Thursday, January 8, 2009

Books For UPSC Prelims General Studies

I have been asked this question again and again and bowing to
popular demand i am sharing the list of books and sources from where
one can prepare general studies from UPSC prelims point of view.The
list by no means is comprehensive but a starting point to get you on
track to clear UPSC prelims.
GS is a vast ocean ,especially for first timers as they have time
constraint plus a very vague idea about what to study and from where
to study.First and foremost ,one has to prepare the core areas and
later on one can try to cover some of the fringe areas as well.GS is not
about preparing everything under the sun (though it comes close to
it)and there is a method to the GS preparation madness.
CORE AREAS
1.Current Affairs : Make daily notes from The Hindu or read current
affairs updates from any monthly magazine(I was a subscriber of
Competition Wizard but hardly read anything other than toppers
interviews) ; Read the diary of events(supplied with The Hindu of 8th
January) and mark all important happenings both national &
international.
Current affairs,needless to say,is worth at least 40-45 marks in GS,so
ignore it at your own peril.(kindly refer my article on current affairs for
more details at www.upsc-prelims.blogspot.com)
2.History : Modern Indian History is important from both prelims and
mains point of view.The best source for me was NCERT social studies
books of classes 8 and 9(Contemporary India is the name of the
book).Just go through the history portions and make notes,it will
hardly take much time and will give you a clear idea of the chronology
of events.One can expect 10-12 questions from modern indian
history(freedom struggle) but be ready for surprises.
I know many people would not be satisfied with only the NCERT
books ,so for those hard to please souls Spectrum's Modern Indian
History booklet will be a good book to read.Even after this if one is not
content then read Bipin Chandra as well ;)
For ancient and medieval India (fringe areas of GS)try to get hold of
Vajiram classnotes or special supplements of Competition Wizard.From
that also focus only on books and authors(eg.Mrichkatikam was
written by Shudraka and Amuktamalyada was written by Krishnadeva
Raya,who was the most famous King of Vijaynagar empire,which was

founded by Harihara and Bukka and so on),Indus Valley sites and

where particular things were found,important kingdoms and their
rulers etc.I will be discussing it in more detail in a later post on Ancient
& Medieval India.
3.Geography : Mostly atlas/location based questions are asked.one
should not miss out on those.Read Ensemble's Geography and also get
a good idea of India and world map.Location of countries,important
rivers,which countries are cut by tropic of cancer/capricorn and
equator etc should be seen on a regular basis from Atlas.
Read India and its states portion from Manorama Year Book.
Note down all important national parks and their locations(which state)
as it is asked often in matching type questions.
4.General Science : Focus more on biology part as that is asked the
most.One can follow Vajiram's class notes or special supplement of
Competition Wizard.In addition one can also refer books- What,Why
and How (3 very thin books) by Publication Division.Or any other
source you are comfortable with.One can also look up important
inventions and discoveries in Manorama Year Book.
5.Polity : Subhash Kashyap's Our Constitution and Our Parliament area
must read.After that one can refer either Vajiram's class notes or Polity
book by Laxmikanth.Generally conceptual questions are asked and one
also needs to know important articles and amendments.For instance
Article-143 is concerned with President of India seeking Supreme
Court's opinion on any important issue and 73rd Amendment Act is
concerned with Panchayati Raj Institutions.
6.General Mental Ability : GMA should not require any extra
preparation as such,but if needed just go through previous years
question papers .This will give you a good idea about the level and
kind of GMA questions asked in prelims and one can then decide how
much time and effort needs to be put into this section.
I look forward to your queries and feedback which you can post in
comments,but please make sure you are posting your queries in my
blog (www.upsc-prelims.blogspot.com)and not at some other site
which might have copied my content.
All the very best !!!