Dreaming to become IAS officers is very enchanting. But to crack IAS exam one has to undergo many exams. IAS exam consists of Prelims, Mains and Interview. After clearing Prelims the candidate is proceeded for Mains. In this exam candidate need to make choice of subjects as these are the optional subjects.

In this article you will be able to get the inputs regarding which optional subjects are to be preferred and why to be chosen to crack IAS exam.

Most chosen Optional Paper in IAS

Out of 25 optional subjects there are 6 most chosen optional paper in IAS. The brief relevance and advantage of each optional subject is mentioned below:

• Geography
• History
• Sociology
• Economics
• Political Science and International Relations
• Public Administration
• Advantage to take Geography: Part of this subject is already covered in Mains and till 10^th everybody has studied geography being Arts or engineering student. Moreover there is scope of diagrammatic presentation which helps the candidate to fetch more marks in the exam. Sufficient material is available from NCERT books and through coaching institute also.
• Advantage to take History: History is one of the subject which is already taught till 10^th to all the students from any stream. The students who are good at remembering the dates, years and stories. For them it is best option to be chosen.
• Advantage to take Sociology: Sociology is most chosen optional subject by IAS aspirants. It is to be cracked as it is not technical. Around 3000 aspirants have chosen this as optional subject each year. There are online app for sociology notes as well as it is easy to get the material of this subject.
• Advantage to take Economics: Economics deals with the daily happenings in the economy which can be known reading newspapers, listening to news, magazine, books etc. Students who are fond of getting daily updates regarding economy and participate in discussion related to economy. For them it is a easy subject to crack IAS exam. Lot of material is available on net on economy.
• Advantage to take Political Science and International Relations: While going for Prelims Indian Polity section can’t be skipped. The preparation for Prelims and Mains would get integrated for a Political Science student and will help to crack IAS exam. Only  the conceptual understanding in Political Science theory section would make a better presentation in the exam.
• Public Administration: The Public Administration is a popular amongst the other optional subjects in Civil Service Examination. The scientific and logical nature of the subject helps to prepare the subject for main examination within less span of time. The study material is easily available and compact in nature and candidate gets time for other typical subjects.

Things to remember while choosing Optional subjects

• Always think of Your interest area
• Don’t chose optional subjects because of pressure of family and friends
• Believe in yourself. Do not opt for an optional just because it is chosen by many aspirants.
• Analyze the syllabus and spend time to think whether it is of your interest
• Think of easy availability of optional subject  material