- How to prepare for 2015?
- Instructions
- Essay 100m
- Letter and Report writing writing 50m
- Précis writing 50m
- Comprehension 50m
- Grammar 50 marks
How to prepare for IFoS-2015 English?

IFoS 2014 Mains English paper: internal breakup analysis
- length, trend and difficultly level running similar to civil service english papers prior to 2013. so, At home, solve maximum no. of previous question papers of Compulsory English in UPSC mains exam- Available at http://Mrunal.org/download
- As such book unnecessary for this paper, but if you want to brush up with grammar-sentence correction rules, use SP Bakshi’s Objective General English.
IFoS Question 2014 paper Instructions
- 3 hours 300 marks
- All the questions are to be attempted.
- The number of marks carried by a question/part is indicated against it.
- Answers must be written in ENGLISH only.
- You must not disclose your identity in any of your answers.
Essay 100m
Write an essay, in about 800 to 1000 words, on any ONE of the following topics:
- Save the Earth Save Life
- Communication: Face-to-Face or Facebook?
- Are rural women more vulnerable to violence than their counterparts
- The electorate rose above the caste factor in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections
Letter and Report writing writing 50m
- Write a letter to the Wild Life Conservator complaining against the supply of unhygienic food for animals of the zoo by XYZ Company. 25 marks
- Write a report of the frequent incidents of poaching in the forest in your area and suggest measures to stop it. 25 marks
Précis writing 50m
Write a precis of the passage given below in about one-third of its length. Please do not give any title to it.The precis should be written in your own language. 50 marks.
Democracy has put down firm roots in India but the quality of government that India’s democracy provides remains low. How does one best understand consolidation of democracy in India?It is clear that India’s democracy has succeeded against considerable odds : a low-income economy/Widespread poverty and illiteracy, and immense ethnic diversity. How did India do it? Indian democracy is best understood by focusing not mainly on its socio-economic determinants, but on how power distribution in that society is negotiated and renegotiated. A concern with the process of power negotiation,in turn, leads one to analyse leadership strategies, the design of political institutions, and the political role of groups, or, in short, the interaction of the state and society.
More specifically, India’s democratic record suggests that two related sets of political processes have guided the management of power conflicts in that society. First, a delicate balance has been struck and restruck between forces of centralization and decentralization. And,second, the interests of the powerful in society have been served without fully excluding the weaker groups. The record on both of these fronts is far from perfect; the failures have actually put a great strain on Indian democracy. Nevertheless,accommodation of those who mount powerful challenges by granting them greater autonomy and/or a share of resources has been central to the strengthening of democracy.
As federal democracies go, India is a relatively centralized slate. While many critics have made this observation, the fact is that demands for decentralization only make sense within the context of centralized authority; authority and power, like wealth, have to exist before they can be distributed.Over the years, as democracy has spread, numerous mobilized groups in India have demanded further redistribution of power. These demands were often resisted, sometimes wisely, but at other times unwisely and at a great cost.Overall, however, enough concessions were made so that the Indian political system by now possesses significant decentralized traits. Notable features of these are to be found in the practice of federalism, in the changing character of local governments, and in the evolving constitutional design.
No electoral democracy can long survive without protecting the interests of the powerful, whether these are propertied groups,groups with high status,or groups with effective political organization. Long-term exclusion of weaker groups is also not healthy for a democracy.How has this balance been managed in India? While the rhetoric of the Indian state has often been redistributive – socialism, abolition of traditional privileges, reform of the caste system, and populism – political practice has been considerably more conservative,eschewing any decisive redistribution. The Indian state has thus been criticised both for its excessive socialist commitments and for its failure at substantial redistribution. However, the political impact of these twin tendencies – radical in tone, conservative in practice – may well have strengthened democracy. This is because the powerful in society feel well served by the system, but weaker groups do not feel totally excluded or hopeless, at least not so far. (501 words)
Comprehension 50m
Read the following passage and answer the questions given below :
Safe Water for All
In developing countries a very large section of the population – both in urban and rural areas – does not have convenient access to safe water.Millions of people die annually due to water related diseases.Water related diseases are the leading killers of infants and children. About 5 million infants die every year from intestinal diseases before they complete one year of lire. Every day a large number of people die from unsafe water as two-thirds of the people on the earth have no other choice except to drink it, cook with it and bathe in it.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 1 hospital bed out of 4 in the world is occupied by a patient who is ill because of polluted water.Provision of a safe and convenient water supply is the single most important activity that could be undertaken to improve the people living in rural areas of the developing world.
The problem of providing a convenient supply of safe water to all remains unsolved. In some parts of the world,women and children spend half of their time for fetching water. Some have to walk as far as 25 kilometres or to reach each the source of water.In India, the people of villages in the hilly and desert regions,where nearest water sources are about 1.6 kilometres away,have difficult access to water. Besides, these water sources contain toxic elements which are dangerous to health and are carriers of epidemic diseases like cholera and guinea pig infestation.Many Other villages also have inadequate and unprotected drinking water sources Various schemes and projects undertaken to supply safe water have met with several difficulties.According to the Evaluation Report on the Accessibility of the Poor to the Rural Water Supply,1980 of the Planning Commission of India, there are several weak points in the programme. Remedial measures need to be undertaken to ensure safe water supply conveniently through bore, tube or drill wells and pipes, require regular and timely supply, adequate number of supply points, better management for breakdown and out-of-order conditions,provision for separate public points for the poor and increase of supply hours.
