Applicants of the IES in the UPSC are allowed a maximum of four attempts.

If they are between the age of 21 and 30 years.

On the other hand, candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories have no limit on the number of attempts and are also eligible to appear for the exam till 35 years.

IES Deadlines

S. No. Activities Time Frame

1. Engineering Services Examination (prelims) Second Sunday of February

1.1 Objective Paper-I : General Studies and Engineering Aptitude Paper

1.2 Objective Paper-II : Engineering Discipline-specific Paper

2. Result of Engineering Services Examination (prelims) 15th April

3. Last date for application to ESE (Mains) 30th May

4. Engineering Services Examination (Mains) 3rd set of weekends (sat. & Sun.) of July

4.1 Paper-III : Engineering Discipline-specific Paper-I

4.2 Paper-IV : Engineering Discipline-specific Paper-II

5. Result of Engineering Services Examination (Mains) End of September

6. Personality Test (Interviews) 1st November-15th December

7. Medical Examination Within 10 working days of date of interview of candidate

8. Submission of Medical Examination reports to Ministry of Railways 15th
January

9. Final Result of ESE after Personality Test End of january

10. Allotment of services End of fabruary

11. Appointment letter First week of March

12. Date of joining First Monday of April