Is UPSC Law Optional A Good Scoring Subject ???

LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK

2 Jun 2021 12:34 PM IST

  • Is UPSC Law Optional A Good Scoring Subject ???

    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.

    1. You can be a topper with UPSC law optional ( as you see many toppers up there )
    2. Even non- law graduates can be a topper with law as optional if they have interest in law!
    3. Best optional for law graduates in UPSC will definitely be law.
    4. 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.

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