IFoS Topper 2021: IFS Officer Ayush Krishna's Winning Strategy
IFS officer Ayush Krishna (IFoS Rank 6, 2021) shares his PYQ-first prelims method, 27-day Forestry plan, English tips and interview strategy with Neil Sir.
In this Sherlocking strategy session, Neil Sir talks to Ayush Krishna — Rank 6 in the Indian Forest Service exam (2021), Rank 720 in CSE, with BPSC ranks too — recorded during his training at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy. Across five UPSC attempts he cleared the CSE prelims four times and the IFoS prelims three times; Neil Sir calls him a "serial winner". Here is his strategy, stage by stage.
Key takeaways
- The IFoS prelims cutoff runs roughly 12–16 marks above the CSE cutoff — Ayush closed the gap with exhaustive option-by-option PYQ analysis, not extra content.
- Two optionals in the two months after CSE Mains is a "mental barrier", not an impossibility: he prepared Forestry from scratch in 27 days.
- For any new subject, backtrack from previous year questions to decide which chapters to read first.
- GS took him only about two and a half days of study; in English (149 marks; 151 in GS), grammar compiled from PYQs and précis technique mattered more than volume.
- The IFoS interview is semi-technical — he scored 192 — and showing genuine interest in forestry and wildlife is non-negotiable.
Closing the prelims gap with PYQ analysis
Ayush qualified his first prelims with very little preparation, six marks above the cutoff, then missed the next attempt by marginal marks. The shift that made him consistent was making his preparation PYQ-oriented. He and Neil would discuss a single prelims question for 10–25 minutes: not just what the answer is, but what each option is trying to say, whether a question could be attempted at 50-50 by eliminating one option, or whether it was best left. That habit, he says, is what carries you the extra 12–16 marks from the CSE cutoff to the Forest Services cutoff, because the same topics keep returning as new questions.
Two optionals in two months is a mental barrier
Can an aspirant prepare two IFoS optionals in the two months after CSE Mains? Ayush is emphatic: he did Forestry from scratch in exactly 27 days, and many of his academy batchmates started both optionals from scratch. "It is a mental barrier" — it only looks impossible because you see no one in front of you who has done it. In common pairs like Geology and Forestry, most candidates' answers look similar, so even a little extra polish gives you an edge.
Forestry in 27 days: backtrack from the PYQs
His first move in Forestry was to open the previous year questions. They told him Silviculture was heavily asked, themes like mangroves and cold deserts recurred, and that memorising all 30-odd tree species was poor return on time compared to knowing five or six well. He began with the Manikandan material, joined Hornbill Classes for structure, and when the teacher fell ill after Paper 1, self-studied Paper 2 in about ten days.
The execution details are the real lesson: three sets of notes (PYQ-plus-diagram notes, short notes, and a running keyword page), five scientific names memorised every night by discussing them with his father, and those names written in proper format in the exam — genus capitalised, species in lowercase, both underlined — with plenty of diagrams. He recalled scoring 245 or 243 in Forestry.
GS, English and Physics: minimum time, maximum marks
For the compulsory GS paper he studied only about two and a half days — CSE preparation already supplies the content, so he simply revised polity basics like Fundamental Rights and DPSP and prepared the year's probable science themes. For English, he compiled idioms, phrases and grammar questions from PYQs across UPSC's exams; almost all the grammar questions came from that note. For précis, he condensed the passage part by part — each chunk to a third, rather than compressing the whole passage at once — wrote it continuously without paragraph breaks, and checked the letter format just before entering the hall. Environment and global warming recur as themes — he worked UNEP's Frankie the Dinosaur campaign into his own paper. His scores: 151 in GS, 149 in English.
Physics, his second optional, got the same treatment: he solved every PYQ from 2013 to 2020 in exam mode and did nothing else. Of the topics outside the CSE syllabus, he treats the Chandrasekhar limit as a must-do compulsory scorer, Bose–Einstein condensate as an easy add, and Lagrangian mechanics as optional if time permits.
