The choice of the right subject for optional papers plays a very important role in the success in the Civil Service Exams. Consider the following points to select the best optional for you.
 . “While selecting the topic you should discuss only with yourself. It is very important that you choose the subject according to your choice, not on hearsay or based on advice of an unknown person. When you seek advice from an unknown person, then his advice will be based on his own personal experiences, not based on your capability, your interest nor on your requirement. If you seek advice from a successful candidate, then he will certainly give importance to those subjects, which he had taken himself. All their advices will be based on their own view points, not on your point of view.
. Give first preference to the subject in graduation and/or post graduation. The seriousness with which you have studied the subject during your graduation. If you have honestly done it, you must opt for this. If you have not and feels you would have to give the same effort to it as to any other new subject, then other considerations come into play.
. As mentioned in the above point, normally one should select optionals, which one is familiar with, or has at least studied till the graduate level. If you are not comfortable with the subject, you should not select the subject as an optional. But the choice should not only be as per your interests but also be based on the study material available. Even science and engineering students take up subjects like history, sociology, geography, political science, psychology and public administration because there is a huge amount of study material available in these subjects.
. You should really select any optional in which you have interest. In this case only you may be able to do justice with the subject. If you are curious about the past go for History, if interested in mathematical concepts then go for Mathematics. Likewise think about your interest and find out which subject is very interesting for you and take it. Just go back to your school days and remember which subject was very interesting for you.
. You may have been proficient in a subject, but lack of touch may make it tougher to crack technical subject where fresher may do better. The competition is among the people who have opted for the same subject. One should top in his/her subject to succeed in the examination. The Point is, if you are say an electrical engineer with 2 years of experience go for a new subject like public administration or sociology.
. Scoring optional: Generally speaking the weightage of all the subjects is similar and there are as such no scoring optionals. If the candidate fulfils the requirement of the question, he may get high scores. In fact there are so many instances when candidates having optionals like Physics, Mathematics have scored utterly low while others with language papers like English, Hindi, Kannada, Urdu have done unbelievably well. It does not mean that every year the same trend will follow.
. Go through the syllabus of all subjects (Civil Service Prelims and Mains) and find out which is the easiest for and. Syllabus available in www.JTS Institute.in
. Note that candidates will not be allowed to take the following combination of subjects: (a) Political science & international relations and Public Administration. (b) Management and Public Administration (c) Commerce & Accountancy and Management (d) Anthropology and Sociology (e) Mathematics and Statistics(f) Agriculture and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science. (g) Engineering subjects, viz, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering not more than one subject. (h) Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science and Medical science.
9.Remember no subject is bad. History is good if you can spend more than 3-4 hours everyday. Geography is a good option if you can spend at least 4 hrs every day. Pub Ad, more than 3 hours. Sociology, more than 2 hours and so on.... So, it all depends on how much time you can spend a day and your liking of the subject. If you have a very good memory then a technical subject may help else a social science subject would be better.
. Look for overlap in subjects like, Geography, sociology, Public Administration, history and political science etc that covers quite a significant part of General Studies
.According to the trends of last 5 years the most popular optionals were public Administration, Sociology, Mathematics, history, geography, Philosophy, Hindi literature, psychology and political science in terms of no. of students who appeared with the subject. Result wise, the best success ratios were found in Geography, Public Administration and political science, History, and Hindi literature in that order.
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