CSE Preparation: Preparation Strategy for Electrical Engineering Optional by Aman Mittal (AIR 20 CSE 2014)

Aman Mittal (AIR 20 CSE 2014) shares his strategy on how to prepare for Electrical Engineering as optional for Mains Examination.

Electrical Engineering

Strategy

This is the basic strategy that I suggest to the people. Most of the things have already been covered in the previous blogs written by Prince Dhawan Sir and Prakash Rajpurohit Sir, along with the detailed book lists.

I am only going to share a few points of reference that I believe I followed more uniquely. Before I begin, a word of caution is advised to the reader that specific strategies are only meant to provide ideas and should be followed as per individual inclinations.

First of all, one needs to understand that Electrical Engineering requires a lot of effort. The syllabus is vast and many books need to be prepared for the completion of the course. However, the needs of UPSC Civil Services Exam are not very stringent and only basic knowledge of the topics mentioned in the syllabus will be sufficient to score well in this examination.

At the beginning, I would strongly suggest the aspirants to go through the papers of previous years and ascertain the level of difficulty for themselves. It would be useful if the aspirants actually try an attempt one of the papers to see their comfort level with the topics they may have already covered in the college. It is not necessary that you may have excellent grades in the college, but a general interest in the subject is necessary to overcome the rigors of the syllabus over the period of preparation.

I will be reproducing the blog post strategy of Prakash Rajpurohit Sir as edited by Prince Dhawan Sir.  A few general points that I would like to add are also being posted herewith.

In my personal opinion, the optional papers of electrical engineering are similar over a period of time. The questions are generally similar, with many repetitions over a period of time. The papers of the last 10 years are a pointer to the same.

Another point of note is that UPSC will never tend to ask extremely difficult or out of course questions. This makes this optional more predictable with a higher probability of scoring in the upper spectrum.

The most important thing is the use of internet for the course. There are many topics which seem extremely difficult and have not been done in college graduation, especially those in digital communication, coding theory etc. For this, I would advise the use of electrical lectures available at NPTEL. For communications part, I used to refer to the site http://www.radio-electronics.com. Another useful site for electrical engineering is the http://www.electrical4u.com .

Given the nature of the exam, I strongly suggest to all the aspirants to at least cover the syllabus once, and prepare the previous year’s papers even if the detailed strategy as provided later is not doable.  

The solutions for the previous years ESE papers is also a useful asset for the aspirants as it covers almost the entire spectrum of the course.

Chapterwise strategy reproduced from here –

https://princedhawan.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/strategy-for-electrical-engineering/

Paper – I

1.      Circuit Theory: This topic requires continuous practice. One should solve as many numericals as you can from A. Chakrabarti.  Even though I couldn’t do it due to paucity of time but solving IES papers may help.

2.      Signals and systems: In this topic, one must remember the formulas by making a formula sheet. As Prakash Sir has mentioned, for DFT/FFT, refer to Oppenheim’s book on DSP.

3.      E.M. Theory: Read chapter 6(till 6.29), 7 and 8 from K.D. Prasad. Practice some numerical examples. Sometimes the book solves them in a long way, but you must do them in the shortest way possible. For Smith chart and impedance matching refer Jordan & Balmain. Make the list of formulas and practice all the derivations.

4.      Analog Electronics: Diode, Transistors and Amplifiers can be done from any book. Topics that are to be covered from JB Gupta are: Oscillators, Op Amp, Wave shaping circuits, Multivibrators, Waveform Generators and Power supplies. You will have to practice numerical from IES papers since JB Gupta doesn’t have many numerical. Also, in this chapter practice derivations well and make sure you do not do mistakes in symbols.

5.      Digital Electronics: I referred to R.P. Jain for this topic. It is a very good book that covers all the concepts and also provides sufficient numerical practice. Please stick to the syllabus while reading this book.

6.      Energy Conversion: Try to cover everything given in the syllabus from Ashfaq Hussain and make good command over all the numerical given in the book. It covers topic from IES point of view. Do all the questions asked in the IES exams thoroughly.

