[Study-plan] Central Police Forces Exam

(Assistant Commandant) Booklist Strategy,

cutoffs
SubscribeStudyplan786 Comments6 years Ago

1. Grab the weapons (Booklist)

2. 1: History & Culture
3. Ancient
4. Medieval
5. Modern History
6. Culture
7. 2: Science
8. Physics
9. Chemistry
10. Biology
11. 3: Geography
12. Physical Geography
13. Universe
14. Earth: Basics
15. Rocks/Geology related
16. Atmosphere and Climate related
17. Ocean related
18. Disaster related
19. Indian Geography
20. World, Human and Economic Geography
21. Agriculture
22. 4: Environment and Biodiversity (EnB)
23. 5: Polity
 24. 6: Economy
25. 7: Yearbook
26. 7: International relations/events/diplomacy
27. 8: Defense
28. 9: Misc GK
29. Maths/Aptitude for CAPF exam
30. CAPF: Maths
31. CAPF Maths: ignore these topics
32. CAPF: Data Interpretation
33. CAPF reasoning
34. #1: Chart based
35. #2: coding n series
36. #3 Analogy, odd man
37. syllogism
38. Assumption reasoning
39. Paper II (Essay and Comprehension)
40. How to prepare the Essay?
41. Hindi Medium Aspirants of CPF Exam
42. Conclusion / summary / final tips
43. Appendix1: Download Links
44. NCERT and NIOS (Essential/Core)
45. History
46. Science
47. EnB
48. Economy
49. Geography
50. India yearbook
51. NCERT and NIOS (Peripheral)
52. Appendix2: CAPF notification, cutoffs, previous papers
53. CAPF 2013 Notification
54. Cutoffs
55. Interview experience of Previous Toppers

In terms of General studies Questions, the CAPF and CDS exams run almost parallel. differences
are:

CDS CAPF
Maths/Aptitude included within same GS
Separate paper on maths
paper
English paper contains MCQ only, no essay Essay Comprehension paper, worth 2 hours
writing / descriptive stuff. and 200 marks.

Grab the weapons (Booklist)

  As such, there is no single “comprehensive” book for the CAPF exam. All I see is some
Jholachhaap publishers’ copypasting chapters from other books meant for Bank PO + add
some GK material + give last 3 years’ question papers = market it as SSC/CPF/GPSC
guidebook.
 Such readymade books contain “all-in-one” GS+Aptitude material. So a newcomer thinks
he got the jackpot.
 But In such books, the history, science portion, they directly give you 25-30 MCQs
without explaining any theory.
 Similarly in aptitude portion, they merely list 3-4 formulas, show you 3-4 solved sums
with 20 MCQs.
 Many sincere but naive candidates believe that if they prepare such books, they’re going
to crack the SSC/CPF/IBPS/ State PSC exam. Sorry it doesn’t work like that. Please
donot underestimate the level of competition.

so, First gather following:

1. NCERT and NIOS textbooks (even here, you’ve to do very limited study of specific
chapters, as explained in this article. free download links @bottom)
2. Indian Polity by M.Laxmkanth (religiously mugup this book for ~10 marks in the exam.)
3. General Studies Manual (for filling up the gaps/topics left in NCERTs + for practice of
mock questions) you don’t need to buy latest edition, because static topics (history,
geography, science) remain one and same in all edition. So grab second hand/used copy
for a cheaper price or borrow it from a friend. Any publication will work: Unique, TMH,
Spectrum etc.

First we’ll see how to approach static topics (history, geography, science, EnB, economy and
polity.) then we’ll see how to approach the current affairs (for IR and Misc.GK). I’m copy
pasting the content from my article on CDS strategy because GS/GK/GA syllabus-points are
running parallel.

1: History & Culture

Update Feb-24-2014:

for History/culture portion, use the Tamilnadu (TN) State education board books. They’re better
than NCERTs. (Free download @bottom).
–end of update
Historycan be sub-classified into following:

Ancient Harappa, Asoka etc.

Medieval Delhi sultanate, Mughals etc.
Modern British raj and freedom struggle.
Culture Music, painting, dance, religion, architecture, books etc. in above 3 periods.
World history rarely anything asked from it. So ignore world history.
  In old times, UPSC used to ask trivial GK question from kings, war timelines etc. =waste
of time in preparation.
 But nowadays, questions usually centered around culture or just ‘true/false/find correct
statement; cause-effect-reasons’ type questions.
 I suggest you look at last 2-3 years papers by yourself (given in the appendix) and see it
yourself.

