Should I make my own notes for UPSC ESE or use printed notes?

Your own short notes are easier to revise because you know their structure. Printed or educator notes can save time on a weak subject, but add your own formula conditions, error-log points and diagrams to them.

How long should ESE short notes be?

Short enough to revise one subject in one or two sittings. If a subject's notes take days to revise, they are closer to a textbook than to revision notes.

Do I need separate notes for ESE Mains?

Mostly no. Mains covers the same discipline syllabus that Prelims Paper II tests, so add a derivation and sketch notebook and practise full answers rather than starting new notes.

How should I make notes for ESE General Studies?

Keep one page per Paper I topic and a monthly current-issues sheet. Since each topic carries 5% to 15% of the paper, cover all ten briefly rather than a few in depth.

Engineering

UPSC ESE Study Notes 2027: What to Write and How to Revise

What to include in your ESE notes for GS and Engineering Aptitude, Paper I and Paper II, and a revision plan that carries you from Prelims to Mains.

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Prophesya Daliya Sangma

Exam: GATE

Hydraulics Engineering Notes for Civil Engineering

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Good UPSC ESE study notes do two jobs. Before the Prelims on 31 January 2027, they let you revise the full technical syllabus and all ten General Studies topics quickly. Before the Mains on 18 June 2027, the same notes must support long derivations, design steps and labelled sketches. Notes that only list formulas serve the first job and fail the second.

This page sets out what to put in your ESE notes, how to organise them and how to revise from them in the months before each stage.

What to Include in Your ESE Notes

Part of the exam	What to note	Format that works
GS and Engineering Aptitude (Prelims Paper I)	Key facts on standards, energy and environment, project management, ICT and ethics; current schemes and developments	One page per topic, plus monthly current-issues notes
Discipline Paper I topics	Core concepts, formulas with their conditions, standard results	Short notes and a formula book
Discipline Paper II topics	The same, plus code provisions and design steps where relevant	Short notes and a formula book
Mains answer writing	Standard derivations, design procedures and labelled diagrams	A separate derivation and sketch notebook

How to Organise ESE Notes

Formula book by subject: Write each formula with its assumptions, units and the situation where it applies. A formula without its conditions often leads to the wrong option in Prelims.
Short notes, not copied chapters: Keep each subject to a size you can revise in one or two sittings.
Derivation and sketch notebook: Work through each standard derivation once in full and keep the cleanest version for Mains revision.
Error log: Record every mistake from tests and previous year questions with the correct reasoning, and revise it weekly.
Monthly current-issues sheet: Note developments in infrastructure, railways, energy, defence and telecom for Paper I and the Personality Test.

Revision Schedule

When	What to revise
Daily (20 to 30 minutes)	Formula book for the subjects in progress, plus that day's current issues
Weekly	Error log and short notes of subjects finished that week
Monthly	A full pass through one or two completed subjects and the current-issues sheet
Last three weeks before Prelims	Formula books, GS one-pagers and the error log only
After Prelims	Derivation and sketch notebook, alongside timed Mains papers

Reliable Sources for Your Notes

Start from the official syllabus in the ESE 2027 notification on upsc.gov.in, where UPSC also publishes previous question papers. Build technical notes from your degree textbooks and standard reference books, and rely on government sources for current issues and schemes rather than unverified summaries.