Weapons to face CSE Prelims - Paper one

The Civil Service Examinations is  conducted by UPSC in three stages : Prelims,Mains and Personality Test. The Prelims stage consists of two papers : General Studies and Aptitude. This Aptitude paper has been made a qualifying one (33 percent is enough) and  so we need not bother much about Paper II. The General Studies paper conducted for 120 minutes will decide whether we are qualified enough for the next stage- Mains.This General Studies paper consists of 100 questions spanning diverse domains from tribal dances to biotechnology. An indicative list of books and materials needed to prepare for each domain is given below :

1. Polity

a.Indian polity by Laxmikanth
b.NCERT book - Indian constitution at work - Eleventh std.

2. Ancient India

Old NCERT book by Ram Sharan Sharma. The new NCERT book is very good for school students but does not have enough fodder material for our exam preparation.

3.Medieval India

Old NCERT book by Satish Chandra.

4.Modern India

a.Old NCERT book by Bipan Chandra
b."India's struggle for Independence" by Bipan Chandra
 c.A shortcut to the above book is Spectrum Publication's Modern India.

5. Culture

a.Old NCERT books mentioned above have good coverage of ancient and medieval Indian culture.
b. NCERT Introduction to Indian Art.
c. ccrtindia.gov.in . This website can be used to access information on visual arts,performing arts and literary arts.
d.GKToday PDFs
e.special focus on UNESCO World Heritage sites in India

6.Geography

a.NCERT XI,XII - Indian geography,Physical Geography,India people and economy and Human Geography
b. Gohcheng Leong's book on Physical and Human Geography-
c.Govt annual report on Agriculture
d. The above was enough once upon a time. But of late, geography questions have gotten esoteric and tougher. So ,it is better to do a selective reading of Spectrum's guide on Geography as well as D.R.Khullar's book on Indian geography

7. Environment

a. Shankar IAS Academy's book on environment
b. Environment - From crisis to cure - Oxford publications.
c. Government's annual report on Environment and Forests
d. Google,Wikipedia and The Hindu - the holy trio for environment.It is better to cross-check key points in Wikipedia with official websites (Kyoto protocol,Ramsar convention etc)
e. Special focus on Critically Endangered species, endangered species,species native to India, geography of national parks and biosphere reserves
f. India year book - relevant chapters

8.Economy 

a.Economic Survey
b. Union budget - key provisions
c. Indian economy by Ramesh Singh
d. NCERT - Introductory Micro and Macroeconomics, Indian economic development
e. Mrunal's articles : http://mrunal.org/economy
f. Indian economy - key concepts by Shankar Ganesh
g.India year book - relevant chapters


9.Science and Technology 


a. NCERT 8,9 ,10,11 and 12 for basics, special focus on Biology
b. Google,Wikipedia and The Hindu - Holy trio once again
c. GK today PDFs for a basic outline on what kind of topics to study
d. India year book - relevant chapters

Extra links and sources

1.www.mrunal.org - one stop shop for so many of our exam queries and articles. I began preparation here. Economy articles are especially simple and easy to read. Check out the Downloads section for to download NOS or IGNOU materials.

2.www.insightsonindia.com - Another wonderful website. Explore it.

3.www.prsindia.org- Very useful to track legislations passed and pending in parliament.

4. Current affairs related to all of the domains above can be covered in The Hindu. Economy related news can be read with extra attention in Business Standard newspaper online.

 I will share list of books/material needed for GS mains and political science optional as well in the coming days.