Ancient
In Ancient period, the MCQs mostly come from 2 topics:

1. Harappa
2. Jainism-Buddism (includes Asoka etc.)- Although this can be classified under culture.

I’ve already uploaded the NCERTs according to topics (and not according to standards/classes),
so just download from appendix and start reading. If you already have downloaded NCERTs
from any other source, then prepare in following sequence:

*subject*, *class*,*chapter no.*, *chapter name*

1. History6_1_What, Where, How And When

2. History6_2_On The Trail Of The Earliest People
3. History6_3_From Gathering To Growing Food
4. History6_4_In The Earliest Cities
5. History6_5_What Books And Burials Tell Us
6. History6_6_Kingdoms, Kings And An Early Republic
7. History6_7_New Questions And Ideas
8. History6_8_Ashoka, The Emperor Who Gave Up War
9. History6_9_Vital Villages, Thriving Towns
10. History6_10_Traders, Kings And Pilgrims
11. History6_11_New Empires And Kingdoms
12. History6_12_Buildings, Paintings And Books
13. History12_1_Bricks Beads and Stones_Harappa
14. History12_2_King farmer towns
15. History12_3_Kinship Caste Class
16. History12_4_Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings

After that: GS Manual and finally mock questions.

Medieval
If you’re willing to take the risk (or running out of time), you can even skip this topic
(kings, wars, dynasties etc.). Because rarely 1-2 question come from medieval portion
nowadays. But do prepare culture related things from medieval period.
 1. Hist7_1_Tracing Changes Through A Thousand Years
2. Hist7_2_New Kings And Kingdoms
3. Hist7_3_The Delhi Sultans
4. Hist7_4_The Mughal Empire
5. Hist7_5_Rulers And Buildings
6. Hist7_6_Towns, Traders And Craftspersons
7. Hist7_7_Tribes, Nomads And Settled Communities
8. Hist7_8_Devotional Paths To The Divine
9. Hist7_9_The Making Of Regional Cultures
10. Hist7_10_Eighteenth-Century Political Formations
11. History12_1_Foreign Travelers to India
12. History12_2_Bhakti -Sufi Traditions
13. History12_3_Vijayanagara-An Imperial Capital
14. History12_4_Mughal Empire and Agrarian Society
15. History12_5_Mughal Courts

After that: Read the Medieval history section in your GS Manual and finally mock questions. But
keep in mind: GS manuals contain truckload of kings and timelines in the medieval period, don’t
waste time mugging them up.

Modern History
Important: NCERTs don’t cover all MCQ worthy topics from within the Modern history /
freedom struggle. Therefore you must do following

 Read GS manual multiple times for this section.

 OR use Spectrum publication’s brief history of Modern India.
 And then solve the Mock Questions given in the GS Manual.

here is the list of NCERT chapters:

1. History8_1_How When and Where

2. History8_2_From Trade to Territory
3. History8_3_The Company Establishes Power
4. History8_4_Ruling the Countryside
5. History8_5_Tribals Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age
6. History8_6_1857 and After When people rebel
7. History12_1_Colonialism Official Archives
8. History12_2_1857 Revolt And Its Representations
9. History12_3_Colonial Cities Urbanisation, Planning And Architecture
10. History12_4_Mahatma Gandhi And The Nationalist Movement
11. History12_5_Understanding Partition
12. History12_6_Framing The Constitution
Culture
While reading above NCERTs, you’ll come across lot of culture related topics (in painting,
literature, dance, music, religion etc.) however for better and consolidated preparation, I suggest
you also go through the NIOS study material for Culture. (Free download links @bottom)

2: Science
@Arts/commerce students
“yeh mujse nahi hoga / science is not my cup of tea” = this is loser talk. You want to pass CAF,
CDS or SSC, then science has to be prepared, whether you like it or not. Besides, NCERT
textbooks explain the science in very lucid, layman friendly manner, so science is that not
difficult, just read and revise often.

@Science/Engineer/Medical students
don’t live in some overconfidence that “Just because I’m M.Sc (Botany) so I don’t need to read
these stupid class7 NCERT science textbooks. I know everything!”

