APPSC Forest Beat Officer Syllabus 2026: Essay, Paper-I and Paper-II from Notification 18/2026

This is the syllabus printed in the annexure to APPSC's brief Notification No. 18/2026 (15 September 2026) for Forest Beat Officer. Topic lists are condensed from the official text and keep its headings. For marks, timings and the walking test, see the exam pattern.

Syllabus at a glance

Paper	Content	Marks	Standard
Qualifying Test	Essay on Forests and Environment, in English, Telugu or Urdu	50 (qualifying)	Descriptive
Paper-I	General Studies and Mental Ability: 8 heads	100	Intermediate-level general knowledge
Paper-II	General Science (9 units, 50 marks) and General Mathematics (6 units, 50 marks)	100	SSC

Qualifying Test: essay

One question, 45 minutes, 50 marks. The theme is Forests and Environment. The syllabus gives no sub-list, so prepare broad themes: forest conservation and the people who depend on forests, wildlife and human-animal conflict, climate change, water and soil conservation, pollution, and Andhra Pradesh's own forests and coast. These themes are our suggestion, not APPSC's list.

A structure that works in 45 minutes (our advice): five minutes to plan, an introduction that defines the issue, three or four body paragraphs (causes, effects, what India and AP are doing, what more can be done), and a short conclusion. Use one or two concrete facts per paragraph from your Paper-I environment and disaster-management reading. Write in the language you are most fluent in; the choice of English, Telugu or Urdu does not change the marks available.

Paper-I: General Studies and Mental Ability (100 marks)

1. General Science: contemporary developments in science and technology and their implications, including everyday observation and experience, at the level expected of someone who has passed Intermediate without specialising in science.
2. Current events of national importance and of the State of Andhra Pradesh.
3. History of India: broad social, economic, cultural and political understanding, with a focus on AP and the Indian National Movement.
4. Geography of India, with a focus on Andhra Pradesh.
5. Indian Polity and Economy: the political system, rural development, planning and economic reforms.
6. Mental Ability: reasoning and inferences.
7. Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection.
8. Disaster Management: concepts and the vulnerability profile of India and AP; causes and effects of earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis, floods and drought; man-made disasters, with prevention and mitigation strategies.

The brief does not split Paper-I marks by head.

Paper-II: General Science (50 marks)

1. Sources of energy. Renewable: solar (cooker, water heater, cell), wind, hydro and tidal, geothermal, biogas, hydrogen and alcohol. Non-renewable: coal, petroleum and natural gas, combustion and fuel efficiency, nuclear fission and fusion, chain reaction and reactor safety.
2. Living world. Modes of nutrition, photosynthesis, nutrition in Amoeba and grasshopper, the human digestive system, aerobic and anaerobic respiration, respiration through skin, gills, trachea and lungs, the human respiratory system.
3. Transportation and excretion. Transport in plants and animals; blood, clotting, blood groups, heart and vessels, the lymphatic system; excretion and osmoregulation; the nervous system, hormones and reflex action.
4. Reproduction, growth, heredity and evolution. Asexual methods (fission, budding, vegetative propagation, grafting, layering), sexual reproduction, pollination and fertilisation, human reproduction; heredity, chromosomes, DNA, genes, sex determination, elementary evolution.
5. Natural resources. Metals: ores, metallurgy, extraction and refining of iron and aluminium, activity series, corrosion, alloys. Non-metals: hydrogen, ammonia, sulphur, sulphur dioxide and sulphuric acid.
6. Carbon compounds. Oxygen-containing functional groups, alcohols, formaldehyde, acetone and acetic acid, common polymers, soaps and detergents.
7. Environment and environmental problems. Land, water, air and noise pollution, waste, biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials, ecosystems and ecological balance; rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, forest and land conservation, greenhouse effect, global warming, ozone depletion and acid rain.
8. Ethnobotany. Morphology and use-based classification of medicinal plants, and the botanical names and medicinal uses of a listed set of seasonal plants (for example Ashwagandha, Ginger, Turmeric, Tulsi, Isabgol, Giloy) and perennial plants (for example Harad, Aonla, Neem, Arjuna, Sandal, Karanj, Peepal). Learn the full list from the notification.
9. The universe and space. The solar system, planets, asteroids, comets and meteors; the Earth's origin and structure; stars, constellations, galaxies and theories of the universe; a brief history of space exploration and the uses of artificial satellites in communication, weather forecasting and remote sensing.

Paper-II: General Mathematics (50 marks)

1. Arithmetic. Number system, rational and real numbers, square roots and decimals; time and distance, time and work, percentages, simple and compound interest, profit and loss, ratio and proportion, variation; divisibility tests, primes, HCF and LCM, Euclid's algorithm, logarithms.
2. Algebra. Factors, remainder theorem, polynomials, quadratic equations and their roots, simultaneous linear equations and inequations (analytical and graphical), word problems, sets and laws of indices.
3. Trigonometry. Sine, cosine and tangent for 0° to 90° and standard angles, simple identities, heights and distances.
4. Geometry. Lines and angles, parallel lines, triangles, congruence and similarity, medians and altitudes, quadrilaterals, circles with tangents, loci.
5. Mensuration. Areas of plane figures and composite figures; surface area and volume of cuboids, cones, cylinders and spheres.
6. Statistics. Tabulation, frequency polygons, histograms, bar and pie charts, measures of central tendency.

