Most Popular Optionals in IAS Exam
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Following is the Summary from the annual reports published by UPSC. The figures mentioned below are for the year 2008 and 2009 Mains and for reference purpose only.
Year/Subject | Year 2008 | Year 2009 |
Hindi Litt. | Candidates 954 | Candidates 925 |
Pali Litt. | Candidates 249 | Candidates 306 |
Tamil Litt. | Candidates 224 | Candidates 195 |
Geography | Candidates 4003 | Candidates 3901 |
History | Candidates 3823 | Candidates 3822 |
Philosophy | Candidates 2048 | Candidates 2025 |
Pol. Science | Candidates 1306 | Candidates 1314 |
Psychology | Candidates 1058 | Candidates 1017 |
Pub. Admn. | Candidates 3165 | Candidates 3779 |
Sociology | Candidates 1527 | Candidates 1581 |
Zoology | Candidates 478 | Candidates 428 |
As we talk about Hindi Literature, it was being chosen by more than 900 candidates in the year 2008 as well as 2009 which is not a matter of concern at all because large number of candidates from the Hindi-speaking states have given the IAS exam.
Pali is very popular owing to its limited syllabus and coaching options available. No matter its popularity is on the upswing with every Mains. Likewise Tamil Literature is opted by candidates from Tamil Nadu.
Amongst the conventional subjects, Geography is very preferred optional among IAS aspirants followed by History, Public Administration and Philosophy. While History and Pub Ad are popular choices among many aspirants, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Philosophy was opted by higher number of candidates than even Sociology and Psychology.
You can notice a huge jump in Pub Ad՚s popularity and by the time figures for the year 2010 and 2011 Mains.