I am doing engineering from Pune University with branch mechanical. I would like to have History & Mechanical engineering as my optional subjects.
You can very well opt for the both the above subjects as you've mentioned. If you see the trend, it may be going up and down. UPSC purposefully changed the syllabus content to give the way to the humanities. You can see the trends in the toppers also. IIT graduates used to crack it, but their favourite subjects like Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry syllabus have changed lot. Now, they don't opt for them. There is always a chance to do well with any subject. If you can maintain your originality with other standard stuffs in the mains writing, that will bring success to you. You can go through the drill, which is being given in the book as a general strategy, you can pen down your advantages and disadvatages. If you select the above mentioned optionals, you will have the following advantages
1. You will have lots of time for your second optional as the first optional is prepared in the college stage itself.
2. The History optional will be helpful in writing your General Studies in both Preliminary and Main Exams.
3. You can also practice for your Essay and other written practice with History optional.
4. As you are selecting the subject, which is interesting to you, in the course of preparation you will not get tired.
The disadvantages are
1. Optional History may not be so much scoring as in the case of other subjects.
2. You have to present your exam paper in an excellent manner. It needs lots of preparation.
My brother has qualified for IFS (forest) and also IPS he is in a fix. Please in making a good choice by giving merit and demerits of each one
In general we feel IPS is having more prestige and Social Status than Indian Forest Service .But there are some considerations. 1For some Cadre matters a lot. In theoretical sense, every one will say that " I AM READY TO WORK ANYWHERE IN INDIA" But in real sense every one would like to work in their state only. It is the human tendency, "WOULD LIKE TO BE A RAJA IN THEIR OWN TERRITORY" Because the Raja of the foreign land will be loner there.
It is reality. 2. The Police Service has close link with the public and society. But the IFS doesn't have any close relation in the social circle. We know few cases, where a person had similar choice, one decided to go for IFS ( that also not home cadre, the neighbouring cadre) because the IPS cadre State was in a disturbed status. The other person got neutral sate for both the Services, decided to opt for IPS. IPS has public dealings for longer period. The cadre control authority of IPS is Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Environment and Forest for IFS. Now, you can see, who is what. We hope this will clear your doubt.
How many total selections are made on an average in the CSE? And how many of the total selections are appointed as IAS officers and not as IPS and other lower posts?
The total number of selection varies from year to year. 2006-07 there were about 474 selections. The IAS was about 90 and the IPS was also about 88. In the year 2009-10, the total number of selections were 875. Number of IAS were 131 and the number of IPA were 150. The remaining were central Civil Services.
I am a civil engineering student. I want to take Civil Engineering as my optional subject. Is scientific calculator is allowed for the examination both for preliminary and main?
Calculator is not allowed in the Preliminary and the same is allowed in the Mains. It is everybody's problem. Don't worry. Instructions are common for all. Please go through the Model notification and other instructions given in some online websites.
Does the choice of medium of language matter?
The only areas where the choice of your medium would matter would be in the case of availability of reading materials. Many of the optional might not have relevant study material and many times the candidates spend a lot of time translating the texts from English. In terms of marks one should not consider any form of bias positive or negative for choosing the medium.
Can I choose any subject as the other option in mains, which is not in my graduation course? I have history as main graduation subject. Choosing geography can be bulky, though I have a lot of interest in it. That's why I am fearing this combination. Can you guide me the subjects that I can have for mains along with history?
Yes. You can select any subject as an option. But your fears on the combination of History & Geography are right. Having history and geography as optionals is really a tough choice. Both have vast syllabus. Both exams will fall back-to-back without any gap for revision. That is Mains exam for general studies and both optionals will be held continuously, without any gap. So, you may take some other subject in place of geography. If you are good at written skills, you can select some science-based subject. In our opinion, you can think of selecting one of the following optionals in the order mentioned - public administration / psychology / sociology / philosophy. However, keep your interest as the top priority and syllabus and previous years' question papers, which will guide you in arriving at an appropriate decision
Please evaluate Psychology, Sociology, Geography, Public Administration on basis of scorability.
The scoring depends upon the individual's capacity. Capacity means, the way of writing, style of presentation, answer relevance to the question, analytical capacity etc. Every subject has its own pros and cons. There are people got very good score in all the above subjects. All the above subjects have good market notes and good books. As a Science student you can very well opt for Geography.It is scoring and it is useful for the General Studies also.
Whether civil engineering and physics are good options for mains? What will be the best subject for prelims & why civil engineering is not considered a good option? Are selecters negatively biased towards IITians because from last 3-4 years I am not seeing many IITian- IAS toppers. Decade ago IITian used to rule the Civil Services Exam by opting Maths and Physics combination. The question set up of Maths was really easy for the IITians.
