Sunday, August 24, 2008

Electrical Engineering - Mains

Till 2007 the syllabus of this optional differed vastly from IES. However, since 2008 syllabus is nearly as per IES syllabus. that's good if you want to prepare for both the exams. But please don't take 2 science optionals. I have covered that in a later post.

Circuits: A. Chakrabarti (Dhanpat Rai) Circuit Analysis and Synthesis covers the entire syllabus well.

Signals and Systems: I had Oppenheim and Willsky. The only thing missing was handling initial conditions in z-transform. Any Indian author book that has this can be used as a supplement.

Power Electronics: PS Bhimbra is enough. Stick to syllabus, prepare notes for this topic. They'll be quite handy.

Machines: Nagrath-Kothari or Ashfaq Hussain is enough. I had Ashfaq.

EMTheory: Follow any standard book. K D Prasad is considered The Bible for this topic of the exam.

Communication(Analog/Digital):Whatever the book followed in college, supplemented by Singh/Sapre (TMH) should be enough.

Measurements: Sawhney is the only book. Solve IES EE papers for this topics (a must). Questions are repeated.

Power System and Power System Protection: Ashfaq hussain and Wadhwa for Power Systems. Bardriram-Vishwakarma for PSP. Again IES papers are a must.

Controls: Kuo is good even though I haven't read it. I read Nagrath-Gopal.

Digital Electronics: Any book that covers the syllabus.

Analog Electronics: I followed Boylestad though I wasn't happy with it. Sedra-Smith goes too much into depth that isn't needed for this exam. I also had Millman-Grabel.

Don't try to go for full attempt. It may prove disastrous. Stick to what you know. I got 352 on a correct attempt of 415.

Thanks to last year topper Mr. Muthyalaraju Revu for guiding me in this optional.

34 comments:

Ubermensch said...

hey Supreet, thanks a lot for this blog. Need lot more like these.

Could u pls give us a more detailed strategy development, tips and analyses for the EE paper...just like the way u so passionately helped us with Physics tips. I had somewhere read that Physics is your strong point. But please, a little bit more elaborate description of EE would do us (i speak for all my frens who would opt for EE) a lot of good.
Thanks!

Supreet Singh Gulati said...

You're correct - Physics was my strong point and I had devoted a lot of time on the subject. For EE, I just followed what Mr. Muthyalaraju Revu told me to do after his success. I'll see if I can get hold of Revu's strategy and put it on this blog.

Paper II was done very simply - Power Systems, Power System Protection and Measurements are the focus areas of Paper II (I speak till 2007 exam). Be very thorough in these. Solve IES papers for these topics esp. Measurements. I have mentioned books on these topics in blog.

I didn't have a particular startegy for Paper I. Questions are usually asked from all topics but Machines is a focus topic - be very throrough with Ashfaq Husain. Practice numericals of circuits and Signals and Systems to achieve good speed.

Nothing more special than this - Revu is the one with proper strategy on EE, I merely followed a bit of his plan.

Prakash Rajpurohit said...

Sir, I am filled with queries by this statement "I got 352 on a correct attempt of 415".

Please sir, tell me what all you have accounted for calculations of the "correct attempt". PaperI contains almost 40% descriptive(mostly reasoning type) and PaperII contains 80% descriptive.

I am curious to know how much marks(especially in PaperII) you estimated for writing good/correct answer in descriptive type questions, and how much does the examiner gives in those ones.

I also wants to know if your "correct attempt" includes some step markings in case answer comes out to be wrong.

Can you also tell seperate "correct attempt" for both the paper.

Actually Sir, I wanted to have a rough estimates of how much marks will i get, once i know what to include "correct attempt" in the 2008 mains.

Thanks

Supreet Singh Gulati said...

That's a tough one Prakash. Let me see if I can satisfy you on this:

First, "correct attempt". In numericals I don't assume part marking. It's a hit or miss game. Nothing for getting a wrong answer.

Descriptive questions usually have 2 or 3 sub-parts. If I explain a sub-part completely correct, I count that sub-part as correct attempt (100% for that sub-part). If it's a descriptive question without sub-part, I'd see how much I had answered well (after seeing answer from book). So, if I think I answered 60% of the required answer, I'll say my correct attempt is 12 (60% of 20 marks).

I had correct attempt of 215 in paper I and 200 in paper II.

Secondly, now how much marks will examiner give on this? That varies. I have got marks ranging from 60% - 85% of correct attempt over 3 Mains exam. This depends probably on more factors that just attempt (tough/easy paper, performance relative to others etc.). It is best to just forget this and concentrate on getting more and more marks correct, focusing on writing exactly what is asked.

Did it help or I left you further confused?

Prakash Rajpurohit said...

Thanks very much. I got whatever i wanted to know.

I have one more request, could you please elaborate on what and how to prepare about EE for the interview.
What all did you prepare for questions relating to the EE background? Were all the technical questions within your reach and asked from whatever you prepared/knew?

