instrumentation	45	25
Electromagnetic	45	50
EDC	57	80
Materials and components	43	20
Total	280	280

In 2014 marks were more equally distributed among all the subjects. Also number of theoretical questions was also very less compared to 2013.

Paper-2 Comparison 2014 vs 2013

Subject	2014	2013
Analog Electronics	50	50
Digital	45	50
Control	45	45
Communication	45	45
Microwave	45	50
Computer and Microprocessor	50	40
Total	280	280

In paper 2 relative distribution of marks did not change much. 

IES (ESE) Prep Tips.

I have cleared Engineering Services Exam -2014 with Rank 106. I prepared in a short period of time, without any coaching and in a relatively isolated environment. I feel that compared to IAS, there is very less guidance available on internet for IES exam. So I have written the following posts to help other aspirants in the prep -

Cut Off Analysis - The ever increasing cut off

Strategy for Objective Paper

Strategy for Subjective paper

Comparison of 2013 and 2014 Conventional Paper

GS Prep Tips

I plan to write some more articles in the future when time permits.