Delhi Forest Guard Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Forest Guard sits an online objective multiple choice paper of 200 questions and 200 marks in two hours, in five equal sections.

Five sections, same weight each, and no sectional cut-off for this post. The Hindi section is the one that surprises people: Hindi is listed as desirable rather than essential in the qualification, so a candidate working from general SSC material turns up having prepared 160 of the 200 marks.

Marking and pace

Four alternatives per question, one mark each, and 0.25 deducted for a wrong answer or for multiple answers marked. The notice says the penalty is there to discourage guess work. Four wrong answers cancel one right one, which makes a blind guess a losing bet and a guess between two surviving options worth taking.

200 questions in 120 minutes is 36 seconds a question. That is quick for a government paper at this level, and it rewards recognising an answer over working one out.

Stage II: the physical test

Height drops to 152 cm for men and 140 cm for women for Scheduled Tribes and for races such as Assamese, Bhutanese, Garhwali, Gorkha, Kumaoni, Ladakhi, Mizo, Naga, Nepalese and Sikkimese, and candidates from Arunachal Pradesh, Lahaul and Spiti and Meghalaya.

Then the endurance test: 25 kilometres for men and 16 kilometres for women, within four hours, on foot. For men that is 6.25 kilometres an hour held for four hours, a brisk walk with no break in it. For women it is 4 kilometres an hour.

The other two posts

Wildlife Guard sits the same paper in the same five sections and stops there. The notice prescribes no physical test for that post. Forest Ranger sits a different paper, 200 questions in three hours:

A Ranger candidate has to clear both halves separately at the minimum for their category, with merit on the aggregate. Forest Guard has no such sectional requirement.

The Department publishes section names and question counts. It publishes no topic list. For Forest Guard the whole official syllabus is five lines: General Intelligence and Reasoning 40, General Awareness 40, Quantitative Aptitude 40, English Language and Comprehension 40, and Hindi Language and Comprehension 40.

At a 12th pass entry standard, in a four-option government paper, those five headings conventionally cover:

That table is an informed reading of five section names, not a quotation from the Department. The notice gives the counts and stops there, and an invented topic list under the heading of a syllabus that does not exist would be worse than none.

Hindi carries a fifth of the paper

40 marks out of 200, equal to quantitative aptitude. The qualification describes knowledge of Hindi as desirable, which is why candidates treat the section as optional, and it is not. Expect unseen passages, grammar, vocabulary and idiom, pitched at a Senior Secondary standard.

What is not in the paper

No forestry, no wildlife, no environment. The Forest Guard written exam is a general aptitude paper from end to end. The forest-specific part of this selection is the physical test, and that is a matter of training rather than syllabus.

Qualification, age and experience are all judged as on the closing date for the online application, which is the ordinary closing date for candidates in India, not the extended one for the North East, Ladakh and the island territories. Miss the 12th pass by that date and you are rejected even after qualifying the written exam.

Age relaxation

All of it regulated by DoPT guidelines.

Date of birth

Only the Matriculation or Secondary School Leaving Certificate date counts, or a recognised equivalent, a certified extract from a Register of Matriculates, or a Higher Secondary certificate. No horoscope, affidavit, municipal extract or service record, and no later change.

The Delhi OBC rule

Only OBC (Delhi) candidates get OBC reservation and age relaxation. An OBC (Outside) candidate is treated as Unreserved. Two certificates qualify: one from the Revenue Department of GNCT of Delhi, issued on the strength of an older one given to a family member there; or one from an authority outside Delhi, for a community Delhi notifies as OBC, itself issued on the basis of a Delhi certificate given to a family member resident in Delhi before 8 September 1993. The non-creamy-layer certificate is needed too, and there is no fee exemption.

Certificates and category, fixed at the closing date

Any certificate backing a reserved claim or an age relaxation must be issued on or before the closing date of the advertisement, or the claim lapses and you are considered against UR. The category is chosen when you apply and cannot be changed afterwards.

An SC, ST or OBC candidate who makes the general merit list on the same standard as everyone else counts against an unreserved point. Use any relaxed standard, in age, experience, qualification or chances, and you count against a reserved vacancy instead.

The written exam is what produces marks. The physical test is pass or fail: the height and chest standards, then the walk of 25 kilometres for men or 16 for women inside four hours. Nothing in the physical test adds to a score.

How merit is prepared

• A separate merit list for each post, drawn on the marks secured in the online exam.
• Forest Ranger candidates alone must clear Section A and Section B separately at the minimum for their category, with merit on the aggregate.
• The Department reserves the right to prescribe a minimum cut-off mark for any post, according to the availability of candidates.

Ties

1. The elder candidate is placed higher.
2. If that does not settle it, the candidate whose first name comes earlier in alphabetical order in English, spelt as it appears on the secondary school certificate.

