Is UPSC Law Optional A Good Scoring Subject ???

To check on the analysis on law optional syllabus click here Let me introduce you to a few peopleWhy suddenly  these people? Simply because they are toppers of CSE who had law as their  optional subject across various timelines! Yes, law as optional in UPSC can make  you a topper. Take a look at the table below:

MAINSNAMEAIRBACKGROUNDLAW OPTIONAL MARKS
2019C.S Jeydev5Law Graduate, NLIUPAPER 1- 136    PAPER 2-139    TOTAL – 275
2019Kanchan35Law GraduateNot available
2019Akarshi Jain140Law Graduate, NLU – JodhpurNot available
2019Ananya Awasti (Aspirant from Lawxpertsmv)335Law Graduate, NLIUNot available
2019Vibha Singh (Aspirant from Lawxpertsmv)493Law Graduate,    NLU, LucknowNot available
2018Shubam Gupta6ECONOMICS, DelhiNot available
2018Vishali Singh8Law Graduate NLU, DelhiPAPER 1 – 151    PAPER 2 – 147    TOTAL – 298
2018Rujutha Bankar (Aspirant from Lawxpertsmv)325Law GraduateNot available
2018Sparch Gupta526Law Graduate, NLS, BangloreNot available
2018Arshdeep Panwar (Aspirant from Lawxpertsmv)580Law Graduate     Faculty of Law, Delhi UniversityNot available
2017Saumya Sharma9Law Graduate, NLU DelhiPAPER 1 – 143    PAPER 2 – 144    TOTAL – 287
2017Neha Jain (Aspirant from Lawxpertsmv)14Non – law background DentistNot available
2017Taspasya Parihar23Law Graduate     ILS, PuneNot available
2017Shruti Srinivasan356 Not available
2017Preetesh Raman Singh205NLU, JodhpurPAPER 1 – 155    PAPER 2- 148    TOTAL – 303
2017Jayantika Singh286Law GraduatePAPER 1 – 164    PAPER 2 – 122    TOTAL – 286
2013Sakshi Shawney6NALSAR, HyderabadPAPER 1 – 124    PAPER 2 -139    TOTAL – 263
2010Divya Darshini1Law Graduate, School of Excellence in LawNot 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.

https://www.upsc.gov.in/content/69th-annual-report

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.

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