Is UPSC Law Optional A Good Scoring Subject ???
LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK
2 Jun 2021 12:34 PM IST
To check on the analysis on law optional syllabus click here
Let me introduce you to few people
Why suddenly these people? Simply because they are toppers of CSE who had law as their optional subject across various timeline! Yes, law as optional in UPSC can make you a topper. Take a look at the table below:
| MAINS | NAME | AIR | BACKGROUND | LAW OPTIONAL MARKS |
|
2019 |
C.S Jeydev |
5 |
Law Graduate, NLIU |
PAPER 1- 136 PAPER 2-139 TOTAL - 275
|
| 2019 | Kanchan | 35 | Law Graduate | Not available
|
| 2019 | Akarshi Jain | 140 | Law Graduate, NLU - Jodhpur | Not available
|
| 2019 | Ananya Awasti (Aspirant from Lawxpertsmv) | 335 | Law Graduate NLIU | Not available |
| 2019 | Vibha Singh (Aspirant from Lawxpertsmv ) | 493 | Law Graduate, NLU, Lucknow | Not available |
| 2018 | Shubam Gupta | 6 | ECONOMICS, Delhi | Not available
|
| 2018 | Vishali Singh | 8 | Law Graduate NLU, Delhi | PAPER 1 – 151 PAPER 2 – 147 TOTAL – 298
|
| 2018 | Rujutha Bankar (Aspirant from Lawxpertsmv) | 325 | Law Graduate | Not available |
| 2018 | Sparch Gupta | 526 | Law Graduate, NLS, Banglore
| Not available |
| 2018 | Arshdeep Panwar (Aspirant from Lawxpertsmv) | 580 | Law Graduate Faculty of Law, Delhi University | Not available |
| 2017 | Saumya Sharma | 9 | Law Graduate, NLU Delhi | PAPER 1 – 143 PAPER 2 – 144 TOTAL – 287
|
| 2017 | Neha Jain (Aspirant from Lawxpertsmv ) | 14 | Non – law background
Dentist
| Not available |
| 2017 | Taspasya Parihar | 23 | Law Graduate ILS, Pune | Not available
|
| 2017 | Shruti Srinivasan | 356 |
|
|
| 2017 | Preetesh Raman Singh | 205 | NLU, Jodhpur | PAPER 1 – 155 PAPER 2- 148 TOTAL – 303
|
| 2017 | Jayantika Singh | 286 | Law Graduate | PAPER 1 – 164 PAPER 2 – 122 TOTAL – 286
|
| 2013 | Sakshi Shawney | 6 | NALSAR, Hyderabad | PAPER 1 – 124 PAPER 2 -139 TOTAL – 263
|
| 2010 | Divya Darshini | 1 | Law Graduate, School of Excellence in Law | Not available |
The above table is random collection of toppers with the law as their optional it is not an exhaustive list. But yet we can make the following inference from them.
- You can be a topper with UPSC law optional ( as you see many toppers up there )
- Even non- law graduates can be a topper with law as optional if they have interest in law!
- Best optional for law graduates in UPSC will definitely be law.
- You can score around 300 in your law optional
Now let's have a look at official report published by UPSC. Yes! Every year UPSC do give us a report on how an optional performs and what was its success rate. The 69th annual report published by UPSC in 2018-19 is the latest one which gives us the following table.
Law optional had a success percentage of 14.1% in 2017 UPSC Mains. What just 14.1% ? is it good ? For this let us check the inference given under this table by UPSC in the very same report.
Yes! By the latest UPSC annual report law optional highest percentage of successful candidates.
Do you still think law is a low scoring subject?
Although if you check the previous year success rate which may be at times low but many a times law always have high success rate. Even popular optional at times become low performing. And law is no exception we must understand that too. But if you are comfortable with the subject then you can be a topper!
HOW CAN YOU CHECK WHETHER YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH LAW AS OPTIONAL?
PROBLEM 1 : SYLLABUS: Kindly read through the topics of the syllabus. If you are a law student you must feel acquainted with the topics. But if you are a non-law student you must get inquisitive over it.
PROBLEM 2 : RESOURCES:Pick one topic from every subject, read a topic from the standard book of that subject. Say if the topic is Law of Sea, take S.K Kapoor or Malcom and Shaw on International Law and read the given topic. See whether you can understand the concept and retain it. If yes then you can try law.
PROBLEM 3 : PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTION PAPER: Read previous year questions, if you are a law student you must be able to understand the demand of the question. If you are a non- law student you must feel interested in solving these questions.
Do the above self–check before choosing law as optional. In the next article we will tell you how to make Notes for UPSC Law Optional.