Document verification

Held before any offer or appointment letter is issued, on a date intimated separately. Bring the originals and one self-attested photocopy of each of:

1. The system-generated printout of your application, with the scanned photograph and signature.
2. Proof of the fee receipt.
3. The Secondary School certificate or marksheet showing your date of birth.
4. All educational and professional certificates, with marksheets for every year or semester.
5. The SC, ST or OBC certificate, where claimed.
6. A No Objection Certificate from your employer at the time of joining, if you already work for a government department, PSU or autonomous body.
7. The Aadhaar card, or the registration slip if it has not been issued.
8. Photo identity: voter ID, passport or driving licence.

Miss it and you are out. A candidate who does not appear with the original documents is not eligible for appointment, and no second opportunity is given for verification of documents or identity in any case.

One power the Department keeps over the whole advertisement: the number of vacancies may increase, decrease or even reduce to zero, depending on requirement and availability.

Forest Guard is paid in Pay Band-1, ₹5,200 to ₹20,200, with a grade pay of ₹2,000, as the vacancy notice states it. That grade pay corresponds to Level-3 in the Seventh Pay Commission matrix.

On top of basic pay come Dearness Allowance at the rate in force, House Rent Allowance at the Delhi rate and Transport Allowance. Off it come the pension contribution and the health scheme subscription.

All three are Group C, Non-Gazetted, Non-Ministerial posts in the Department of Forests and Wildlife, Government of NCT of Delhi.

Read the pay against the job. A post that makes you walk 25 kilometres in four hours to get in is a field post, worked on foot across the Ridge and Delhi's forest areas, not a desk grade at the same level.

Online only, through the Department of Forests and Wildlife website. An application sent by any other route is summarily rejected.

• Upload a recent scanned photograph under 100 KB and a signature under 50 KB.
• You must already hold the 12th pass on or before the last date of submission.
• The application link is deactivated at the closing time. There is no grace period.

Fee

Paid online only, with bank charges on the candidate. Applying for more than one post means a separate fee for each.

Applying for more than one post

Allowed, with conditions. Apply separately for each, pay separately for each, and if two test dates or times clash, choose one: the Department will not entertain a request to change a test date or time later. Weigh it before paying twice. A 12th pass candidate is eligible for Forest Guard and Wildlife Guard but not Forest Ranger, and the two guard papers are identical in structure.

Before you submit

Fix your category on the form, because it cannot be changed later, and check that every supporting certificate was issued on or before the closing date.

Helpdesk

The Department runs a facilitation counter for questions about an application or a candidature. Email DOFWhelpdesk@gmail.com, or call the toll free number printed on the instruction sheet, between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

The Department of Forests and Wildlife, Government of NCT of Delhi runs this recruitment itself, from the Office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, A-Block, 2nd Floor, Vikas Bhawan, I.P. Estate, New Delhi 110002. The 2019 notice went out over the signature of the Deputy Conservator of Forests (Headquarters), applications were taken on the Department's own website, and its file number records EdCIL (India) Limited as the examination agency.

What the Department has advertised since

Every notice since 2019 has been a deputation or a contract post. The 2019 advertisement is the last open direct recruitment for Forest Guard.

Not a DSSSB exam

Plenty of Government of NCT of Delhi posts are filled by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board through combined examinations. Forest Guard is not among the posts in DSSSB's current advertisements. Watch the Department's own Recruitment page instead.

Both the online exam and the physical test are held at centres in Delhi and the NCR only. There is no option to sit elsewhere, so a candidate from outside the region is looking at two separate trips, the second of them ending in a 25 kilometre walk.

What you may not carry in

Mobile phone, microphone or any accessory to one, Bluetooth devices, calculator, log tables, pager, digital diary, digital watch, books or notes, metallic wear, bangles, belts and bracelets. Being found with any of them can get your candidature cancelled summarily.

There is also no safe-keeping facility outside the hall, and the Department takes no responsibility for anything lost. Leave it at home rather than at the gate.

Wildlife Guard sits the same two hour paper. Forest Ranger sits a three hour one of the same length.

There is no live notification. These are the dates of the last cycle, which is what the next one will be modelled on.

As at 11 September 2026 the Department's Recruitment page carries no fresh Forest Guard advertisement, and nothing by direct recruitment since that one.

The dates that matter once a notice is out

• Qualification, age and experience are all judged as on the closing date for the online application.
• Any certificate supporting a reserved claim or an age relaxation must be issued on or before the closing date of the advertisement.
• The application link is deactivated at the closing time.
• Admit cards go up three weeks before the exam starts.

Only online applications are accepted, and anything sent another way is summarily rejected. A notice without an online application link is not the notice you are waiting for.

The admit card is issued three weeks before the exam starts and downloaded from the Department of Forests and Wildlife website. None are sent by post.

Holding one proves nothing about your eligibility. Admission to every stage is provisional, the notice says plainly that the mere issue of an admit card does not mean a candidature has been finally cleared, and the Department checks eligibility against original documents only after a candidate has qualified. If a condition turns out not to be met, before or after either stage, the candidature is cancelled, and a false claim invites whatever further action the Department thinks fit.

Keep two things from the application stage for later: the system-generated printout of your application, carrying the scanned photograph and signature, and proof of the fee receipt. Both are asked for at document verification.

