List of Most Scoring Optional in UPSC: Get Topper’s Optional Subject List

A candidate’s success in the Main Exam (written stage) depends on their selection of the optional subject. Because the UPSC Mains scores count towards the final merit, candidates take advantage of every opportunity to improve their overall scores. Examine the optional subjects chosen by IAS toppers and the elements that influence their selection of the best option.

We include the optional subjects that UPSC top scorers in the most recent and prior UPSC exams. The success rate of optional subjects and how they impacted the final grades of the top scorers were also explored in this article. Candidates may choose one topic from the syllabus’s list of optional subjects, according to UPSC. Each subject has two papers, for a total of 500.

Success Rates of Optional Subject in UPSC

The following table shows the optional subject-wise distribution of candidates who took the 2019 Civil Services (Main) Examination and were recommended for an appointment based on their success rate. This information was taken from the UPSC’s 71st Annual Report, which was released on February 23, 2022.

	Optional Subject	Appeared	Recommended	Success Rate (Percent)
1.	Agriculture	124	13	10.5%
2.	Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science	16	3	18.8%
3.	Anthropology	1189	108	9.1%
4.	Botany	28	2	7.1%
5.	Chemistry	156	13	8.3%
6.	Civil Engineering	146	15	10.3%
7.	Commerce & Accountancy	183	20	10.9%
8.	Economics	243	26	10.7%
9.	Electrical Engineering	200	16	8.0%
10.	Geography	1916	105	5.5%
11.	Geology	30	0	0.0%
12.	History	751	51	6.8%
13.	Law	186	19	10.2%
14.	Management	54	6	11.1%
15.	Mathematics	539	45	8.3%
16.	Mechanical Engineering	213	12	5.6%
17.	Medical Science	247	26	10.5%
18.	Philosophy	439	27	6.2%
19.	Physics	165	12	7.3%
20.	Political Science & International Relations	1662	137	8.2%
21.	Psychology	164	15	9.1%
22.	Public Administration	705	58	8.2%
23.	Sociology	1263	126	10.0%
24.	Statistics	2	0	0.0%
25.	Zoology	44	4	9.1%
26.	Literature Of Assamese Language	3	0	8.2%
27	Literature Of Bengali Language	1	0	10.0%
28.	Literature Of English Language	31	3	9.7%
29.	Literature of Gujarati Language	85	3	3.5%
30.	Literature of Hindi Language	191	13	16.8%
31.	Literature of Kannada Language	124	17	13.7%
32.	Literature of Maithili Language	53	2	3.8%
33.	Literature of Malayalam Language	105	13	12.4%
34.	Literature of Manipur Language	7	0	0.0%
35.	Literature of Marathi Language	6	0	0.0%
36.	Literature of Oriya Language	3	0	0.0%
37.	Literature of Punjabi Language	18	1	5.6%
38.	Literature of Sanskrit Language	53	2	3.8%
39.	Literature of Sindhi Language	2	1	50.0%
40.	Literature of Tamil Language	77	5	6.5%
41.	Literature of Telugu Language	32	1	3.1%
42.	Literature of Urdu Language	18	2	11.1%

Top 10 UPSC Toppers Optional Subjects

The following list of the Top 10 UPSC Optional Subjects is a reflection of their popularity and performance history among applicants. To ace the test, don’t forget to select an elective that plays to your interests and strong points.

The Top 10 UPSC topper’s optional subjects are listed below.

1. History
2. Public Administration
3. Geography
4. Political Science and International Relations (PSIR)
5. Sociology
6. Economics
7. Anthropology
8. Psychology
9. Philosophy
10. Literature Subjects (e.g., English, Hindi, etc.)

Optional Subjects of UPSC Toppers (Rank 1)

The list of optional subjects chosen by UPSC Toppers during the previous 21 years is shown in the table below.

Year	Name of UPSC Toppers (Rank 1)	Optional Subject Chosen
2021	Shruti Sharma	History
2020	Subham Kumar	Anthropology
2019	Pradeep Singh	Public Administration
2018	Kanishak Kataria	Mathematics
2017	Anudeep Durishetty	Anthropology
2016	Nandini K. R.	Kannada Literature
2015	Tina Dabi	Political Science
2014	Ira Singhal	Geography
2013	Gaurav Aggarwal	Economics
2012	Haritha V. Kumar	Economics & Malayalam Literature
2011	Shena Aggarwal	Medical Science and Psychology
2010	S Divyadharshini	Public Administration & Law
2009	Shah Faesal	Public Administration & Urdu Literature
2008	Shubhra Saxena	Psychology & Public Administration
2007	Adapa Karthik	Zoology & Psychology
2006	Mutyalaraju Revu	Electrical Engineering & Mathematics
2005	Mona Pruthi	English Literature & Sociology
2004	S. Nagarajan	Geography & Sociology
2003	Roopa Mishra	Psychology & Public Administration
2002	Ankur Garg	Physics & Chemistry
2001	Alok Ranjan Jha	Geography
2000	Vijaylakshmi Bidari	Kannada Literature

You can select your chosen optional subject for the UPSC exam on an individual basis once you have determined the answers to these questions.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in UPSC CSE Optional Subjects

Besides considering the optional subjects of toppers, one must remember that choosing optional should be primarily based on personal choices. Selecting the optional for UPSC Civil Services turns out to be crucial. The optional subject gives the applicant more assurance that they will do well in the exams. Consider your answers to the following questions before selecting a topic.

• To what extent does the optional topic you want to take have a syllabus?
• What is the amount of time you have available to prepare?
• How much graduate-level prior knowledge of the subject do you have?
• Which section of the syllabus is related to General Studies?
• Are the necessary educational resources easily available?
• Have you reviewed the past year’s papers on the subject, the difficulty level, and the patterns in marks?
• Do you have a desire to learn about the subject?

Complete List of 48 Optional Subjects in UPSC

Below is the list of 48 UPSC Optional Subjects that you can choose from.

1. Agriculture
2. Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
3. Anthropology
4. Botany
5. Chemistry
6. Civil Engineering
7. Commerce and Accountancy
8. Economics
9. Electrical Engineering
10. Geography
11. Geology
12. History
13. Law
14. Management
15. Mathematics
16. Mechanical Engineering
17. Medical Science
18. Philosophy
19. Physics
20. Political Science and International Relations
21. Psychology
22. Public Administration
23. Sociology
24. Statistics
25. Zoology
26. Assamese
27. Bengali
28. Bodo
29. Dogri
30. Gujarati
31. Hindi
32. Kannada
33. Kashmiri
34. Konkani
35. Maithili
36. Malayalam
37. Manipuri
38. Marathi
39. Nepali
40. Odia
41. Punjabi
42. Sanskrit
43. Santhali
44. Sindhi
45. Tamil
46. Telugu
47. Urdu
48. English

Your success on the UPSC CSE exam might be significantly impacted by your choice of optional subject. We’ll now discuss several tips and factors to help you decide on this important course of action.

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This was all about the “Most Scoring Optional in UPSC”. For more such informative blogs, check out our UPSC Exams Section, or you can learn more about us by visiting our  Indian exams page.