There is no such thing as best optional!!! (or May be there is…We don’t know it yet.)

We live in a clickbait world and that title is a clickbait. But don’t worry, in here we will give you enough data and facts if you are contemplating on which optional to choose for UPSC.

The Number of Applicants in UPSC:

2021	2022	2023
1056835 (10.5 Lakh)	1112318 (11 Lakh)	1152566 (11.5 Lakh)

The Number of Candidates Appeared:

2021	2022	2023
486952(4.8 Lakh)	513192 (5 Lakh)	579008 (5.7 Lakh)
(10343 Wrote Mains)	(8930 Wrote Mains)	(12775 Wrote Mains)

Applicant: 10 Lakh, selected: 1000: Success % is roughly: 1%

But that’s not a true indicator, in fact at any given point, the no. of serious aspirants across India is around 50-60 K only. A lot of non-serious UPSC aspirants make the data look scary.

How many students are giving exam in other language than English:

If we look at both 2021 and 2022 data, the conclusion is: –

1) Less than 500 students give Mains exam in Hindi

2) Less than 40 in Gujarati as well as Marathi

3) Less than 10 in Kannada, Tamil & Telegu

4) 1 in Punjabi & Bengali

5) 0 in others including Odia.

English: More than 12000 aspirants wrote Mains.

Students with Bachelor’s degree had Higher Success rate than Students with P.G Degree:

Most Popular Optionals:

1. PSIR:  1571 Appeared in Mains and 140 Qualified
2. Anthropology: 1159 Appeared in Mains and 90 Qualified
3. Sociology: 1087 Appeared in Mains and 92 Qualified
4. Geography: 1079 Appeared in Mains and 66 Qualified

The success rate for the above optional varies from 6-10% depending on the particular year.

Least Popular Optionals:

1. Statistics:  3 Appeared, 0 Success
2. Sindhi Literature: 2 Appeared, 0 Success
3. Bengali Literature: 3 Appeared, 0 Success
4. Urdu Literature: 7 Appeared, o Success

Other “Popular Sounding” Optionals:

1. Pub Ad: 361 Appeared, 31 Success
2. Psychology: 127 Appeared, 15 Success
3. Philosophy: 265 Appeared, 20 Success
4. Geology: 29 Appeared, 1 Success
5. History: 574 Appeared, 25 Success

What is the Academic Background of Successful Candidates ?

1. 60% Engineering
2. 25% Humanities
3. 9% Science

But: 80% of Optional Chosen were Humanities. This implies most Students had done cross-domain shift (Science to Humanities)

What is the most successful age group for students:

1. 30% Successful Candidates belong to 24-26 yrs age group
2. 24 % Successful Candidates belong to 26-28 yrs age group
3. 16% Successful Candidates belong to 21-24 yrs age group
4. 16% Successful Candidates belong to 28-30 yrs age group
5. 14% Successful Candidates belong to >30 yrs age group

Which Community has Highest Success Rate?

*Female aspirants are more successful than male counterparts.

Literature as Optional:

1. Hindi: 283
2. Malayalam: 104
3. Kannada: 76
4. Odia: 0
5. Telugu and Tamil are both less than 30 aspirants.

So, have you decided your optional yet!!!