Results appear on the Department of Forests and Wildlife website, under Recruitment, alongside the admit card and the advertisements. There is no separate results page and no scorecard portal.

A result here has four steps behind it: marks out of 200 from the online exam after the 0.25 penalty, a merit list drawn separately for each post, the physical test, and then verification of documents and identity before any appointment letter.

The Department publishes no answer key, no objection window and no re-evaluation route. It also keeps the right to cancel a candidature at any stage where an eligibility condition is not met, and the right to see the vacancies increase, decrease or reduce to zero.

No cut-off has been published for Forest Guard. The notice reserves the Department's right to set a minimum qualifying mark after the exam, by the availability of candidates. A result and any cut-off would go up on the Recruitment page.

Start with the walk

Men cover 25 kilometres and women 16, inside four hours, on foot. That is 6.25 kilometres an hour for men and 4 for women, held for four straight hours. You build it in stages over months, on real roads, with a watch. It is the one part of this selection that no amount of last-minute revision touches.

Before any of that, measure yourself against the fixed standards: height 163 cm for men and 150 cm for women, dropping to 152 and 140 cm for Scheduled Tribes and the listed races, and chest 84 cm for men and 79 for women with 5 cm expansion. If you are short of the height bar and not in a relaxed category, no preparation changes the result. Find out now, not after the written paper.

Then the 40 marks nobody prepares

Hindi. Candidates skip it because the qualification calls it desirable, and it carries the same weight as quantitative aptitude. Prepare it and you are competing for 200 marks against people competing for 160.

Practise against the clock, not the book

36 seconds a question, every question, for two hours. Sit full-length mocks at that pace from the start rather than working through topics untimed and hoping speed arrives later. Score the whole paper together, since there is no sectional cut-off here, but track the five sections separately so you can see which one is costing you.

On the marking: 0.25 off for a wrong answer or for marking two. Leave a question you have no handle on. Take the guess once you have knocked out two options.

Get the form right

Pick your category carefully, because it is fixed once you submit, and make sure every certificate is dated on or before the closing date. If you take an age relaxation you come off the general list. OBC candidates from outside Delhi are treated as Unreserved whatever their home-state certificate says.

Two things for the day

Carry nothing on the prohibited list, since there is nowhere to leave it at the centre. And keep the application printout and the fee receipt somewhere safe, because document verification wants both and gives nobody a second appointment.

No sample papers are available for this exam as of now. The Department has held it once and released no paper, key or mock. The paper's shape is in the 2019 vacancy notice, and any new notice will appear on the Recruitment page.

Office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Department of Forests and Wildlife, A-Block, 2nd Floor, Vikas Bhawan, I.P. Estate, New Delhi 110002, telephone 011-23370679.

Is there a live Delhi Forest Guard notification?

No. The post was last advertised on 27 December 2019, with applications open from 14 January to 13 February 2020. Every notice the Department has issued since is for a deputation or a contract post.

Who conducts it?

The Department of Forests and Wildlife, Government of NCT of Delhi, directly. Not DSSSB.

How many posts were advertised?

211 Forest Guard, within a total of 226 across the three posts. The Forest Guard split was UR 88, SC 30, ST 15, OBC 57 and EWS 21.

What qualification and age?

A 12th or Senior Secondary pass, no experience, and 18 to 27 years as on the closing date. Hindi is desirable, not essential.

What is the exam pattern?

200 questions and 200 marks in two hours, online and objective, in five equal sections of 40: reasoning, general awareness, quantitative aptitude, English, and Hindi.

Is there really a Hindi section?

Yes, 40 of the 200 marks, the same weight as quantitative aptitude.

Is there negative marking?

Yes, 0.25 for a wrong answer or for marking more than one.

What is the physical test?

Height 163 cm for men and 150 cm for women, chest 84 and 79 cm with 5 cm expansion, and a walk of 25 kilometres for men or 16 for women within four hours. The height standards drop to 152 and 140 cm for Scheduled Tribes and for the races named in the notice, among them Garhwali, Gorkha, Kumaoni, Ladakhi, Mizo, Naga and Sikkimese.

Does Wildlife Guard have a physical test?

No. That post is the written paper alone, the same 200-question paper, on a 10th pass, at Level-1.

What is the fee?

₹100, online. All women and all SC and ST candidates are exempt. OBC candidates are not.

I am OBC but not from Delhi. Do I get reservation?

No. Only OBC (Delhi) candidates get OBC reservation and age relaxation. OBC (Outside) candidates apply as Unreserved.

Can I change my category after applying?

No, at no later stage. Certificates also have to be dated on or before the closing date, or the claim lapses and you are considered against UR.

Can I apply for more than one post?

Yes, with a separate application and a separate fee for each. If two test dates clash you pick one, and the Department will not move either.

Where is it held?

Delhi and the NCR only, both the written exam and the physical test.

When does the admit card come out?

Three weeks before the exam, downloaded from the Department's website. Nothing arrives by post.

Is there a published cut-off?

No. The Department reserves the right to set a minimum qualifying mark after the exam, according to how many candidates turn up.