“Which is the best optional subject in the UPSC exam?” – is a question that haunts many IAS aspirants hoping to join the elite Indian civil services after clearing the civil services exam. Candidates have to choose one optional subject out of the list of more than 40 subjects given by the UPSC. Prior to 2013, candidates had to select two optional subjects. Thankfully, there is only one subject now, but it doesn’t seem to have lessened candidates’ confusion in this regard.
There are many factors to consider before fixing on an optional subject in the UPSC mains like academic background, interest levels, scoring ability, etc. There is no perfect optional subject since the criterion for success depends solely on the individual. However, for the benefit of candidates who are unable to make any headway in this crucial decision-making process, we bring you a comparison of the success rates of the optional subjects from 2010 to 2015.
The information for optional subjects from the year 2016 is not available as the latest UPSC annual report gives the date till 2015 only.
List of optional subjects in UPSC
| Agriculture | Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science | Anthropology | Botany | Chemistry |
| Civil Engineering | Commerce & Accountancy | Economics | Electrical Engineering | Geography |
| Geology | History | Law | Management | Mathematics |
| Mechanical Engineering | Medical Science | Philosophy | Physics | Political Science & International Relations |
| Psychology | Public Administration | Sociology | Statistics | Zoology |
| Literature of Languages | ||||
| Assamese | Bengali | Bodo | Dogri | Gujarati |
| Hindi | Kannada | Kashmiri | Konkani | Maithili |
| Malayalam | Manipuri | Marathi | Nepali | Odia |
| Punjabi | Sanskrit | Santhali | Sindhi | Tamil |
| Telugu | Urdu | English | ||
How to choose an optional subject for UPSC?
- First, go through the syllabus of the optional subjects you are considering.
- Then, analyse your own strengths and weaknesses with respect to academics.
- Consider your academic background.
- Go through the pros and cons of the optional subjects.
- Go through the previous years question papers of the optional subjects in consideration.
- You can analyse the success rates or performances of the optional subjects in the past UPSC exams.
- After weighing all the pros and cons and your own strengths in the subjects, you must come to a decision.
Get more information on how to select the right optional for IAS exam.
Table showing the success rates for the optional subjects (in percentage) from 2010 through 2015:
| Optional subject | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| Medical Science | 18.8 | 23.4 | 23.4 | 16.4 | 19.9 | 20.2 |
| Management | 14.3 | 5.6 | 14.4 | 13.8 | 11.4 | 12.1 |
| Anthropology | 12 | 13.2 | 6.6 | 11.8 | 11 | 14.8 |
| Sociology | 10.5 | 8.2 | 9.2 | 9.1 | 10.6 | 11.7 |
| Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science | 10.1 | 10 | 23.1 | 15.6 | 14.3 | 10.6 |
| Physics | 9.9 | 9.6 | 6.4 | 8.8 | 9.3 | 15.6 |
| Public Administration | 9.2 | 7.9 | 5.1 | 6.2 | 5.3 | 8.4 |
| Geography | 8.6 | 7.6 | 7.2 | 5.6 | 7.3 | 3.4 |
| Geology | 8.3 | 10 | 14.3 | 6.7 | 3.6 | |
| Psychology | 8.2 | 10.5 | 7.9 | 9.8 | 15.8 | 11.8 |
| Law | 8 | 8 | 17.1 | 24.3 | 17 | 16.7 |
| Political Science and IR | 7.6 | 9.7 | 10.9 | 6.1 | 6.3 | 6.9 |
| Commerce and Accountancy | 7.3 | 6.9 | 14.9 | 7.5 | 10.3 | 13.8 |
| Mathematics | 7.2 | 8.3 | 7.1 | 6.1 | 10 | 12 |
| Economics | 6.6 | 5.6 | 19 | 20.2 | 12.1 | 10.3 |
| Chemistry | 6.5 | 8.9 | 10.6 | 7.1 | 7.1 | 12 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 5.8 | 6.8 | 4.7 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 12.2 |
| Zoology | 5.5 | 7.1 | 12.7 | 9.8 | 11.4 | 6.9 |
| Electrical Engineering | 5.3 | 5.3 | 6.3 | 11.5 | 7.8 | 9.1 |
| History | 4.8 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 7.7 | 6.5 | 5.6 |
| Philosophy | 4.3 | 8.2 | 8.9 | 7.9 | 7 | 5.5 |
| Botany | 3.4 | 6.7 | 11.5 | 14 | 0 | 8.9 |
| Civil Engineering | 1.7 | 3.4 | 10.6 | 13 | 7.7 | 5 |
| Agriculture | 1.5 | 12.1 | 16.4 | 9.1 | 10.8 | 12.8 |
| Statistics | 0 | 5.3 | 6.3 | 16.7 | 16.7 | 20 |
| Bodo Literature | 100 | 0 | 0 | NA | NA | NA |
| Dogri Literature | 100 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NA | 0 |
| Sindhi Literature (Devanagari script) | 100 | NA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33.3 |
| Sindhi Literature (Arabic script) | 100 | NA | NA | NA | 66.7 | 50 |
| English Literature | 26.7 | 15.1 | 21.9 | 16.7 | 9.1 | 9.5 |
| Telugu Literature | 24.6 | 8.2 | 11 | 4.3 | 10.7 | 9.1 |
| Manipuri Literature | 18.2 | 22.2 | 0 | 5 | 23.5 | 20 |
| Tamil Literature | 16.3 | 13.4 | 25 | 10.7 | 14.7 | 21.5 |
| Marathi Literature | 15.6 | 15.8 | 15.4 | 3.8 | 12 | 6.7 |
| Malayalam Literature | 14.6 | 27.3 | 15.2 | 8.7 | 10.8 | 7.7 |
| Maithili Literature | 14.6 | 10.1 | 14.7 | 10.7 | 14.7 | 12.3 |
| Kannada Literature | 14.4 | 24.7 | 13 | 12 | 10.6 | 10.3 |
| Urdu Literature | 8.5 | 40.9 | 22.2 | 17.9 | 19.4 | 4.9 |
| Gujarati Literature | 7.4 | 16.9 | 14.5 | 12.5 | 13.8 | 3.7 |
| Sanskrit Literature | 7.3 | 11.8 | 11.4 | 5.6 | 10 | 6.4 |
| Hindi Literature | 3.9 | 13.1 | 11.7 | 4.2 | 5.4 | 2.8 |
| Punjabi Literature | 2.6 | 16.7 | 10 | 11.1 | 6.6 | 11.5 |
| Odia Literature | 0 | 7.1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 28.6 |
| Bengali Literature | 0 | 20 | 0 | 16.7 | 33.3 | 16.7 |
| Santhali Literature | 0 | 33.3 | 33.3 | 100 | 0 | 100 |
| Assamese Literature | 0 | 25 | 37.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
It is evident from the table that medical science has been the most consistent performer among all the subjects. Please note that some of the literature subjects show a very high percentage (as much as 100%) because of the very less number of candidates who take the optional. For subjects marked ‘NA’, there were no candidates who had opted for that optional subject that year. The data for the discontinued subjects have not been included.
Related Links:
| How Many Candidates take Literature Optionals in UPSC Mains? | How Many Optional Subjects in IAS Mains |
| Scoring Optional Subject Upsc Civil Services Exam | Best Optional Subject For Upsc |
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