UPSC Exam Mock Tests and Books

UPSC Books

The UPSC Prelims, being an entirely objective type of paper would need a separate set of

book lists and the UPSC Mains, being entirely subjective in its nature would need its own.

Therefore, in this section of the blog, I have mentioned the names of all the important

books for UPSC according to the different phases and subjects of the UPSC CSEs.

I have started with the NCERT books for UPSC. Here’s the list:

Best NCERT books for UPSC

Listed below are the best NCERT books for UPSC according to the various subjects of the

UPSC exam (of both Prelims and Mains Phases)

NCERT Books for UPSC- General Studies Paper I

1. NCERT books for UPSC for History:

History: NCERT Class 6: Our Past

History: NCERT Class 7: Our Past – 1

History: NCERT Class 8: Our Past 2 and 3

History: NCERT Class 9: India and the Contemporary World – I

History: NCERT Class 9: India and the Contemporary World – II

History: NCERT Class 10: World History

History: NCERT Class 12: Indian History – 1

History: NCERT Class 12: Indian History – 2

History: NCERT Class 12: Indian History – 3

2. NCERT Books for UPSC about Indian Society:

Indian Society: NCERT Class 6: Social Science: Social & Political Life I

Indian Society: NCERT Class 7: Social Science: Social & Political Life II

Indian Society: NCERT Class 8: Social Science: Social & Political Life III

Indian Society: NCERT Class 11: Sociology: Understanding Society

Indian Society: NCERT Class 12: Indian Society

You can also refer to class 12th Sociology book.

3. NCERT Books for UPSC for Art and Culture:

Art & Culture: NCERT Class 11: An Introduction to Indian Art

Art & Culture: NCERT Class 11: Living Craft Traditions of India (Chapters IX & X)

4. NCERT Books for UPSC for Geography:

NCERT Class 6: The Earth Our Habitat

NCERT Class 7: Our Environment

NCERT Class 8: Resource and Development

NCERT Class 9: Contemporary India – I

NCERT Class 10: Contemporary India – II

NCERT Class 11: Fundamentals of Physical Geography

NCERT Class 11: India Physical Environment

NCERT Class 12: Fundamentals of Human Geography

NCERT Class 12: India People and Economy

NCERT Books for UPSC- General Studies Paper II

1. NCERT IAS books for Polity

Polity: NCERT Class 9: Political Science – Democratic Politics Part – 1

Polity: NCERT Class 10: Political Science – Democratic Politics Part – 2

Polity: NCERT Class 11: Political Science – Indian Constitution at Work

Polity: NCERT Class 11: Political Science – Political Theory

Polity: NCERT Class 12: Political Science 1 – Contemporary World Politics

Polity: NCERT Class 12: Political Science 2 – Politics in India since Independence

NCERT Polity: you should read the Class 9 to class 12 polity IAS books in detail, with a special focus on the ones of the 11th and 12th class. (out of which cover the topic of World Politics, if time permits).

NCERT UPSC Books – General Studies Paper III

1. NCERT UPSC Books on Economy

Economy: NCERT Class 9 Economics

Economy: NCERT Class 10: Understanding Economic Development

Economy: NCERT Class 11: Indian Economic Development

Economy: NCERT Class 12: Introductory Microeconomics

Economy: NCERT Class 12: Introductory Macroeconomics

2. NCERT UPSC Books for Science & Technology

Science: NCERT Class 6

Science: NCERT Class 7

Science: NCERT Class 8

Science: NCERT Class 9

Science: NCERT Class 10

Science: NCERT Class 11: Chemistry: Unit 14 and Biology: Units 4 & 5

Science: NCERT Class 12: Chemistry: Unit 16 and Biology: Units 8, 9 & 10

3. UPSC Books of NCERT for Environment & Ecology

Science: Class 12: Biology: last four Chapters (13 – 16)

For the subject of Economics, you can refer to the NCERT books of class 9 to 12. However,

if you are familiar with the basics of the subject already, reading from the economics

books of class 11 and class 12 (macro & micro both) would be sufficient.

For the subject of science, you should refer to the textbooks of class 9 and 10. That

should be good enough for your IAS exam preparation.

NCERT UPSC Books – General Studies Paper IV

1. Subject of Ethics: NCERT Class 12: Psychology: This is not too significant from the

exam perspective; however, you can go through this IAS book for the basics. However,

remember to read selectively.

Best UPSC Books for IAS Prelims

In the IAS prelims round there are 2 papers and both are objective type in nature. That

means both have multiple-type questions with negative markings for each wrong answer.

Best UPSC Books for IAS Mains

If you are able to clear the Prelims stage of the IAS exam, then you’d have to appear for

the Mains. In the IAS Mains, there are 9 subjective type papers out of which 2 are subjects

that you can choose from. 

These are all the list of books that I have for you as far as the Prelims and the Mains

rounds of the UPSC are concerned. However, there are 2 optional subject papers in the

Mains exam that would require you to read from the books pertaining to the particular

subjects of your choice. Let’s now look at the other essential study material from which

you’d have to read apart from all the books that I have already mentioned above:

1. 2nd ARC Report

2. Economic Survey (Latest)

3. Budget (Latest)

4. Finance Commission Report (Latest)

5. Annual reports by central ministries

6. Current Affairs

The Hindu Newspaper

Yojana Magazine

Press Information Bureau Releases

7. Niti Aayog Action Agenda

Benefits of Solving UPSC Mock Tests

The immediate benefit that you’d notice after solving the UPSC mock tests and previous

years’ papers is that you’d be able to commit the exam structure to your memory.That would

in turn facilitate your understanding of things such as the sections to attempt first and

the ones to leave out for later, based on your strengths and weaknesses.

The next benefit is an obvious one. More practice would mean better speed of comprehension

and the ability to solve more in littler time

The next one is that with greater practice you’d be able to tell the questions that would

be asked in the actual exam, from the ones that are not as likely to be asked.

One important benefit would be that you’d be able to easily decipher questions on the

basis of their difficulty levels and the topics they encapsulate.

With greater practice, it would become easier for you to gauge your performances segment-

wise, subject-wise, and level of difficulty-wise. You’d also get to clearly compartmentalize

your strong and weak points according to the topics and segments.

Solving more and more UPSC mock tests and previous years papers would make your moves more

instinctive while marking the right answers while attempting the objective-type questions.

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