Dear all, keeping in mind the time available now and having no prior knowledge of any of these optional subjects - international law, mercantile law, criminology and gender studies. Which of the 2 optional subjects are being most opted by aspirants and those who have passed in recent attempts and are easier in comparison to another.
Someone please help me with this I am really really worried and have got depressed trying to figure out this. I need to complete my form within the next 2 days. Qualifiers and or those who have been in touch with the subjects please guide me.
Other subjects I have opted for are accountancy and auditing, business administrations and us history.
Looking forward for some honest guidance here.
Thank you

Among International Law, Mercantile Law and Criminology, you can opt only one as they all belong to the same group. If you have to choose one among them then Criminology is a clear choice. The reason for this is the paper usually is bookish and straightforward and it's giving good scores since its introduction in CSS. You can also go for the other two only if you have an interest in it, if not, go for Criminology.

Gender study is a good subject too but, as I always say, go for it if you have an aptitude for the subject and have an interest in. The scoring trend is okay-ish and syllabus is also moderate mean not too short or not too long.

Rest, the choice is purely yours as no one knows your strengths and weaknesses better than yourself. The best way is to go through the syllabus of all the subjects you want to opt, then have a look at its past papers, if you can understand 40 % of it then go for it.

Thank you for the detailed reply sir. But what I heard and read that criminology is being targetted recently and chances of it being taregetted in the next attempt are highly likely. So how far is that true??
And if that’s true then I’ll be left with international law and mercantile law. Which one should I opt for then keeping in the mind the length and complexity of syllabus.

In CE-2019, aspirants have managed to fetch 80+ in Criminology whereas International Law has been slaughtered ruthlessly by FPSC this time. International Law is not scoring from last two years. Its syllabus is lengthy, vast and when you start preparing it, you will find it quite boring and dry subject. Moreover, if you don't support your answers with case laws then you can't get more than passing marks in it.
Criminology has proven to be the safest and simplest choice till now but as majority is likely to switch from International Law to it, there are high chances that it may get targetted this time.
You can't grasp Mercantile Law unless you have some prior knowledge of Contract Act, Company Law, Negotiable Instruments Act etc. and you cannot write on your own in this paper. Even Muslim Law & Jurisprudence is much easier and shorter than Mercantile Law.
If you are opting IR then despite the fact that International Law overlaps IR, you should not go for International Law. On the contrary, if you are choosing Political Science then Constitutional Law is the straight and clear choice for you.

Mubashar Khattak is quite right, and as I said it as well, Criminology is a safe choice as compare to the other three subjects. It can be covered in a short time and if you prepare it well enough, it can get you a good score.

So from what you’ve written I get this feeling that criminology is the only safest option I have when it comes to preparing for the paper among the three options I have regardless of it being on the hit list in this attempt. I guess I’ll just go for gender studies and criminology then among the other three optionals I have, Accountancy business administration and us history. Okay?:/

Do you know of any good resources for gender studies and criminology.

May Allah help us all.

There isn't a safe optional (except for regional languages)

International law and Gender studies were regarded as two evergreen subjects, and both were low scoring in 2018 and 2019.

Criminology has yet to be targeted..maybe 2020 is the year..who knows?

So from past experiences and trends which one do you think is the easiest to study?

Subject being targeted is an altogether different thing because I don’t have much of of an option anyways now.

I can only pray that it does not. But I need to chose the optional which I can at least be able to cover during this time. Posts above from my seniors here made some sense as to take the law subjects i need to have some prior knowledge.

So according to you which one is that. Gender studies, criminology, mercantile law or international law.

It's a gamble..but i think gender and i.law 'could' be easier and higher scoring this time just on the basis that they were low scoring in 2018 and 19..A subject getting targeted 3 years in a row is rare. Its similar to how geography was brutally hit in 2016 and 17 but in 2018, most of the scores were 70+.

Again its all guesswork...maybe the examiner sees this post and targets the two subjects again just to teach a lesson

Go for a subject which you find interesting and have aptitude for.