Because, you may be good at the technical and latest things happening in your graduation field,
but UPSC asks from basic principles and theories that might have evaporated from your head
after you left highschool years ago. Therefore, no matter what your academic qualification is,
always start with NCERTs.

anyways, continuing on…Science can be further divided into

Science subtopic Comment

Physics 1. This is to be prepared from NCERTs, then General Studies (GS)
Chemistry Manual and finally mock questions at the end of GS Manual.
2. (optional): you may also read NIOS material on Geography for
additional grip over the subject. Free download links @bottom.
3. Please note: in GS Manuals, they often go into very minute details,
Biology like chemical formulas of hormones etc. don’t waste that much
time. You just need basic science concepts, principles and their
day-to-day application clear.

Current affairs,
You can ignore this if you’re running out time. otherwise
biotech, nanotech,
computer IT, space
 Go through www.Mrunal.org/snt
etc.
  goto library, read whatever competitive magazine you get (CST,
Pratiyoigta, Chronicle, Wizard) and note down important things
from science-tech pages.

Here is the list of NCERT chapters to be prepared:

Physics
1. Sci10_13_Magnet
2. Sci10_12_electricity
3. Sci10_10_light
4. Sci9_12_Sound
5. Sci9_11_Work And Energy
6. Sci9_10_Gravitation
7. Sci9_9_Force And Laws Of Motion
8. Sci9_8_Motion
9. Sci8_16_Light
10. Sci8_14_Chemical Effects Of Electriccurrent
11. Sci8_13_Sound
12. Sci8_12_Friction
13. Sci8_11_Force And Pressure
14. Sci7_15_Light
15. Sci7_14_Electric Current and its Effects
16. Sci7_13_Motion and Time
17. Sci7_4_Heat
18. Physics11_1_What is Physics

Chemistry
1. Sci7_5_Acids,Bases andSalts
2. Sci7_6_Physical and Chemical Changes
3. Sci8_3_Synthetic Fibres And Plastics
4. Sci8_4_Materials Metals And Non-Metals
5. Sci8_5_Coal And petroleum
6. Sci8_6_Combustion And Flame
7. Sci9_1_Matter In Our Surroundings
8. Sci9_2_Is Matter Around Us Pure
9. Sci9_3_Atoms And Molecules
10. Sci9_4_Structure Of The Atom
11. Sci10_1_Chemical Reactions and Equations
12. Sci10_2_Acids, Bases and Salts
13. Sci10_3_Metals and Non-metals
14. Sci10_4_Carbon and its Compounds
 15. Sci10_5_Periodic Classification of Elements

Biology
1. Sci7_1_Nutrition in Plants
2. Sci7_2_Nutrition inAnimals
3. Sci7_10_Respiration in Organisms
4. Sci7_11_Transportation in Animals and Plants
5. Sci7_12_Reproduction inPlants
6. Sci8_2_Microorganisms Friend And foe
7. Sci8_8_Cell Structure And Functions
8. Sci8_9_Reproduction In Animals
9. Sci8_10_Reaching The age Of Adolescence
10. Sci9_5_The Fundamental Unit Of life
11. Sci9_6_Tissues
12. Sci9_7_Diversity In Living Organisms
13. Sci9_13_Why Do We Fall ill
14. Sci10_6_Life Processes
15. Sci10_7_Control and Coordination
16. Sci10_8_reproduction
17. Sci10_9_evolution
18. Sci10_11_human eye
19. Biology12_11_Biotechnology Principle and Processes
20. Biology12_12_Biotechnology and its Applications

3: Geography
Geography can be further classified into

Physical Universe, earth, atmosphere, weather, climate etc.

Indian Topics related to India (e.g. industry, drainage etc.)
World Again not much asked from this.

 Earlier geography used to encompass Environment biodiversity (EnB) + agriculture, but

now both of them have grown up and getting more ‘special’ attention from UPSC
Examiners.
 Again, our approach is NCERT => GS Manual => Mock questions.
 (optional): you may also read NIOS material on Geography for additional grip over the
subject. Free download links @bottom.
 Note: In GS manual, they sometimes go in very minor details e.g. state where particular
breed of goat/pig/cow/buffalo is found. don’t waste time in such details. Even for Indian
geography, you should know broad things. If you try to prepare every detail, you’ll be
stuck there forever.
Physical Geography
Universe
When you go to universe, there is no dearth of GK regarding relative size, color, distance of
various planets etc. but again keep the time factor in mind.

