Best Books for SSC CGL Exam – Complete books list

In this post we will discuss books for SSC CGL Tier 1, if you came here looking for Tier 2 details – go to this link. Also, before reading this post, I hope you are aware of the basic SSC CGL notification details.

Here we will discuss the important or Best books for SSC CGL Exam.

Don’t Waste your time on internet free things Just buy these books and Start practice bcz only practice make you to score higher in the exam.

A large number of candidates are preparing very diligently for it. You may be talented. But without hard work, you will go nowhere.

SSC CGL Paper Pattern

It is better to actually read and practice a few good books than to download several and read none. I take it that the only reason you are continuing to read this post is because you really want to know about SSC CGL Tier 1 books!

But before you buy books, it is important that you know about the SSC CGL Exam syllabus and the SSC CGL exam paper pattern. In case you know it, very good. Otherwise, just go through those links.

Let us proceed now. I’ll take you through a brief summary of SSC CGL books suggestions, and them we will look at the books section wise.

Safest SSC CGL Books — If You Are Confused

If you are really in a hurry and can’t read the whole post, I am providing a summary of the best books in one place. You can not go wrong with these books.

But if you can read the sections, you will find a good comparison of multiple books.

At the time of writing this post, Amazon had the best deals (zero shipping charges on a number of popular books). So be sure to compare the prices on Amazon and Flipkart before you order. I have provided links for both wherever available.

Section Books Flipkart  Amazon 
Math/Quant Arihant’s Fast Track Objective Arithmetic Buy Buy
English Objective General English by S P Bakshi (Arihant) Buy Buy
Reasoning Analytical Reasoning by M K Pandey Buy Buy
General Awareness Manorama Yearbook 2016 (English) Buy Buy
Previous Years Solved Papers Arihant’s SSC CGL Solved Papers (2010-2015) Buy Buy

Books for SSC CGL Quantitative aptitude section

 

Math is not very easy as well as not a very tough task. If you practice a lot then it is easier than anything else. So, forget everything just practice.

What’s Your Level Book Recommended Flipkart Amazon
Superb fundas and need little practice NCERT books Download NCERT books from the links above
Okay fundas and need to practice Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations (R S Aggarwal) OR Buy Buy
Arihant’s Fast Track Objective Arithmetic Buy Buy
Need help with fundas Magical Book On Quicker Maths Buy Buy

Quantitative Aptitude Bonus Section — What To Study & From Where

We have also compiled this fantastic table for you which has details on how to study.

NOTE: Use the NCERT book (link above) and the book you decided to buy. I have only written R S Aggarwal because more people use it. In case you are buying Arihant, use it wherever I have suggested Aggarwal.

Chapter Topics Books To Refer
Number System
  • Divisibility
  • LCM and HCF
  • Fractions & Decimal fractions
  • NCERT Class 7 Chapter 2, 9
  • NCERT Class 10 Chapter 1
  • M.Tyra Chapter 4,7,8, 9 and 12
Basic Mathematics
  • BODMAS
  • NCERT Class 8 Chapter 1
  • Surds and indices
  • NCERT Class 8 Chapter 12
  • NCERT Class 9 Chapter 1
  • M.Tyra Chapter 11
  • Square & Cube Root
  • NCERT Class 8 Chap 6 and 7
  • M.Tyra Chapter 5 & 6
Algebra
  • Linear equation
  • Graphs of Linear Equations

 