Thanks again.

Supreet Singh Gulati said...

First, its not necessary to know answers to all the questions that board may throw at you. "I don't know" is a magic phrase. Use it judiciously :) I was asked questions on how a hydroelectric generator starts, ways to introduce residual flux; sources of energy from ocean and what is the status of utilisation of these energy resources in India. I goofed up on the utilisation in India part.

My preparation: I went through Ministry of Power website to see its programs, reforms in power sector (I also read Economic and Political Weekly articles on Power Reforms), role of regulatory commissions etc. Being from a telecomm background I also looked up on spectrum allocation issues among GSM and CDMA.

Prakash Rajpurohit said...

Your tips helped a lot. I prepared from the sources you told and could answer all the EE related questions.
I was asked questions about power sector scenario in India, power sector reforms, percentage of different sources of power, utilisation of ash from coal based plants, nuclear energy scenario.

Thanks.

Sagar Saha said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sagar Saha said...

Hello Supreet sir,

thanks for your previous comments it gives a deeper insight of the EE optional

Sir, I have taken Electrical and Geography. As i am also preparing for IES-2009, i would be spending more of my time stydying electrical i have choosen this for Prilims-2010.

Is my decision correct to choose EE for prilims rather than geography?

what bothers me is, the scaling of subjects that happens in mains. Among these two optional which may have higher scaling?

also does first optionl means, the one which is taken up for prilims?

Regards,
Sagar

Sagar Saha said...

Supreet sir.. as you have mentioned you would provide us "Revu" sir's strategy on electrical.. we are eagerly waiting for it...

could you please get us some time from your busy schedule. i will be really grateful to it..

Regards,
Sagar

Prakash Rajpurohit said...

Sir, Marks for mains-2008 are out. I am shattered to see my marks in electrical in which i devoted maximum time amongst all subjects.

My score: EE-231, Maths-390, GS-274, Essay 105(total =1000) Intvw-120

I am unable to understand what went wrong in EE. I attempted correctly for 390 marks and got such a meagre score, especially in paper I for which i got 109 in correct attempt of 200. Now only I am getting feeling that zero marks are awarded for incorrect and incomplete answers.

I dont know how to proceed in EE for next attempt. I thought my EE is very strong than the other optional. I got 390 in maths with 2 months of effort; while EE which i have studied thoroughly for 4 years in college and for almost half of the time during the IAS prep, I got the lowest marks.

I want to meet you, if you are in Delhi right now or whenever you will be here.

Also Sir Please put Mr. Revu's strategy.

Also please suggest the book on the Microprocessor topic.

Thanks

Sagar Saha said...

hello prakash,

i have tried writing to u in ur blog but didnt get the link to it.

it is really sad to know your efforts were not answered this time..

wanted to know few things from u as u have already tested the waters of upsc..

1.i have choosen electrical as my first optional. is prilims easy to crack with a decent preparation?(any suggestions if the other optionals like geography would have been better bet for the prilims)

2.how did u study electricals i means prepared ur own notes or reffered to any coaching notes?

3.how much important is it to be thorough with the numericals?

regards,
Sagar
sagarsaha17@gmail.com

Prakash Rajpurohit said...

hello sagar,

1. I did not have EE in prelims. I havent seen any prelims paper either. Reason: EE prelim syllabus was unchanged while mains-2008 was reduced substantially.

2. I prepared relevent notes myself and got brilliant tutorials material. We have to know answer for this question from Supreet Sir himself.

3. You have to be thorough with numericals. Get an idea by looking at the last 4 years papers.

Wait for the Supreet Sir's reply to get a better insight for EE optional.

Sagar Saha said...

Thank u Prakash,

1. I compared the recent Electrical prelims and mains syllabus,
The topics unique to prelims are:
a.Electrical Engineering Materials.
b.Elements of IC Fabrication Technology.

The topics unique to mains are:
a.Elements of IC Fabrication Technology.
b.Analog Communication.

I could not find any relative change in terms of quantity, Can you clarify actually what u meant in your earlier reply.

2. Prakash u said u have devoted max time for electrical but u choose maths for prelims.please tell as to why u have decided so?

3. Even I am referring to BT notes there are huge number of problems to be solved.Have u practiced all of them?
Do you feel we need to go beyond the contents in these notes?

Your replies will help me in a long way to go.

Regards,
Sagar.
Sagarsaha17@gmail.com

Supreet Singh Gulati said...

Hi, Sagar and Prakash. It's quite good to see a discussion going on. I'll contribute my opinion to it (sorry for the delay, but I have just finished my Phase I exams):

390 in Maths in a huge score. It will surprise anybody and so will 231 in EE. My suggestion to you will be to keep practicing. Brilliants is not a good source for EE preparation (I relied on them in my 1st Mains attempt, and after the experience moved over to books for both Physics and EE). Please practice from books you follow and not from Brilliant. Another excellent way is to pick up IES papers and try them out within time. Keep improving your answers a lot. General answer to a specific question usually does not fetch marks (ex: If it is asked to draw an electrical model for peizoelectric crystal, simply putting a voltage source and a resistor won't help). That's where the problem usually lies.