1. Sci8_17_Stars And The solar system

2. Geo6_1_The Earth in the Solar System
3. Geo11_2_The Origin and Evolution of the Earth

Earth: Basics
From earth basics, UPSC usually asks a few questions on

1. Latitudes, Longitudes and timezones

2. oceanography
3. atmosphere, climate, weather phenomenon related

Anyways, here is the list of NCERT chapters

1. Geo6_2_Globe Latitudes and Longitudes

2. Geo6_3_Motions of the Earth
3. Geo6_4_Maps
4. Geo6_5_Major Domains of the Earth
5. Geo6_6_Major Landforms of the Earth
6. Geo11_1_Geography as a Discipline (although doesn’t fit in this classification!)
7. Geo11_3_Interior of the Earth
8. Geo11_4_Distribution of Oceans and Continents

Rocks/Geology related
1. Geo11_5_Minerals and Rocks (after that, immediacy read the Indian geography
chapters related to distribution of mines and minerals in India)
2. Geo11_6_Geomorphic Processes
3. Geo11_7_Landforms and their Evolution.

Atmosphere and Climate related

1. Geo11_8_Composition and Structure of Atmosphere
2. Geo11_9_Solar Radiation, Heat Balance and Temperature
 3. Geo11_10_Atmospheric Circulation and Weather Systems
4. Geo11_11_Water in the Atmosphere
5. Geo11_12_World Climate and Climate Change

Ocean related
6. Geo11_13_Water (Oceans)

7. Geo11_14_Movements of Ocean Water

Disaster related
8. Geo11_7_India_Natural Hazards and Disasters

9. Sci7_8_Winds, Storms and Cyclones

10. Sci8_15_Some Natural Phenomena lightening earthquakes

Misc
11. Geo11_1_Geography as a Discipline

12. Geo11_Glossary

Indian Geography
Here UPSC often asks questions on rivers-tributaries. but then again, no point in mugging up
beyond a level. Apart from NCERT, also read chapter 30 from India Yearbook (free download
link @bottom).

India: Physical Geography

1. Geo6_7_Our Country India
2. Geo9_1_size and location
3. Geo9_2_physical
4. Geo9_4_CLIMATE
5. Geo11_1_India_Location
6. Geo11_2_India_Structure and Physiography

India: rivers
1. Geo9_3_drainage
 2. Geo10_3-water resources
3. Geo11_3_India_Drainage System
4. Geo12_India_6_Water Resources

India: Economic geography

1. Geo10_1_resources & Development
2. Geo10_5-mines & ENERGY RESOURCES
3. Geo10_6-industries
4. Geo10_7-transport
5. Geo12_India_7_Mineral and Energy Resources
6. Geo12_India_8_Manufacturing Industries
7. Geo12_India_9_Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context
8. Geo12_India_10_Transport and Communication
9. Geo12_India_11_International Trade
10. Geo12_India_12_Geographical Perspective on Selected Issues and Problems

India: Human geography

1. Geo9_6_Population
2. Geo12_India_1_Population – Distribution, Density, Growth and Composition
3. Geo12_India_2_Migration – Types, Causes and Consequences
4. Geo12_India_3_Human Development
5. Geo12_India_4_Human Settlements

World, Human and Economic Geography

1. Geo7_7_transport
2. Geo7_8_Life in tropical areas
3. Geo7_9_life in Grasslands
4. Geo7_10_life in Deserts
5. Geo8_1_Resources
6. Geo8_3_minerals and energy
7. Geo8_5_industries_steel_IT
8. Geo8_6_Human Resources
9. Geo12_1_Nature n Scope
10. Geo12_2_The World Population Distribution, Density and Growth
11. Geo12_3_Population Composition
12. Geo12_4_Human Development
13. Geo12_6_Secondary Activities
14. Geo12_7_Tertiary and Quaternary Activities
15. Geo12_8_Transport and Communication
16. Geo12_9_International Trade
17. Geo12_10_Human Settlements
Agriculture
Here is the list of NCERT chapters that should be specifically read and revised. More emphasis
on soil-types, crops and cropping technologies.

