By Ashutosh
I am sure 'getting optionals right' is an advice, that each one of us has heard many times over and rightly so. After all, optionals account for 60% of the total Mains Marks. My optionals were law and public administration. My reasons for choosing these optionals were:
LAW:
(i) Familiarity with the subject (had studied law for 5 years in college)
(ii) General interest in the subject
The drawbacks of law as an optional are: huge syllabus, random mugging of provisions and cases required, difficult to get good guidance.
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION:
(i) Concise Syllabus
(ii) Can be self studied.
(ii) Paper-II includes part of polity and topics of national and social
issues. Thus, there is some overlap with the GS and the Essay paper
The only drawback I can think of is, lack of materials for paper-II. One has to spend hell lot of time collecting relevant information from diverse sources. Paper-I is slightly technical and can be boring at times.
DO's and DON'Ts
DO's
(i) It makes sense to choose the optional that one has graduated in.
(ii) Interest in the subject matter will make life easier. Therefore,
please choose an optional based on your area of interest.
Interest does not mean that one has to be in love with the
subject. One should be comfortable with an
optional and willing to work hard on it.
(iii) For those, who are opting for subjects that they have not studied
before in college,please look for the availability of
GOOD GUIDANCE and study material.
DON'Ts
(i) There is nothing called a SCORING OPTIONAL.
Either all are scoring or none is. It is as simple as that.
(ii) While there are several popular optionals like PUB AD, GEO,
PSYCHO, SOCIO etc,they need not necessarily be your optionals too.
Please avoid the herd mentality and choose an optional based on
your own considerations.
Therefore, please do not be in a hurry to choose your optionals. A wrong optional is perfectly capable of shattering your dream.
I am sure 'getting optionals right' is an advice, that each one of us has heard many times over and rightly so. After all, optionals account for 60% of the total Mains Marks. My optionals were law and public administration. My reasons for choosing these optionals were:
LAW:
(i) Familiarity with the subject (had studied law for 5 years in college)
(ii) General interest in the subject
The drawbacks of law as an optional are: huge syllabus, random mugging of provisions and cases required, difficult to get good guidance.
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION:
(i) Concise Syllabus
(ii) Can be self studied.
(ii) Paper-II includes part of polity and topics of national and social
issues. Thus, there is some overlap with the GS and the Essay paper
The only drawback I can think of is, lack of materials for paper-II. One has to spend hell lot of time collecting relevant information from diverse sources. Paper-I is slightly technical and can be boring at times.
DO's and DON'Ts
DO's
(i) It makes sense to choose the optional that one has graduated in.
(ii) Interest in the subject matter will make life easier. Therefore,
please choose an optional based on your area of interest.
Interest does not mean that one has to be in love with the
subject. One should be comfortable with an
optional and willing to work hard on it.
(iii) For those, who are opting for subjects that they have not studied
before in college,please look for the availability of
GOOD GUIDANCE and study material.
DON'Ts
(i) There is nothing called a SCORING OPTIONAL.
Either all are scoring or none is. It is as simple as that.
(ii) While there are several popular optionals like PUB AD, GEO,
PSYCHO, SOCIO etc,they need not necessarily be your optionals too.
Please avoid the herd mentality and choose an optional based on
your own considerations.
Therefore, please do not be in a hurry to choose your optionals. A wrong optional is perfectly capable of shattering your dream.
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