Updated on 28 December 2019
I have spent a lot of time to research the best books for SSC CGL exam preparation and write this very long post and I am really thankful to the great response. The only way you can make use of this post is when you read it thoroughly.
I take it that the only reason you are still reading this post is because you really want to know about SSC CGL Tier 1 books and that you agree with me that selecting the right books is the first step to your success.
IMPORTANT NOTE – In this post I will discuss books for SSC CGL Tier 1 exam, 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.
If you are really in a hurry and can’t read the whole post, I have provided a summary of the best books for SSC CGL exam in one place. You can not go wrong with these books.
to skip the gyan and directly go to my safe choice for SSC CGL books recommendation. But I’ll advise that you read the SSC CGL Tier 1 exam books, section wise, recommendations provided in this post as you will find a good comparison of multiple books.Some important points before I start talking about books,
- Don’t waste time looking for free SSC CGL books or study material.
- You only need a few good books which you can use to prepare for your exam – Don’t buy everything.
- Get actual books. The ones which you can hold in your hand and turn the pages. Don’t buy ebooks.
- You don’t need to buy all the books yourself! Go and speak to your seniors and friends who may have appeared for the SSC CGL exam and they can perhaps loan or gift you the books.
For your own good, avoid the trap of free SSC CGL study material. Majority of the candidates waste a large part of their limited time to search for ‘FREE’ study material and books for SSC CGL exam on internet.
Often they will open their laptop with Facebook/Youtube in one tab and start searching for PDF or other freely (and mostly useless information) available SSC CGL books in another tab. I sincerely hope that you are not one of them.
The time you will save by avoiding this useless activity, and use it actually study and practice books will mean the difference between success and failure.
SSC CGL Paper Pattern
I will jump deep into the various book options available for different sections of the SSC CGL exam, but before that let me quickly give you an overview of the SSC CGL exam paper pattern.
- SSC CGL Tier 1 serves as a screen for the remaining stages, so you have to clear it with good marks in order to appear for the following stages.
- It is a computer based online test.
- You will have 60 minutes to complete 100 questions. The section wise breakup of questions is given in the table below.
- There is a negative marking of 0.50 Marks for each wrong answer. And,
- There is no sectional cut off.
SSC CGL Exam Paper Pattern
| SSC CGL Tier 1 Section | Number of Questions | Total Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Quantitative Aptitude or Maths | 25 | 50 |
| General Intelligence & Reasoning | 25 | 50 |
| English Language | 25 | 50 |
| General Awareness or GK | 25 | 50 |
| TOTAL | 100 | 200 |
Now, I’ll take you through a brief summary of SSC CGL books suggestions, and then we will look at the books section wise.
Safest Choices For SSC CGL Books — If You Are Confused
At the time of writing this post, Amazon had the best deals. But you can compare the prices on and before you order. If you want to save money, you can check out my suggestions on tips for free shipping on Amazon.
In the Table below I have listed the books which I would buy for someone preparing for SSC CGL exam.
Finally, it is time to take a deep dive!
Best Books for SSC CGL Maths (Quantitative Aptitude)
Are you afraid of Maths? If Yes, then it would be a problem. It is OK to be bad at maths, but to be afraid is to accept defeat without even trying. Quantitative aptitude is one of the highest scoring section in the SSC CGL Tier 1 exam. To go from bad to good, you need only two things
- Clear understanding of the concepts and
- Enough practice so that you solve majority of the questions accurately and fast.
SSC CGL Maths section contains questions only up to the high school level. How difficult can that be? If the word ‘maths’ does not scare you, and you are OK with the subject up to high school level, then there is nothing to worry about.
Your level of comfort with math will decide which SSC CGL maths book is suitable for you.
Does Math Love You?
Thinking about math does not give you a nightmare? Congratulations! You don’t need to buy a study book for Maths.
I would suggest that you simply revise using NCERT maths books from class 8 to 10. Just go to and you can download the PDF files for free.
TIP – you can download the entire math book in a single PDF as well (check the image below).
If you are confident about these topics, then you can simply practice previous years papers to increase your speed in solving exam oriented questions. Something like M Tyra (check links below) will however still be useful as you can learn a number of useful shortcuts.
You Like Maths, But Need Practice
In case you think you know most of the topics, but need to practice a lot of problems, then you need – Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations by R.S. Aggarwal. It is the largest selling book in this category.
It provides lots of practice questions. However, the only problem you may face is that the explanations may not always be very detailed. But if you only need practice, this should not be a problem.
In case you think R S Aggarwal is a little costly, then you can go for – Arihant’s Fast Track Objective Arithmetic. It is an equally good book, at a lesser cost, with great reviews on Amazon.
You Need More Than Practice?
So math gives you butterflies? Don’t worry. Whenever I hear people say that they don’t feel confident solving math problems, the solution is always the same — al they need is practice.
You just need to understand the basics and also practice problems.
In terms of book recommendation, your best bet would be – Magical Book On Quicker Maths by M. Tyra. This book covers the basics, and also covers two ways of solving a problem – normal method and short cut method! That is why it is MAGICAL.