1. Geo8_4_agri
2. Geo10_4-agriculture
3. Geo11_6_India_Soils
4. Geo12_5_Primary Activities
5. Geo12_India_5_Land Resources and Agriculture
6. Sci7_3_Fibre to Fabric
7. Sci7_9_Soil
8. Sci8_1_Crop Production And Management
9. Sci9_15_Improvement In Food Resources

4: Environment and Biodiversity (EnB)

 In 2012’s CAPF prelims they asked 10 Qs. from this topic. Some from static/theory,
some from current affairs like National plan on climate change etc. but they’re covered
under my articles on economic survey.

 For EnB, the foundation /base material is NIOS (free download links @bottom).
 also Go through the articles posted on Mrunal.org/enb

Besides, certain chapters of NCERT Geography and Science textbooks also help in EnB. Here is
the list:

1. Biology12_13_Organisms and Populations

2. Biology12_14_Ecosystem
3. Biology12_15_BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
4. Biology12_16_Environmental Issues
5. Chemistry11_14_ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY
6. Economy11_9_ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
7. Geo6_8_India Climate, Vegetation and Wildlife
8. Geo7_1_environment
9. Geo7_2_rocks
10. Geo7_3_Rivers
11. Geo7_4_Air
12. Geo7_5_water
13. Geo7_6_Jungle
14. Geo8_2_Soil, Water, Natural Vegetation and Wildlife Resource
15. Geo9_5_forest and wildlife
16. Geo10_2-forest & wildlife resources
17. Geo11_4_India_Climate
 18. Geo11_5_India_Natural Vegetation
19. Geo11_15_Life on the Earth
20. Geo11_16_Biodiversity and Conservation
21. Sci7_7_Weather, Climate and Adaptations of Animals to Climate
22. Sci7_16_Water A Precious Resource
23. Sci7_17_Forests Our Lifeline
24. Sci7_18_Waste water Story
25. Sci8_7_Conservation Of Plants And animals
26. Sci8_18_Pollution Of Air And Water
27. Sci9_14_Natural Resources carbon cycle
28. Sci10_14_Source of energy
29. Sci10_15_environment_food chain
30. Sci10_16_ Management of natural resources

(You’ll find their download link @the Bottom of this article)

5: Polity
In all three exams: Civil service exam, CAPF and CDS exam, polity MCQs form a signification
portion. The cost: benefit ratio is quite good.

1. Indian Polity by M.Laxmikanth (click to buy from flipkart, pay on delivery)

2. India Yearbook chapter number 3 and 20. (you don’t need to specifically
Primary
buy the latest edition for CAPF, just use India 2011, Free download link
source
@bottom)

3. Depending on your time and mood, the NCERT, NIOS political science and
Peripheral sociology textbooks. (again free download @bottom).

Here are some tips on how to Laxmikanth’s book efficiently and get a good grip over the polity
within a short period of time?

Don’t study the book in a linear fashion (that is chapter 1,2,3,4…sequence)

Instead I suggest you read the book in following direction:

1. First you read the chapter on President, Vice President and immediately move to the
chapter on governor. Then read on Emergency provisions.
2. Read chapter on PM and cabinet, then move to CM and state council of Ministers.
3. Chapter on “Parliamentary system” and then directly to parliament, but after budget topic
is done pause this chapter and move to on CAG. Then come back and resume the chapter
on parliament.
4. Once parliament is finished, move to State legislative assembly.
5. Supreme Court and then High court, tribunals.
 6. Attorney Gen =>Advocate General
7. UPSC =>State PSC
8. Finance Commission =>Planning Commission=>Nat.Development council
9. Now Centre State relation and Interstate relations.
10. Election Commission=> chapter on election, Anti-defection
11. All the National Commissions on Women, SC, ST,OBC, CVC, Lokpal and so on.

Once ^this is done. Move to

1. Citizenship, Fundamental rights, DPSP, duties.

2. Amendment of Constitution=> preamble
3. Jammu Kashmir => Scheduled and Tribal Areas.
4. UT, Panchayati Raj, municipalities

After ^this is done. Read whatever chapters are remaining. Ultimately

 Appendix for union-state-concurrent list, table of precedence etc.

 the mock MCQ questions given in Laxmikant + also in your General studies manual.

Note: the short explanations given in appendix of every chapter= should be read.

Single time reading of Laxmikanth= useless. Revise his book, minimum 3 times.