The interview: show genuine interest, skip the gimmicks
The Forest Services interview is a little technical — Ayush was asked about rhino poaching — so know your forestry, current environmental developments, forest policy, forest cover and the forest survey report. He scored 192. The national park visit, he says, is overhyped: go only if you have time, and go relaxed the way he visited Kaziranga; a forced visit produces checklist observations, not natural answers. Fake hobbies like bird watching have spoiled interviews. And never reveal that your real interest is civil services — Neil Sir shares that this honesty cost him marks in his own interview — because the board is testing whether you are fit for this job.
Why IFoS is worth it
IFoS is one of the three All India Services under Article 312, with opportunities across sectors, from the Central Government to your own cadre. Ayush would place only IAS clearly above it, treating IPS and Forest Services as a genuine choice — batchmates of his left IPS to join the Forest Service. Prelims is the tough phase for IFoS; once past it, qualifying Forest Mains is far more achievable than CSE Mains, and the prize is an All India Service. Training life backs that up — in one year at the academy he travelled more than in his whole life before, including a 25-day tour covering Western India and Ladakh.
His parting advice: "UPSC exam is a big leveller" — your college and background do not matter if you are ready to work hard. Take guidance seriously, lean on family support, keep a Karmayogi's detachment from results, stay grounded, and remember that panic is the biggest enemy of those who reach prelims.
For the papers most aspirants neglect, start with our IFoS Mains English & GK hub, check the notification text on the IFoS Mains syllabus page, and practise exactly the way Ayush did with the IFoS previous year papers. For more journeys like his, browse our success stories.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Ayush Krishna and what did he achieve in UPSC and IFoS?
Ayush Krishna is an IFS officer of the 2021 Indian Forest Service exam, who was undergoing training at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy at the time of this session. He secured Rank 6 in Forest Services and Rank 720 in the CSE final result declared around the interview. Across five UPSC attempts he qualified the CSE prelims four times and the Forest Services prelims three times, and he also holds ranks in BPSC — which is why Neil Sir calls him a serial winner.
Can you prepare two IFoS optionals in the two months after CSE Mains?
Yes. Ayush Krishna prepared Forestry from scratch in exactly 27 days, and he says many of his batchmates at the academy started both optionals from scratch in that window and still made it. In his words, the idea that two optionals cannot be done in two months is a mental barrier — it only feels impossible because you cannot see anyone in front of you who has done it.
How did Ayush Krishna score so high in the Forestry optional?
He started from the previous year questions and worked backwards, noticing that many questions came from Silviculture and themes like mangroves and cold deserts, and then decided which chapters to read first. He kept three sets of notes — PYQ-and-diagram-based notes, short notes and a separate keyword page — memorised about five scientific names every night by discussing them with his father, wrote those names in proper format (capitalised genus, lowercase species, underlined) and used plenty of diagrams. He recalled his Forestry score as 245 or 243.
How much separate preparation does the IFoS GS paper need?
Very little, according to Ayush Krishna — he studied GS for only about two and a half days. If you have prepared for CSE you do not need separate content: polity, economics and science all appear together in one paper, so he advises revising the basics like Fundamental Rights and DPSP, working from previous year questions, and preparing probable science themes of the year well.
Is visiting a national park necessary before the IFoS interview?
No — Ayush Krishna calls it overhyped. If you have sufficient time, visit with a relaxed mind, the way he visited Kaziranga, because a forced checklist visit will not help you answer natural questions. He also warns against writing fake environment-friendly hobbies like bird watching, which is a very deep subject and has spoiled interviews for candidates who had no real idea about it.
What is the IFoS interview like compared to the CSE interview?
It is a little technical: the board checks your forestry knowledge — Ayush Krishna was asked about rhino poaching — along with current environmental and forestry developments, forest policy, forest cover and the forest survey report. He scored 192 in it. Both he and Neil Sir stress that you must visibly show interest in forestry and wildlife, and never signal that your real interest lies in civil services.
Neil Sir shows how PYQ mapping reveals what UPSC actually rewards in Mains — the decode step behind the whole Sprint — on Telegram.
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