Every year thousands of aspirants try their luck with the UPSC civil service examination to become IAS, IPS, and so on. But the success rate is very low owing to its competition, changing syllabus, and vast syllabus. CSE is conducted in three different phases, Preliminary, Mains, and Interview. But one thing is that it confuses each candidate. What? Optional subject. Out of nine papers of mains two are devoted to optional subjects.

The candidates have to choose one among the list of optional subjects provided by the UPSC. But the vast choice confuses them. They often get distorted among which one to choose? Which is the scoring optional subject? And, which optional subject is the best?

Let’s answer each of them and analyze the optional subject list for UPSC.

Optional Subject of UPSC Exam

UPSC CSE is conducted in three phases: Prelims, Mains and Interview. The mains is a written exam. It has around nine papers. And candidates have to clear all of them with minimum qualifying marks.

Among nine different papers, two are devoted to optional subjects. Each paper carries 250 marks and thus combined the optimal subject carries 500 marks out of 1750 marks. The candidates are provided with a long list of optional subjects to choose from and therefore candidates must be cautious to choose the best one for them.

Also Read: UPSC Optional Subject List: UPSC Toppers Recommended Best Optional Subject to Score High

List of UPSC Optional Subjects

The Union public service commission provides a long list of optional subjects for candidates to choose from.

Subject

Agriculture
Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
Anthropology
Botany
Chemistry
Civil Engineering
Commerce and Accountancy
Economics
Electrical Engineering
Geography
Geology
History
Law
Management
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering
Medical Science
Philosophy
Physics
Political Science and International Relations
Psychology
Public Administration
Sociology
Statistics
Zoology

Literature

Assamese
Bengali
Bodo
Dogri
Gujarati
Hindi
Kannada
Kashmiri
Konkani
Maithili
Malayalam
Manipuri
Marathi
Nepali
Odia
Punjabi
Sanskrit
Santhali
Sindhi
Tamil
Telugu
Urdu
English

Also Read: A Detailed Guide to Choose the Best Optional Subject for UPSC Exam: Find out WHich Optional is Best!

How to Choose the Best Optional Subject in UPSC?

Choosing the best optional subject is very important for your UPSC CSE mains. As already mentioned above, it carries 500 marks out of 1750 marks on the written exam. Therefore you have to be extremely careful while choosing the best of all subjects among the list of optional subjects provided by UPSC.

Usually, the choice of optional subject is the first from one candidate to another. Their choice is dependent on their educational background, subject preference, and their calculations. But apart from this, they are often confused to choose the best one. Therefore letters find out the best steps to find a perfect optional subject for you.

Here are three main steps to choose an optional subject:

#1. First, read carefully the list of optional subjects provided by the Union public service commission. There are many of the subjects listed by UPSC but among them, you have to filter some of your favourites.

#2. After choosing your favourite research deeply on each one. You should consider the syllabus, resources, and your knowledge and filter out the three best ones among them.

#3. After picking the best three, choose the best one according to your interest and resource availability.

Factors to Consider While Choosing the Optional Subject

#1. Overlapping Syllabus

Some of the subjects like political science, history, geography, sociology, economics syllabus overlap prelims, and general studies syllabus. This can help you with your time and help you to cover your syllabus fast.

#2. Popular Optional

Often candidates wonder which subject is more scoring. Subjects like history, geography, political science are popular choices and thus candidates are usually inclined to those. Remember popularity is one aspect but what matters the most is your interest.

#3. Resource Availability

Among 47 optional subjects, resource availability is different for each. For some subjects, more resources such as books, coaching institutes, assistance, and materials are available easily. But for some subjects resources are restricted.

#4. Educational Background

It is always smart to choose a subject similar to your graduation or post-graduation. This gives you an upper hand in that you can easily excel in it. Moreover, as you are already familiar with the subject you can easily understand the subject without much effort. Often you can find candidates with engineering background options for similar subjects.

#5. Interest

You should choose the subject that intrigued you most. This can help you to understand the vast syllabus without getting bored. For example, you choose a subject that looks ideal in all terms but does not intrigue you. You will get bored in the middle of your preparation and your scores will be affected.

#6. Current Affairs

Some subjects like political science & international relations, public administration, etc are closely related to current affairs and events. Therefore you should focus on current affairs related to it while preparing. On the other hand, subjects like history, sociology, and philosophy have more static components and do not depend on current affairs.