M Tyra, however, does not have a lot of practice questions. After learning from this book, you will have to practice questions from actual previous years papers, which I have covered in the second last section of this post.
SSC Mathematics Type wise solutions by Rakesh Yadav – – has chapter wise solutions to questions from previous papers. The author has also provided video based solutions to the questions through a mobile app. However, there have been complaints about the app not working properly.
Bonus Section — How To Prepare Maths For SSC CGL — What To Study & From Where
I 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.
Click to view topics and book suggestions
| 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
As far as the SSC CGL English preparation is concerned, it 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), I have given a detailed breakup of the expected questions for the SSC CGL English, as well as other sections.
If your English is mediocre, just practice using the previous years solved question papers of SSC CGL exam. 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 Objective General English by RS Aggarwal & Vikas Aggarwal.
Apart from these, there is another book which has great reviews — Blackbook of English Vocabulary by Nikhil Gupta. The book has a compilation of English questions from several SSC CGL and other related exams. Some people complain about the information being copied but I think all such books are similar as they rely on past question papers.
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 | Publisher | Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Objective General English by S P Bakshi | Arihant | |
| Objective General English by RS Aggarwal & Vikas Aggarwal | S. Chand | |
| Blackbook of English Vocabulary by Nikhil Gupta | Gupta Edutech |
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 (New Version) or Buy on Amazon (New Version).
Need To Build Your Vocabulary?
Check out Word Power Made Easy on Amazon or Flipkart. New Edition is available on both the sites. 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. For practice you should include both verbal and non-verbal reasoning questions.
And the best part is that the questions in the SSC CGL reasoning sections repeats or are very similar to previous years questions. So focus on practicing previous papers thoroughly.
R S Aggarwal is the best selling book for reasoning. 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.
In case you are also aiming for CAT or other MBA entrance exams, you can also conisder “How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT” by Arun Sharma over R S Aggarwal.
If the cost is an issue, and you are only focusing on SSC and bank exams, I would suggest choosing either of “Shortcuts in Reasoning” by Disha Experts or “How to Crack Test Of Reasoning” by Arihant. But then make sure that you practice previous years questions thoroughly.
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.
The most important Tip I can give you is to focus mostly on the static general knowledge (static GK) parts. You cannot possibly learn everything under the sun.
Most aspirants are confused when it comes to preparing for the SSC CGL General Awareness section. They spend waste their time either for memorizing stupid lists or for collecting them. So I 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 India (published by Government of India).
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 2017” even though it was published in 2016! . So look for the actual ‘year of publication’.
Newspapers 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. This post would be more useful to you than reading one month of newspapers.
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 (solved papers of previous year exams) is undoubtedly the best book for solved papers –
Full Length Or Chapter Wise?
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
The books listed below provide full length SSC CGL solved papers organized year wise.
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).
All in one books covering both Tier 1 and Tier 2
As per the new online format of the SSC CGL exam, several publishers have updated their books to come out with a combined book for Tier 1 and Tier 2. These books provide some concepts, chapter wise solved examples, practice questions, and also access to online tests.
I would personally prefer choosing reference books for important sections to learn concepts and chapter wise previous year questions for practice. But if you want you can try out the following two books.
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 friends, or also keep them with you for later reference.
The other thing which you should not do is buy too many books and not study them at all. Be realistic.
Final Words On Books for SSC CGL
Thank you for reading this really long article! It has taken me a lot of time to put together this post on the best books for SSC CGL exam preparation. Hope you will use this to prepare well for the exam. Since you liked this post, would you also like to know about why many aspirants fail to clear SSC CGL exam? You can read it here.
In case you have any questions, suggestions or remarks – let me know in the comments below.
Best of Luck.
View Comments (138)
Thanks
This is the most complete review of books for SSC CGL exam I could find anywhere. Please cover more and more exams if possible.
Thank you Arvind. We are trying our best to add more exams
I want to know about the tier 2 books. Which one to buy ???
We will be soon covering tier 2 books in our new post. Please subscribe to competitiondigest.com to receive updates.
Thanks
Actually im scared of maths so pls give me suggestion how to prepare ssc cgl quantitative apptitude k so pls give me idea abt books to follow
The reason you think you are scared is because you lack confidence. So all you need is some good old practice. Use the details in the section "Books for SSC CGL Quantitative aptitude section". Apart from this, you may also like to go through our detailed post on How To Prepare For Quantitative Aptitude
Thank you. Very nice compilation of books.
sir, if anybody weak in english then how to start for preparation for ssc cgl and which books should be preferred
Please look at the section "Books For Tier 1 English Section" above. If you feel you are weak in English, you will need to practice a lot so that you can build your confidence - this is very important. For the purpose of the exam, just practice exam oriented questions. However, diverging from the topic if I were to give you some free ki advice, I would say that you cannot learn a language unless you start using it. So start reading English books/periodicals, try to talk to people in English. And even when you are talking to yourself, try to do that in English - this will improve your language skills immensely in the long run.
Thanks
Thanks a lot for your info
math books description is really good
Very helpful.
Thanx.