The UPSC Civil Services Examination is one of the most popular government examinations in the country. It is the most sought after career option because of the prestige and power attached to it. As you would be aware, you have to choose an optional subject for the IAS mains exam which you can take if you clear the UPSC prelims and get the required cut off. From 2011, you have to choose only one optional as opposed to the two optional subjects you had to previously. Choosing an optional is a dicey affair with many a candidate pondering over days to pick one subject. Since there are two optional subject papers, you have to make a wise decision considering various factors. In this article, you can read about the IAS toppers and their optional subjects. When you closely look at the IAS topper list year wise, you can see a similarity in IAS toppers optional subject.

Check out the list of optional subjects offered by the UPSC.

How to choose optional subject for UPSC?

You have to consider various things like your academic background, interests, liking for a subject, current knowledge levels, and other external factors such as popularity, scoring subject or not, Optional subject of IAS toppers etc. Going through the optional subjects chosen by IAS toppers can give you a few insights while deciding on your choice of optional subject.

We bring you a list of IAS toppers with their optional subjects for your reference:


Year	Topper Name (AIR 1)	Optional Subjects	Home State	Service Opted
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
2014	Gaurav Agarwal	Economics	Rajasthan	IAS
2012	Haritha V Kumar	Economics & Malayalam Literature	Kerala	IAS
2011	Shena Aggarwal	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 & Maths	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
1999	Sorabh Babu	Maths & Mechanical Engineering	Uttar Pradesh	IAS
1998	Bhawna Garg	Maths & Chemistry	Punjab	IAS
1997	Devesh Kumar	Chemistry & Geography	Bihar	IAS
1996	Sunil Kumar Barnwal	Physics & Maths	Jharkhand	IAS
1995	Iqbal Dhaliwal	Economics & Public Administration	Tamil Nadu	IAS
1994	Srivatsa Krishna	Public Administration & Psychology	Karnataka	IAS
1991	Raju Narayana Swamy	Medicine & Malayalam Literature	Kerala	IAS

Also See | Ira Singhal: A Success Story in UPSC Civil Services

The list of optional subjects of a few other IAS toppers (AIR other than 1) :

Topper Name	Rank	Year	Optional Subjects
Athar Aamir-ul-Shafi Khan	2	2015	Philosophy
Roman Saini	18	2013	Medical Science
Amrutesh Aurangabadkar	10	2011	Sociology & Philosophy
Artika Shukla	4	2015	Medical Science
Bharti Dixit	5	2013	Medical Science