#7. Success Rate

You can also go through the choice of optional subjects of previous year successful candidates. This can help you to understand what is the success rate of the optional subject.

Which Optional Subject is Beneficial for General Studies?

Subjects that overlap with the general studies syllabus are beneficial for you. Here are the subjects that overlap the GS syllabus.

Subject Paper
History Prelims and Mains General Studies Paper I
Geography Prelims and Mains General Studies Paper I
Political Science Prelims and Mains General Studies Paper-II
Economics Prelims and Mains General Studies Paper III
Mathematics Prelims CSAT
Public Administration Prelims and Mains General Studies Paper-II and IV
Sociology Prelims and Mains General Studies Paper I, II, and Essay
Philosophy Essay and Mains General Studies Paper IV
English Prelims, Mains English Paper, Modern Indian Language and Essay
Hindi Modern Indian Language and Essay

Also Read: 6 Best Optional Subjects in UPSC: Guide to Choose the Most Scoring Non-technical Subjects

Success Rate of Candidates with Different Optional Subject (2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014)

2017

Subject
No.  Optional Subject Candidates Appeared Candidates Recommended Success Rate
1 Agriculture 89 11 12.4
2 Anthropology 880 85 9.7
3 Chemistry 126 11 8.7
4 Accounts 224 28 12.5
5 Electrical Engineering 193 19 9.8
6 Geology 37 2 5.4
7 Law 3041 43 4.1
8 Mathematics 441 26 5.9
9 Medical Science 313 32 10.2
10 Physics 140 14 10
11 Psychology 193 21 10.9
12 Sociology 1421 137 9.6
13 Animal Husbandry 23 2 8.7
14 Botany 44 5 11.4
15 Civil Engineering 124 11 8.9
16 Economics 233 16 6.9
17 Geography 2669 147 5.5
18 History 1074 59 5.5
19 Management 86 7 8.1
20 Mechanical Engineering 170 19 11.2
21 Philosophy 755 53 7
22 Political  Science 1246 117 9.4
23 Public Administration 1165 119 10.2
24 Statistics 3 0 0
25 Zoology 484 18 3.7
Literature
No.  Optional Subject Candidates Appeared Candidates Recommended
1 English Literature 21 2
2 Assamese Literature 3 0
3 Manipuri Literature 13 1
4 Hindi Literature 267 19
5 Maithili Literature 78 5
6 Bodo Literature 1 1
7 Odia Literature 5 0
8 Punjabi Literature 39 6
9 Marathi Literature 17 0
10 Gujarati Literature 101 8
11 Kannada Literature 115 4
12 Bengali Literature 3 0
13 Sindhi Literature 2 1
14 Tamil Literature 107 5
15 Telugu Literature 72 1
16 Urdu Literature 26 5
17 Sanskrit Literature 70 5
18 Nepali Literature 1 0
19 Malayalam Literature 111 8

2016

Subject
No.  Optional Subject Candidates Appeared Candidates Recommended Success Rate
1 Agriculture 220 41 18.6
2 Medical science 98 16 16.3
3 Animal husbandry 65 8 12.3
4 Economics 326 37 11.3
5 Psychology 1061 116 10.9
6 Anthropology 345 37 10.7
7 Public administration 3201 337 10.5
8 Political science 1320 85 6.4
9 Geography 4049 236 5.8
10 Sociology 1555 89 5.7
11 Chemistry 124 7 5.6
12 Accountancy 266 15 5.6
13 History 3870 212 5.5
14 Law 365 19 5.2
15 Philosophy 2092 84 4
16 Zoology 484 18 3.7
17 Mathematics 277 8 2.9
Literature
No.  Optional Subject Candidates Appeared Candidates Recommended Success Rate
1 Assamese 5 2 40
2 Punjabi 19 5 26.3
3 Gujarati 42 7 16.7
4 Kannada 84 14 16.7
5 Marathi 42 7 16.7
6 English 40 6 15
7 Urdu 29 4 13.8
8 Tamil 225 29 12.9
9 Sanskrit 122 10 8.2
10 Malayalam 67 5 7.5
11 Pali 255 18 7.1
12 Telugu 147 9 6.1
13 Hindi 974 56 5.7

