- Grab the weapons (Booklist)
- 1: History & Culture
- Ancient
- Medieval
- Modern History
- Culture
- 2: Science
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Biology
- 3: Geography
- Physical Geography
- Universe
- Earth: Basics
- Rocks/Geology related
- Atmosphere and Climate related
- Ocean related
- Disaster related
- Indian Geography
- World, Human and Economic Geography
- Agriculture
- 4: Environment and Biodiversity (EnB)
- 5: Polity
- 6: Economy
- 7: Yearbook
- 7: International relations/events/diplomacy
- 8: Defense
- 9: Misc GK
- Maths/Aptitude for CAPF exam
- CAPF: Maths
- CAPF Maths: ignore these topics
- CAPF: Data Interpretation
- CAPF reasoning
- #1: Chart based
- #2: coding n series
- #3 Analogy, odd man
- syllogism
- Assumption reasoning
- Paper II (Essay and Comprehension)
- How to prepare the Essay?
- Hindi Medium Aspirants of CPF Exam
- Conclusion / summary / final tips
- Appendix1: Download Links
- NCERT and NIOS (Essential/Core)
- History
- Science
- EnB
- Economy
- Geography
- India yearbook
- NCERT and NIOS (Peripheral)
- Appendix2: CAPF notification, cutoffs, previous papers
- CAPF 2013 Notification
- Cutoffs
- Interview experience of Previous Toppers
In terms of General studies Questions, the CAPF and CDS exams run almost parallel. differences are:
CDS | CAPF |
Separate paper on maths | Maths/Aptitude included within same GS paper |
English paper contains MCQ only, no essay writing / descriptive stuff. | Essay Comprehension paper, worth 2 hours 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:
- 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)
- Indian Polity by M.Laxmkanth (religiously mugup this book for ~10 marks in the exam.)
- 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:
- Harappa
- 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*
- History6_1_What, Where, How And When
- History6_2_On The Trail Of The Earliest People
- History6_3_From Gathering To Growing Food
- History6_4_In The Earliest Cities
- History6_5_What Books And Burials Tell Us
- History6_6_Kingdoms, Kings And An Early Republic
- History6_7_New Questions And Ideas
- History6_8_Ashoka, The Emperor Who Gave Up War
- History6_9_Vital Villages, Thriving Towns
- History6_10_Traders, Kings And Pilgrims
- History6_11_New Empires And Kingdoms
- History6_12_Buildings, Paintings And Books
- History12_1_Bricks Beads and Stones_Harappa
- History12_2_King farmer towns
- History12_3_Kinship Caste Class
- 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.
- Hist7_1_Tracing Changes Through A Thousand Years
- Hist7_2_New Kings And Kingdoms
- Hist7_3_The Delhi Sultans
- Hist7_4_The Mughal Empire
- Hist7_5_Rulers And Buildings
- Hist7_6_Towns, Traders And Craftspersons
- Hist7_7_Tribes, Nomads And Settled Communities
- Hist7_8_Devotional Paths To The Divine
- Hist7_9_The Making Of Regional Cultures
- Hist7_10_Eighteenth-Century Political Formations
- History12_1_Foreign Travelers to India
- History12_2_Bhakti -Sufi Traditions
- History12_3_Vijayanagara-An Imperial Capital
- History12_4_Mughal Empire and Agrarian Society
- 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:
- History8_1_How When and Where
- History8_2_From Trade to Territory
- History8_3_The Company Establishes Power
- History8_4_Ruling the Countryside
- History8_5_Tribals Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age
- History8_6_1857 and After When people rebel
- History12_1_Colonialism Official Archives
- History12_2_1857 Revolt And Its Representations
- History12_3_Colonial Cities Urbanisation, Planning And Architecture