An allied topic of Polity is “rights-issue” for example women rights, children rights,
SC/ST/OBC/PH/Minorities and various schemes meant for that. Although not much is asked
from It and Most of that stuff is already covered under my economic survey chapter summaries
:Mrunal.org/economy and Mrunal.org/polity

6: Economy
In 2012’s exam, 6 questions came from Economy. Mostly based on current affairs and economic
survey.

but Don’t waste your time in mugging up stupid numbers (like IIP in xyz month, how much
sharemarket went up or down etc.).To prepare Economy use following resources

1. NCERT class 11 and 12. (free download link @bottom.) Class 12

macroeconomics=good, but class-12 microeconomics=ignore.
2. NIOS material for economy (free download link @bottom)
3. Mrunal.org/economy (most of the economic survey related summaries given in it)
4. Finally GS Manual Mock questions for practice.

You don’t need to specifically buy “Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh” for CAPF exam, but if
you have it (or can borrow from a friend) then do read it.
7: Yearbook
yearbook means government schemes, policies, institutes etc. MCQs. Most of them already
covered under my Economic survey articles hence no need to purchase India 2013/Yearbook.

7: International relations/events/diplomacy
Just like CDS exam, the IR questions are also asked in CAPF exam. 2012’s paper contains 6
MCQs from this topic. So, what type of details should be prepared?

1. Various international summits, their

locations, themes

2. Agreements and dispute between

countries for some border, island etc.
Goto library, read whatever competitive
3. Joint military exercises (although I magazine you get (CST, Pratiyoigta, Chronicle,
count them under “Defense” topic.) Wizard) and note down important things from
diary of international events + Person in news.
4. Election of President / PM and which
party does he belong to. (Although I
count them under “Misc.GK=>Person
in New (PIN)).

5. Basic things about international

organizations such as UN, UNESCO, you’ll find them covered under your GS Manual
WTO, ASEAN, NATO etc. + in sociology/political science related NCERTs

8: Defense
 The questions about various missiles, DRDO technology, joint-military exercises with
other countries.
 A lot of topics that happened from 2012 upto March 2013, are already compiled in the
following article

http://mrunal.org/2013/03/defense-current-affairs-compilation-2012-13-missiles-joint-exercises-
operations-organizations.html

 beyond that, again Goto library, read whatever competitive magazine you get (CST,
Pratiyoigta, Chronicle, Wizard) and note down important things from diary of
international events + Person in news.
  for basics about army, navy, airforce: organization, recruitment, training etc. read Chapter
9 “Defense” From India Yearbook. (You don’t need to specifically buy India 2013, just
refer the India 2011 free PDF given at bottom of this article. Because that chapter
remains almost one and same in all editions of India yearbook.)

9: Misc GK
It involve sports, awards, books-authors, persons in news and all other stupid infinite trivial
database.

I’ve published compilation from 2012 to March 2013 click me after that, goto library, read
whatever competitive magazine you get (CST, Pratiyoigta, Chronicle, Wizard) and note down
important names/details. Following areas to concentrate

1. Within sports: lawn tennis

2. Within PIN: international personas (PM, President, chiefs of various organization etc.)
3. Books: award-winners or someone who recently died.

This concludes GS/GK/GA portion. What about aptitude?

Maths/Aptitude for CAPF exam

In 2012’s exam the breakup was like following

Maths/Quantitative aptitude 3
Data interpretation 4
Reasoning 13
Total 20

just some basic stuff, if you’ve already given SSC / Bank exam sincerely then this portion should
not pose much challenge. anyways, for those who’re new to this game, what to do?

CAPF: Maths
 my article explaining the concept of HCF,
 Divisibility, remainders
LCM click me
 LCM and HCF
 NCERT Class 7 Chap 2, 9 (fraction)
Number  Unknown numbers from
 NCERT Class 10 Chap 1 (divisibility)
theory given conditions
 Finally practice sums from your
 Fractions-comparisions.
Quantitative aptitude book.
  “Mother’s age was x and daughters
age..”“3 mangos and 5 bananas purchased
for…”
 X+1/2x+3=3/8 then find X.
 ^This type of stuff. Just practice and you’ll
Algebra Linear equation get a hang of it.
 Basics given in NCERT Class 8 Chap 2
and 9.
 Then NCERT Class 9 Chap 4
 Lastly NCERT Class 10 Chap 3.

