Old vs. New NCERT Books: NCERT books have long been considered as among the most authentic sources to prepare for the IAS Exam. Besides, they are well recognized for being among the best of the resources to gain crystal clarity of all the concepts.
However, what leaves most of the IAS aspirants quite confused at times is whether they should read the old or the new NCERT books.
How to read the NCERT books?
It is advisable for the IAS aspirants to begin with reading the class 6 NCERT books. Reading all the NCERT books for the humanities from class 6 to 12 will help you gain crystal clear understanding for various subjects. Besides, do not ignore reading the relevant chapters for the Science books. Apart from providing you with crystal clarity of all the basic concepts, NCERT would also equip you with good knowledge of the subjects.
The Textbooks as well as the school curriculum is revised by the NCERT, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) suitably. Thus the new NCERT books are the ones with the revised syllabus and curriculum.
These are the new NCERT books that the school students study currently. It is advisable for the IAS aspirants to procure a copy of the new NCERT books from class 6 – 12. You may either get the hard copy i.e., the traditional book format or the soft copy i.e., the computer files in the PDF format.
Finally, it’s always advisable not to run after the digressions. It only serves to waste the time specifically for the IAS aspirants. Thus, it’s advisable to stick to the new NCERT books and read them repeatedly. This selective reading would help gain crystal clear concepts.
On the other hand, reading the old NCERT text books might result in the waste of a lot of time. And you do not have any time to waste. There is the vast ocean like syllabus that you have to prepare for the IAS Exam. So, there is no point in wasting your time. Rather, you should save your time for selective reading. So, focus on reading the new NCERT rather than the old NCERT books.
List of NCERT Books for IAS
| Subject | List of NCERTs |
| Ancient History | Old NCERT: India’s Ancient Past: RS Sharma |
| Medieval History | Old NCERT: A History of Medieval India: Satish Chandra |
| Modern History | Old NCERT: History of Modern India: Bipan Chandra |
| World History | Old NCERT: History of the World: Arjun Dev Part-1 Old NCERT: History of the World: Arjun Dev Part-2 |
| Art & Culture | Class XI – An Introduction to Indian Art Class XI – Living Craft Traditions of India (Chapters 9 & 10) |
| Polity | Class IX – Political Science: Democratic Politics Part – I Class X – Political Science: Democratic Politics Part – II Class XI – Political Science: Indian Constitution at Work Class XI – Political Science: Political Theory Class XII – Political Science I: Contemporary World Politics Class XII – Political Science II: Politics in India since Independence |
| Environment | Class XII – Biology: last four Chapters (13 to 16) |
| Indian Society | Class VI – Social Science: Social & Political Life I Class VII – Social Science: Social & Political Life II Class VIII – Social Science: Social & Political Life III Class XI – Sociology: Understanding Society Class XII – Indian Society Class XII – Social Change and Development in India |
| Economics | Class IX – Economics: Economics Class X – Understanding Economic Development Class XI – Indian Economic Development Class XII – Introductory Microeconomics Class XII – Introductory Macroeconomics |
| Geography | Class VI – The Earth Our Habitat Class VII – Our Environment Class VIII – Resource and Development Class IX – Contemporary India – I Class X – Contemporary India – II Class XI – Fundamentals of Physical Geography Class XI – India – Physical Environment Class XII – Fundamentals of Human Geography Class XII – India – People and Economy |
| Science | Class VI-X – Science Class XI – Chemistry: Unit 14 & Biology: Units 4 & 5 Class XII – Chemistry: Unit 16 & Biology: Units 8, 9 & 10 |