7.      Power Electronics and Electric Drives: Topics to be covered are Chapter 2(characteristics of diode, BJT, MOSFET, IGBT), chapter 4-Thyrister(complete), chapter 5 – Thyrister commutation techniques (complete), chapter 6 –Phase controlled rectifiers(Leave dual converters), chapter 7- Choppers(Leave Thyrister Chopper circuits and multiphase choppers) , chapter 8 –Inverters(Leave force-commutated thyrister inverters, current source and series inverters) and chapter 12-electric drives(complete). Cover all the derivations (like deriving expressions for particular type of rectifier or inverter) as well as working of circuits. Note that this book can be difficult to read at first due to extensive coverage of topics. But you must nevertheless go through it. At first, focus on the concepts. You may leave the numericals at the back of the Chapters since there are sufficient solved examples in the book. Do not just read the examples, solve them yourself.

8.      Analog Communication: Cover chapter 4(AM) and Chapter 5(on FM and PM) from BP Lathi. Random process(chapter 1) can be covered from Haykin. And Noise(chapter 4) can be covered from Singh and Sapre. Also cover AM AND FM practical modulation and demodulation circuits from Singh and Sapre.

Paper II

1.      Control Systems: Nagrath and Gopal is sufficient for all the topics. Practice from previous year IES and CSE papers. Please stick to the syllabus. There is no need to read the entire book.

2.      Microprocessors and Microcomputers: Cover chapters 1 to7 and 9, and parts of chapter 8 and 10(from which questions has been asked in IES exams), In peripherals cover 12, 14, 15, 16 (Focus more on whatever has been asked in IES papers).

3.      Measurement and Instrumentation: Cover all the instruments given in the syllabus thoroughly from the Sawhney. Here also guide will be IES questions. In this book, you may skip the numericals at the end of the Chapter if you have less time because it has sufficient solved examples. Focus on derivations of different formulae. Also note the drawbacks of each measuring instrument. For oscilloscope, please do not forget to practice making schematic diagrams.

4.      Power Systems: I did this topic from Ashfaq Hussain. It covers the entire syllabus. You may have to read a bit more on the last Chapter. Solve all examples and questions at the back of the Chapters. Do not forget to practice the flowcharts of optimization schemes for load distribution.

5.      Power System Protection: Chapters of Protective relays and circuit breakers (from Wadhwa) cover large part of the syllabus in much better way. For microprocessor based relays refer to TMH book. You may also refer to the TMH book for other parts of the syllabus too in addition to Wadhwa. Do solve the questions at the end of the Chapters.

6.      Digital Communication: For PCM, DPCM, DM refer to chapter 6 of Lathi. ASK, PSK and FSK are covered much better in Haykin. Information theory and codes can be covered from either of them. Chapter 1 and 2 of Forouzan are to be covered for data networks and 7 layered architecture.

The book list reproduced from here –

https://prakashrajpurohit.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/electrical-engineeeringmains-booklist/

Paper I

1.  Circuit Theory: A. Chakrabarti(Dhanpat Rai)

2.  Signals and systems: Oppenheim and Willsky. For DFT/FFT, refer toOppenheim’s book on DSP. For better coverage of z-transform, refer any Indian author.(I had Sanjay Sharma’s book)

3.  E.M. Theory: K.D. Prasad. For Smith chart and other minor topics left refer Jordan & Balmain.

4.  Analog Electronics: J.B. Gupta. For topics like feedback amplifiers and any other topics not covered well in that book refer Sedra & Smith.

5. Digital Electronics: M.Morris Mano

6. Energy Conversion: Ashfaq Hussain. For topics not covered in detail referFitzgerald.

7. Power Electronics and Electric Drives: PS Bhimbra

8. Analog Communication: (a) Simon Haykin (b) BP Lathi (c) Singh and Sapre(TMH)

Paper II

1.  Control Systems: Nagrath & Gopal

2.  Microprocessors and Microcomputers: RS Gaonkar

3.  Measurement and Instrumentation: AK Sawhney

4. Power Systems: (a) Nagrath and Kothari (b) CL Wadhwa

5. Power System Protection: (a) CL Wadhwa(only chapters of  psp, circuit breaker)  (b) Badriram &Vishwakarma

6. Digital Communication: Same as Analog Communication. For Data Networks and 7-layered architecture I referred Forouzan(TMH).

As long as you have prepared well and are confident in answering the questions, you will be able to score very well in this optional.

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