On the date of writing this post, UPSC Annual Reports are available for the years upto 2019 only. On basis of same, following is detailed analysis of performance of various subjects based on their selection percentages.

Aspirants should always select a subject that is consistent rather than one which does well one year and falters the next year.

I had earlier written a post for 2013-17 optional analysis. The post is available here

2018-2019 Optional Performance Analysis:

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2013-2019 Optional Performance Analysis (Optionals with 8+% selection rate in last 3 years are highlighted):

On basis of above, following is the list of optionals with over 20 selections in 2017-2019 and with over 8% selection rate each year in 2017-19:

The above analysis shows that among the so called ‘popular’ or humanities optionals, which can be opted by Aspirants of any graduation background, Sociology is most consistent followed by PubAd > Anthropology > PSIR

Also Read, How to select Optional Subject?

Further Inputs From Trends:

• Between 2013 to 2019, number of candidates of PubAd was at its highest in 2014 at 2852 and selection % was at its lowest that year at just 5.3%. This shows that more the number of candidates, chances are that selection % will be low. This is ever so true for Geography!!!
• As the number of candidates of PubAd decreased, its selection % improved!!
• Number of candidates are increasing for Anthropology and PSIR. This does not bode well for their performance in future!
• Sociology is a subject wherein the number of candidates have not increased and its selection % is also consistent at about 10%.

This is the reason, why I have been suggesting Sociology Optional to Aspirants since last 2 years!

Optional Strategies by Toppers:

Law: Law Optional: Himanshu Verma IPS, Former IRS.

Anthro:Anthropology Strategy: Anupama Anjali, IAS CSE 2017

Commerce: Shivani Gupta IFS CSE17: Prelims-Mains-Answer writing-Commerce

Sociology: Rank-2 Anu Kumari Sociology Strategy (318 marks)

Sociology: Sociology | Pradeep Singh IAS

Maths: Maths Optional Strategy by Ram Prakash IAS CSE 2017

Maths: Maths Optional Notes – Ram Prakash IAS

Maths: Maths Optional-Saurabh Baranwal IRS

PSIR: PSIR Strategy by Tushar Gupta IPS, CSE-2017

PubAd: Pubad Strategy Ankit Jain IPS (309 marks)

PubAd: Sumit Kumar Rai|AIR-54|Public Administration

Philosophy: Philosophy Strategy Juhi Jalota IFS

Philosophy: Philosophy Strategy by Sakshi Tomar (Rank 369 CSE 2017)

Hindi: हिंदी साहित्य – प्रणव अनंत कानिटकर (भारतीय राजस्व सेवा)

History: History Optional (324): Vikas Ahlawat IRS-17, AIR 146 CSE 18

Geography: Rank-5 Pratham Kaushik Geography Strategy (327 marks)

Geography: My Geography Strategy

ATB!!