Botany is exceptionally scoring discretionary subjects in the UPSC IAS Mains test. This is one of the discretionary subjects that the UPSC offers competitors in the mains test. Relatively few applicants choose it as it is a specific subject.
The UPSC has Botany as an optional subject in the list of optional subjects containing 48 subjects in total. The Botany syllabus for IAS Exam tests the candidates' ability to understand the subject as science and apply botanical knowledge to ecological problems.
Natural science or you can say Botany is one of the optional subjects that the UPSC offers competitors in the mains test. Very few up-and-comers pick it as it is a particular subject. Be that as it may, there have been a couple of toppers who had taken this optional subject (Gopala Sundara Raj, AIR 5/2011).
