Booklist for CSE

Whenever one thinks of UPSC civil services exams, one gets frightened by the huge loads of books he/she is supposed to read for the exam. You may begin to imagine a room full of books, charts, maps etc. A timetable fully packed with books to be read. An endless stream of books flowing towards you to be read, or else u may get submerged.

However what most of the people who clear this exam, and those who gained enough experience of it will tell you is quite opposite to that- A very pin pointed booklist and multiple revisions. This is my own experience which I would share here, along with some common questions that aspirants generally have.

(Note : If you are beginning to prepare for Civil Services Exam, then I would suggest you to first go through the syllabus. After that you will be in a better position to appreciate the booklist given here. )

Booklist for General studies: 

NCERTs:

1. Geography - 
1. Class 11- Fundamentals of physical geography; Indian Physical environment.
2. Class 12 - Fundamentals of Human Geography; India- people and geography.
2. Polity: 
1. Class 11 - Political theory;  Indian constitution at work; 
2. Class 12 - Contemporary world politics; Politics in India since Independence.
3. Economy: 
1. Class 11 - Indian economic development.
2. Class 12 - Introductory Macroeconomics(Very important); Introductory Microeconomics(not that important).
4. Culture: 
1. Class 11 - An introduction to Indian Art (important)
5. History: 
1. Old Ncerts: Modern India - by Bipin Chandra(Important); India's Ancient Past - by RS Sharma(selective reading with focus on socio-cultural trends), Medieval India - by Satish Chandra(selective reading with focus on socio-cultural trends). 
2. Can read new NCERTs for class 12th (esp the coloured boxes given in them). Class 11 NCERT - Themes in world history can be read for mains exam GS1, though this can be substituted with some notes too.
6. Society: 
1. Class 12 books- Indian Society; Social Change and Development in India.
7. Psychology:
1. Class 12 book - Psychology - selective chapters can be read for GS4 paper. 

Reference books 

1. M Lakshmikant for Indian Polity. This book is a must read for the exam.

2. Shankar IAS for Environment. Though environment section has a high weightage in exam very less questions can be directly answered from this book and more questions are based on current affairs and application of basic concepts. I myself covered environment section from Roman Saini's High Yield Series on environment. (And the good thing is that the playlist has been updated in 2019.)

3. Nitin Singhania for art and culture (but don't spend too much time on this book as return on investment is very low).

4. Brief History of Modern India - by Rajiv Ahir, (Spectrum). This book is a must read for the exam.

5. Sankar Ganesh- Indian Economy; simple and concise to understand basic economic concepts.

6. Lexicon for GS4. I have heard many people using Lukman IAS notes for GS4 so people can follow that as well, but read only one out of the two sources.

Other reference materials:

1. Economic survey. Summary of any coaching institute will suffice but if you get time read the intro and summary for every chapter in survey. Very important for GS3 paper in mains.
2. India year book. few selective chapters- Land and people(have some idea of ); national symbols; and some other chapters mainly for schemes and other recent developments like Agriculture, S&T, Environment etc. (this is mainly for prelims. Don't spend too much time on it).
3. Monthly notes of any one institute. Restrict to just 1, preferably visionIAS. However two concerns here:
1. The notes don't cover all monthly topics and you must keep making your own notes from Newspaper.
2. Some of the topics are not fully covered but dictated in class so as to give edge to students enrolled in their institutes. Hence you must have your own newspaper notes.
4. Value addition material of VisionIAS is a good starting point after you read your NCERTs to make topicwise GS notes for mains.
5. Can read Yojana or dowtoearth if you still have time. But these are not essential. However if there is any environment, S&T, vulnerable section related issue of yojana that can be read. IASbaba summaries can be read for such magazines.
6. For schemes - IAS Parliament's document on govt schemes can be read.(I covered this in group study with 10 mins everyday dedicated for schemes in the last 1 month before prelims).
7. Other government documents' summaries - 2nd ARC reports(take some suggestions from relevant reports and reading summary is better), NITI aayog's Strategy for New India etc. I personally read 2nd ARC report summary of VisionIAS; I read the original document of NITI Aayog as it can be covered fastly and has lots of innovative suggestions which I noted in my notes(its best practices can come handy as conclusions in your GS answers). 

Questions:

Q 1. Whether to make notes for NCERTs or not?

A. Since The NCERT books are quite summarised and much basic in their content, I would not recommend to make notes on most of the NCERTs. 

However, there are few NCERT books whose notes you can make. I personally had made many flowcharts and block diagrams from Sociology NCERTs. Similarly, Fine Arts NCERT has enough factual information which can be made into notes. NCERTs can be used to get proper definitions eg Political theory (class 11), Psychology(class 12). Some International bodies' note can be made from Contemporary world politics(class 12) and so on.

Q 2. Whether to read NCERTs from 6th onwards or only 11th and 12th is enough?

A. It depends on how much time you have. I personally read NCERT books from 6th to 12th class for geography only as I felt it was important for environment section(environment is very crucial in prelims as it is combined paper for civil Services and Forest service). Others I restricted to 11th and 12th class only.

My personal experience is that geography NCERTs from 6th to 10th class are much smaller and can be finished in less time. For other subjects I myself didn't read those NCERTs so I may not be best person to guide here, but personally I feel they are not needed.

If you still feel like reading you can read the "Do you know" boxes plus summary of every chapter.

Q 3. What all sources to refer for current affairs?

A. Sources need to be kept very limited - 1 daily newspaper(either The Hindu or Indian Express), monthly magazine of Visionias for consolidation of month's current affairs, Onlyias youtube channel's editorial analysis and prelims video from newspaper can be listened while eating, walking etc.

I myself read The Hindu before prelims. Before mains I started reading Livemint and for The Hindu editorials I started listening to onlyIAS editorial analysis videos on youtube whenever I was out of my room. After mains, I shifted to Indian Express to get a more neutral viewpoint on issues.

And don't fall in the trap of preparing only current affairs. Remember that out of 100 questions in prelims there are 30-35 questions from basic books and the remaining questions are not directly from your current affair material. So command over basics will give you confidence in exam hall.

Q4. Are these the only material that I read?

A. Ofcourse not. During my prep from 2016 end to 2018 I prepared in Bengaluru in Kerala Samajam IAS Academy and read the crisp notes on history made by our sir Mr. P Gopakumar and Mr Sobhan George Abraham. For Ethics I attended lectures of Satyanarayana sir who is himself a great personality to learn from. I also read from model answers of GS score, ForumIAS and VisionIAS. 

But the material given in this article is quite sufficient for GS preparation given that one has to prepare optional subject as well.

Q5. How much to focus on new material emerging daily in online media?

A. Always whenever you get any new material ask yourself three questions:

1. Is this topic relevant for exam? If yes ask next question.
2. Do you already have a source to read it from? If no then you can go for this material. If yes, then ask the next question.
3. Did any senior/teacher/friend recommend this material? based on credibility of source you can select this material.

Q6. How much to focus on PIB for current affairs?

A. I personally didn't follow it and I feel almost all relevant news are covered in newspapers/ monthly magazines etc. 

Q7. Any specific book for essay?

A. I didn't refer any particular book. However I feel newspaper reading improves our writing skills. Also NCERT Sociology Class 12 books are very helpful for essay writing. And ofcourse discussions with other candidates can help broaden our perspective.

Can ask further queries in comment section...