UPSC Mains Optional Subject Syllabus 2026: Download Previous Paper PDF, Important Topics

UPSC Optional Subjects 2026: The UPSC conducts the Civil Services Examination (CSE) every year which includes the three step selection process. The three stages are: Preliminary examination, Mains examination, and Interview. The candidates who will qualify the Prelims will be eligible to appear for the Mains examination.

The UPSC CSE Mains is a descriptive exam which involves a total of 9 papers including two languages, one essay, four General Studies, and two optional papers. The list of optional subjects is being provided by the Commission so that the candidates can select the subject of their choice. One must choose the subject according to their interest and should also see whether they can score in it or not. The candidates should download the syllabus of each optional subject of their choice and read it thoroughly to make the final decision. The candidates can download the UPSC CSE Optional Subjects Syllabus from this page. 

UPSC Optional Subjects Syllabus 2026

With so much fierce competition in the civil services exam, the candidates need to choose the UPSC optional subjects for the IAS Exam with proper research and analysis to avoid any sort of inconvenience in the future. To guide you better in choosing the best optional subject for the UPSC exam, we have provided the list of optional subjects alongwith their syllabus.

UPSC Optional Subject List

Candidates must choose the UPSC optional subject based on their skills, interests, and educational background. The list of options prescribed by the commission has been given here. There are a total of 48 optional subjects which includes 25 traditional subjects and 23 literature subjects. These have been uploaded by UPSC from which the aspirants can pick any one of the optional subjects from the prescribed list as shared below:

• Agriculture

• Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science

• Anthropology

• Botany

• Chemistry

• Civil Engineering

• Commerce and Accountancy 

• Economics

• Electrical Engineering

• Geography

• Geology

• History

• Law

• Management

• Mathematics

• Mechanical Engineering

• Medical Science

• Philosophy

• Physics

• Political Science and International Relations

• Psychology

• Public Administration

• Sociology

• Statistics

• Zoology

• Literature

UPSC Optional Languages in Literature

Candidates can pick and choose any subject as their optional, even though they didn’t have studied it in their lifetime. Candidates can also choose from a list of Literature subjects. The list of languages as prescribed by the Commission under the Literature subject includes Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, and English.

UPSC Optional Subjects Syllabus 2026 Download PDF

In order to select the best optional subject for your UPSC CSE journey, it is advisable to go through the syllabus of each subject of your preference. This will help you in understanding the subject in a gist and you can see whether those topics interest you or not. Based on an informed choice, choose your optional subject. Download the syllabus PDF here.