Graduation is electrical, no humanities background. I'm leaning PSIR because I already read the newspaper closely, but a friend says Sociology is shorter and more 'scoring'. I know that word is overused.

If you've taken either, what does the weekly load actually look like once GS is also running? Not looking for rank stories, just the honest workload.

I shortlisted both too. What helped me was looking at the last 8–10 years of optional papers (not coaching claims) and seeing which questions I could even attempt after a week of reading a basic intro. PSIR overlaps with GS2/IR, Sociology overlaps a bit with GS1 society and essay. Overlap is real but it's not 'half the GS is done'.

Came here late – I picked Anthro for similar reasons (engineering, wanted a defined syllabus). Whatever you pick, the first month of actual answer writing tells you more than any comparison post. If theory feels like a foreign language after 3 weeks, switch early, not in March.

That's fair. I'll try 10 days of PSIR theory + 2 papers, and keep Sociology as a backup only if I genuinely can't get a foothold.

Just don't pick based on last year's highest scores. Those swing. Pick the one you'll still open in the evening after a full GS day.