Psychology optional subject for UPSC
Psychology is one of the optional subjects that is offered by UPSC for the civil service. Examination psychology is defined as the scientific study of the human mind and its function. This especially affects the behavior in the given context. The tricky thing about the subject is that it is considered to be a natural science or social science and also a life science subject. Psychology makes the study and writing answers for UPSC a hard affair but with the focused study and correct guidance, the candidate can definitely excel in this examination.
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Is psychology a good optional subject for the IAS examination?
Psychology is an optional subject that can provide a lot of benefits to the candidates for appearing for the UPSC examination. we know that everything has a positive and negative aspect so is jet as in any other optional IAS examination if a candidate is considering psychology as an optional subject for the preparation of UPSC mains examination and are unable to decide that should they choose the subject as an optional or not then you should read this article the candidate should also list down their strengths and weaknesses so that they can come to a conclusion. a candidate needs to remember that there are ups and downs in every optional subject. It is a candidate’s own approach that they get success or not by choosing any optional subject for the preparation of the IAS examination.
Advantages of choosing psychology as an optional subject
It is important for the aspirants were going to choose psychology as an optional subject to know about the advantages of choosing the subject as there are many optional subjects that a candidate can choose for the preparation of UPSC civil service examination but psychology is one of a subject that has been taken up by a lot of aspirants. Psychology is a theoretical subject and can add good marks to your examination. It is recommended to the students that they should only choose the subjects they are interested in and have a good knowledge or interest. Most of the students who have to cycle early as an optional subject has scored well in the examination. If you are also planning to choose psychology as an optional subject then you should definitely read the below-given points that show the advantage or benefit of choosing psychology as an optional subject.
- Good resources are available for psychology in the market
- Psychology is generally considered an interesting subject and a lot of people are fascinated by the inner workings of the human mind.
- Psychology is a scoring subject because you can use many real-life examples to support your answer.
- Psychology optional subject can be taken up by anyone a candidate need not be graduated in the subject.
- Psychology also helps in ethics papers because most of the time it tends to get philosophical.
- Psychology also helps in certain portions in general studies and the essay paper.
Disadvantages of choosing psychology as an optional subject
Everything has advantages as well as disadvantages there can be a lot of advantages of choosing psychology as an optional subject but there are some disadvantages of choosing the subject as an optional for UPSC. in this article we have mentioned the benefits of choosing the subject is an optional and now we are providing you some points that will tell you what are the disadvantages of using psychology as an optional subject before you choose any subject for the preparation of UPSC mains examination you must go through about every detail of that subject and what values are added by the subject to your scores in the examination.
- This subject definitely puts you in a hard time if you are not interested in this subject for the people having different academic backgrounds.
- Psychology can be hard to follow. This subject has a little overlap with general studies papers.
- The syllabus of psychology is optional and is relatively vast.
What is the strategy to prepare for the psychology optional paper?
A better strategy for the preparation of optional subjects can add good value to your examination and scores. A lot of candidates have appeared for the UPSC examination with psychology as an optional subject and have achieved success. following are some of the strategies that can be helpful for a candidate to prepare for a psychology optional paper in UPSC:-
- the candidate should focus on the basic concepts and they should include definitions.
- The experimental study can be very helpful for the students who are preparing for psychology.
- the candidate should use real-life examples to support their answers as this will boost your performance in the examination.
- the candidate should prepare a flowchart that will help you in understanding different concepts of this paper.
- The candidates should always focus on preparing or practicing for the previous year’s question papers.
- the candidate should always stick to a minimum number of books.
How many candidates choose psychology as an optional subject for the preparation for the UPSC civil service examination?
As per the survey, a total of 193 candidates have opted for the psychology optional out of which 21 candidates have cleared the UPSC civil service examination. following as the success rate of UPSC civil service examination with psychology as an optional subject
| Year | No. of candidates appeared | No. of candidates cleared | Success Rate (%) |
| 2017 | 193 | 21 | 10.9 |
| 2016 | 1061 | 116 | 10.9 |
| 2015 | 238 | 28 | 11.8 |
| 2014 | 373 | 59 | 15.8 |
| 2013 | 348 | 34 | 9.8 |
| 2012 | 1163 | 92 | 7.9 |
| 2011 | 1365 | 143 | 10.5 |
| 2010 | 1139 | 93 | 8.2 |
Who are the toppers of psychology optional subjects?
There are many successful candidates who have opted for psychology as an optional subject in 2011 Dr. Sneha Agarwal has cracked UPSC civil service examination with psychology as her optional subject. The following is the list of candidates who have excelled in the examination with psychology as an optional subject.
| Name | Year | Rank |
| Anurag Jain | 2018 | 24 |
| Manish Kumar | 2017 | 61 |
| Anuj Malik | 2016 | 16 |
| Mitali Sethi | 2016 | 56 |
| Anvesha Reddy | 2016 | 80 |
| Joseph K Mathew | 2016 | 574 |
| Annapurna Garg | 2015 | 68 |
| Ashish Panda | 2014 | 276 |
| Ankita Singh | 2014 | 664 |
| Prabhav Joshi | 2013 | 23 |
| Ravi Ranjan | 2013 | 92 |
| Shena Aggarwal | 2011 | 1 |
| Shubhra Saxena | 2008 | 1 |
| Adapa Karthik | 2007 | 1 |
