1. It is of tremendous help in GS
2. Being non-technical by nature, it can be opted by students of non-History academic background
3. Standard material is easily available
4. Maximum students in UPSC prelims appear from history and hence the number of students qualifying is also greater. Thus the sincere students having right guidance and focused preparation have better chances of qualifying.
5. History by its very nature is all encompassing and enlightening in nature. Whatever socio-political situation is prevailing today has its roots in history. Thus it gives history students better analytical capability and perspective on important issues of the day. This can be of great help in interview and essays.

Thus in overall analysis history as an optional seems to be appealing. But there are also some problems faced by the students of the subject. The vast syllabus is one major problem. The abundance of material available, in fact, confuses the students and can be counter-productive as far as focused preparation is concerned. As the ancient Chinese scholar Sun Tzu had said “To win, strategy is far more important than weapon”. Thus need is for a strategy which can serve as instrument for optimizing your efforts.

The Strategy

First things first. We should be very clear about what UPSC asks from a student. To understand this, a thorough analysis of the prescribed syllabus in conjunction with previous years question papers is must. This will tell us which topics to focus and to what extent. This will help us to streamline the bulky syllabus to a great extent.

Once we are done with prioritizing our syllabus, next step is to select appropriate books to study. This is a very crucial aspect especially for a history student due to abundance of material available. Thus sifting of essential from unnecessary is vital. Reading selective but standard books on all topics should be the basic idea. Standard books e.g. Bipin Chandra on freedom struggle should be intensively studied. The myth that prelims history is all about cramming names and dates should be laid to rest. The analysis of recent trends shows that need is to synthesize facts with analysis. Thus need is to properly study and understand.

Books written by reputed historians such as Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra, Sumit Sarkar, Bipan Chandra and R.S. Sharma are essential to have proper understanding of various aspects of Indian history. The books of these historians focus on socio-economic, religious and cultural aspects which are being increasingly favoured by examiners. Besides their own books, they have also written books for NCERT. Thus it is very important that one should begin with NCERT books and they should be considered authoritative in case of any doubt or multiplicity of views. For political history some other general books and compiled guides are sufficient e.g. J.L.Mehta's books or Agnihotri's guide for medieval political history are important.

Now comes the most important point which not only helps one in time management but also picking what is relevant, that is, How to Study.

No doubt every student has his/her own way of studying which he has developed over the years, but studying for prelims history might need some modifications in this way. Making pointers from perspective of prelims can go a long way in minimizing effort and time during revision. While studying Indian History maps, an atlas should be used wherever possible particularly in case of ancient India. Very often students are asked to identify marked places on map of India.

Apart from study of prescribed books, students of history should always be vigilant while reading newspapers and magazines. We should note that no set of books can completely cover multi-faceted history of India. So make a small separate notebook to write bits of information related to history gathered from different sources, for example, Sunday supplement of The Hindu contains articles of historian Ram Chandra Guha which can be very informative.

One important aspect of preparation would be to solve model question papers regularly. It would not only give much needed practice but also can add to your knowledge. The introduction of negative marking has made the need of taking mock tests all the more important.

Books

ANCIENT INDIA

1. Begin with Ancient India NCERT 11th std. by R.S. Sharma. Read it thoroughly and make it the base of your knowledge.
2. Ancient India- D.N. Jha
3. Ashoka and the decline of the Mauryas: Romila Thapar
4. The wonder that was India (only relevant chapters on religion and culture): A.L.Basham
5. IGNOU booklets on Pre-historic cultures, Indus valley and Guptas
6. Krishna Reddy's guide: Vedic Age, Buddhism, Jainism and religious movements

MEDIEVAL INDIA

1. NCERT by Satish Chandra
2. Satish Chandra: Medieval India vol-1 and vol-2 (Thorough understanding of all chapters is must)
3. J.L. Mehta: Medieval India vol-1 and vol-2
4. IGNOU booklets on Sufism and Bhakti movement
5. Krishna Reddy and Agnihotri guides (do questions given at the end of the chapters)

MODERN INDIA

1. 8th standard NCERT: Arjun Dev
2. 12th standard NCERT (particularly starting chapters till 1885): Bipin Chandra
3. History of Modern India by Grover and Grover: (chapters on Ranjit Singh, Tipu, Marathas and Governor Generals should be thoroughly studied)
4. Sumit Sarkar: Special focus on socio-religious movement, tribal revolts, caste movements and peasant movements etc.
5. India's struggle for Independence: Bipin Chandra et al. (Indispensable book, study it thoroughly and if possible make pointers for prelims)
6. India after Independence: Bipin Chandra
7. IGNOU booklets

Lastly, history is a subject which not only asks for hard work but also keen interest from the student. One has to love history to master it. After all it is the story of human civilization with all its triumphs and tragedies.

Best of luck!