UPSC & Civil Services · Government Exams

UPSC IFoS Mock Tests

Prelims mocks are shared with the Civil Services Examination. For mains, written practice in your optionals is the only meaningful preparation.

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UPSC IFoS · checked 19 September 2026

UPSC IFoS at a glance, from the official notices

The dates, vacancies and rules below are read on the conducting body’s own site and rewritten as each notice appears. The guide beneath carries the full pattern, syllabus, cut-offs and free mock tests.

Free UPSC IFoS mock testUPSC IFoS syllabusToday’s current affairs
19September 2026

Checked 19 September 2026

UPSC IFoS: the facts that matter now

  1. 01

    Notified 14 January 2026 (revised 6 February); prelims 24 May, screening result 15 June; mains from 22 November 2026, seven days

    2026 cycle

  2. 02

    Union Public Service Commission — Indian Forest Service Examination 2026, screened through the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination

    Conducted by

  3. 03

    About 80 — UR 33, OBC 21, SC 12, EWS 8, ST 6; IFoS 2025 recommended 148

    Vacancies

  4. 04

    Bachelor’s degree with at least one of animal husbandry and veterinary science, botany, chemistry, geology, mathematics, physics, statistics or…

    Eligibility

Practice

UPSC IFoS — Using mock tests as a measurement

Because the preliminary paper is common, Civil Services prelims mocks serve IFoS candidates perfectly well — with one caveat: the IFoS cutoff is set separately, so the score you need is not necessarily the CSE score. For mains, there is no mock equivalent; the practice that counts is writing full answers in your optional subjects under time.

Where to put practice effort

  • Prelims — objective mocks with the deduction applied, plus CSAT practice, exactly as for the Civil Services Examination.
  • Optionals — written answers under time, from past papers, in both subjects. This is eight hundred of fourteen hundred marks.
  • General English — essay, precis and comprehension practised as a full three-hour paper.
  • General Knowledge — written practice with a deliberate environment and conservation emphasis.

Start practising

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A practice routine weighted to the marks

  1. Prelims — shared objective practice Civil Services prelims mocks with the deduction applied, plus CSAT. Keep this running through the first phase; it is the same paper and there is no IFoS-specific version to seek out.
  2. Optionals — written answers from month two Eight hundred of fourteen hundred marks. One full answer a day in one of the two subjects, alternating, from past papers wherever possible.
  3. General English — a full paper monthly Three hours, by hand, essay and precis and comprehension together. Rising to fortnightly in the final months.
  4. General Knowledge — written practice with a conservation lens Answering in writing rather than reviewing objectively, because the paper is descriptive and the skills are not interchangeable.
  5. Physical — the walking test Train to the prescribed distance and time from early on. It is qualifying, it is published, and it is entirely avoidable as a failure.

Diagrams are worth building into optional practice explicitly rather than sketching loosely and intending to do better on the day. In the biological and agricultural sciences a well-labelled figure often answers a substantial part of a question more efficiently than prose can, and examiners award for it. Practise drawing the standard figures of your subjects by hand until they are quick, accurate and consistently labelled.

Get the optional answers read by a subject person

General answer-writing feedback helps with structure but cannot tell you whether your treatment of a technical question is complete or current. A teacher, a senior or anyone with genuine command of the subject reading a handful of your answers is worth more than a large volume of unreviewed writing, particularly for the paper that carries the most marks.

Where practice effort belongs in a two-optional examination.
What you seeWhat it meansWhat to change
Prelims fine, optional answers unwrittenThe optionals carry the marks and get the least practice.Write in both optionals from the first month, not after the prelims.
One optional far stronger than the otherThe weaker one caps the total.Give the weaker optional the larger share of writing practice.
Answers fluent but generalSpecificity is what scores in a subject paper.Name the study, the classification, the figure or the case in every answer.
No external reading of your answersSelf-marking a subject answer is unreliable.Have optional answers read by someone who knows the subject.
Physical preparation absentA requirement of this service that a written preparation overlooks.Put it on the same calendar as the writing practice.

Exam resources

Everything for UPSC IFoS

Six resource pages, each kept in step with the latest official notification.

UPSC IFoS SyllabusUPSC IFoS syllabus — shared prelims content, the General English and General Knowledge mains papers, and the optional subject list.UPSC IFoS Exam PatternUPSC IFoS exam pattern 2026 — screening through the CSE prelims, the six-paper mains with two optionals, the 300-mark interview and the 2025 cut-offs.UPSC IFoS Previous PapersUPSC IFoS previous year papers — calibrating optional subject depth and the General Knowledge paper’s conservation emphasis.UPSC IFoS Mock TestsUPSC IFoS mock tests — shared prelims practice, and written answer practice for the mains optional and general papers.UPSC IFoS PreparationUPSC IFoS preparation — choosing two optionals, using a science degree background, and preparing for the physical standards.UPSC IFoS Study MaterialUPSC IFoS study material — environment, biology, geography and general knowledge notes, plus guidance on optional subject sources.

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