Optional subject coaching for UPSC
Choosing the right optional subject is the single most crucial decision you have to make.
Available in
Duration
5-6 months
Class Timings
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Mon -Fri/Sat
Expert Faculty
Best in class optional
teachers who focus on
individual attention and
mentoring.
Basics to Advanced
Everything will be covered
from scratch.
Comprehensive
Full coverage of the Optional
Subject’s syllabus – Papers I &
II – is delivered through
lectures.
What’s included
Foundation + QIP (Test Series, Test Discussions & Revision before exam)
In the Civil Services Main Examination, candidates have to select one optional subject which carries 500 marks and is spread over 2 papers of 250 marks each, Paper A and Paper B, adding up to 25% of the marks making the merit list. With the rest of the UPSC syllabus being compulsory and common for all candidates, selection of the right optional subject can make that crucial difference between selection and rejection in the exam.
The optional subject must be carefully picked basis the following aspects only:
There are 48 subjects from which an aspirant can choose an optional subject for the civil services exam. These include:
Rau’s IAS offers following optional subjects Anthropology, Economics, Hindi Literature, History, Geography, Political Science, Public Administration and Sociology.
The optional classes will be conducted 2 hours, Monday to Friday/Saturday for a duration of about 5-6 months (varies from optional to optional).
It is advised that a student should choose optional subject when one starts studying for the UPSC Civil Services Exam. What is expected is that student should finish the optional subject 4-5 months prior to the prelims exam. For the remaining of time, the focus should be on revision.
Choose the subject which you like. If you can choose the subject from your graduation subject(s) then give preference to that subject. If you have to choose a new subject from humanities, you may go through the NCERTs of class XI and XII (Humanities subjects). You will learn about Economics, Geography, History, Political Science, Society, etc. You may like one or two subjects. Check from the Optional syllabus to understand what topics you have studied and then take a look at the UPSC previous years’ questions on those topics that you have studied from NCERTs of that subject(s). Whichever subject inspires the most confidence can be a good choice for you.
Choose the subject which you like. If you can choose the subject from your graduation subject(s) then give preference to that subject. If in case you have to choose a new subject from humanities, you may go through the NCERTs of class XI and XII (Humanities subjects). You will learn about Economic, Geography, History, Economics, Political Science and Psychology. You may like one or two subjects. Check from the syllabus to understand what topics you have studied and then take a look at the previous years’ questions on those topic that you have studied from NCERTs of that subject(s). Whichever subject inspires most confidence can be a good choice for you.
Choose the subject which you like. If you can choose the subject from your graduation subject(s) then give preference to that subject. This formula does not change for any medium. If in case you have to choose a new subject from humanities, you may go through the NCERTs of class XI and XII (Humanities subjects). You will learn about Economic, Geography, History, Economics, Political Science and Psychology. You may like one or two subjects. Check from the syllabus to understand what topics you have studied and then take a look at the previous years’ questions on those topic that you have studied from NCERTs of that subject(s). Whichever subject inspires most confidence can be a good choice for you.
The subject that you like is the best subject for you in terms of high scoring. That is the reason we see toppers come from different subjects every single year.
The subjects that overlap with general studies are mentioned in the syllabus itself. These are History, Geography, Polity, Economy, Sociology, Political Science, Psychology, Philosophy etc. But it needs to be highlighted that optional subject should be chosen as the one that you like/enjoy the most.
Self study is important. If you have clarity of goal, you are dedicated, you have the right set of resources and you have the complete plan & ability to execute that then of-course self study is sufficient to clear the exam.