What is The Success Rate of Different Optional Subjects In The UPSC Mains

 The prestigious Civil Services/IAS exam is conducted by the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission). The exam comprises three stages (Prelims, Mains, Interview) and every year lakhs of hopeful IAS aspirants appear for it. Overall, the exam process for every candidate is the same. However, in the IAS mains exam, candidates have to choose an optional subject (2 papers, total 500 marks) and selecting the best optional subject can be the difference between success and failure.

Read on to know which optional subjects have the highest success rate in IAS Exam and whether a candidate should select her/his optional subject based on trends.

Optional Subjects for IAS Exam

There are many factors to consider before selecting the best optional subject for UPSC mains exam such as syllabi, time available for preparation, etc. To begin with, the question in most candidates’ mind would perhaps be “How Many Optional Subjects in IAS Mains”. Refer to the link to find out the number of optional subjects and the syllabus for the same.

Success Rate of Optional Subjects in IAS Mains

UPSC Optional Subjects Success Rate – Latest

The following table is taken from the figures of the 2017 civil services examination:

Optional Subject	No. of Candidates Appeared	No. of Candidates Recommended	Success Rate Percentage
Assamese Lit.	3	0	0
Nepali Lit.	1	0	0
Commerce & Accountancy	224	28	12.5
Bodo Lit.	1	1	100
Punjabi Lit.	39	6	15.4
Agriculture	89	11	12.4
Gujarati Lit.	101	8	7.9
Kannada Lit.	115	4	3.5
Marathi Lit.	17	0	0
Medical Sciences	313	32	10.2
English Lit.	21	2	9.5
Urdu Lit.	26	5	19.2
Tamil Lit.	107	5	4.7
Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Sciences	23	2	8.7
Economics	233	16	6.9
Psychology	193	21	10.9
Anthropology	880	85	9.7
Public Administration	1165	119	10.2
Sanskrit Lit.	70	5	7.1
Management	86	7	8.1
Malayalam Lit.	111	8	7.2
Physics	140	14	10
Political Science & International Relations	1246	117	9.4
Telugu Lit.	72	1	1.4
Geography	2669	147	5.5
Hindi Lit.	267	19	7.1
Sociology	1421	137	9.6
Chemistry	126	11	8.7
Geology	37	2	5.4
History	1074	59	5.5
Electrical Engineering	193	19	9.8
Law	304	43	14.1
Mechanical Engineering	170	19	11.2
Botany	44	5	11.4
Manipuri Lit.	13	1	7.7
Maithili Lit.	78	5	6.4
Philosophy	755	53	7
Zoology	55	1	1.8
Civil Engineering	124	11	8.9
Mathematics	441	26	5.9
Bengali Lit.	3	0	0
Oriya Lit.	5	0	0
Sindhi Lit.	2	1	50
Statistics	3	0	0

 

UPSC 2016 Optional Success Rate
The following table is taken from the figures of the 2016 civil services examination.:

 

Optional Subject	No. of Candidates Appeared	No. of Candidates Recommended	Success Rate Percentage
Assamese Lit.	5	2	40
Punjabi Lit.	19	5	26.3
Agriculture	220	41	18.6
Gujarati Lit.	42	7	16.7
Kannada Lit.	84	14	16.7
Marathi Lit.	42	7	16.7
Medical Sciences	98	16	16.3
English Lit.	40	6	15
Urdu Lit.	29	4	13.8
Tamil Lit.	225	29	12.9
Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Sciences	65	8	12.3
Economics	326	37	11.3
Psychology	1061	116	10.9
Anthropology	345	37	10.7
Public Administration	3301	337	10.5
Sanskrit Lit.	122	10	8.2
Management	13	1	7.7
Malayalam Lit.	67	5	7.3
Pali Lit.	255	18	7.1
Physics	239	16	6.7
Political Science & International Relations	1320	85	6.4
Telugu Lit.	147	9	6.1
Geography	4049	236	5.8
Hindi Lit.	974	56	5.7
Sociology	1555	89	5.7
Chemistry	124	7	5.6
Geology	36	2	5.6
History	3870	212	5.5
Electrical Engineering	74	4	5.4
Law	365	19	5.2
Mechanical Engineering	96	5	5.2
Botany	312	14	4.5
Manipuri Lit.	22	1	4.5
Maithili Lit.	25	1	4
Philosophy	2092	84	4
Zoology	484	18	3.7
Civil Engineering	35	1	3.9
Mathematics	277	8	2.9
Arabic Lit.	1	0	0
Bengali Lit.	5	0	0
Dogri LIt.	1	0	0
Konkani Lit.	1	0	0
Oria Lit.	4	0	0
Persian Lit.	10	0	0
Sindhi Lit.	1	0	0
Statistics	14	0	0

 

From the data given above, the success rate for few Literature papers appears to be the highest. However, considering the low number of total candidates who opted for those optionals in IAS mains, these success rates should be taken with a pinch of salt.

The following table is taken from the figures of the 2015 civil services examination.
UPSC 2015 Optional Success Rate (This list does not include Literature optionals)

 

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

Here we give you UPSC 2014 Optional success rate as given by the commission-

Optional Subject	Number of Candidates  Appeared Recommended	Number of Candidates Recommended	Success Rate Percentage
Literature of Santhali Language	1	1	100
Law	144	35	24.3
Economics	188	38	20.2
Literature of Urdu Language	28	5	17.9
Literature of Bengali Language	6	1	16.7
Statistics	6	1	16.7
Literature of English Language	30	5	16.7
Medical Science	293	48	16.4
Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science	32	5	15.6
Botany	50	7	14.0
Management	16723		13.8
Civil Engineering	54	7	13.0
Literature of Gujarati Language	64	8	12.5
Literature of Kannada Language	75 9		12.0
Anthropology	449	53	11.8
Electrical Engineering	11313		11.5
Literature of Punjabi Language	54 6		11.1
Literature of Maithili Language	84 9		10.7
Literature of Tamil Language	758		10.7
Literature of Oriya Language	10 1		10.0
Zoology	92 9		9.8
Psychology	34834		9.8
Sociology	1647	150	9.1
Agriculture	77	7	9.1
Physics	147	13	8.8
Literature of Malayalam Language	69	6	8.7
Philosophy	73658		7.9
History	1303	100	7.7
Commerce & Accountancy	20015		7.5
Chemistry	85  6		7.1
Geology	151		6.7
Mechanical Engineering	60   4		6.7
Public Administration	2840	176	6.2
Political Science & International Relations	65140		6.1
Mathematics	32920		6.1
Geography	3158	178	5.6
Literature of Sanskrit Language	71	4	5.6
Literature of Manipuri Language	20	1	5.0
Literature of Telugu Language	93	4	4.3
Literature of Hindi Language	284	12	4.2
Literature of Marathi Language	26	1	3.8
Literature of Dogri Language	1	0	0.0
Literature of Sindhi (Devanagari) Language	1	0	0.0
Literature of Assamese Language	2	0	0.0

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