  • NCERT Class 8 Chap 2 and 9.
  • NCERT Class 9 Chap 4
  • NCERT Class 10 Chap 3
  • Quadratic equations
  • Polynomials
  • Basic algebraic identities
  • NCERT Class 8 Chap 14
  • NCERT Class 9 Chap 2
  • NCERT Class 10 Chap 4
Average, Ratio & Proportion
  • Alligation
  • M.Tyra Chapter 24
  • Quantitative Aptitude by R.S Aggarwal Chapter 20
  • Average
  • M.Tyra Chapter 19
  • Ratio & proportion
  • NCERT Class 8 Chap 13
  • M.Tyra Chapter 16
  • Partnership
  • M.Tyra Chapter 17
Percentage
  •  Percentage
  • NCERT Class 8 Chap 8
  • M.Tyra Chapter 18
Time & Distance
  • Time, speed & distance
  • Problems on trains
  • Boat & streams
  • Time, Work and Wages
  • Pipes and Cisterns
  • M.Tyra Chapter 25 to 30
  • Quantitative Aptitude by R.S Aggarwal Chapter 15 to 19
Profit & Loss & Interest
  • Profit & Loss
  • Simple Interest & Compound Interest
  • Discount
  • M.Tyra Chapter 21 to 24
Geometry
  • Triangle and its centres
  • Congruence and similarity of triangles
  • Circle and its chords
  • Tangents & angles subtended by chords of a circle
  • Common tangents to two or more circles
  • NCERT Class 9 Chapter 6, 7, 8 and 10.
  • Mensuration (Area and Volume)
  • NCERT Class 8 Chap 3 & 11.
  • NCERT Class 9 Chap 9, 12, 13.
  • NCERT Class 10 Chapter 13
  • M.Tyra Chapter 31& 32
  • Trigonometry – Trignometric ratios, Degree and Radian Measures, Standard Identities, Complementary angles, Heights and Distances
  • NCERT Class 10 Chapter 8 and 9
  • Quantitative Aptitude book
  • M.Tyra Chapter 36
Data interpretation
  • Data sufficiency & analysis
  • Histogram, Frequency polygon, Bar diagram & Pie chart
  • M.Tyra Chapter 34 & 35
  • Quantitative Aptitude by R.S Aggarwal Chapter 36-39
Miscellaneous
  • Progression (AP + GP)
  • NCERT Class 10 Chapter 5
  • Series
  • M.Tyra Chapter 33

Books For SSC CGL English Section

English section is quite easy, and should not take a lot of time to prepare. In the post linked above (the one I asked you to read), we have given a detailed breakup of the expected questions for English, as well as other sections.

If your English is mediocre, just practice using the solved previous years question papers. If, however, you think that you need more focused practice, let me recommend you some books.

English Books For Exam Pattern Questions Practice

There are two good exam-oriented English books which adequately cover different types of questions. Choose any one and you are good to go — Objective General English by S P Bakshi (Arihant) OR Quick learning Objective General English by RS Aggarwal &  Vikas Aggarwal.

Apart from these, there is another book which has great reviews — Objective English for Competitive Examinations by Hari Mohan Prasad, but I have not had a chance to try it.

Are you confused, about which English book to choose?

Well, I think all the three would be of a similar level. To be honest, if your basics are clear, all you need is practice. So choose anyone which is most recently updated and is also within your budget.

Book Flipkart Amazon
Objective General English by S P Bakshi (Arihant) Buy Buy
Quick learning Objective General English by RS Aggarwal & Vikas Aggarwal Buy Buy
Objective English for Competitive Examinations Buy Buy

Do You Also Need To Revise Grammar?

In case you need to work on your basics, then you HAVE to revise English grammar. There is no other option.

And to revise grammar, there has never been a book better than Wren And Martin (it has remained the top seller in multiple categories on Amazon for as long as I can remember). The book is available in two editions – one has colorful illustrations the other one is the regular black and white.

High School English Grammar and Composition by Wren and Martin – Buy on Flipkart (Old Version) or Buy on Amazon (New Version). For some weird reason, at the time of writing this post, Flipkart is only selling the new version in a pack of 3.

Need To Build Your Vocabulary?

Check out Word Power Made Easy on Amazon or Flipkart. Not much to say – nothing compares to this one!

Books For SSC CGL Tier 1 General Intelligence & Reasoning Section

There are two important factors which will decide how fast and accurately you can solve reasoning problems — a logical thought process, and exposure to different types of problems.

If you are naturally good in mathematics, chances are high that you will do great with reasoning as well.

Practice, as you will learn, is very important. Your brain’s capacity to solve reasoning questions increases exponentially when you try to solve different types of questions.

R S Aggarwal is the highest selling book. It is a good choice if you don’t need a lot of explanations and are mainly looking for practice questions. If you need more explanations, I suggest you go with M K Pandey.

Another book with rave reviews is Sijwali & Sijwali, available from Arihant Publishers.

Book Flipkart Amazon
Analytical Reasoning by M K Pandey Buy Buy
Verbal and Nonverbal Reasoning by R S Aggarwal Buy (NEW) Buy (OLD)
New Approach to Reasoning Verbal, Non-Verbal & Analytical by B S Sijwali, Indu Sijwali Buy Buy

Books Available For General Awareness

General awareness (more commonly called as General Knowledge or GK) is not something you can expect to master in a day. But from an exam point of view, if you spend time consistently, you will reach a good level in a month or so.

But it is very important that you base your preparations around a good book. Otherwise, you will be wasting time here and there collecting a list of this, and an article on that.

