Indian Forest Service (IFS) Exam is conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) once in a year.

Paper Pattern

A. PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION:-

The Examination shall comprise of two compulsory Papers of 200 marks each.

Both the question papers will be of the objective type (MCQ).

The General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.

The question papers will be set both in Hindi and English.

One must write the papers in their own hand. In no circumstances will one allowed the help of a scribe to write the answers for them.

However, Low Vision candidates (minimum 40% impairment) will be allowed to write the examination with the help of a scribe.

Low Vision candidates will also be allowed an extra time of 40 minutes for each paper @ 20 minutes per hour.

Each paper will be of two hours duration.

B. MAIN EXAMINATION:-

(A) The written examination consisting of the following papers:¬

Paper I - General English - 300 Marks
Paper II - General Knowledge - 300 Marks
Paper III / Paper IV / Paper V / Paper VI - Any two subjects to be selected from the list of for each the optional subjects set given below Each subject will have two papers - 200 marks

(B) Interview for Personality Test (See Part (C) of Section II of this Appendix) of such candidates as may be called by the Commission - Maximum Marks: 300 Marks

List of optional subjects:-

(i) Agriculture
(ii.) Agricultural Engineering
(iii) Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
(iv) Botany
(v) Chemistry
(vi) Chemical Engineering
(vii) Civil Engineering
(viii) Forestry
(ix) Geology
(x) Mathematics
(xi) Mechanical Engineering
(xii) Physics
(xiii) Statistics
(xiv) Zoology

Provided that one will not be allowed to offer the following combination of subjects:

(a) Agriculture and Agricultural Engg.
(b) Agriculture and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science.
(c) Agriculture and •Forestry.
(d) Chemistry and Chemical Engg.
(e) Mathematics and Statistics.
(f) Of the Engineering subjects viz. Agricultural Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering- not more than one subject;


1. All the question papers for the examination are of conventional (essay) type.
2. All question papers must be answered in English. Question papers will be set in English only.
3. The duration of each of the papers referred to above will be three hours.

One should note that there will be penalty (Negative Marking) for wrong answers marked by one in the Objective Type Question Papers.