Booklist for UPSC CSE

This booklist is divided into Prelims and Mains, to give a rough idea about how to proceed. In any
particular topic, start with the Prelims booklist and then proceed towards Mains.

Prelims booklist

1. Polity
a. Laxmikant (No need to make notes, read thoroughly)
b. NCERT- Political Theory (Class 11)
c. Constitution of India- read original texts of important articles

2. History
a. Ancient- Tamil Nadu Board
b. Medieval- Tamil Nadu Board
c. Modern- Spectrum
d. Art Culture- Nitin Singhania
e. NCERTs- New Themes in History Books

3. Economy
a. Mrunal Economy notes (Unacademy)

4. Geography
a. NCERT XI XII
b. PMFIAS (for notes)
c. Atlas (for better understanding)

5. Environment
a. PMF IAS environment notes
b. Bare Acts- texts of various important Acts, legislation’s and rules (Just Skimming
through)

6. Agriculture
a. PMF IAS Cropping pattern Notes
b. Google search and coaching compilations

7. Science and Tech

a. La Excellence compilation/ PT 365
b. Google and YouTube for clarity

Akshat Kumar Singh AIR 428 UPSC CSE 2022

 8. Current Affairs
a. Newspaper- Indian Express (preferable)
b. Current affairs monthly compilation by any institute (Vision magazine free)

9. Test Series
a. Forum IAS Stimulator Tests (10 Tests)
b. Vision Abhyas (3 Tests)
c. Sectional tests of any institute (Forum, Vision good)
d. UPSC past years question papers

Mains Source List

(Along with Prelims Sources)
Instead of focusing strictly on books or sources, try to cover the syllabus point wise from any
source- internet, books, pdfs etc

I. General Studies I
a. History
i. World History- Tamil Nadu Board Book
ii. Art Culture- Fine Arts NCERT
iii. Post Independence- Political Science NCERT (Politics in India since
Independence) + Mrunal’s articles for land reforms

b. Geography
i. Mrunal Geography videos by Rajtanil (update data etc through internet search)
ii. Mrunal articles for location of industries

c. Indian Society
i. Vision Notes

II. General Studies II

a. Polity
i. Vision’s Notes (on topics in syllabus not covered in Laxmikanth- RPA etc)
ii. Political Science NCERT (Indian Constitution at Work)

b. Governance
i. Vision (or any other coaching) notes
ii. Summary of ARC report (GS Score)- for value addition

c. International Relations
i. Websites like prsindia for bills and Acts and IDSA for International Relations

Akshat Kumar Singh AIR 428 UPSC CSE 2022

 ii. any coaching notes
iii. Newspaper IR section - Don't miss their articles: C Raja Ram Mohan (Indian
Express), Rajeev Bhatia (The Hindu)

III. General Studies III

a. Economy
i. Class XI Economics NCERT
ii. Economic Survey
b. Internal Security
i. Vision’s material for internal security
ii. IDSA website for internal Security
c. Disaster Management
i. Vision Material

d. Active reading and linkage of current affairs articles with syllabus

i. Yojana magazine, selectively read Kurukshetra for rural development and
agriculture
ii. NITI Aayog reports’ gist, other govt documents

IV. General Studies IV

a. Any coaching notes (I followed Piyush Kumar Sir’s notes)
b. Active reading and linkage of current affairs articles with syllabus

This is the standard booklist that should be enough to cover the syllabus. However, no source is enough
and newspapers, magazines, government reports etc also play a major role in covering the syllabus and
value addition.

Akshat Kumar Singh AIR 428 UPSC CSE 2022