Which is the best optional for UPSC ?

Hello everyone , in case you are new to this preparation then you must be having a question in your mind i.e. - Which Optional  subject you should go for . Or even when you have selected your optional and not enjoying it thus want to change it then
YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT PAGE .

First of all you must know what are various optional subjects offered by UPSC for that you can go at the end of this page .

But there are certain optional subjects which are very popular now a days which are as follows : Political Science , Geography , Anthropology , History , Public Adm. , Sociology , etc .

So , let's discuss the basic criteria on which we generally decide our optional :

1. Syllabus - For Subjects like sociology , anthropology gaining popularity short syllabus is the main reason but is the syllabus actually short ? Fact is UPSC have defined certain syllabus in very elaborated way like History , Geography which seems very big but fact is they are actually well defined . The questions which come in paper are actually from the sphere of syllabus in geography and history where as in subjects like sociology the questions are very dynamic in nature and generally you won't find them within syllabus very well defined .

2. Graduation Stream - Many of aspirants who have graduated in arts stream  tend to take the optional they have studied in graduation example - geography , political science and history . Where as those who are from technical background like b.tech or B.sc tends to divert from the subject they have studied in graduation and shifts to art stream . However , it is actually a right choice to shift you are comfortable in arts subject . For those who are from ARTS and have studied same subject in graduation must see that syllabus of college should be in tune with UPSC optional syllabus .

3. Interest - One of the most important aspects of choice is interest , if one has a good command over certain subject then he/she must go for it as we have seen people qualifying from - literature , mathematics , etc .

4. Success Rate - Most of the aspirants choose subject according to market and success rate . However in one line you can remember that it is actually a mythical criteria and success rate of certain optional subject depends on one's own caliber . So if you are good at something , go for it .

What is the best optional ?

So answer to this question can be derived from above four points but one such subject which we can discuss here is HISTORY AS AN OPTIONAL SUBJECT , which has following advantages

1. Well defined syllabus , not big as such . You can finish it in 6 months .
2. No current related questions asked .
3. No dates to be remembered .
4. Not much technical words and good grammar involved . 
5. Most of the questions are repeated in essence , just the words are changed most of the times . 
6. Easily available material .
7. Good scores are 300+ .


Here is the list of optional subjects offered by UPSC :

1. Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
2. Anthropology
3. Botany
4. Chemistry
5. Civil Engineering
6. Commerce and Accountancy
7. Economics
8. Electrical Engineering
9. Geography
10. Geology
11. History
12. Law
13. Management
14. Mathematics
15. Mechanical Engineering
16. Medical Science
17. Philosophy
18. Physics
19. Political Science and International Relations
20. Psychology
21. Public Administration
22. Sociology
23. Statistics
24. Zoology
25. Literature of anyone the following language: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, English.
26. Agriculture