Wine-Water mixture Can be solved without formula. read this article

(Alligations) click me
Just practice sums from your quantitative aptitude
Avg and Simple Average
book.
Ratios
Ratio-Proportion-variations For ratio-proportion NCERT Class 8 Chap 13.
Can be solved without formula. read this article,
Partnership
click me
1. Time speed distance
2. Trains, platforms
All of them can be solved effortlessly, with just
3. Boats-streams
STD one Universal STD formula.Explained in various
4. Time and Work
articles of Mrunal.org/aptitude
5. Pipes and Cisterns

 Basics explained in NCERT Class 8 Chap

3, 11.Then NCERT Class 9 Chap 9, 12,
Mensuration Area, Volume, Perimeter 13.
 Lastly NCERT Class 10 Chap 13

 how to solve without formulas: explained

Profit, loss, market price,
here click me
discount
%
 how to solve without formulas, explained
Simple interest (SI), compound
here click me
interest (CI), population growth

 Once this is done, practice maximum questions from your quantitative aptitude book (RS
Agarwal, Sarvesh Kumar, Rajesh Verma, M.Tyra) and or previous IBPS/Bank papers.
 Maintain a diary of mistakes, so whatever shortcuts you discover or whatever mistakes
you make while practicing sums, note them in this diary. and refer to this diary in night
before exam.
 Also depending on time and mood; prepare permutation, combination, probability,
arithmetic progression. (they’re not “priority topics”).
CAPF Maths: ignore these topics
following are asked in CDS exam but not in CAPF exam (or atleast I didn’t see in recent years!)
so ignore them

1. trigonometry
2. Geometry theory except the area, volume, perimeter (AVP).
3. coordinate geometry
4. quadratic equations
5. logarithms

CAPF: Data Interpretation

 usually some bar/pie chart that doesn’t involve any lengthy calculation (unlike the
IBPS/CAT exam)
 My suggestion= just solve previous SSC CGL paper’s Data interpretation sets. you can
get papers from Internet, or if you’ve some buddy preparing for CGL, he’ll have
papersets of Kiran Prakashan / Arihant etc.

CAPF reasoning
the Recommended Book is as usual: RS Aggarwal’s Modern Approach to verbal and non-verbal
reasoning. Then the question is, how to prepare reasoning in systematic manner in the given
time? Do it in following manner:

#1: Chart based

 This includes: Direction sense test, Sitting arrangement (rectangle, circular, building,
lecture schedules etc.) and blood relations.
 I club them together because in all of them you’ve to make rough diagram / chart / table
to solve it.
 Here is the order in which they should be prepared:

RS Aggarwal
Sr.No Topic
Chapter No.
1. Direction Sense Test. 8
2. Sitting arrangement: circular 6
3. Sitting arrangement: rectangle 6
Sitting arrangement: “table” based e.g. lecture schedules, job-car-
4. 6
cloth color, building-car-newspaper etc.
5. Blood relations 5,6
#2: coding n series
Sr.No Topic RS Aggarwal Chapter No.
1. Coding-decoding 4
2. Alpha-numeric sequence puzzle 11

#3 Analogy, odd man

Sr.No Topic RS Aggarwal Chapter No.
1. Analogy 2
2. Oddmen out 3 (chapter title is “Classification”)

Analogy and odd men can be of two types:

1. Word based.
2. Number based.

If it is word based, you don’t need pen and paper, you can solve it in your head and proceed.

If it is number based, then depending on your proficiency (and luck) it may be very easy question
for example

1. Find odd man: 13,17,21,23. (ans. 21 because it is not a prime number). So this is quick
and easy.

But at times it can be difficult and may require lot of trial and error for example

2. 182::?::210::380. Find “?”.

^in this case, you may or may not be able to see the pattern immediately. It may take you five
seconds, it may take 5 minutes. So don’t sit on just one question. Move to next question. You
don’t have to tick all answers to get selected.

syllogism
Syllogism= “All cats are dogs,…” statement and conclusion. Usually a set of 3-5 questions. First
Understand the UP-UN method explained here click me

Then solve all the questions given in RS Agarwal’s book Section II, Chapter 1 : Logic.

Assumption reasoning
  RS Agarwal’s book Section II, Chapter 3 :Statement assumptions.
 From some bankPO buddy, you may borrow a book called “Analytical reasoning by MK
Pandey” and refer to his theory as well.

