Physics:

HC Verma (Volumes 1 & 2) - These books are very good for first-time learning of a topic, a must
have for JEE. The objective questions enhance your conceptual understanding while the
subjective questions are nicely ordered, from basic to advanced ones. I had done these wholly.

DC Pandey Series - I practised these to further build on what I had learned from HC Verma. To
cut short of time, I did only the Level 2 exercises. However, I skipped these in class 12 and turned
to other resources for practice.
Irodov - I mainly did the relevant questions of mechanics, thermodynamics, and electrodynamics
sections. I still remember our Physics Sir making us solve the entire Fluids part from there. Fluids
and Rotation specially demand crystal clear concepts, as there is a high probability of tough
questions being framed on these chapters.

Krotov - I mainly did this at the end of Class 11, but only for a brief period. Solved just a few
questions from each section. I still remember taking 1 or 2 questions from this book, which I
could not do and ponder about them, on my way to school in the autorickshaw.
Pathfinder - It is a really good collection of questions with almost every question being
challenging, even the ‘Build Your Understanding’ ones. However, you get a really good sense of
achievement and satisfaction when you solve them, especially the ‘Challenge Your
Understanding’ ones. They also immensely help to build your concepts. However, unlike Krotov
and 200 Puzzling Problems in Physics, the questions of which are very elegant and require
spotting a single elusive concept, after which the question is pretty much done, Pathfinder sums
tend to get pretty lengthy. I mainly did the Mechanics and Thermo part in the break between
11th and 12th, where we get a lot of free time. I remember sitting with the book for entire days,
but still managing to solve only a handful of them. Furthermore, I continued with it in the
Lockdown period, mainly solving the Electrodynamics and Optics parts. Since there is no
‘Solution Manual’ available for it, we used to discuss and post solutions of questions which we
had managed to solve in this AOPS forum:- Math Message Boards FAQ & Community Help .

200 Puzzling Problems in Physics & 200 More Puzzling Problems in Physics (P Gnadig) - I did
these during Lockdown. These are very nice for building concepts. Some questions might feel
very weird at first glance (especially in the 200 PPP one), but are very intuitive.
Miscellaneous - I also used to read theory from Morin and Griffiths. When I had a doubt in a
basic concept, I used to look up Resnick Halliday and Krane. I used to solve InPhO, IPhO, APhO,
EuPhO papers occasionally. I majorly did these papers in the Lockdown period.

(Basically, all I did was Physics in the entire lockdown :))

Chemistry:

Physical

P Bahadur (GRB) - It is a really comprehensive book for theory. If after class, I felt my concepts
were shaky, I used to read that chapter from start to finish, doing all the example problems along
the way. However, I did not do the exercise questions as they were too many in number.

Atkins - It is a very advanced book, but immensely helpful in clearing concepts. I only used it for
some chapters, namely The Properties of Gases, First and Second Law, Atomic Structure and
Simple Mixtures.
Narendra Avasthi - I used it during 11th for solving questions and found it really helpful. The
Level 2 problems, especially are really nice (even better than Level 3, in my opinion) and after
 solving them, I felt very confident in that topic and required no further practice.

Neeraj Kumar - I switched to this book in 12th, mainly because it contained four digit answer
questions, in line with the decimal questions asked in JEE.

Organic

Chittaranjan Bhakta - Recommended by my Chemistry Ma’am, it is a really comprehensive book

for theory, containing almost everything you’ll need in Organic.

Solomons and Fryhle - I used it alongside Bhakta, mainly cause some chapters are well covered
here.

Peter Sykes (Indian version) - It is a nice, short book and very useful in strengthening concepts,
and for in-depth understanding of the reaction mechanisms. After the completion of my
syllabus, I read and completed it. Moreover, it contains really challenging questions but not at all
relevant for JEE. Personally, I used to solve them for fun and derived much pleasure after
managing to solving them.
MS Chouhan - It is the best book for problem-solving and a must solve for Organic. After
completion of each chapter, we used to solve it and our Chemistry Ma’am used to discuss and
solve our doubts.

Inorganic

NCERTs - I cannot overstate the importance of NCERTs here. Most of the questions in the
inorganic section of JEE Adv. come from here.

JD Lee (Adapted by Sudarsan Guha) - I used it only for Qualitative Analysis, Chemical Bonding
and Coordination Bonding which are relevant more or less. Leaving that, there is too much extra
information in this book especially in the block chapters which is not required. Besides, the
exercise questions are really tough and challenging, entirely not relevant for JEE.
KK Wadhwa - After completing a chapter, I used to consolidate it by solving this book, or later
during revision if I felt my certain chapters were weak.

Mathematics:

Arihant Series -Although the class teaching was pretty much enough for maths, I sometimes
referred them for first-time learning of a topic. With ample questions, involving all the possible
patterns asked in JEE Adv, they are sufficient to keep you busy and covered until revision.

Black Book (Vikas Gupta) - It is a good book and I used to solve it in a timed manner during
revision, or whenever I felt I wanted practice in a certain topic.

Sameer Bansal (Calculus) - I really loved this book. A must solve book in Calculus. It contains all
sorts of questions, most of them being tough. If done completely, it can really enhance your
problem-solving skills in Calculus and make every JEE Calculus sum seem easy.

So this was basically it, in terms of books. However, I would like to state that the most important part of
my preparation was played by class notes and coaching packages, besides these books. FIITJEE GMPs,
RTPFs and Review Booklets were as important in giving the final touch.

Regarding questions, I used to solve past-year FIITJEE AITS papers, Allen Score Papers and Sri Chaitanya
GTA papers, easily available on Doubtion , majority of them being done by me in Lockdown. In this

regard, JEE Advanced Archive (past year questions) is indispensable which was majorly done by my
teachers in class itself, as practice. Whenever a chapter was completed, we used to solve it, to get a feel of
what kind of questions come in JEE.

To conclude, the major reason I used so many books was not to do well in JEE but because I really loved
maths and science (physics being my favourite :)). I liked to explore new concepts and learn anything
slowly.

We should never set out with the goal of solving too many books, but according to our instinct, solve
portions of books according to our necessity, which we feel would be helpful. Some time into the
preparation and we can feel ourselves what works out best for us. Lastly, it is very crucial not to rush
through books (That is, Avoiding superficial reading) but to read between the lines to understand what
the author tries to convey, and most importantly to enjoy them and have fun!