Ethnobotany: a memory aid with Telugu names

Some of the plants on the notification's list, with the Telugu names most AP candidates know. Botanical names are from the notification's list; the Telugu names are ours. Learn the full list (24 seasonal and 24 perennial, 48 plants) from the notification itself.

Name in the notification	Telugu name	Botanical name	Type
Ashwagandha	అశ్వగంధ	Withania somnifera	seasonal
Turmeric	పసుపు	Curcuma longa	seasonal
Ginger	అల్లం	Zingiber officinale	seasonal
Garlic	వెల్లుల్లి	Allium sativum	seasonal
Tulsi	తులసి	Ocimum sanctum	seasonal
Fenugreek	మెంతులు	Trigonella foenum-graecum	seasonal
Touch-me-not	అత్తిపత్తి	Mimosa pudica	seasonal
Giloy	తిప్పతీగ	Tinospora cordifolia	seasonal
Castor	ఆముదం	Ricinus communis	seasonal
Neem	వేప	Azadirachta indica	perennial
Aonla	ఉసిరి	Phyllanthus emblica	perennial
Harad	కరక్కాయ	Terminalia chebula	perennial
Arjuna	తెల్లమద్ది	Terminalia arjuna	perennial
Sandal	శ్రీగంధం	Santalum album	perennial
Karanj	కానుగ	Pongamia pinnata	perennial
Peepal	రావి	Ficus religiosa	perennial
Bel	మారేడు	Aegle marmelos	perennial
Sweet neem (curry leaf)	కరివేపాకు	Murraya koenigii	perennial

A memory tip (ours): learn plants of the same genus together. The Terminalia genus alone gives three on the list: Harad (chebula), Baheda (bellirica) and Arjuna (arjuna). Start with kitchen plants (turmeric, ginger, garlic, fenugreek, curry leaf); they stick fastest.

The Andhra Pradesh layer

Four of the eight Paper-I heads name Andhra Pradesh, so state-specific reading is not optional:

• Current events: national, and of the State of Andhra Pradesh. Follow state schemes, forest and wildlife news, and cyclone and flood events.
• History: India with an AP focus and the Indian National Movement. Cover Andhra's role in the freedom movement alongside the national story.
• Geography: India with an AP focus. Rivers, coast, forest types, soils, minerals, and protected areas of the state.
• Disaster management: the vulnerability profile of India and AP. The state's long coastline makes cyclones and storm surges an obvious area.

A sensible study order

Our suggestion for most candidates:

1. General Mathematics first, because it is the slowest to build and pays 50 marks by itself. Arithmetic and mensuration before algebra and trigonometry.
2. General Science units 2 to 4 (life processes, transport, reproduction), which are the longest and most factual.
3. Environment, ethnobotany and disaster management together, since they feed Paper-I, Paper-II and the essay.
4. History, geography and polity with AP notes.
5. Mental ability as a daily 20-minute habit from day one.

Common mistakes when reading this syllabus

• Reading "SSC standard" as easy. Paper-II science includes metallurgy, the reactions for making sulphuric acid and the principles of a nuclear reactor.
• Skipping ethnobotany. The notification sets it out in detail, plant list included; the list is fixed, so memorising it is reliable marks.
• Folding AP topics into general GS. Four heads name Andhra Pradesh; keep separate notes for them.
• Forgetting the universe and space unit. It sits at the end of the science list, and many candidates never reach it. Satellite uses also help with science-and-technology current events in Paper-I.
• Skipping statistics in maths. Mean, median, mode and chart questions are quick to solve; it is a high-return unit for little time.

A note on the Computer Proficiency Test

The annexure to the brief notification also prints the scheme and syllabus of APPSC's Computer Proficiency Test (CPT). The brief's text does not say whether FBO candidates must take it. Check the detailed notification before you spend time on it.

Where the papers overlap

Our reading: Paper-I head 1 (general science) and head 7 (sustainable development) overlap heavily with Paper-II science units 1, 7 and 9. Paper-I head 8 (disaster management) and the essay share the forests-and-environment ground. Study environment once, deeply, and it pays in three places. Similarly, Paper-I polity and economy (rural development, planning, reforms) and Paper-II statistics both lean on reading data, so practise tables and charts in both. The preparation strategy turns this into a 45-day plan.

How to use this syllabus

1. Download the brief notification and tick units as you finish them.
2. Do a topic test after each unit. Topic-wise practice on Pareeksha is Pro; the 10-question mini-mock and Daily Dangal are free.
3. Re-check after the detailed notification (due on or before 16-10-2026) in case APPSC revises anything.

Related: Exam pattern · Cut-off · Preparation strategy