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UPSC Optional Subject List: Best Optional Subjects for UPSC IAS 2025
IMPORTANT LINKS
The UPSC Optional Subject List is a critical aspect of the Civil Services Examination and choosing the Best Optional Subject for UPSC will help the aspirants to score well in the exam. UPSC allows candidates to choose one optional subject from a diverse range of options, enabling them to specialize in an area of their interest or expertise. Selecting the right optional subject for UPSC plays a significant role in shaping an aspirant's strategy and performance in the examination.
Here, we provide the complete list of 48 UPSC optional subjects to help candidates make informed decisions regarding their UPSC preparation. Additionally, we'll explore how to determine the best optional subject for the UPSC CSE exam by looking at the previous year trends. So, let's begin!
List of Optional Subjects for UPSC
Below is the list of 48 UPSC Optional Subjects that you can choose from.
- 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
- Assamese
- Bengali
- Bodo
- Dogri
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Kannada
- Kashmiri
- Konkani
- Maithili
- Malayalam
- Manipuri
- Marathi
- Nepali
- Odia
- Punjabi
- Sanskrit
- Santhali
- Sindhi
- Tamil
- Telugu
- Urdu
- English
Choosing the best optional subject for the UPSC CSE exam can greatly impact your performance. We'll now delve into strategies and considerations to help you make this crucial decision.
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Best Optional Subjects For UPSC and Their Success Rates
Based on the analysis carried out on the optional subjects having high success rates in UPSC Mains 2019, it is clear that Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science a list of the Best Optional Subject for the UPSC IAS Mains Exam has been given below.
|
Success Rate of Optional Subjects in UPSC 2019 |
|||
|
Optional Subjects |
No. of Candidates |
Success Rate in Percentage |
|
|
Appeared |
Recommended |
||
|
Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science |
16 |
3 |
18.80% |
|
Management |
54 |
6 |
11.10% |
|
Commerce & Accountancy |
183 |
20 |
10.90% |
|
Economics |
243 |
26 |
10.70% |
|
Agriculture |
124 |
13 |
10.50% |
|
Medical Science |
247 |
26 |
10.50% |
|
Civil Engineering |
146 |
15 |
10.30% |
|
Law |
186 |
19 |
10.20% |
|
Sociology |
1263 |
126 |
10.00% |
|
Anthropology |
1189 |
108 |
9.10% |
|
Zoology |
44 |
4 |
9.10% |
|
Psychology |
164 |
15 |
9.10% |
|
Chemistry |
156 |
13 |
8.30% |
|
Mathematics |
539 |
45 |
8.30% |
|
Public Administration |
705 |
58 |
8.20% |
|
Political Science & International Relations |
1662 |
137 |
8.20% |
|
Electrical Engineering |
200 |
16 |
8.00% |
|
Physics |
165 |
12 |
7.30% |
|
Botany |
28 |
2 |
7.10% |
|
History |
751 |
51 |
6.80% |
|
Philosophy |
439 |
27 |
6.20% |
|
Mechanical Engineering |
213 |
12 |
5.60% |
|
Geography |
1916 |
105 |
5.50% |
|
Geology |
30 |
0 |
0.00% |
|
Statistics |
2 |
0 |
0.00% |
How To Choose the Best UPSC Optional Subject For UPSC?
Choosing the best optional subject for UPSC Civil Services proves to be important. The optional subject helps increase the candidate’s confidence in scoring high marks on the exam. There are certain factors that help decide the best optional subject for the UPSC Mains exam. Before choosing a subject, try to answer the following questions.
- How extensive is the syllabus of the optional subject that you wish to choose?
- How much time do you have in hand for the preparation?
- How much knowledge of the subject do you have prior, at the graduate level?
- What portion of the syllabus overlaps with the General Studies part?
- Are the essential learning resources easily accessible?
- Have you gone through the trends of marks, the difficulty level and the previous year papers of the subject?
- Are you really interested and willing to learn the subject?
Once you arrive at the answers to these questions, you can make an individual choice for choosing your preferred optional subject for the UPSC exam.
Points To Remember While Choosing the UPSC Optional Subject
- Draw up a list of 4-5 subjects that you feel you have an interest in.
- Go through the UPSC syllabus for each of the subjects and highlight the topics you think you know something about.
- Have a look at the previous year papers of the subjects in your list. Highlight the questions you are familiar with and measure the knowledge you have to answer them. This shows your compatibility with a particular subject.
- Carry out research on the availability of training material for a particular subject.
- If you are an engineering student and are good at your engineering subjects, choosing that as an optional subject will reduce the burden of preparing a new subject from scratch.
