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CivilServices(Main)Examination2011:Successrateof
allOptionalSubjects
Optional subject selection is tough and requires a lot of analysis before you take the final decision. While it requires a lot of factors, for
majority of candidates optional subjects past performance and success-rate is one of the first things that they look for. Based on this
parameter, following table will help you in short-listing optional subjects and making strategies for preparation. [Source 63rd Annual
Report, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)].
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By: Atul Kapoor On Tuesday 14th January 2014
Although, the new pattern for Civil Services (Main) Examination has only ONE optional subject; still, optional subject selection is an
important decision. The past performance of the optional subject and success-rate gives some conviction about the subject and for a
lot of candidates, this has been one of the factors on which they short-list optional subjects for final consideration.
A glance at the following table reveals the performance of the candidates with the optional subjects in Civil Services Examination 2011.
For your benefit, we have bifurcated Literature of languages optional subjects so that you can explore the performance of each optional
subject.
Before we analyse, we would like to remind you that Civil Services Examination 2011 was staged with some changes in Preliminary
Examination pattern (optional subject was removed) and that has impacted the result trends for some of the most popular optional
subjects for sure.
Continuing the trends, in CSE 2011 Public Administration remained the most preferred subject among the optional subjects chosen by
the candidates. Geography and Sociology are at 2nd and 3rd spot.
Surprisingly, History once used to be the most popular choice has dropped to the 4 spot.
Psychology is the 5 most popular choice while Philosophy has seen a huge drop thus pushed back to the 6 place (1866 in CSE
2010 to only 900 in CSE 2011).
Political Science & International Relations occupies the 7 place.
Distribution of Candidates who Appeared vis--vis Recommended by Optional Subjects Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2011
S.No. Optional Subject
Number of Candidates Success Rate
(Percent)
Appeared Recommended
1 Medical Science 205 48 23.4
2 Anthropology 463 61 13.2
3 Agriculture 132 16 12.1
4 Psychology 1365 143 10.5
th
th th
th
5 Geology 40 4 10
6 Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science 50 5 10
7 Political Science & International Relations 866 84 9.7
8 Physics 323 31 9.6
9 Chemistry 123 11 8.9
10 History 1761 150 8.5
11 Mathematics 337 28 8.3
12 Sociology 2152 177 8.2
13 Philosophy 900 74 8.2
14 Law 226 18 8
15 Public Administration 6276 497 7.9
16 Geography 4096 313 7.6
17 Zoology 269 19 7.1
18 Commerce & Accountancy 232 16 6.9
19 Mechanical Engineering 103 7 6.8
20 Botany 135 9 6.7
21 Management 266 15 5.6
22 Economics 354 20 5.6
23 Electrical Engineering 171 9 5.3
24 Statistics 19 1 5.3
25 Civil Engineering 59 2 3.4
Performance of Literature of Languages as Optional Subject
26 Literature of Urdu Language 22 9 40.9
27 Literature of French Language 3 1 33.3
28 Literature of Santhali Language 3 1 33.3
29 Literature of Malayalam Language 99 27 27.3
30 Literature of Assamese Language 4 1 25
31 Literature of Kannada Language 93 23 24.7
32 Literature of Manipuri Language 27 6 22.2
33 Literature of Bengali Language 5 1 20
34 Literature of Gujarati Language 65 11 16.9
35 Literature of Punjabi Language 48 8 16.7
36 Literature of Marathi Language 38 6 15.8
37 Literature of English Language 73 11 15.1
38 Literature of Pali Language 356 50 14
39 Literature of Tamil Language 82 11 13.4
40 Literature of Hindi Language 406 53 13.1
41 Literature of Sanskrit Language 51 6 11.8
42 Literature of Maithili Language 69 7 10.1
43 Literature of Telugu Language 85 7 8.2
44 Literature of Oriya Language 14 1 7.1
45 Literature of Kashmiri Language 2 - -
46 Literature of Arabic Language 1 - -
47 Literature of Persian Language 1 - -
48 Literature of German Language 1 - -
49 Literature of Russian Language 1 - -
50 Literature of Bodo Language 1 - -
51 Literature of Dogri Language 1 - -
Take utmost care while taking into account the success-rate
Dont get confused with number of candidates appearing with a particular optional subject as blend has a mixed luck for many optional
subjects. So, you need to compare it with previous years data.
