UPSC Prelims Part 1 List of Books

7/27/2019 UPSC Prelims Part 1 List of Books

1/5

I am trying to give you full plan, please follow it religiously. Clearing Prelims is all about doing samethings again and again from a single source, and not running for study material here and there.

1.Indian Polity by M Laxmikant Latest Edition [click]No any second source. Just one book. There is

no alternative to it. You must read it at least 5-10 times. Dont make notes. Its not possible. Read every

line and when u read every chapter, every line 4-5 times, u will remember most of it. here u shud be able

to answer any question that comes from anywhere in the book.

2.Indian History - Spectrum Modern India by Rajiv Ahir[click]. It is a summary ofBipin

Chandra's India's Struggle for Independence. every question in last prelims and before that which

was in "ANSWERABLE" category (some questions are not to be answered by anyone - dont waste time

and energy on finding where those questions came from). The debate over Bipan Chandra vs Spectrum

will be saved for later times.

3.Indian Culture 's Spectrum Book- Culture has become very important. While you must buy this book

as most people buy it, you can also refer to NECRT books on Culture. There are more than one, so if you

can't find them all then buy the above book. It largely covers most culture questions asked in UPSC

Mains+ Prelims

4. Geography - You will need to do 3 books here.

For Principles of Geography Just doGo Cheng Leong - Certificate Physical & Human

Geography[click]line by line 4-5 times - every chapter..dont by-heart, but read closely..only memorise

conecpets. This is the single book for most Geography concepts. Chapters are short and easy to

understand.

Note:- Three topics , namely :-

- Monsoons

-EL Nino

-La Nina
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2/5

is not given very well here, and it is not sufficient from UPSC point of view. You will have to take help

from your geography optional friends and either understand it from them or get their notes.

- Indian geography books (2 of them) 11th & 12th NCERT. Again do 4-5 times. Any question comin

from it should be answerable. Dont be the fool who has read the book but is not able to answer question

from it. if u r not able to answer, it means u r not honest in ur effort. You have to do all of the above.(Not

my Lines; copied from source )

4. Indian economy - For best strategy, you will need to have a two level approach:-

1.TMH Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh[Latest Edition][click] I struggled with Economy for a

long time since I did not have it neither in school nor in college. I struggled with Vajiram Economy tests

and even Khan's Economy questions until I read this book. I am not saying that this is a must read, but it

will give you amazing confidence. It is a must read if you don't have access to Vajiram or any other

coaching teacher. I was able to be in top 50 in Vajiram test series once I had done Economy from here.

What it does not have? - Not good enough for mains.

2. You may want to read either Vajiram Economy class notes OR Sriram's IAS Economy notes . Thiswill help you for both Prelims as well as mains.

Again..reading is to be line by line..every chapter..at least 5-6 times. You will see ur knowledge grow by

leaps and bounds. And GS will be conquerable.

Magazine Read at least one magazine every month - dont change ur magazine - try chronicle or wizard.

You should have all issues of past one year when u write prelims.

To be clear, if we are scoring less in GS, prelims or mains it only because of lack of honest and hard

work. Its not possible to NOT clear prelim after having done all of the above 5-6 times. honest , hard

work discipline is required.
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3/5

Why it is getting difficult is because everyone else is doing it. So if u are not doing it, u lose. I was

scoring around 115-120 in GS paper..So anyone who has not scored that much will say that its not

possible to score that much. But that is what i said when i was near cut -off in my 1st attempt, my seniors

used to get net 70-90 out of 150 questions correct while i got 40-50 correct - i used to say 70-90 is

impossible.

There's no problem with living a double life, it is the triple and quadruple lives that get you in the end. - Yuri Orlov, Lord Of War. | I am not knighted, don't call me Sir

| ReadPosting Rules | Books to Read for Pre | Compromise on everything, but not on Books

Thanked by 2ashutosh_adityaSanjeev0120

GambiTTTOctober 2012Is magazine really necessary?

If it is, how to choose between CST, wizard and chronicle.

When you have a hammer, everything resembles a nail.

NeyawnOctober 2012

Yaar, I used to refer to Chronicle, and almost everyone refers to it only. This time I referred to CST, and

found it very useful. It is structured in a manner that you get most things in a question-answer format.

For example, Chronicle always does too much copy paste from newspaper and it takes too much effort to

extract relevant information from it. CST is more original and authentic and gives unique coverage to

foreign affairs. If you follow it for over 8-10 months, you will know the whole story, and be super

confident. It NEVER misses the smallest news, and takes a pro-India stand usually, which is expected of

us.

Having said that, both Shaleen with 294 in GS and Priyanka Soni , who lived across the street , with

around 280 marks told me that they had read Chronicle religiously in 2010. Rukmani Riyar, again has

preferred CST.

The choice of magazine is really personal. But studying 1 magazine will ensure you don't miss any big

news.

There's no problem with living a double life, it is the triple and quadruple lives that get you in the end. - Yuri Orlov, Lord Of War. | I am not knighted, don't call me Sir

| ReadPosting Rules | Books to Read for Pre | Compromise on everything, but not on Books
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4/5

Thanked by 1m8yvijay

AksOctober 2012Personally, when I read all the suggestions on booklists, I find almost all to be the same. They have to be

because there is no other alternative!Laxmikanth,Spectrum, Bio NCERT, Geography NCERT's etc etc...

What I do feel is that many seniors, of course unintentionally, overburden the newcomers by laying down

some unamendable gospels of perceptual truth like "must read every word"and phrases like such.

I, for one, studied only the important chapters of all the essential books and still it took me 8 whole

months to revise them twice, or maybe thrice. That too, when I clocked a substantial amount of hours

studying. So the point is that if this is your first attempt, then it is quite literally impossible to cover all the

books in entirety.

The key is not to get yourself demotivated, demoralised or depressed during the preparation. It is bound to

happen if you buy 8 new books at one go and try to go at them with the aim of covering everything "word

by word". No, you don't need to know everything!

So, here I will try to enlist the essential chapters and topics of all the most essential books.

Spectrum History

4 chapters cover the entire national movement. A careful reading of these 4 chapters gives one a factual

clarity of what all events occurred, why they occurred and in which particular order did they occur. This,

honestly, is sufficient for the prelims.

The analytical aspect of the book is given in another 4 or 5 chapters. Socio-Religious Movements, Peasant

and Tribal Movement, Press, Economic Aspect. This portion is relevant for mains but it is much advisable

to cover these chapters before the prelims itself as after it noone finds time to read new chapters of

history.

Your history is over in these 8 chapters.

Geography
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5/5

The only books which I read from cover to cover are perhaps the 2 ncerts of Geography. Physical Env and

Fundamental. Apart from them, I did read Goh Cheng Leong to prepare a chart of world vegetation types

and honestly, GCL is the best source to cover the vegetation portion.

Polity

Here again, finishingLaxmikanthfrom cover to cover would require more than 1 attempt. The most

important chapter in that book is "Parliament". It is the most beautiful chapter ever written and covers

each and every aspect in fine detail. Other important chapters are FR, DPSP, Supreme Court, NHRC,

CAG, CVC etc. this is like 50% of the book. That is all I read.

Economy

I relied on Vajiram yellow book and class notes. Nothing much that I can add here. It wasn't my forte

either, just learnt enough to get through.

There it is, an advice is only as good as the mouth it is spoken from. So, take it for what it's worth. I did

manage to get under 100 a few times in Vajiram tests and my probable score in pre was 238. What I feel

is that everyone knows which books to read but very few know what to read from them given the extreme

time constraint that every beginner is under.
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UPSC Prelims Part 1 List of Books