GATE vs ESE – Which One is Tough

The engineering profession is more sought out career choice by lakhs of students after completing their higher secondary. And, certainly, it is a brilliant profession for youth aspiring a technical part.  The real planning of the future for any engineering student who really wants to build a career in the core technical area has a choice of any of these two exams – GATE vs ESE/IES. Both Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering and Indian Engineering Services (IES) or /Engineering Services Examination (ESE) is the most favored and well-known exams among the engineering aspirants. But there is some sort of differences in the scheme and mode of these exams, which makes aspirants confused over the selection to prepare. Reach a conclusion for your query – ESE or GATE – after reading the article.

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GATE vs ESE

Candidates can get a brief picture of the difference between Gate vs IES examinations

Difference Between GATE and ESE

Before on to the selection a complete understanding of both exams are essential. Clearly recognize the exam through self-perspective as both exams aim at different results.

Exam Conducting Authority

While ESE/IES is a job recruitment examination, conducted by Union Public Service Commission to fill vacancies in various ministries/departments. On the contrary, the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering, GATE, is a competitive entrance exam, conducted jointly by the 7 IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) and IISC (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore). Each year one institute will be responsible for the conduct of GATE all over the country.

This year IIT Kharagpur will be in charge of conducting GATE 2022 in February 2022.

However, both exams are held annually.

Exam Objective

Both the national level examinations offer the engineering graduate good career development. But the genre of GATE and that of IES are different.

Aspirants who are enthusiastically planning for higher studies like Master’s, M. Tech, or Ph.D. after completion of their graduation in engineering can undoubtedly start GATE exam preparation. If the GATE result/ score is commendable, then aspirants can join the IITs or NIITs, or other eminent colleges. Indian Institute of Management, IIM, also accepts GATE scores for Fellow Management Programs. Many PSUs companies like that BHEL, NTPC, BPCL, HPCL, etc. suggest the candidates with a valid GATE score during the selection process.

Then again, the IES exam is appreciable for any engineering aspirants who need a technical government job (Class-I post). IES marks are accepted by government services like the Indian Railways Service, Indian Defence Services, Indian Naval Armament Services, Indian Telecommunication Services, Indian Ordnance Factories Services, and the Central Water Engineering and Central Power Engineering Service, etc.

Examination Frequency

• Both exams occur annually and usually in the first quarter of the year.
• ESE Preliminary exam will be conducted in the month of January and the phase2 Main (phase 2) in the month of May.
• GATE exam is held in the month of January or February. GATE 2022, is scheduled for February 2022.

Stages of Exam – Gate vs ESE

While discussing the exam stages GATE comes up with a single-stage exam while the Engineering Services Examination consists of three different stages, viz., Prelims (with two objective type papers), Mains (with two conventional type papers), and Personality Test/ Interview.

Eligibility Criteria

Educational Qualifications:

The minimum educational qualification required for both tests – GATE and ESE- is a bachelor’s degree in engineering from a recognized Indian university.

Age Limit:

• GATE Exam: There is no minimum or maximum age limit restrictions for appearing for this competitive test mentioned.
• ESE: As this is a recruitment examination, to fill government departmental vacancies, candidates between the age limit is 21-30 years can only attend the exam.

Gate vs ESE – Syllabus

GATE and ESE exams are for Engineering graduates, so the syllabus topics to be covered are more or less the same, there are the major merging of topics for the core subjects. However, as mentioned earlier the ESE examination is available for only 4 subjects – Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and E&TC Engineering.

For ESE, the whole engineering syllabus is included and the aspirants will be tested for their conceptual abilities. And to cover the wide syllabus, and current affairs, general knowledge topics, and the conventional mains, a hard-core preparation is a Must!

On the contrary, the GATE syllabus covers only the important topics and is available for 29 engineering and science subjects, for which candidates can choose papers of interest. GATE objective exam tests aspirants’ both conceptual and problem-solving abilities. In precis, more smart work is required to crack the GATE exam.

Exam Pattern for GATE and ESE

Papers for Gate and IES

GATE Examination

• Multiple Choice Questions with a time duration is 3 hrs.
• Candidates have to attempt 65 questions and the total marks are 100.

Types of questions expected in the GATE competitive exams are MCQs, Common Data questions, Linked-answer questions, Numerical-Aptitude questions.

ESE Exam

ESE exam is a three-staged exam with Objective Prelims, Conventional Mains, and interviews.

Candidates scoring above ESE prelims cut-off will be shortlisted for the Mains. And those scoring above mains cut off have to attend an interview to enroll in the final merit list.

• ESE preliminary exam consists of two papers – Core engineering subjects and General Studies
• ESE’s main exam will have two papers of the engineering stream of 30 marks each. And the final interview will be out of 200 marks.

Mark Distribution

The GATE is a single paper examination with 100 marks.

The total marks for the IES examination will be 1300 marks. And this is distributed for prelims, mains, and interviews. The ESE or IES prelims exam has the current affairs and general knowledge portion for 200 marks and technical paper for 300 marks. Whereas the conventional mains exam has apers for 300 marks each. And the third stage of the personal interview is for 200 marks.

Number of Attempts

GATE examination is not restricted to a specific number of attempts.

However, the ESE exam also can be attempted an unlimited number of times until candidates reach the maximum age of 30 years.

Which is better ESE or GATE – Difficulty Level

Judging and ruling out the difficulty level is really tedious while comparing the exams for a common stream. It depends on the aptitude of candidates. For some of the GATE exam seems to be tough and crucial than the ESE exam.

When coming to the time duration, the GATE exam is more comfortable, and the ESE/IES seems to be challenging. As the syllabus and aptitude portion for the Gate is comparatively less, it is found to have more candidates scoring and passing the Gate to that of the multi-staged ESE examination. Usually, the vast syllabus and the multiple stages hinder candidates from cracking the ESE exam on the first attempt.

There is an advantage for those who wish to attend both Gate and ESE, is that Gate is usually held before ESE and the candidates having same subjects can utilize this opportunity. The resemblance in the syllabus and good attempts in the first held exam will surely increase positivity for the next examination.

Since GATE covers nearly 70 % of the IES exam syllabus, so, you don’t need to take much pressure for your IES once your GATE exam is over. Moreover, a good GATE score also boosts your confidence level for the upcoming IES exam.

Score/ Certificate Validity

GATE score or the certificate is valid for up to three years while the ESE score validity is only for one year.

ESE or GATE – Competition Pointer

Both exams are for the engineering aspirants, the ESE stands tougher to crack because of the vacancy reported by the govt. departments influence the candidates included in the final merit list. And the competition ratio in terms of the number of vacancies available versus the number of candidates used to appear for the exam can be found as 1:300.

Gate is merely an entrance test and a greater number of students will be appearing for the exam than that of ESE. So, the qualifying ratio will be higher than the ESE. And the competition ratio of the number of candidates qualifies vs the number of candidates is nearly 1:10.

Exam Preparation Strategy

The time duration to that of the number of questions points that speed and time management are the major factors to crack the IES exam. Nearly less than 1 minute will be available to answer one question. For the GATE exam, more time like 2.5 minutes per question, and the answering depends on the thought process and problem-solving ability of aspirants.

Concluding Up

GATE vs ESE stands confusing as both exams open a career hike for the examinees. The right option according to the interest, abilities, inclinations, and proficiencies, of the graduates, should be the basis of selection of the examination. Hope the article was beneficial for the aspirants to understand, and reach a wise decision for their future. Wishing all the very best for engineering aspirants!

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