MPPSC Study Material - List of Books, Tips and Preparation Strategies

MPPSC State Service Exam 2022 Notification is expected to be released in December 2022 and as per the official calendar, the Prelims exam is scheduled to be held on 24th April 2022. MPPSC Prelims 2020 took place on 25th July 2021. The scorecard for the same has been released by the commission on its official website https://mppsc/nic/in/.

This article is going to help candidates with MPPSC preparation. Both candidates who have already appeared in  MPPSC Exam 2020, and are expecting the Prelims 2020 result and also those who are preparing for MPPSC Exam for the year 2022; can find MPPSC Study Material here.

MPPSC Preparation Tips

Aspirants before utilising the MPPSC study material should know the following things about MPPSC Exam:

1. There is no negative marking in MPPSC Prelims as stated in the MPPSC Notification.
2. MPPSC Result for State Service Exam (Prelims) 2019 has been declared which can be checked by the candidates in the linked article.

Before aspirants start stressing out about their competency to sit for the exam, they go through the article to understand everything about MPPSC Preparation. By the end of the reading, they will get answers to the following questions:

• How to go about MPPSC exam preparation?
• How to make MPPSC notes?
• What MPPSC preparation books to read?
• How to follow MPPSC current affairs?
• Which is the best book for MPPSC preparation?
• How to make MPPSC GK notes in Hindi/English?
• From where to find MPPSC mains study material? Etc.

Let us step-by-step, decode MPPSC 2022 for you so that you can devise a perfect strategy to crack the MP State Service Exam (Mains) 2019 and Prelims 2020-21.

The MPPSC (State Service Exam) takes place in 3 stages:

How to prepare for MPPSC?

Going by the MPPSC Syllabus, an aspirant should know the important topics that keep on repeating in the exam. Check below subjects, important topics related to them, and books for MPPSC to prepare the same:

History

There are three parts to History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. Similar to IAS Exam, MPPSC preparation books for History can be more or less the same. For Ancient History, a candidate can follow NCERTs Class 11th and 12th (Old/New.) For Medieval, NCERTs can again come handy. For Modern, an aspirant can either opt for NCERTs or Spectrum by Rajiv Ahir. One can refer to books of MP Board too.

Few things to keep in mind while preparing History for MPPSC 2020-21:

• One source of information suffices
• To refer more than one book for History is a fault that only you can correct
• Capitalize on dates and maps
• Refer to past year MPPSC question papers to get an idea about the topics
• The chronology will always help

Aspirants can get history notes from the linked articles mentioned below:

1. NCERT Ancient History Notes
2. NCERT Medieval History Notes
3. NCERT Modern History Notes 

Let’s take a look into some previous year questions. Candidates can find related articles covering important topics that were asked in the MPPSC question papers.

In MPPSC Prelims 2019 question papers, the following topics from history were asked.

1. Parmar Dynasty
2. Tribhuvan Narayan Temple
3. Painters (State-Specific)
4. Rigveda
5. Ancient Republics
6. Legislation in British India
7. Authors of Historical Publications
8. Inscriptions
9. Hindu Widow Remarriage Act

These are general topics that can be covered with a basic reference book. Also, aspirants can read the following articles below that are similar to the topics asked in the MPPSC Exam History section:

Indian and World Geography

There are two sub-topics to Geography- Physical and Human. To understand both comprehensively, an aspirant should religiously read NCERTS (Class 6th to 12th) and to get the fodder material, one newspaper should be followed by the candidate.

Aspirants can refer to NCERT Geography Notes from the linked article.

Let’s take a look into some previous year questions. Candidates can find related articles covering important topics that were asked in the MPPSC question papers.

In MPPSC Prelims 2019 question papers, following topics from Geography (Maps, World Geography & Geology etc.) were asked.

1. Neighbouring Countries of India
2. Ocean Basins, and Plateaus
3. Natural Disasters and affected areas
4. India landforms – Himalayas and Karewas
5. Satpura ranges

These are general topics that can be covered with a basic reference book. Also, aspirants can read the following articles below that are similar to the topics asked in MPPSC Exam Geography section:

Indian Polity

Weightage is given to topics like- Parliament, State and Central Legislatures, Panchayati Raj, Legislative Bills in the news or debated, Election Commission etc. To understand Polity in a crisp manner, one can follow the book Indian Polity by M. Laxmikant. This book can be one resort to both IAS and State Administrative Services’ candidates.

One can take help from BYJU’S Classroom Polity Notes to get important articles related to Indian Polity.

