General Studies (GS) Manual
 |
GS Manual a very thick book containing almost every topic of General
Studies (Geography History, Polity, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc.)
Many publication houses (TMH, Unique,Spectrum,Pearson) release their Manuals.
You should buy atleast one of them. Because after each topic, they
provide hundreds of mock questions, you must solve them to gain
confidence and command over the topic.
If you have not purchased a GS manual, I recommend you get TMH (TataMacgrawhill’s) [***buy the latest Edition***]
Crux of this whole plan is : First read NCERT, then read GS Manual and
at last solve the Mock-questions given at the end of GS Manual.
|
Science and Technology
- NCERTs 7 to 10 (science): Can be downloaded for Free. For English
medium scroll down to the bottom of this article you’ll get the download
links
- for Hindi Medium click me
- For Arts and Commerce grads, the 11-12th science NCERT may appear very tiresome, so leave them.
- GS Manual’s Science and Technology section (the explanations and principles of various things are important, “Why” this or that?) +
the mock tests given in it. If you’ve purchased any Manual, well and
good- just stick to it. But if you’re yet to purchase a GS manual, I
suggest you get TataMacgrawhill’s GS Manual.
- Not much point in mugging up inventors, radius of Saturn’s moons, chem.formulas, Latin names of various plant and animal kingdoms and families etc in the manual.
- The Hindu’s S&T section (can be read online).
- Liberal use of websites such as Howstuffworks and Kids’ Encyclopedia Britannica for time pass.
Economy
 |
- NCERT (10, 11, 12). If you can’t grasp formulas, leave them. Just try to understand the basics only. Download Links @Bottom.
- Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh (TMH Publication) = best “student friendly” book on Economy topics.
- Any one GS Manual’s Economy section + the mock tests given in it.
- Any one Magazine’s Economy section, to be upated with currents (Pratiyogita, CST, Wizard or Chronicle)
- Regular reading of Economy section of newspaper (The Hindu or Indianexpress, whichever you can get.)
- Consult wikipedia and google whenever you encounter any difficult
terminology but donot try to do Ph.D on Economy. You just need to
understand the basic concepts.
|
Polity
History
 |
- NCERT 7 to 10 Social Science. Then NCERT Class 11,12 History.
- GS Manual’s History Section + Mock tests.
- Focus on History of Modern India (1857 and freedom struggle) as it is important topic in Mains GS too.
- If you’ve time, you can use Bipin Chandra
- and Spectrum’s Brief History of Modern India.
- This Spectrum book is also available in Hindi, under the title “Adhunik Bharat kaa Itihas“
|
Geography
 |
- NCERT 7 to 10 (Social Science) then NCERT 11,12 (Geography).
- GS Manual (instead of trying to mug up place-names, concentrate on
clearing concepts and ‘why’ this or that). + Practice mock questions
given in it.
- In Newspapers and Magazines issues, in the National/ International
current affairs: note down the place names and check their location on Atlas.
Environment and Biodiversity (E&B)
- Again NCERT 7 to 10 (Both Geography and Science):
- GS Manual’s science portion
- The Hindu S&T (can be read online).
- Magz : current affairs related to Environment. (without getting into fact-bombing)
- Wikipedia for anything that requires elaboration.
The level of difficulty shown in last years’ paper for E&B, ain’t no point in doing Ph.D.
So I don’t think it is necessary to buy any separate ‘special’ book. |
Empowerment
 |
- NCERT sociology books: Can be downloaded for Free in English Medium OR Hindi Medium
- Magazine current affairs sections to know about various Social sector initiatives.
- (if you’ve time) Yojana, Kurukshetra etc. (but then again no need to get into ‘village/NGO case-studies’) just get the basics.
|
Mock Tests Practice
No amount of preparation is complete, unless you practice some mock questions.Practice the mock
questions given at the end of each topic in your General Studies Manual.
Download NCERT books HERE
