Saturday, July 18, 2009

Choosing the Optional Subjects

This is the first and most important stage of your journey and should be accomplished most carefully as coming things hinge on it and a wrong decision may prove to be disastrous. Careful analysis of syllabus, previous years' papers, your caliber, requirement of subject (Visionary, Numerical, Theoretical), comfort level with the subject and past trends should be done. Advice from seniors and fellow candidates should also be sought. To avoid dithering in choice at later stage, initial deep thinking and consultations are a must. Having decided the subject, it is
advisable to stick to your choice even if the perception of others about it is not favourable.

Major criteria, which should guide you in choosing optionals, are:

1. Interest in the subject. This is quite important for sustaining the momentum in studies and completing the huge syllabus.
2. Availability of guidance – in the form of seniors who cleared with the optional,coaching, material, etc.
3. Performance of the optional in the last few years.
4. Time gap between the two optionals. Some people try to choose the optionals combination so that there is some time gap between them.

Please note that there is no subject that can be said to be scoring. UPSC is maintaining utmost balance between the subjects. It has brought all the optional ubjects onto the same platform as far as scoring is concerned.

Some of the optionals which a majority take are: Anthropology, Geography, History, Political Science and International Relations, Psychology, Public Administration,
Sociology and Literature.

The main advantages with these optionals are:
1. Availability of guidance, which reduces the efforts to a large extent
2. The knowledge also helps in GS, Essay and interview.
3. They are also relevant for an administrative career.
If a person is from professional education background (i.e. Engineering /Medicine), which optionals should he choose? This is a basic question for many. There is a tendency to opt for the graduating subject. Lets understand the problems associated with these subjects.

*COURTESY : HOW TO CRACK CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION written by RANKERS*