Terms of Use

Last updated: 2 July 2026

These are the terms for using studyoptional.com. By using the site you agree to them. We've kept them short and readable.

The free knowledge stays free

Our past-paper solutions and guide chapters are free to read, with no account required, and we intend to keep them that way. You're welcome to study from them and share them — if you share, please link back to the source rather than re-hosting copies.

Accounts and the practice portal

You can sign in with a magic link sent to your email — there's no password to manage. Signing in is open to everyone. Please use the service as a genuine learner: don't scrape, bulk-download, or republish our solution bank wholesale, and don't try to break or overload the service.

Paid features

Paid features are live. You can buy a CSAT Pass — a one-time pass for our personalised CSAT practice engine — with payment handled securely by our partner Razorpay. It's a one-time payment: no subscription, and nothing auto-renews. The personalised daily-practice portal for Mathematics optional is currently free for everyone through the 2026 Mains; it becomes a paid product after this year's Mains, and we'll say so clearly before that changes. Before you pay for anything you can read our clear Refund policy — you'll never be charged under terms you couldn't read first. Our service is delivered digitally and immediately — see our Service Delivery policy.

An honest disclaimer

We built this to help you practise well and prepare seriously. But preparation is not a promise. We do not guarantee selection, a particular rank, or any score. Your result depends on your own work and many things outside anyone's control. Anyone who guarantees a UPSC outcome is selling you something; we won't do that to you.

Who owns what

The UPSC past-year questions are public examination material and belong to the examining body. The solutions, explanations, figures, and guide we write around them are ours — please don't pass them off as your own work or republish them at scale without asking. Quoting and studying are, of course, exactly what they're for.

Service provided as-is

We work hard to keep the content correct and the site available, but it's provided "as is," without warranties. To the maximum extent permitted by law, studyoptional.com is not liable for losses arising from your use of the site. If you find an error in the mathematics, tell us at [email protected] — we want to fix it.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of India, and any disputes fall under the jurisdiction of the courts of India.

studyoptional.com is operated by STUDY OPTIONAL, a proprietorship registered under India's UDYAM scheme.