Selecting Optionals

Very simple advice was given to me by a retired I.A.S officer at the start of my preparation - choose only those optionals that you like. So I selected History and Public Administration.


The idea behind selecting an optional that you like is that you will have to spend more than 2 years studying it. At no point during the preparation can you get tired or bored with the optional. You do not know how long you will have to prepare for Civil Services Examination. If one requires 2-3 attempts then for each attempt one should be ready to keep reading on the optional subjects and trying to improve one's score in the optionals.


It is obvious that if we select the optional subject similar to our subject of graduation, our preparation time will get reduced. Also since we have spent 3-4 years on the subject during our graduation, we will have better command on it. We will have a strong foundation in that subject and as a result will be able to tackle the questions better.


The flip side to selecting the same optionals as our graduation subject is that we may not necessarily like the subjects. Graduation subjects are often selected taking economic factors into consideration - good prospects of job, family business etc. One can still manage graduation in subjects we don't really like. Civil Services Examination will require a much thorough preparation and far more time with the subject. So if you don't enjoy it, the whole exercise will become labourious and that is not a good way to go about the civil services examination.


Another factor to be considered in selecting same graduation and civil services examination optionals is the difficulty level of the subject - Specifically Engineering, Medical Subjects or other science subjects. One should select these subjects only if one is really interested in them. They involve a lot more effort than the other optional subjects. The Engineering examination of each semester is challenging by itself. To study all 8 semesters together will be a Herculean task. If one is very much interested in these subjects, would it not be better to pursue the academic line itself as opposed to the civil services? Well, that is for each person to answer for themselves.


Availability of books and other material also needs to be considered while selecting the optionals. The best way is to ask people who are preparing for the examination with those optionals. 


The most popular optionals are - 

1. Public Administration
2. Geography
3. History
4. Psychology
5. Sociology
6. Political Science
7. Marathi Literature (In Maharashtra)

One should not select optionals just because some successful candidate had the same optionals. Each individual is different with his/her own likes and dislikes. So following someone blindly should be avoided. One should play to his/her own strengths and choose those optionals in which he/she is comfortable.

There also goes around a thought that some optionals are better scoring than the others. There is no justification for that. Yes, some optionals require more study than the others. But if the required amount of effort is put in, there is no reason why a person cannot get 180-200 marks (out of 300) in any optional.

The above mentioned are the main factors to be considered while selecting the optional subjects. Some ancillary factors for selecting optional subjects are - common syllabus between the two optionals, common syllabus with General Studies, availability of a guide/teacher, colleagues with same optionals for group study and easy access to study material etc.