How To Choose The Best UPSC Optional Subjects For UPSC Exam | UPSC Optional Subjects For Civil Services (Main) Examination

The second tier of the IAS exam, the UPSC Mains Exam, includes optional subjects and you have the full freedom to choose your preferred UPSC optional subjects. Wondering which is the best optional subject for UPSC? The Optional Subject plays a great role in being the score-differentiator for UPSC aspirants. In the CSE Main exam, out of the nine papers, two papers, Paper VI and Paper VII are from the optional subject for UPSC. They are optional Subject Paper 1 and Optional Subject Paper 2. Each of them carries 250 marks. So, the UPSC optional subject carries 500/1750 marks in the UPSC Mains Exam. The marks obtained in the UPSC optional subjects are considered for the preparation of final merit. Hence, the choice of an optional subject for UPSC must be made cautiously. Unlike the earlier times, candidates have to now choose just one optional subject, and hence, “how to choose the best optional subject for UPSC” remains the most frequently asked question by UPSC aspirants!

In this article, we have listed the UPSC optional subjects that a candidate can choose. However, it needs to be done with an expert strategy on how to choose the best optional subject for UPSC. You can click on the hyperlinks to check out the syllabus and strategy to prepare the particular subject.

In this article, we have listed the UPSC optional subjects that a candidate can choose. However, it needs to be done with an expert strategy on how to choose the best optional subject for UPSC. You can click on the hyperlinks to check out the syllabus and strategy to prepare the particular subject.

List of UPSC Optional Subjects

The names of UPSC optional subjects for the UPSC CSE(Main) examination are mentioned in the table below. Click on the link of the UPSC optional subject to get detailed information about the syllabus, preparation strategy, and booklist of the optional subject for UPSC:

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 of the following languages are also a part of the UPSC optional subjects for UPSC Mains exam from which you can choose your best suited optional subject for UPSC:

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

Which Is The Best Optional Subject For UPSC

There are some subjects which are more scoring than others. However, if we see the broader picture, IAS toppers have scored 320+ in both technical and non-technical subjects. The reason why some subjects are perceived as low scoring is that candidates are not able to put in the requisite effort or they have selected an optional subject that isn’t right for them.

Technical subjects (such as Mathematics) can fetch you high marks as the answers are absolute. Basically, unlike humanities subjects, the examiner’s biases or preferences have less of a role to play. However, non-technical subjects, especially those which have some overlap with the GS syllabus, give more preparation time and reading material overall, thus increasing the overall Mains score if studied well.

There are many factors to decide which is the best optional subject in UPSC. Before deciding on a subject, a candidate must ask herself/himself the following six questions.

1. How vast is the syllabus of the optional?
2. How much preparation time do you have?
3. Do you have prior knowledge of the subject at the graduate/PG level?
4. How much syllabus overlap is there between your optional choice and GS part in Prelims/Mains?
5. Are the study material and coaching readily available?
6. Do you have the requisite drive/interest to study the subject for the UPSC exam?

Depending on the answers to the above six questions, a candidate should make an ‘individual’ choice as to the best option in UPSC for them.

However, for most aspirants, the top ten UPSC optional subjects include:

1. Sociology
2. Law
3. Psychology
4. Medical Science
5. Agriculture
6. Literature
7. Anthropology
8. Public Administration
9. Geography
10. History

Which UPSC Optional Subjects Has Most Overlap With General Studies Subjects?

The following UPSC Optional subjects are popular among IAS aspirants from both technical and non-technical because of the high overlap with GS or other parts of the UPSC exam:

1. Public Administration – Highly relevant, compact syllabus, paper II (Indian Administration) has a lot of overlap with polity and governance part in GS II.
2. Sociology – the study of society, lots of material which can be used in GS I, Essay, and even in Ethics paper.
3. History – relevant for prelims as well as GS I.
4. Geography -relevant for prelims as well as GS I
5. Political Science – relevant for prelims as well as GS II
6. Law – relevant for prelims as well as GS II

Optional subjects in UPSC like Economics, Philosophy, and Agriculture are also good choices.

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