IFOS 2024: Notification, Prelims and Mains Syllabus, Optional

Important Dates
Date of Notification	Feb 14, 2024
Date of Commencement of Examination	Mar 5, 2024
Prelims Exam Date	May 26, 2024
Prelims Admit Card Release Date	2nd week of May 2024
Prelims Result Date	Jun 2024
IFOS Mains Exam	Nov 24, 2024
IFOS Mains Admit Card Release Date	2nd week of Nov 2024
IFOS Mains Result Date	Jan 2025

IFOS Eligibility Criteria 2024

Candidates of the IFOS exam 2024 need to cross-check if they meet the eligibility criteria set in the following:

IFOS Physical Criteria

Candidates must be physically fit according to the physical standards for admission to Indian Forest Service Examination 2024. Candidates are advised to see the IFOS 2024 official notification to check the detailed physical standards. 

IFOS Nationality

A candidate must be

1. A citizen of India, or
2. The subject of Nepal, or
3. The subject of Bhutan, or
4. Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January 1962 to permanently settle in India, or
5. A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries like Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia, and Vietnam to permanently settle in India
6. Candidates belonging to categories b, c, d, and e should produce a certificate of eligibility, which has been issued by the Government of India.

IFOS Educational Qualification

1. Candidate should hold a Bachelor’s degree in at least one of the subjects namely, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and Zoology or a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture or Forestry or Engineering of a recognised university or equivalent.
2. Candidates appearing for their degree examination (with prescribed subjects) can also apply. If they qualify for the result of the written part of the examination, they have to submit proof of passing the required examination along with their detailed application form to be filled in at that stage.

IFOS Age Limit

The age of a candidate should be a minimum of 21 years and a maximum of 32 years on 1st August 2024 of the year of examination, i.e. he must have been born not earlier than 2nd August 1988 and not later than 1st August 1999. While the upper age limit will be relaxable in the following cases:

1. For Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe (SC /ST): Up to 5 years
2. Other Backward Classes (OBC): Up to 3 years
3. State of Jammu & Kashmir (Domiciled during the period from the 1st January 1980 to 31st December 1989: Up to 5 years.
4. Defence Services personnel: Up to 5 years
5. Ex-servicemen including Commissioned officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least 5 years of Military Service as on and have been released: Up to 5 years
6. ECOs/ SSCOs: Up to a maximum of five years.
7. Blind, deaf-mute and Orthopaedically handicapped persons: Up to 10 years.
8. SC, ST and the OBC who are also covered under other clauses mentioned above will be eligible to grant cumulative age relaxation under both categories

IFOS Number of Attempts

1. General Candidates: 6 attempts
2. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Candidates: No restriction
3. Other Backward Classes: 9 attempts
4. Physically handicapped- 9 attempts for general and OBC, while unlimited for SC/ST

Appearing for one or more papers of an examination will be counted as an attempt at the examination even if the candidate fails to qualify for the selection.

IFOS Exam Pattern

The Indian Forest Service Exam is conducted in three rounds. A candidate has to clear one stage to qualify for the subsequent stage. They are explained below:

Stage 1: IFOS Prelims Exam Pattern

This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; the marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit.

1. Both the question papers will be of the objective type (multiple choice questions).
2. The General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%. 
3. The question papers will be set both in Hindi and English.

Read more on the UPSC Prelims exam in this official notification

Stage 2: IFOS Mains Exam Pattern

1. There are 6 papers in the IFOS mains exam.
2. All are descriptive. Each paper is for 3 hours.
3. Two optional subjects candidates have to choose from.

UPSC Indian Forest Service Mains Exam Papers

The following are some of the subjects that appear in the IFOS exam

Papers III, IV, V and VI.—Any two subjects to be selected from the list of the optional subjects set out in para below. Each subject will have two papers— 200 marks for each paper.

1. Agriculture
2. Agricultural Engineering
3. Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
4. Botany
5. Chemical Engineering
6. Civil Engineering
7. Forestry
8. Mathematics
9. Mechanical Engineering
10. Physics
11. Statistics
12. Zoology
13. Geology
14. Chemistry

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

1. Agriculture and Agricultural Engineering
2. Agriculture and Forestry
3. Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
4. Mathematics and Statistics
5. Agriculture and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
6. Of the Engineering subjects namely, Agricultural Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering – not more than one subject.

Only candidates who score higher than the cutoff marks in the mains exam will be summoned for the next stage, which is the interview round.

Stage 3: IFOS Interview Details

• The interview will be for a total of 300 marks.
• The candidate will be assessed on general awareness, communication skills, intellectual curiosity, critical powers of observation and assimilation, the balance of judgment and alertness of mind, initiative, tact, capacity for leadership, etc.
• Here, the candidate will be interviewed by a Board.
• A physical test will follow the interview. Here, male candidates have to complete a 25 km walk or run in under 4 hours, and female candidates have to complete a 14 km walk or run in less than 4 hours.

IFOS Exam Syllabus 2024

IFOS Prelims Syllabus:

The syllabus for the IFOS prelims exam is the same as the civil services prelims exam.

IFOS Mains Syllabus

• There are six descriptive papers in the mains exam.
• There are four optional papers, two for each optional.

Steps to Apply for IFOS 2024

The candidates are advised to follow these steps to apply for the IFOS exam

1. Log onto an official website www.upsc.gov.in
2. Go to ‘DAF – Indian Forest Service Exam 2024’.
3. The official notification containing information regarding the UPSC IFS Exam 2024 is to be noted and checked if the candidate meets all required criteria.
4. Visit the UPSC home page, press the registration link fill in crucial details and ensure to upload the required documents proof.
5. Once the application form is filled, proceed to payment.
6. Candidates are advised to take a printout of the filled application form.

Other Government Recruitments

The various government recruitments are as follows:

• ONGC Recruitment
• BEL Recruitment
• ECIL Recruitment
• RSMSSB Recruitment
• WBSEDCL Recruitment
• BHEL Recruitment

Hope this post has provided all the information regarding the IFOS 2024. In case you have any queries regarding the same, please reach out to us through the comment section and we will get back to you with the latest information. Also, follow our page for all the latest updates on the Sarkari exam.