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Every essay topic ever set in the last ten IFoS Mains General English papers, transcribed from the official PDFs. The essay is worth 100 of the paper’s 300 marks — see the full paper structure and the English & GK strategy hub.
Write an essay in about 800 – 1000 words on any one of the following :
Write an essay in about 800 – 1000 words on any one of the following :
Write an essay, in about 800–1000 words, on any one of the following :
Write an essay, in about 800 – 1000 words, on any one of the following topics :
Write an essay, in around 800 – 1000 words, on any one of the following topics :
Write an essay, in say 800–1000 words, on any one of the following topics :
Write an essay of 800 to 1000 words on any one of the following topics : 100
Write an essay of 800 to 1000 words on any one of the following topics :
Write an essay of not more than 800 to 1000 words on any one of the following topics :
Write an essay in about 800 words on any one of the following topics :
The essay is Question 1 of the IFoS Mains General English paper and carries 100 of the paper’s 300 marks — the single largest question in either compulsory paper. In recent years candidates choose one topic from four and write about 800–1,000 words in a three-hour paper that also includes compositions, précis, comprehension and grammar.
Four broad families keep recurring across 2016–2025: environment, wildlife and development trade-offs (the signature IFoS theme); technology and society (artificial intelligence, digital surveillance, the internet and youth); education and social development; and abstract or value-based prompts. The topics are general — no forestry expertise is required — but an environment angle almost always appears among the four choices.
Recent papers specify about 800–1,000 words. That is shorter than the UPSC CSE essay (roughly 1,000–1,200 words), so the same structure and content preparation carries over — you simply compress. Budget roughly 60–70 minutes for the essay so the remaining 200 marks of the paper get their time.
Yes. Every topic on this page is transcribed from the official UPSC IFoS Mains General English question papers hosted on upsc.gov.in, from 2016 to 2025. Each year links to the official PDF and to our full transcription of that year’s paper.
Prepare theme banks rather than individual topics: environment-development, technology-society, education, and values cover most years. Practise compressing a CSE-length essay plan into 800–1,000 words with a clear premise-setting introduction and a closing that gives closure. The Sherlocking IFoS English module dedicates six lecture parts and fourteen supporting documents to exactly this, built on the most repeated UPSC and IFoS themes.
The Sherlocking IFoS English module teaches essay structure and frameworks in six lecture parts with fourteen supporting documents, built on the most repeated UPSC and IFoS themes — plus letter, report, précis, comprehension and grammar for the rest of the paper.
Source: Topics transcribed from the official UPSC IFoS Mains General English question papers (2016–2025) on upsc.gov.in. Last updated: July 2026 — the 2026 topics will be added after IFoS Mains (begins 22 November 2026).