Time-Saving Tip

Most aspirants are confused when it comes to preparing for the General Awareness section. They spend waste their time either for memorizing stupid lists or for collecting them. So we have put together an exhaustive post to prepare for SSC CGL General Awareness Section.

Among the options available here, nothing comes close to Manorama Yearbook. It is THE best book to prepare for GK section in competitive exams. Check out our detailed review of the book. If you are allergic to Manorama, then you can try Lucent’s GK Book.

Book Flipkart Amazon
Manorama Yearbook 2016 (English) Buy Buy
Manorama Yearbook 2016 (Hindi) Buy Buy
Lucent’s General Knowledge 2015 (English) Buy Buy
Lucent’s General Knowledge (Hindi) Buy (2013) Buy (2015)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Before buying GK book, carefully check the year of publication. And I don’t mean the year published in the name! For marketing purpose, publishers sell books with next years name in the current year. For example, a book may have its name as “General Knowledge 2016” even though it was published in 2015! . So look for the actual ‘year of publication’.

Newpapers these days are not worth the paper they are printed on. So even though many people would advise you to read papers (even I have done in my several articles, but I’ll remove those when I get a chance to update those articles), it’s better that you use your time more efficiently elsewhere.

What About SSC CGL Solved And Practice Test Papers

CAUTION: Solved-papers books tend to have some errors and mistakes, higher as compared to sectional books. But people don’t complain because of the price at which these things sell. Just keep this at the back of your mind.

If you are not buying ANY of the books above, you have to buy, study and thoroughly practice through solved papers. Questions that are asked in SSC CGL repeat from year to year – just like many other exams.

So by practicing solved papers you will prepare yourself for exactly the type of questions which are asked in the exams.

Kiran’s SSC CGL combined Graduate Level Exams Question Bank 1999-2014 (45 solved papers of previous year exams) is undoubtedly the best book for solved papers –  Best Deal On Amazon.

However at the time of writing, the most updated book for solved papers is Arihant’s Solved Papers (upto 2015) – only available on Amazon. It cover’s 17 solved papers covering 2010-2015.

Solved papers are available in two flavors – full length solved papers and solved questions from previous years papers which are categorized chapter wise. Which one you should use will depend on when you plan to solve previous years questions.

Some people like to study all the sections individually and then they start practicing full-length previous years papers. The other kind of people, read the fundas of a chapter in a section, for eg. Algebra in Quantitative aptitude, and then they practice solving previous years questions from this topic.

I would personally prefer the second method. But what really matters is that you actually practice solving previous years questions.

Full-Length SSC CGL Previous Years Solved Papers 

Arihant and Kiran, both provide a large number of solved papers. These are full length papers organized year wise.

Book Flipkart Amazon
Solved Papers SSC CGL Combined Graduate Level Pre Examination Tier-I by Arihant (2010-2015) Buy
Kiran’s SSC CGL combined Graduate Level Exams Question Bank 1999-2014 Buy Buy
SSC CGL 50 Practice Papers Combined Graduate Level Tier-I Examination Buy Buy

SSC CGL Solved Papers – Organized section-wise

As I said earlier, some people (including me) prefer that previous years papers are arranged section wise – topic wise. Especially if your fundas are good, you are comfortable with the syllabus and you feel that all you need is practice – it makes sense to choose the books listed below. Of course, if you want solved questions from all the sections better stick to the options above (single book to buy).

Section Covered (Previous years solved questions arranged topic-wise) Book Flipkart Amazon
Only Quantitative Aptitude SSC Mathematics Chapterwise Solved Papers 1999 – Till Date by Kiran Prakashan Buy
Only English Section SSC English Language Chapterwise Solved Papers 1997-Till Date by Kiran Prakashan Buy  Buy
Only General Awareness SSC General Awareness Chapterwise Solved Papers 1997 – Till Date by Kiran Prakashan Buy  Buy 
Only General Intelligence & Reasoning SSC Reasoning Chapterwise Solved Papers 1999 – Till Date by Kiran Prakashan Buy  Buy 

What Not To Do

If you want to know what to do, it is equally important to know what not to do. Even though I am suggesting you to buy books, I want to explicitly caution you to not buy “all in one” type of books (apart from solved papers). The problem with these all in ones is that they don’t cover the subject material properly.

On the other hand, section/subject books will come handy for multiple exams. And you can pass them to your juniors, or keep them with you later reference.

The other thing which you should not do is buy too many books and not study them at all. Be realistic.

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