ECONOMICS OPTIONAL

Economics optional is generally considered one of the most difficult optional paper choice. The syllabus is vast and is not as scoring as the Sciences and Mathematics. And not to forget, considering the relative competition, people have been doing far better taking subjects such as Anthropology and Literature subjects.
Then why Economics ?
1. With strategic preparation, it provides you a very balanced score. Very limited scope of subjectivity in this paper. Hence one can expect scores to be in the range 275-325 with good preparation.
2. Major overlap with General Studies and Interview preparation. Polity and Economics literally form the major chunk of the UPSC syllabus.
3. Provides a good base score for Personality Test. People taking Economics as their optional always receive appreciation and respect from the Interview Board. Thus tackling few questions respectfully in the board is enough to set a base score of 165 for the Personality Test.


# My Economics score:

CSE 2017	CSE 2018
Economics Paper 1: 158	Economics Paper 1: 159
Economics Paper 2: 149	Economics Paper 2: 155

# Approach:

• One must target 300+ with a balanced score of around 150+ in both the paper.
• One requires around dedicated 5-6 months of preparation. So try finishing the notes and at least one round of reading before the prelims.

# How to prepare:

• Note making and consolidating the models topic wise in your own words is the key. 
• Book list and reading list for related topics in the syllabus are mentioned in the link below for respective paper strategies. 
• During the initial phase, give a general reading of the books. You have to read all the relevant chapters which are mentioned in the syllabus or either a question has been asked in the past.
• Once a first round of reading is done -> start making point wise notes for every topic.
  For eg: In Micro -> Market Structure -> Monopoly related topics can be summarised from Ahuja in around 10 pages. Similarly do that for all the topics. 
• And the most important thing: Do all the past year questions. Do them thoroughly. See the favourite topics of UPSC. Questions and topics will get repeated without fail.
  eg: Knife edge in Harrod etc

# Primary Readings:

Topics	Readings
Microeconomics	Advanced Economic Theory by HL Ahuja
Macroeconomics	- Macro Theory and Policy by HL Ahuja - Froyen
International Trade	International Economics – Trade and Finance by Salvatore
Growth and Development	The Economics of Development and Planning – ML Jhingan
MFM	Macro Theory and Policy by HL Ahuja
Public Finance	- Public Finance by HL Bhatia - Macro by HL Ahuja

ECONOMICS PAPER 1

ECONOMICS PAPER 2