Once above chapters are finished done, then go through the peripheral topics from RS Agarwal’s
book: depending on your time and mood.

This concludes aptitude preparation.

Paper II (Essay and Comprehension)

Part-A – Essay questions which are to be answered in long narrative form either in Hindi or
English totaling 80 Marks. The indicative topics are modern Indian history especially of the
freedom struggle, geography, polity and economy, knowledge of security and human rights
issues, and analytical ability.

Part-B – Comprehension, précis writing, other communications/language skills – to be

attempted in English only (Marks 120) – The topics are Comprehension passages, précis writing,
developing counter arguments, simple grammar and other aspects of language testing.

It is worth 2 hours and 200 marks. The question paper contains

1. Long Essay (four essays are given; you’ve to write only one of them in 800 words.)
2. Short Essay ( two topics are given, you’ve to pick one and write 250 words)
3. Reading comprehension (a paragraph is given and you’ve to read and write answers
based on that paragraph)
4. Précis (a long paragraph is given, you’ve to write short version of it.)
5. English grammar. (Fill in the blanks etc)

Just go through the old papers, and solve them (yes you should actually write the answers in
blank papers at home, for practice).

No separate preparation is necessary. But still if you’re very uncomfortable with English, you
can refer to AP Bhardwaj’s book.

How to prepare the Essay?

 Paper 2 is worth 200 marks and inside it, the Essay is worth 80 marks (that’s 40%).
Therefore, You must prepare for Essay exhaustively, to ensure success in the CPF exam.
 Fundamental principles remain same like UPSC Essay: spend the first few minutes on
brainstorming the idea. Then rank those ideas, start writing essay: introduction >> body
(+/- pros, cons) >> conclusion.
 For more elaboration, read the earlier article on Essay writing Click Me
 To write a decent essay, what you need is decent fodder points.
  Essay can be on variety of topics, so ideally you need to keep reading newspapers,
magazines, and some good books from library on regular basis.
 After some months, you have good fodder points on almost every topic.
 I’ve providing two things (in the appendix)
 Topicwise Huge list of essays, from previous UPSC, LIC etc exams. So you can practice
them or atleast brainstorm for ideas about how to write them @home.
 IGNOU India democracy and Development zip file. This PDF set contains necessary
fodder points to approach most of the social/democracy/Development etc. topics related
essays.
 there is no dearth of readymade essay books in the market, but that type of
firefighting/desi jugaad, I don’t find it very helpful because such books are either
outdated (only reprinted, not updated after 90s), and or don’t cover all the necessary
topics. But still, if you want to refer to any books, you may use Spectrum Book of Essays

Hindi Medium Aspirants of CPF Exam

 Hindi version of General Studies Manuals use very “Shuddha (Pure) Hindi” for example
instead of “Audit” they use the word “Lekha parikshan”. Similar problems in Economy
and Polity portion.
 Thus it becomes very cumbersome to read such book and you’ve to tick only MCQs for
the CPF exam.
 So I would suggest you buy English version of GS Manual instead of Hindi version.
Same reason, I suggest you download the English version of NCERTs instead of Hindi
version.
 In paper 2, you can only write the first essay in Hindi, and rest of the questions have to
be answered in English. So, If you’re going to write the Essay in Hindi, then buy Hindi
version of that Spectrum Essay book.
 by the way Laxmikanth’s book is available in Hindi under title “Bharat ki Rajya
Vyavastha”

Conclusion / summary / final tips

 Revision is essential. Whatever you read in NCERT, NIOS or Laxmikanth, keep a target
of revising it multiple times. Otherwise, you won’t be able to recall the exact details in
the exam and UPSC’s MCQs are very tricky.
 If you’ve applied for this exam, then focus on your studies only. Don’t underestimate the
level of competition. Don’t waste time in day-dreaming, facebook, orkut, random net
surfing, chatting, TV, cricket, weddings of distant relatives etc. Time-pass activities
will always be there, but once you cross the age-limit, there is no restart button. (This rule
applies to all competitive exams.)
 When you get bored reading General studies, then solve maths / English question. when
you get bored with maths/english, resume your General studies preparation.
 Don’t go in the exam-hall with a ‘cutoff’ mindset. Don’t push luck in negative marking.
Don’t tick answers based on guesswork.
A