Besides, measures should also be taken to educate the community to make them aware that water from open dug wells without parapets and by individual collections from ponds, tanks, lakes, etc., is basically unsafe.
Answer the following questions on the basis of the above passage : 10 marks each
- Why is safe water important for people?
- Why do people drink unsafe water?
- Enumerate the problems faced by people in procuring water to sustain themselves.
- What are the hazards of drinking unsafe water?
- What are the remedies to counter the problem of unsafe water?
Grammar 50 marks
Sentence correction 10m
Rewrite the following sentences after correcting the grammatical errors in each:
- The apples are grown in many countries.
- The chief, with all his men, were massacred.
- One of his friend has been injured in an accident.
- The food that I dislike mostly is cabbage.
- I shall not stay long than I can help.
- The Prime Minister lives in 7 Race Course Road.
- I have seen the film last week.
- You have done a mistake.
- We have finished our work, have we ?
- He asked me what I want.
Sentence formation 10m
Make sentences using the following words in such a way that the meaning of each word is clear in the context:
- share, sheer
- raise, rage
- fear, fair
- cattle, kettle
- pair, pare
Idioms 10m
Use the following idiomatic expressions in sentences in order to bring out their meaning :
- To run with the hare and hunt with the hound
- Between the devil and the deep sea
- A wild goose chase
- Make hay while the sun shines
- To be on tenterhooks
Nouns and Adjectives 10m
Make adjectives from the following words 5 marks
- nation
- caution
- child
- glue
- move
Make nouns from the following words 5 marks
- extract
- sad
- pray
- undertake
- dark
Do as directed 10m
Rewrite the following sentences as directed:
- “Are you coming home with me?” he asked.(Change to indirect speech)
- She is writing a letter. (Change to passive voice)
- So long as the rain (to continue), I stayed at home.(Use the correct tense of the verb)
- He is very clever. He cannot be fooled.(Combine the two sentences using too’)
- He was tired of play. He sat down to rest.(Combine the two sentences into one)
The apples are grown in many countries.
What is wrong with above statement? What would be the correct statement?
Please reply
Amit
I think the correct sentence should be “Apples are grown in many countries”.
i far as i can recall articles should not be used before vowels, so their should not be THE.
apples are grown in many countries.
I think the usage of “THE” is unneccesary……………..
A fruit that is grown in many country is the apple.
Apples are grown in many countries.
it is no wonder ifos has been merged with csp..this is juvenile stuff…no wonder india’s forests are disappearing and we have a third rate forest department….
even the compulsory english language paper of upsc mains is more of a hard rock than this and it’s just qualifying…
Before you say childish things about the level of the paper check the usage of your own words………….A minor who has committed a crime is called juvenile……………So the word you were looking for was ‘minor’ not ‘juvenile’.
The point is that the paper is not so easy for those who take it in the exam hall……….and also there are Hindi medium students who may not feel as comfortable with this ‘juvenile’ stuff as you do.
juvenile is some young and not fully developed person, not the one who commits crime!!!
i agree this paper level is moderate, but not certainly a juvenile stuff!!
Juvenile doesn’t mean -a minor who has committed a crime.
I think what you were looking against juvenile is infantile or babyish. However, i agree with you. English paper shouldn’t be seen as a measure of technical knowledge. Sitting and commenting on how a paper should be easy is the work of immaturity. One forgets that sitting in an examination hall with the clock ticking makes it worse for the candidate.
Nice analysis mrunal bhai..
not to be too technical but a comparison is necessary. since last year about 500 candidates are selected and not many even turn up for the main exam.either they delink it completely as earlier or merge it completely with upsc mains.anyway now that i look at it closely some are pretty nasty.
I wrote the exam and felt it was time taking than cse english because there is subtle difference between two. I used to spend 15-20 min idle in cse english exam but huffed and puffed to finish ifos english because the essay has to be 1000 words, while in cse in 2012 it was 300 words for 100 marks and 600 words in 2013. writing 3 pages on a topic takes 15 min max but 10 pages on same topic takes more than an hour.
very nice….
the paper setter must have been some bahari.. not keen of pronounciation differences b/w “raise” and “rage”….
UPSC spoiling serious ifos aspirants….HV to think ….letz c Mr Deepak Gupta’s view….once again so many people will leave ifos mains…..rest will b technocrats….. Really painic…..
I agree with you Mr . Rahul.. I am one of the worst victims of this new pattern of IFoS..along with CSAT they have to think of dismantling Prelims for IFoS or they should conduct separate prelims. .purely technical background students with little knowledge about wildlife and biology are entering into the service which is not at all a welcome sign..
thnx
vl upsc main vl take place on polling dates of jharkhand?
How can i improve vocabs ..
why upsc is not taking step for a healthy competition for ifos students???
its so sad that after last years low attendance in ifos they carry on with same pattern
“0% Questions from Mrunal.org”- Admire ur honesty. Its a rare attribute and something that makes ur site stand out. Keep up the good work
The apples are grown in several countries