Upsc exam book

The essential book list for UPSC prelims exam.

Geography - Indian Geography by Arvind Kumar ( Periyar publication ) , NCERT class 11 and 12, Goh Cheng Leong.
Both arvind Kumar and goh Cheng Leong are available on amazon.

History - modern India by Spectrum. I think this one book is enough for prelims. If you want to read more than this, go for Shekhar Bandyopadhyay's From plassey to partition. Although a lot of toppers and teachers are recommending Bipin Chandra's indias struggle for independence, I have found it to be unremarkable.

Culture -  Nitin singhania's book ( TMH publications ) Although this one has a few mistakes. So use your common sense while reading it. Class 11 NCERT textbook on fine art is also very good.

Polity - Laxmimant is the holy grail. Don't even think about anything else. Do read this book as many times as possible.

Economy - Class 11 & 12 NCERT textbooks. Economic survey and budget document. Economic survey has become more important in recent years, for mains as well.

Environment - Shankar IAS's book.

Current Affairs - Vision IAS notes, Hindu or express, any one magazine of your choice.

Mock tests - mock tests are very important for prelims. I found Tests of vision ias and insights on India quite good. Don't miss all India open tests conducted by vision ias. That will give you real life assessment of your performance.

One more important area about preparation is India year book. Personally, I haven't found India year book very helpful for prelims or mains. I have never read it cover to cover, although I have used it look up some selected things. I feel that the effort to read this book isn't justified by its incremental utility. I have never found myself at any disadvantage by not reading India year book. But a lot of rankers have argued for it, so it is not a total junk. Therefore, the choice is yours in this regard. A simple thumb rule can be this. Read it only if you have one extra week in your timetable. Don't read it at the expense of something else.

These are the books that I have regularly followed in my preparation and they have never let me down. But this is not the last word. There can be some other books equally good or better than this, and if you are following something else and are comfortable with that, keep it up. No need to jump to something new just because a qualified candidate recommends it.

Thank you.