The humanities never got good marks and topped the Civil Services. There were different committees set up by the UPSC to look in to this matter. The committee recommended many reforms but Government included a few only. One among this was the inclusion of Essay in the year 1993. This gave little leverage to the Humanities students, as they are good in writing. IITian hardly have any practice of writing Essay for three hours on a single topic. Even then UPSC could not contain the inflow of Technical people entering in to Civil Services with top ranks. Then they came up with overhaul of the Syllabus. This contained the inflow. The Physics syllabus also went through the changes, which made their life difficult. UPSC made the level playing field for all students. Now, IITians are going for the Humanity subjects The success ratio of Physics in the recent years is about 1:15 and Civil Engineering is about 1:10 and 1:88 the other year. No way has one compared this data. There are subjects get the Uniform rate success ratio and few subjects have the history of high fluctuation. But people go for these subjects and clear the Exam also. If you are confident, you can very well opt for these two otherwise you can think of some popular abd safe optional, which is already spelled out in detail. We hope your doubts are cleared, if you have anything specific you are welcome
I am a postgraduate in English literature. I have appeared twice for Prelims with History Optional but wasn't able to qualify. Do you think it would be the right move to change my optional? If yes, then what other optional subject can I take up? Do you think Public Administration would be a good option for Prelims?
As you have already appeared with History twice, have you ever made an attempt to analyse why you had failed? In our opinion, it is better to change the optional. Where did you lack on the previous occasions? First do the analyses on these lines:-
1. Check with the optional, how many you had answered correctly in the previous exams. Do it properly, if you do it wrong, you will be cheating yourself.
2. Evaluate your answers for General studies.
3. If you are weak in GS and it was a failure, then think before changing the optional. If it was due to the optional paper, you should change it immediately.
4. Please evaluate your work and study in the earlier occasions. If you change the optional without a full fight, the result will be the same.
5. Make a proper study pattern and follow it methodically.
6. You should also know that the improvement in the optional paper is easier than the General Studies because GS cannot be improved in a short span of time. It comes from the basics, that is from your school books. If you have done the schooling in a proper way, the GS will be easy. School books are the foundation stones and bricks and mortar of General Knowledge and General Awareness.
If you understood the basic concepts well, it will be very easy to score in General Studies. The success ratio of Public Administration is far better than History. As you are an English Literature person, your written ability should also be fine.
Can you please tell me where I can find guidance for English Literature in New Delhi and Hyderabad?What do you think about English Literature as an optional subject when compared to Electrical Engineering or Public Administration/Psychology?
The English Literature is not a Preliminary optional. If you are good in English, you can go for the English Literature. The success ratio of English Literature is about 1:5 to 1:6. We believe, you are an Engineering graduate. If you are sure about English Literature, go ahead with it. Otherwise go with Public Administration and Psychology. These two are doing well. There is no specialised coaching Institute for English Coaching. There are about 20 candidates only appear in the Civil Services with English as an optional.
I am a 3rd year electrical engineering student from IITD. I am not at all able to decide on Mains. I am not sure whether I should take Electrical engineering as a subject, or take Geography or public administration as my subject.
No problems if you can go ahead with Sociology. If you are planning for Geography for the mains, that is good, compared to other subjects as you have mentioned. As per the UPSC records, the success ratio of Electrical Engineering is not upto the mark. The success ratio is more than 1:35. At the same time, the success ratio of Sociology is about 1:9 and Geography is around 1:10 and that of Public Administration is about 1:13 plus. However, these analysis are for Mains examination only. As far as taking the core subject is concerned, students don't opt for it because of the following reasons.
1. Electrical Engineering will be opted by the Electrical Engineering students only.
2. In the prelims, selection is based more on the optional paper. One has to be a master of his/her own subject for the final selection. The standardization or normalisation procedure followed by the UPSC will give a chance of selection to toppers of the subject only. The GS marks will be added with the normalised marks of the optional. So the optional score may go up or down, after standardization. Here the competition is among the SPECIALISTS only. In the so called EASY or common subjects, students from all streams join, so the person who prepares well gets an advantage over others. We hope your doubt about the CORE subject is clear. As far as IITians are concerned, they do take core subjects, but at the minimum. As per the UPSC data only two-three persons from the EE comes out successful. Geography needs more and meticulous preparation but it will pay you also.
I am into my final year of engineering in biotechnology. I have not started my preparations for CSE. I am planning to take chemistry as a subject in prelims and mains as well along with Public Administration in Mains as the second subject. Will that combination work? Should I appear in CSE now or should I prepare for one year and then appear?
You can take above two optionals. Both have the equal success ratio of 1:12 to 1:14 in the mains. As far as chemistry is concerned, you must be good at as you have studied some areas in your curriculam. In our opinion, you should go for 2007 exam only because you are in the final year and you cannot devote much time for the preparation. Though you may br good at chemistry, You need solid preparation for the general studies. If you finish your degree and appear for the civil services. You can devote full time in a productive manner As far as working of combination is concerned, it is upto the individual. If you do proper hardwork you can make it.
What is Political Science pass ratio? Which is more scoring out of Political Science and Public Administration. Is graduate from correspondence less preferred than regular?