Sagar: It is usually easier to clear Prelims with EE. Go ahead with it.

Regarding notes and coaching institute: I usually found EE too vast to be put in notes. I would practice IES questions well and would revise them in the end. They usually cover topics well especially in Paper II.

In old syllabus, Paper I was numerical oriented and Paper II required descriptive answers. I haven't seen 2008 paper. But numericals were usually directly picked up from books (except in 2005 Mains Paper I). Practice was required mainly to finish them in time.

I have sent a scrap to Revu regarding his strategy. He should be a better source.

Regards
Supreet Singh

Sagar Saha said...

Supreet sir, thank u so much for enlighting us with ur valuable suggetions.

Sagar Saha said...

Supreet Sir,

Currently, i am equipped with only BT materials due to the crunch of time i think it is not possible to go through both std text books and BT materials completly, soon i will start referring the text books.

sir, can u suggest which all section of BT materials will be fruitfull(notes/numericals/answers to past Q papers/sectional test paper..etc)?

also please do suggest us a blueprint for overall pre(monthwise)untill Mains-2010(like time division to prelims and main pre)?

Regards,
Sagar
Sagarsaha17@gmail.com

Prakash Rajpurohit said...

Thank you Sir,

I will practice hard this time and will also do the IES papers.

Thanks

Prakash Rajpurohit said...

Sir, I want to know the booklist/study material for the following:


1. Microprocessors/microcomputers - This time mostly programming in 8086 was asked.


2. 7 layered architecture


3. HVDC transmission


4. Some miscl topics in analog like JFET(not given in sedra/smith)


5. Power electronic devices - triac, gto(are these given sufficiently in bhimbra?)


Thanks

Supreet Singh Gulati said...

HVDC - done well in Ashfaq Hussain.

JFET basics are given in Boylestad

Please stick to Bhimbra for TRIAC, GTO. No need for any other v\book. It's a topic not explained well in bhimbra but should be adequate. If you are really desperate go for Power Electrnics by Ned Mohan (John Wiley).

I don't know standard of questions asked in 8086 microprocessors, but Douglas V Hall is the standard book for 8086.

For 7 layered architecture, I took photostat of a networking book from college library. I don't
remember the author, but I prepared a 250 word answer for the topic

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

sir

i am so gald to find a topper with EE as an optional.
sir i need ur suggestions on preparation for this subject?

sir have u also qualified IES,coz ppl say that dont take EE as an optional until n unless u Have qualified IES.

n what were the suggestions given by revu sir to you regarding this optional,plz share everything with us,which ll b helpful in preparing this so called "very tough" paper.

N said...

hello supreet sir.
i am glad to have a topper with EE as optional. i was looking for the person can help me out.
as i choose the EE as 2nd option and i am preparing for 2010 attempt.
please suggest me how can i start up sothat i cover EE strongly and within time.
thanks & regards
neeraj

aspirant said...

Hello Prakash
Can you please suggest me book and strategy for Mathematics.It will be great help.
Thanks
Pawan

N said...

sir, whr r u.
please reply.
thanks

Unknown said...

sir
kab se baithe hue hai,revu sir ki strategy jaan k liye,sir aap to bhool hi gaye ho.....

Maximumshine said...

hello supreet sir.

many thanks for all your's nice and kind response to the questions of aspirants.
sir i've electrical as my optional alongwith public administration.

sir kindly elaborate the strategy of revu sir for electrical engineering ..

sir shall i solve the question of ies conventional paper or the question of ias manins will be enough.

sir i've done b.tech in electronics and communication stream so naturally i'm facing problem with power system and machine.kindly suggest me from which book to start .?
sir i've lots of questions regarding the strategy of electrical.....
kindly respond as soon as possible.

best regards

ravi prakash shukla

Manohar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kumar said...

sir i've done b.tech in electronics and communication stream so naturally i'm facing problem with power system and machine.pls sir give us a more detail strategy development , tip and analyses for the EE paper.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Sir i'm an ECE graduate. i hav taken maths as an optional. could u pls help me wit the study materials i hav to refer.

Unknown said...

Hi Supreet sir, My optionals are Physics and Electrical....Please tell me "What improvements one can add to an answer to a numerical question in Electrical Paper" and "what were the differences/improvements in your style of attempting questions in electrical in first 3 and last attempt."?

Anonymous said...

hello sir plzz tell me is there any institute for electrical engineering for ias inhyderabad.iam an ece student plzzz guide me for what books to read

Unknown said...

Sir, I took electrical as an optional for 2017 mains. Facing problems with power system, some problems of previous year were unsolvable.