- Literature subjects have performed well in UPSC all these years. So, if you are a person having good command over your native language, it would be wiser to choose that as your optional subject.
Optional Subjects of UPSC Toppers
The table below provides the list of Optional Subject Selected by UPSC Toppers over the last 21 years.
|
Year |
UPSC Topper Name (Rank 1) |
Optional Subject Chosen |
Home State Cadre |
Service Opted |
|
2021 |
Shruti Sharma |
History |
Uttar Pradesh |
IAS |
|
2020 |
Subham Kumar |
Anthropology |
Bihar |
IAS |
|
2019 |
Pradeep Singh |
Public Administration |
Haryana |
IAS |
|
2018 |
Kanishak Kataria |
Mathematics |
Rajasthan |
IAS |
|
2017 |
Anudeep Durishetty |
Anthropology |
Telangana |
IAS |
|
2016 |
Nandini K. R. |
Kannada Literature |
Karnataka |
IAS |
|
2015 |
Tina Dabi |
Political Science |
Delhi |
IAS |
|
2014 |
Ira Singhal |
Geography |
Delhi |
IAS |
|
2013 |
Gaurav Aggarwal |
Economics |
Rajasthan |
IAS |
|
2012 |
Haritha V. Kumar |
Economics & Malayalam Literature |
Kerala |
IAS |
|
2011 |
Shena Aggarwal |
Medical Science and Psychology |
Haryana |
IAS |
|
2010 |
S Divyadharshini |
Public Administration & Law |
Tamil Nadu |
IAS |
|
2009 |
Shah Faesal |
Public Administration & Urdu Literature |
Jammu & Kashmir |
IAS |
|
2008 |
Shubhra Saxena |
Psychology & Public Administration |
Uttar Pradesh |
IAS |
|
2007 |
Adapa Karthik |
Zoology & Psychology |
Telangana |
IAS |
|
2006 |
Mutyalaraju Revu |
Electrical Engineering & Mathematics |
Andhra Pradesh |
IAS |
|
2005 |
Mona Pruthi |
English Literature & Sociology |
Haryana |
IAS |
|
2004 |
S. Nagarajan |
Geography & Sociology |
Tamil Nadu |
IAS |
|
2003 |
Roopa Mishra |
Psychology & Public Administration |
Odisha |
IAS |
|
2002 |
Ankur Garg |
Physics & Chemistry |
Punjab |
IAS |
|
2001 |
Alok Ranjan Jha |
Geography |
Bihar |
IFS |
|
2000 |
Vijaylakshmi Bidari |
Kannada Literature |
Karnataka |
IAS |
Concluding Remarks
- Based on the data, it is quite evident that there are certain subjects which are chosen by a large number of aspirants consistently over the years.
- The popularity of these subjects is primarily owed to the fact that there is a significant amount of syllabus overlap with the GS subjects. We can tell this conclusively because History, Geography, Political Science, International Relations and Sociology are among the optional subjects opted for the IAS Exam by a large number of candidates consistently.
- However, the success rates of these optional subjects are not consistent enough for drawing any inferences on the feasibility of choosing these as the best optional subjects for UPSC.
We hope that all your doubts regarding the Best Optional Subject for UPSC would have been cleared after going through this article. You can download the Testbook App now to check out various other topics relevant to the UPSC Exams.
Best Optional Subject For UPSC - FAQs
How many optional subjects are there in UPSC CSE?
There are 48 Optional Subjects in UPSC that a candidate can choose from. These 48 UPSC Optional Subjects List includes the technical & literature subjects.
Which optional subject is easy in UPSC?
Geography, Sociology and Public Administration subjects have been easy to score more marks. Many aspirants have scored 400+ marks in these subjects as per the previous result trends of UPSC.
Which optional subject has the highest success rate in UPSC?
As per the recommendations of the candidates, the optional subject Geography has a high success rate followed by History, Public Administration and Sociology subjects.
Which is the smallest optional for UPSC?
Philosophy Optional Subject has the smallest syllabus. Candiates interested in Philosophy can choose it as their Optional Subject for UPSC mains exam.
Should I choose the most opted optional subject in UPSC?
No, Do not choose an optional subject just because many of the candidates are opting for it. Picking up a subject depending solely on the talks of the toppers may land you in trouble. Choose an optional subject based on your area of interest, understanding and knowledge.
Should I choose an optional subject overlaps with the GS Syllabus?
It is a wise idea to choose an optional for UPSC, which has already been covered in the General Studies paper because it proves to save time. So, while it is smarter to take an overlapping optional subject to save time, it is, even more, smarter to take a subject that you may have already done in your master’s or graduation as you would be aware of the fundamentals of the subject.