The success ratio of political science is about 1:6 to 1:12 (Varies from year to year). Public administration is about 1:12 to 1:14. There is no subject about more scoring and less scoring. There are lots of factors involved in scoring that is presentation, written style, evaluator's mentality etc. This will be cleared if you read the "SECRET OF SUCCESS" column in our Book There is no discrimination regarding the degree. whether it is regular or correspondence. The evaluvator has no chance of knowing about the nature of your degree.
What are the cut-offs, average and good score for success in Prelims and Mains respectively in the following subjects - General Studies, Geography, Public Administration & Economics?
There is no cut-off marks in the main examination. Of course there is a cut-off mark in the preliminary. Here also General studies doesn't have any cut-off as compared to the optionals. The General studies marks are added to the optionals as it is, without any standardisation / normalization. The cut-off marks are also not released/published by the UPSC as on April 2007. Based on the successful student's feedback only the cut-off marks are given to the public by various agencies like coaching centres, magazines and other publications.The Cut-off mark also varies from year to year. However Supreme Court has directed the UPSC to make the marking system public under Right to Information. The normal cut-off of G.S is about 90 , Geography about 85-90,Public Administration is about 85-90, Economics is about 80-85
What is the cut-off for Commerce & Accountancy in Prelims and a good score in Mains? What is the Success rate of this optional? Is this optional a popular one? The syllabus of this subject demands what kind of qualification? Please advice.
Normally the cut off marks are not officially announced by the UPSC. It is based on the informal feedback from different aspirants. It is normally around 90. It varies from year to year. It may go down upto 80 also. One should always try get more than 90 in the optional as well as General Studies, so that you can have a fair chance for mains berth. As per the UPSC record, the success ratio in the mains is 1:9.75. As far as popularity is concerned, it is not that much popular because more than 15 optionals have more candidates than this subject. But the success percentage is really good. So, the popularity/scorability varies from individual to individual. It all depends upon the individual's capacity. This subject is of mixture of both theory and mathematics i.e. Accounts. Please go through the detailed syllabus and old question papers to get the idea of the subject. If you are not from the Commerce background, better avoid it.
I am a qualified CA, would like to appear for UPSC exams. As of now my preparation is nil. I seek your guidance to cope the General Science subject and choosing the optional subject. What is success rate in Commerce, History, Sociology and Psychology? Which you suggest me to chose?
The Exam strategy and preparation, Scheme of examination and all about the Civil Services Exam is there in the book -Preparation strategy (To start) at various age level is also there. The Success ratio of Commerce is about1.6 to 1:9. History is about1:20 to 1:35. Sociology is about1:9 and Psychology is about 1:6 As far as you are concerned, you can take Commerce as one of the optionals as you are a qualified CA. This subject will be easy for you. Regarding the other optional you can select Sociology or Psychology. Both are doing well. Now, you have to decide the subject based on your interest and some basic knowledge if you have about the subject. First go through the detailed syllabus and the previous years question papers of the both the subjects, which will give an idea to decide an appropriate subject.
I have completed my graduation. Your assistance is solicited in choosing the optional for prelim and the mains. What is the success rate of Statistics?
You can select Commerce as one of the optionals. The questions are from M.Com level. So you have to be ready for that standard. The selection of the optional may be made based on the following: interest of the aspirant towards that subject, so that it doesn't affect the preparation tempo. The year long preparation should not get disturbed; Basic knowledge about the subject so that it is easy to grasp things well; availability of good study material; Is there any coaching facility or not? You can think of choosing one of the following as an optional if you are not comfortable with Commerce i.e Sociology/Psychology/History/Public Administration. In the mains, you can opt Hindi Literature also if you are well versed with it. As far as the success ratio of Statistics is concerned, it is about 1:20 - 1:24. Calculators are allowed in the Mains only. Our suggestion is to avoid Statistics as an optional in your case, as you might have studied it as an ancillary subject. As far as the preparation strategy is concerned; you have to follow the common strategy given in some sites.
I want to purchase some tutorials notes for agriculture as well as other subjects in prelim & general studies please help me out.
We don't have any contact with any coaching centre. We can provide standard book list for Agriculture and general studies. We feel that there is no need to buy any market notes for Agri & G.S. You have to buy standard and good books for these subjects so that you can perform well.
Tell me the success ratio of medical science as an optional in prelims & mains
There is no analysis in the preliminary stage; it is done in the main stage only. The success ratio of Medical Science is about 1:3. Medical Science enjoys the highest success ratio in the civil services exams
Can a computer engineers appear for civil service examination?
Yes. To appear in the Civil Services, one has to have a UGC recognized degree only. Only thing is that you have to select a different optional prescribed by the UPSC, as your subject is not in the syllabus.
Some people tell me B.Tech graduates of the Computer Science branch are disqualified. Is that so?
No. You are very much eligible and allowed to write Civil Services Exam. The degree must be a recognized degree of UGC. B.Tech is of course must be a recognized degree of UGC. People might have misunderstood the fact that the Computer Science is not the one of the optionals prescribed by the UPSC in the Civil Services. So you have to opt for a different subject prescribed by the UPSC, that's all. To get the detail, please go through the model notification given in the book. All your doubts will be cleared.
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