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Civil Engineering Preparation Strategy for UPSC CSE
Every year UPSC conducts Civil services Examination (CSE) for the recruitment of various civil services like IAS, IPS, IRS, IRTS etc. CSE is one of the toughest exams in India. It is a very prestigious exam and it needs a dedicated preparation to clear the exam.
UPSC offers Civil Engineering as an optional subject for UPSC Main Examination. This subject is suitable only for those students who have a background in civil engineering. It is highly specialized subject, you need a deep knowledge of this subject to clear the exam.
There are only a few candidates who opt civil engineering as their optional but it is getting more popular every year & there are successful candidates who cleared the UPSC CSE with civil engineering as optional.
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What is Civil Engineering?
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewerage systems, pipelines, and railways. Civil engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-disciplines.
It is the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering, and it is defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering. Civil engineering takes place in the public sector from municipal through to national governments, and in the private sector from individual homeowners through to international companies.
Civil engineers are involved in the design and building of highways, bridges and tunnels, schools, hospitals, airports and other buildings, sewage systems and water treatment facilities.
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Syllabus of Civil Engineering
The syllabus of civil engineering for optional in Main Examination is given below.
Paper 1
- Engineering Mechanics
- Strength of Materials
- Structural Analysis
- Design of Structures
- Structural Steel Design
- Design of Concrete
- Design of Masonry Structure
- Fluid Mechanics
- Dimensional Analysis & Similitude
- Laminar Flow
- Boundary Layer
- Open Channel Flow
- Hydraulic Machines
- Hydropower
- Geotechnical Engineering
Paper 2
- Construction Technology
- Engineering Materials
- Construction
- Construction Planning
- Construction Management
- Construction Equipment
- Surveying
- Railway Engineering
- Highway Engineering
- Transportation Engineering
- Hydrology
- Ground Water Flow
- Water Resources Engineering
- Irrigation Engineering
- Environmental Engineering
- Water Supply
- Intake of Water
- Sewerage Systems
- Sewage Characterization
- Sewage Treatment
- Solid Waste
- Environmental Pollution
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Benefits of Civil Engineering
Everything comes with some benefits or advantages so, some of the advantages of choosing civil engineering as an optional subject are given below.
- If you will prepare for civil engineering, then it would not only be beneficial for CSE. But you can also attempt other engineering exams as you will have a good knowledge of the subject & good command over the subject.
- If you are a B.Tech. in civil engineering then this subject is beneficial for you. You have already studied the subject for four years so you have a knowledge of the subject & you can easily prepare for the exam.
- As this subject is not at all theory based, so you do not have to write a lot on this subject as compared to other subjects.
- This is a science-based subject which made this subject scoring as well.
- Like other optional subjects, the interpretation of the examiner plays an important role but there is no role of interpretation of the examiner in this subject.
- If you will practice the diagrams properly then you can easily score well in this subject. There are plenty of diagrams in civil engineering which makes it easy for candidates to score well.
- UPSC interview is the last stage of your step towards your career and it is seen that the panel will ask you that why you have chosen this subject as your optional. Rather than saying unnecessary things you can justify yourself with your background in civil engineering.
- You do not have to learn everything from the root. You just need the clarity of the concepts to clear this exam.
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Reference Material/ Books
The list of books for civil engineering as an optional subject are:
- Engineering Mechanics – Shames
- Mechanics for Engineers- B Johnson
- Engineering Mechanics – Mchean
- Limit State Design – Ram Chandra
- Surveying – Punmia
- The strength of Material – V. N. Vazaram
- Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering – A Singh and K R Arora
- Strength and Materials -UC. Jindal
- Introduction to Mechanics of Solids
- Basic and applied Fluid Mechanics-Garde
- The strength of material – Gere, and Timoshenko
- Concrete Technology – M.S. Shetty
- R.C.C. (WSM) – Shyal and Goyal
- R.C.C. (LSM) – A.K. Jain
- Steel Structure – L.S. Negi
- Soil Mechanics – K.R. Arora
- Fluid Mechanics – Modi & Seth
- Theory of Structure (Vol – II) – Vazirani and Ratwani
- Irrigation Engineering – S.K. Garg
- Prestress Concrete – N. Krishna Rajee
- Engineering Hydrology – K. Subramanya
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Preparation Strategy
- Paper 1 deals with Engineering Mechanics, Strength of Materials and Structural Analysis. Construction Management including safety in construction is based on the IS codes. So you should focus on all the IS codes related to this subject.
- You should read the entire syllabus including the reading of segments & make notes of the important topics from the syllabus. These notes will help you during your preparation.
- After going through each section of the syllabus. Choose the relevant books according to the syllabus & read the books carefully.
- First, start with basic or lighter books to clear your concepts, do not directly jump over to the tough books. Slowly increase the difficulty level of books. First clear your concepts only then move further.
- Prepare short notes on all important topics, important diagrams or important formulas. These notes will be helpful during your revision time.
- You should prepare a study plan to complete the whole syllabus in the specific time span. Make a monthly or weekly plan & complete the target in the targeted time duration.
- Candidates should emphasize on sustainability & the economic dimensions while preparing for this subject.
- You should remain up-to-date with the recent news related to the civil engineering. As UPSC CSE syllabus is very vast so prepare accordingly to it.
- The last but not the least, go through the previous year papers.
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If you have any doubt or need guidance you can comment below, our team will try to answer it.