BPSC Optionals

BPSC Mains Exam Pattern

The BPSC Main Exam have a qualifying paper General Hindi. Apart from this, there will be General Studies Paper 1 (GS-I), General Studies Paper 2 (GS-II) and Essay Writing carrying 300 marks each. There will be an Optional Paper that the candidate has chosen earlier while filling the Application Form. The Optional Paper carries 100 marks. From 68th BPSC Mains, optional paper will be qualifying in nature.

Important Points:

• General Hindi Paper is qualifying in nature (30 % Marks required), Its marks will not be considered in the calculation of merit list.
• Questions of General Studies are available in Hindi and English both.
• The score will be arrived at by considering the total of 900 marks in GS Paper 1, GS Paper 2 and Essay Paper.
• The candidates who are placed suitably in the merit are called for the interview.
• There is no negative marking in the descriptive question papers.
• Candidates need to attempt all the papers to qualify for the Interview round.
• This round is both scoring and qualifying in nature.

1. List of Optional Subjects in BPSC 

1.1. Optional Subjects in BPSC Syllabus are:

1. English Language and Literature

2. Urdu Language and Literature

3. Hindi Language and Literature

4. Persian Language and Literature

5. Arabic Language and Literature

6. Pali Language and Literature

7. Maithili Language and Literature

8. Bangla Language and Literature

9. Sanskrit Language and Literature

10. Chemistry

11. Sociology

12. Physics

13. Agriculture

14. Statistics

15. Botany

16. Zoology

17. Philosophy

18. Political Science and International Relations

19. Psychology

20. Public Administration

21. Labour and Social Welfare

22. Management

23. Mathematics

24. Mechanical Engineering

25. Geography

26. Geology

27. History

28. Law

29. Civil Engineering

30. Economics

31. Commerce and Accountancy

32. Electrical Engineering

33. Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science

34. Anthropology

(Download) 66th BPSC Mains Optional Paper PDF 

BPSC Mains Syllabus PDF for Optional Subjects

2. MOST POPULAR OPTIONAL SUBJECT

A total number of 37 optional subjects are available for the aspirants to choose for bpsc mains exam. First of all i am going to enlist some most popular optional subject among bpsc aspirants for bpsc mains exam. Here most popular means, these subjects are widely chosen by the aspirants for mains exam.

• Geography
• History
• Public Administration
• LSW
• Sociology
• Hindi Literature
• Anthropology

Now in the succeeding paragraphs i am going to discuss merits of some most popular optional subjects. This discussion will make you comfortable for choosing right optional subject for bpsc mains exam.

2.1 GEOGRAPHY

• Geography has a definite syllabus and questions are being asked strictly as per syllabus.
• You are not required to mug up everything in geography. Just try to build concept.
• Analytical power must be high for preparing geography as an optional.
• You must be capable enough to link current affairs associated with geography along with core geography subject. Better understanding of mapping is also needed.
• Geography is a semi scientific subject, hence it is highly popular among engineers, doctors and science background students.

2.2 HISTORY

• This is the most popular subject among bpsc aspirants.
• Every aspirants have some basic knowledge of history as everyone study the same in school.
• History is interesting subject as well as highly scoring.
• History needs more understanding and interpretation. Aspirants need to Link concept with facts in the answer sheet.

2.3 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

• Public Administration has a small and definite syllabus.
• Because of small syllabus, this optional subject can be covered in 6 months time duration.
• Can be prepared with self study and need not to take any special coaching for preparing public administration.

2.4 LSW

• Just like public administration, LSW also has a small and definite syllabus.
• LSW optional subject can be covered in less time duration compared to other optional subjects.
• Notes are readily available for LSW and can be prepared with self study.

2.5 SOCIOLOGY

• Sociology is easy to understand and highly scoring as well as interesting.
• Sociology covers the topic of humanity and society and we are a part of the same society.
• It requires the ability to distinguish between abstract theories and concepts.

2.6 HINDI LITERATURE

• The syllabus of hindi literature is limited and static.
• Preparation of Hindi literature is interesting and also fun to read.
• You will have to face less competition in hindi literature compared to other most popular subjects due to less number of candidates with hindi optional.
• If you are going to write mains exam in hindi medium, then hindi literature is worthy for you.

2.7 ANTHROPOLOGY

• Small syllabus as well as interesting.
• Anthropology is semi scientific subject, thus popular among science background aspirants.
• Candidates can use diagram to memorize topics easily.

3. BENEFITS OF CHOOSING POPULAR OPTIONAL SUBJECTS

I mentioned in the beginning about 37 optional subjects available for bpsc mains exam. I strongly believe that all optional papers are good and, scoring good marks depend on quality of the content. Still some optional papers are most popular among candidates. Let's see the benefits of choosing most popular optional subjects.

• Study material like books, notes, etc are readily available in respect of popular optional subjects.
• If you want to prepare your optional with the help of some coaching, then coaching are also available for popular optional subjects.
• Since lot of aspirants keep these optional paper in mains exam, you will find many people available for discussion and for group study.
• Most popular optional subjects like History, Geography, Political Science etc have a lot of overlap is general studies paper.

4. OPTIONAL SUBJECTS BASED ON GRADUATION SUBJECT

Many people who have graduated or done masters in some subjects choose the same subject as optional paper in bpsc mains exam. This is a plus point for those candidates, because these candidates are already familiar with the  subject and need not to put up much effort in preparing optional. If a candidate has done graduation in humanities subjects then that is very helpful as most of the popular optional subjects as mentioned above are from arts subjects. So if any candidate is pursuing Graduation or Masters in any arts subjects and desire to prepare for bpsc exam then it is advisable to study that subject seriously. Most of the syllabus of bpsc optional subject and graduation subject is similar.

5. COMMON MYTH ABOUT OPTIONAL SUBJECT

• The first myth is, most popular and scoring optional is nothing to do with bpsc exam. It is only a perspective. Numerous examples are available that many people cracked this exam with good rank even with the not so popular optional subjects.
• There is some myth that some optional papers are easy for bpsc . In my opinion it is not true at all. The hard work and efforts put forward by a candidate in any optional subject make that optional subject easy and scoring. Hence it is suggested that, choose the optional subject based on your interest and educational background and not on the criterion of highly scoring or popular one.

6. CRITERION TO CHOOSE OPTIONAL SUBJECT

Now let's see some criterion you must keep in mind while deciding your optional subject. These criterion are as follows.

• The optional subject should enthuse you.
• Should not bore you.
• The optional subject should make you think out of the box.
• Study material in respect of that optional subject must be easily and readily available.

7. ROLE OF COACHING TO PREPARE OPTIONAL SUBJECT

My personal experience suggest that many candidates qualified this prestigious exam without taking help of any coaching in respect of general studies as well as optional paper. If you have a strong will power and ready to take challenges, then you can qualify without coaching. If your optional is from science background then the help of coaching can be sought. Take proper care before joining any coaching. Research on it and join that coaching which completes your optional syllabus in a time bound manner.

8. NOTES FOR OPTIONAL SUBJECT

This is the most important aspect of optional subject preparation. Prepare your own hand written notes strictly based on optional syllabus. For better understanding please prepare notes in pointwise format and also use as simple language as you can. You should take help of ncert books, reference books, other printed notes, internet, YouTube etc for notes preparation.

9. CONCLUSION

Optional subject play a vital role in selection process. Hence due care is to be taken while choosing optional subject. Do proper research before taking any decision. I hope i have clarified every aspect of information related to optional subjects. Feel free to comment on my article for any further doubts. You are also welcome to comment on my blog to make it make reader friendly. 

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