Books for HPAS Preliminary exam- General Studies

HPAS exam stands for Himachal Pradesh Administrative Services, HPAS is conducted every year by HPPSC for recruitment to the HP State Civil Services Posts. I have already explained the pattern in my previous post.As the competition is tough in HPAS, having a clear roadmap regarding the preparation is very essential. And preparing from the right books is the first step to crack the exam . If you are not reading the suitable material and right books for HPAS, then you have already lost the battle.This article gives you the information about the books that you should refer to.

Click Here to Buy Books for HPAS and Pay Cash on Delivery

Do not Buy these Books for  HPAS:

First of all, it is very important to note down the books that you don’t need to buy for HPAS preliminary exam preparation. Some of these are quite famous books which are mostly recommended for UPSC preparation. And i believe that these are good books but they are not at all useful books  for HPAS. Because HPAS preliminary General Studies exam, focuses more on Fact-based questions rather than on concept based questions. Therefore, if you are only and only interested in cracking HPAS and not going for UPSC, then i would recommend you not to buy these books for HPAS exam.

• India’s Struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra
• Indian Economy by Datt & Sundharam
• Introduction to the Constitution of India by D. D Basu
• Certificate Physical and Human Geography by  GOH CHENG LEONG

Again, please note that this a list of not so useful books for  HPAS. But if you are preparing for UPSC as well, then you should refer to them.

Which are the right Books for HPAS General Studies paper?

Must BUY:

• While recommending Books for HPAS, i would advise everyone to buy Buy General Studies Manual. It is a great source of reference for all competitive exams. You don’t need to read it all. But anything that is missing in the core books that i have mentioned below, can be easily found in this manual. It is like ‘Brahmastra’ of HPAS preparation which is required in the end when all other weapons get exhausted.
• It is a little expensive book. So, i advise you to get a second hand copy of this book (not more than 1 year old) as they mostly update the current affairs section only.
• If you can buy the new edition, then nothing better than that.

Now lets see the all the right books for  HPAS prelims for each subject included in HPPSC syllabus one by one.

Books for HPAS General Knowledge:

• Firstly, Let me make it clear that the kind of questions that are asked are in HPAS related to HP GK are not covered in any single book.
• Answers to some of the questions are very difficult to find in any HP book or even on the internet.
• So, the strategy should be to solve maximum rather than all.
• I am suggesting you a set of three books to cover HP GK and i think these are enough to answer 10-15 questions out of 20 HP questions in HPAS.
• First is the Himachal Pradesh General Knowledge by R. Gupta. This is a very small book but covers the Latest Census of HP and few other facts. Click to Buy this Book
• Second, – “History , Art and Culture of Himachal Pradesh by G.S Mian”. I think it is really good for HP Economy and History.
• Third- “Himachal – A Wonderland ” by Jagmohan Balokhra”. It is very bulky book with more than 1000 pages and covers everything in detail, But the problem with this book is that it is not updated and contains old data of late 90s and early 2000s. But still , it is a good book for detailed HP History and Geography,
• Now, only first book is available online. For 2nd and 3rd book, you have to contact your local book shop. I bought it last year from book shop in Sector-17 Chandigarh. You can try there.
• Read GoSarkari’s articles on HP GK

Books for HPAS Indian History:

• First of all, go through the Old History NCERTs – You can easily answer 50-75% of the answers if you carefully read and revise the old History NCERTs. The Ncerts that you require are of Class 10th , 11th and 12th. I don’t recommend new Ncerts as they lack matter.
• Class 10th and 11th old Ncert are not available online. You have to get them from a local bookshop. They are easily available in Delhi’ Mukherjee nagar book market.So, if you have some contacts in Delhi you can get those old NCERT books.
• Luckily Class 12th Old Ncert book – “History of Modern India ” is available online under new cover. Click Here to buy this book.
• You need a reference book for Indian History as well. I would recommend A Brief History of Modern India . It is perfect for HPAS as it is very well structured and has tables full of facts.

Books for HPAS Indian Polity:

• For Polity, you don’t need to look for any book other than the famous Indian Polity by Lakshamikanth. This book is enough for Indian Polity preparation for HPAS.
• Also, you don’t need to cover Ncert for Indian Polity. Lakshmikanth should be the only  Polity book for HPAS.

Books for HPAS Geography:

• Read the new Class 11th and Class 12th Ncerts. You can download Geography NCERT e-books if you are comfortable with reading online.
• Both Class 11th and Class 12th Geography Ncerts have two sets. So, there are total 4 books. With, careful reading of these 4 books you will be able to answer majority of the questions.
• Most of the questions in Geography are fact-based and direct.
• So, it is advised to read all the fact-based part of the General Studies Manual for Geography.

Books for HPAS Indian Economy:

• Read Ncert Class 11th only to clear the concepts.
• After that you just have to focus on one book -INDIAN ECONOMY by Ramesh SIngh.  Buy Indian Economy for Civil Services Examination . This will be enough for Indian Economy preparation.

Books for HPAS Environment and Ecology:

• Just one book – Environment and Ecology by Majid Husain.
• It is a complete book full of facts and concepts.
• You will be able to answer the majority of questions related to environment with this book only.
• For extra, preparation, you van refer to NIOS notes on environmental science.

Books for HPAS General Science:

• Must Read Ncert for Science from Class 8th to 10th.
• Then, you can refer to this book – Lucent General Science.
• These two books will be enough General Science is really unpredictive in HPAS exam. Sometimes really easy and sometimes really tough questions.

HPAS exam Current Affairs:

• Direct questions are asked from the Current affairs section.
• You should read newspaper daily and make personal notes out of it. As it will really help you in HPAS mains as well as in the interview.
• Many people will tell you to read The Hindu. But for HPAS , The Tribune (Himachal Edition ) is better as it focuses more on Himachal news than Hindu.
• Focus more on Economy and Himachal Current Affairs.
• Any one good Current Affairs magazine is enough – Civil Services Times is the one that i would suggest.
• Keep in touch with Internet and Gosarakri.com for more study materials.

Is Year Book Required?

• Personally , I think that only good Year Book is the one published by the Publication Division of India.
• Others like Manorama, CSR etc. are more about advertisements and less about matter.
• But i would like to suggest an alternative to the Year book. It is a book by ‘New Vishal Publications’. It is not available online but can be purchased from Book shops in Chandigarh, Shimla or Delhi.
• It is like a summary of the Year Book. One can easily read the ‘New Vishal’ book as it is very easy and less bulky than the YEAR BOOK 2014 and covers all the important stuff of the Year Book.

Lastly, you need a good Objective Questions book for HPAS preparation for daily practice. As when you solve the mix bunch of questions from different topics, you really get to know the level of your preparation. You should definitely Buy Lucent’s Objective General Knowledge for daily Practice.

Click Here to Read the next part of this Article ( Books for HPAS- Aptitude Test)

 Click Here for HP GK