Preliminary Examination
Paper I ‐ (200 marks)
- Current events of national and international importance.
- History of India and Indian National Movement.
- Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
- Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
- Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
- General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.
- General Science.
Booklist
Though list of reference books and materials can run into pages, but considering the approach of UPSC in last 10-15 years, it is advisable to stick to the basic books as mentioned below
GEOGRAPHY
- NCERT GEOGRAPHY 9-12
- Certificate of Physical Geography by GC Leong
- ATLAS (For Map Work)
HISTORY
- A Brief history of Modern India by Rajiv Ahir
- Old NCERT (Medieval and Ancient)
- History of Modern India / Modern India Old NCERT, Class XII by Bipan Chandra
ENVIRONMENT
- Environment by SHANKAR IAS
- NCERT & Current Affairs
POLITY
- Indian Polity by Laxmikanth
- Political Theory -NCERT
CULTURE
- An Introduction to Indian Art – Class XI NCERT
- NIOS Material
- Indian Culture by Nitin Singhania
S&T
- NCERT books
- News Paper reading
ECONOMY
- Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh
- Economy classes from mrunal.org
CURRENT AFFAIRS
- The Hindu Newspaper
- Indian Express Newspaper
- VISION IAS monthly current affairs material
Practice Papers
For prelims appearing in mock tests is always beneficial for the aspirants. One can solve as many numbers of mock papers as possible to get a good score in Paper-I. From 2015, prelims cut off is totally based on Paper-I, as Paper-II is only qualifying in nature. Aspirants are advised to appear in at least 30 to 40 mock papers to assess their preparation. Vision IAS, Insight IAS, Forum IAS are good as far as prelims test series is concerned. One can either enroll, or can easily get all these papers along with solutions from various online sources.
Notes for Prelims
Notes on -Bhakti-sufi Movement-Mughal culture by Ravi Anand, IAS
Prelims notes on history-culture- by Ravi Anand, IAS
GC Leong Part -II by Soumyadip Bhattacharya
NCERT Geography By Ravi Anand, IAS
1 Comment
Rintu Goswami · August 24, 2022 at 12:20 pm
Sir I’m from Purulia district of West Bengal, i will attempt the preliminary for the first time either 24 or 25.. sir one question can i cover the whole syllabus of CSE through self study at Home within 1.5 years preparation? And one more is that sir is it mandatory to read all NCERTS before standard books who are going to appear in 2025 or 24?? Sir Geography er khetre 6 to 12 NCERT porte hobe na 9 to 12?