While one can take some clue about success-rate from the result of the most popular optional subjects; but, one needs to be careful in
taking reference of the data for some not as much popular optional subjects for deciding your optional subjects.
The result and the success-rate of these subjects may vary year to year resulting in big surprises when data is compared year-on-year.
To illustrate this we take Agriculture result for example. In CSE 2008 it had a success-rate of 18.6 per cent which dropped down to 10.6
per cent in CSE 2009 and in CSE 2010; it has a success-rate of only 1.5 per cent. But, again, in CSE 2011, it has shown a success-rate
of 12.1 per cent.
Such variation comes as the number of candidates appearing is low and any drop in result impacts the success-rate.
More attention is needed while analysing success-rate of literature of languages
As the trend is, the majority of candidates get influenced by the most popular optional subjects with whom candidates appear and
similarly, get fascinated by those with the highest success-rate.
Some of the literature of languages have produced wonderful results and occupy the chart with high success-rate.
You can spot many Literature of Languages subjects on top of the list on Success-rate among all optional subjects. The high success-
rate may attract you; but, you need to look at the number of candidates appearing with these subjects and the number of candidates
recommended for selection.
Final Conclusion
Every subject is good and you will find that with almost all subjects, candidates achieve success. Every subject has specific demands
and as long as you can make justice to the choice, you may think of taking subject you prefer.
Dismal performance by Hindi Medium Candidates persists even in Civil Services Examination 2012 (/2900---dismal-performance-by-
hindi-medium-candidates-persists-even-in-civil-services-examination-2012-ias.eng)
(E) |H 2011 ~ | | (/2885---civil-services-main-examination-2011-success-rate-of-all-optional-
subjects-ias.hindi)
(E) |H 2011 ~ | | (/2884---civil-services-main-examination-2011-success-rate-of-all-optional-
subjects-ias.hindi)
Optional Subjects: Medium of writing examination in Main Exam 2011 - Hindi (/2666-ias-news-
optional_subjects__medium_of_writing_examination_in_main_exam_2011_-_hindi.aspx)
Optional Subjects: Medium of writing examination in Main Exam 2011 - English (/2665-ias-news-
optional_subjects__medium_of_writing_examination_in_main_exam_2011_-_english.aspx)
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Also read:
Civil Services (Main) Examination 2010: Success rate of all Optional Subjects (../2585-ias-news-
civil_services_%28main%29_examination_2010__success_rate_of_all_optional_subjects.aspx)
Civil Services (Main) Examination 2009: Success rate of all Optional Subjects (../2170-ias-news-
cse_2009__success_rate_of_all_optional_subjects_in_mains_examination.aspx)
Civil Services (Main) Examination 2008: Success rate of all Optional Subjects (../2043-ias-news-
success_rate_of_optional_subjects_in_mains_examination.aspx)
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Despite increase in number of candidates appearing with Public Administration, the success-rate continues to decline...
Reply Like January 17 at 1:14am 1
Bhagwan Singh Chouhan Asst. Manager (Civil) at SHREE CEMENT LIMITED, BEAWAR
Sir i did B.E. IN Civil Engineering in 2007.Now i want to appear in IAS Exam with Mathematics as optional subject.Is it suitable
Reply Like January 17 at 12:53pm
Iaspassion
Mathematics is a highly scoring subject and if you feel confident, you may go for it as optional subject. But, before you
finalize, we suggest you to look at the syllabus and previous years' papers so that you can get to know the level and
current trends and see if you can do justice with the choice you are going to make.
Reply Like February 1 at 9:40pm
Rahul Jain Assistant Manager at Oriental Bank of Commerce
I want to take Economics as my optional subject. But I have done Btech in computer science. Any subject I'll have to start from
square one. I have heard that economics is a tough and unpopular subject. Could you please advise here.
Reply Like March 30 at 11:48am
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