Preparing for Indian Forest Service? IFS 2013 ranker shares his success story

Sushil Agarwal, IFS Topper

Making every effort to pursue his childhood dream of joining the civil services, Sushil Agarwal gave the Indian Forest Service (IFS) examination and as luck would have it this young lad from Surat now holds AIR 11 in the IFS exam held in 2013. A BTech graduate in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi, Sushil feels that his hard work is finally paying off and clearing this exam is just a happy step towards achieving bigger and better things in life.

Shiksha caught up with Sushil who is currently awaiting results for his Civil Services Main Examination, to find out how he is handling his success and what words of advice he has for IFS aspirants.

I don’t think one can be confident of securing a good rank in this examination but I felt confident of clearing through after the interview. It’s definitely a wonderful feeling to see my name in the final list released by UPSC.

I consider the support of my teachers, family and friends to be the driving force behind my success.  The preparation time for such examination is pretty long and one needs constant support and motivation. Thankfully for me this came from my teachers, family and also my friends, to whom I am deeply indebted.

I am eagerly awaiting my result for the Civil Services Examination. I had not opted for placements during my final year in college, and have been preparing for the exam ever since.

It was while preparing for Civil Services that I came across IFS. The character of the two services is similar with both being All India Services. On further enquiring I became aware about the dynamic and challenging nature of the IFS, with plenty of developmental potential and a means to usher change in the society. Further in the past few years media and academic discourse has made people quite aware about the importance and the need to conserve our natural environment, without hampering developmental aspirations of the people of the country.

I think that integrating technology in the field of administration in India has become imperative. Being a technologist I plan to utilize my skill sets in making our developmental paradigm more sustainable and inclusive.  In the IFS, I would like to work towards ensuring a balance between the needs of development and environmental conservation. Incorporation of technology in environmental conservation remains high on the list of priorities.

No, this was my second attempt, and I scored an AIR of 11.

My first attempt was fresh out of college, due to paucity of time I could not cover the syllabus. This time there was time and also the experience of previous attempt which made the difference.

Yes, I did the coaching of my optional from DIAS and GS from ALS. For Physics I studied separate books on each of the topic. For GS apart from the standard books, I referred material from the coaching institutes; I used to extensively read two or three newspapers daily along with various blogs and governmental websites to keep myself abreast of the latest information.

Yes, I have appeared for Civil Services Main Examination this year and am awaiting the result.

The phase during the preparation of examination was quite enriching. Due to the diverse nature of this exam, one becomes aware of the happenings around him. It provides an insight into the manner in which things function, the present state of things and the state one wants to achieve.

This year due to the changed pattern there was severe time pressure to attempt around 35-40 questions in GK. One definitely needs good writing speed to complete the paper. With regards to the optionals, the questions were on similar lines as asked during preceding years.

Yes, this was the first year when preliminary exam was introduced in the IFS, so there was one more stage to clear. Further, the GK paper which used to be a simple test of general knowledge till a few years back, has acquired a character much like the GS paper of civil services. There was an increase in the diversity and the depth of questions asked, making it a lot more challenging.

My Interview Board consisted of Mrs Alka Sirohi. I would rate my interview experience as very good.  The board overall was very cordial and helpful. The questions asked ranged from a diversity of topics like my resume (DAF), geography, economy, polity, management, forestry, national and international issues along with my hobbies and interests.

Getting into the civil services has always been my childhood dream. To achieve it, I had first secured my back-up plan which was to get into the IIT. This provided me the cushion to fall back on something had I not cleared the exam.

Never lose heart, every individual faces the highs and lows, what is important is to keep on moving forward, success with definitely come along.