2015

No. Optional Subject No. of Candidates Appeared No. of Candidates Recommended Success Rate Percentage
1 Medical Science 235 55 23.4
2 Economics 269 51 19
3 Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science 52 12 23.1
4 Law 246 42 17.1
5 Agriculture 122 20 16.4
6 Commerce & Accountancy 188 28 14.9
7 Management 167 24 14.4
8 Geology 28 4 14.4
9 Botany 104 12 11.5
10 Zoology 228 29 12.7
11 Political Science & International Relations 1107 121 10.9
12 Chemistry 104 11 10.6
13 Civil Engineering 47 5 10.6
14 Sociology 2490 230 9.2
15 Philosophy 1116 99 8.9
16 History 2090 174 8.3
17 Psychology 1163 92 7.9
18 Geography 4351 314 7.2
19 Anthropology 579 38 6.3
20 Mathematics 325 23 7.1
21 Physics 266 17 6.4
22 Electrical Engineering 126 8 6.3
23 Public Administration 7077 359 5.1
24 Mechanical Engineering 64 3 4.7
25 Statistics 16 1 6.3

2014

No. Optional Subject Number of Candidates  Appeared Recommended Number of Candidates Recommended Success Rate Percentage
1 Literature of Santali Language 1 1 100
2 Law 144 35 24.3
3 Economics 188 38 20.2
4 Literature of Urdu Language 28 5 17.9
5 Literature of Bengali Language 6 1 16.7
6 Statistics 6 1 16.7
7 Literature of English Language 30 5 16.7
8 Medical Science 293 48 16.4
9 Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science 32 5 15.6
10 Botany 50 7 14.0
11 Management 16723 13.8
12 Civil Engineering 54 7 13.0
13 Literature of Gujarati Language 64 8 12.5
14 Literature of Kannada Language 75 9 12.0
15 Anthropology 449 53 11.8
16 Electrical Engineering 11313 11.5
17 Literature of Punjabi Language 54 6 11.1
18 Literature of Maithili Language 84 9 10.7
19 Literature of Tamil Language 758 10.7
20 Literature of Oriya Language 10 1 10.0
21 Zoology 92 9 9.8
22 Psychology 34834 9.8
23 Sociology 1647 150 9.1
24 Agriculture 77 7 9.1
25 Physics 147 13 8.8
26 Literature of Malayalam Language 69 6 8.7
27 Philosophy 73658 7.9
28 History 1303 100 7.7
29 Commerce & Accountancy 20015 7.5
30 Chemistry 85  6 7.1
31 Geology 151 6.7
32 Mechanical Engineering 60   4 6.7
33 Public Administration 2840 176 6.2
34 Political Science & International Relations 65140 6.1
35 Mathematics 32920 6.1
36 Geography 3158 178 5.6
37 Literature of Sanskrit Language 71 4 5.6
38 Literature of Manipuri Language 20 1 5.0
39 Literature of Telugu Language 93 4 4.3
40 Literature of Hindi Language 284 12 4.2
41 Literature of Marathi Language 26 1 3.8
42 Literature of Dogri Language 1 0 0.0
43 Literature of Sindhi (Devanagari) Language 1 0 0.0
44 Literature of Assamese Language 2 0 0.0

Also Read: Highest Scoring Optional in UPSC: List of IAS Toppers with Optional Subjects

Toppers and their Optional Subject

Year UPSC Topper Name (Rank 1) Optional Subject Chosen
2020 Subham Kumar Anthropology
2019 Pradeep Singh Public Administration
2018 Kanishka Kataria Mathematics
2017 Anudeep Durishetty Anthropology
2016 Nandini K. R. Kannada Literature
2015 Tina Dabi Political Science
2014 Ira Singhal Geography
2013 Gaurav Aggarwal Economics

Also Read: UPSC Toppers Optional Subjects 2020-21: A Complete List of Most Chosen UPSC Optionals by Toppers

Conclusion

Here was a detailed guide for your optional subject. I hope you are clear with your choice by now. Do let us know about your choice in the comment section below. Also for better UPSC preparation and help visit UPSC Pathshala website now.

Best of Luck!

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Optional Subject List for UPSC: Detailed Guide to Help You Choose the Perfect Optional Subject
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Optional Subject List for UPSC: Detailed Guide to Help You Choose the Perfect Optional Subject
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Candidates are often confused about optional subjects? They are distorted between popularity and their interest. Here is a guide for you to understand and make a good decision.
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