Let’s take a look into some previous years’ topics related to Indian Polity that were asked in MPPSC 2019 prelims paper:

1. Amendment Acts
2. Committee related to Panchayati Raj Institutions
3. CAG and related articles
4. Cyberlaws
5. Protection of Human Rights Act
6. State Human Rights Commission
7. National Human Rights Commission
8. Article 21
9. Make in India
10. Indian Ministry related to FDI
11. Election Commission
12. SC/ST Act 1989, etc

These are general topics that can be covered with a basic reference book. Also, aspirants can read the following articles below that are similar to the topics asked in MPPSC Exam Geography section:

Indian Economy

This subject is one such that gives candidates from non-economics background nightmares. However, an aspirant should understand that the questions that are asked from topics under it are of generalized form. The questions that are asked put your common knowledge on Indian Economics on test. Yes, the candidates should know that unlike IAS exam, here in MPPSC state service exam, few factual questions can be asked too. For that, one should be clear about the basic concepts like GDP, GNP, PCI. Topics that repeatedly can be seen in news like- Repo Rate, MCLR, CRR, Unemployment, Recession, Rupee Depreciation/Appreciation etc. should be given importance to.

Check Economics Notes to get important articles related to Indian Economy and Economic Development.

Questions related to FDI, state finance commission and infrastructure were majorly asked in the Economics section of MPPSC prelims 2019. A few important topics of economics are given below which are important for both pre and mains:

General Science and Environment

NCERT or MP Board school textbooks can help an aspirant collect the required information on General Science. For the environment, current affairs can come useful. Also, referring to MPPSC past year question papers can align candidates’ preparation.

Aspirants can take help from the notes mentioned below:

Let’s take a look into some previous years’ topics related to general science and environment that were asked in MPPSC 2019 prelims paper:

1. Computer VIRUS
2. Cybercrime
3. Computer terms
4. Programming Language
5. Buccal Cavity of human beings
6. Knock-Knee syndrome
7. Pollination
8. Search Engines & Web Crawler
9. Medicines (Opium)
10. Enzymes

These are general topics that can be covered with a basic reference book. Also, aspirants can read the following articles below that are similar to the topics asked in MPPSC Exam Science & Environment section:

MPPSC Current Affairs

Following the recent trend on how questions are being framed in relation to current affairs, one must religiously follow a National newspaper- preferably- The Hindu. Approach to read the newspaper should be solely aligned with the topics that are included in the MPPSC Syllabus.

With a newspaper, an aspirant can fill in the gaps, by following a monthly magazine like Yojana/Kurukshetra. These magazines should not be read from cover to cover. Only the topics that correspond to the MPPSC Exam Syllabus should be read with special attention to their focal editorial.

Few tips to make MPPSC GK notes in Hindi/English:

• Understand the MPPSC Syllabus first
• Use loose sheets to make notes so that it becomes easy to add/update the content
• Segregate notes into topics like History, Geography, Polity, Economy, etc.
• Jot down 5 to 10 points for each topic in the news that is related to the syllabus
• Give attention to Madhya Pradesh regional news page.

You can also check the following two links:

• Current Affairs
• Government Schemes
• Gist of Yojana

Best MPPSC Books

After going through the syllabus, candidates should follow state board books with NCERT books.

From the linked article, candidates can download the NCERT books PDFs for MPPSC and UPSC preparation.

Candidates can check the MPPSC booklist below:

• M. Laxmikant’s Indian Polity (4th Edition or 5th Edition)
• Rajiv Ahir’s Spectrum for Modern Indian History (Latest Edition)
• Madhyapradesh Ek Parichaya by McGraw-Hill publication (This book can help fetch you, facts and details of the state-related topics and it will suffice.
• For Economics, candidates can read state board school textbooks (Class 11th, 12th) or if a candidate belongs to streams other than commerce, can refer to books like Ramesh Singh’s Indian Economy (11th Edition) or Sanjiv Verma’s Indian Economy

Also Read | Difference Between Articles

These books can help you with both MPPSC Prelims and MPPSC Mains preparation.

The MPPSC 2020 Exam will also have General Aptitude Test in the preliminary stage. For that, candidates can refer to anyone book from the list below:

• Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations by RS Aggarwal
• Fast Track Objective Arithmetic by Rajesh Verma
• A New Approach to Reasoning Verbal, Non-Verbal & Analytical – Verbal, Non – Verbal & Analytical by Arihant Publication.

To summarize the entire thing for the candidates, a few tips given below:

• NCERTs or State Board school textbooks are key to clarity
• One reference book for a subject will suffice
• Self-written notes should be emphasized upon
• Aligning current affairs with the syllabus
• Taking help from past year MPPSC question papers
• Revise topics periodically

To know about the MPPSC Eligibility, check the linked article.