- History12_4_Mahatma Gandhi And The Nationalist Movement
- History12_5_Understanding Partition
- 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 |
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Chemistry | |
Biology | |
Current affairs, biotech, nanotech, computer IT, space etc. | You can ignore this if you’re running out time. otherwise
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Here is the list of NCERT chapters to be prepared:
Physics
- Sci10_13_Magnet
- Sci10_12_electricity
- Sci10_10_light
- Sci9_12_Sound
- Sci9_11_Work And Energy
- Sci9_10_Gravitation
- Sci9_9_Force And Laws Of Motion
- Sci9_8_Motion
- Sci8_16_Light
- Sci8_14_Chemical Effects Of Electriccurrent
- Sci8_13_Sound
- Sci8_12_Friction
- Sci8_11_Force And Pressure
- Sci7_15_Light
- Sci7_14_Electric Current and its Effects
- Sci7_13_Motion and Time
- Sci7_4_Heat
- Physics11_1_What is Physics
Chemistry
- Sci7_5_Acids,Bases andSalts
- Sci7_6_Physical and Chemical Changes
- Sci8_3_Synthetic Fibres And Plastics
- Sci8_4_Materials Metals And Non-Metals
- Sci8_5_Coal And petroleum
- Sci8_6_Combustion And Flame
- Sci9_1_Matter In Our Surroundings
- Sci9_2_Is Matter Around Us Pure
- Sci9_3_Atoms And Molecules
- Sci9_4_Structure Of The Atom
- Sci10_1_Chemical Reactions and Equations
- Sci10_2_Acids, Bases and Salts
- Sci10_3_Metals and Non-metals
- Sci10_4_Carbon and its Compounds
- Sci10_5_Periodic Classification of Elements
Biology
- Sci7_1_Nutrition in Plants
- Sci7_2_Nutrition inAnimals
- Sci7_10_Respiration in Organisms
- Sci7_11_Transportation in Animals and Plants
- Sci7_12_Reproduction inPlants
- Sci8_2_Microorganisms Friend And foe
- Sci8_8_Cell Structure And Functions
- Sci8_9_Reproduction In Animals
- Sci8_10_Reaching The age Of Adolescence
- Sci9_5_The Fundamental Unit Of life
- Sci9_6_Tissues
- Sci9_7_Diversity In Living Organisms
- Sci9_13_Why Do We Fall ill
- Sci10_6_Life Processes
- Sci10_7_Control and Coordination
- Sci10_8_reproduction
- Sci10_9_evolution
- Sci10_11_human eye
- Biology12_11_Biotechnology Principle and Processes
- 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.
- Sci8_17_Stars And The solar system
- Geo6_1_The Earth in the Solar System
- Geo11_2_The Origin and Evolution of the Earth
Earth: Basics
From earth basics, UPSC usually asks a few questions on
- Latitudes, Longitudes and timezones
- oceanography
- atmosphere, climate, weather phenomenon related
Anyways, here is the list of NCERT chapters
- Geo6_2_Globe Latitudes and Longitudes
- Geo6_3_Motions of the Earth
- Geo6_4_Maps
- Geo6_5_Major Domains of the Earth
- Geo6_6_Major Landforms of the Earth
- Geo11_1_Geography as a Discipline (although doesn’t fit in this classification!)
- Geo11_3_Interior of the Earth
- Geo11_4_Distribution of Oceans and Continents
Rocks/Geology related
- Geo11_5_Minerals and Rocks (after that, immediacy read the Indian geography chapters related to distribution of mines and minerals in India)
- Geo11_6_Geomorphic Processes
- Geo11_7_Landforms and their Evolution.
Atmosphere and Climate related
- Geo11_8_Composition and Structure of Atmosphere
- Geo11_9_Solar Radiation, Heat Balance and Temperature
- Geo11_10_Atmospheric Circulation and Weather Systems
- Geo11_11_Water in the Atmosphere
- Geo11_12_World Climate and Climate Change
Ocean related
- Geo11_13_Water (Oceans)
- Geo11_14_Movements of Ocean Water
Disaster related
- Geo11_7_India_Natural Hazards and Disasters
- Sci7_8_Winds, Storms and Cyclones
- Sci8_15_Some Natural Phenomena lightening earthquakes
Misc
- Geo11_1_Geography as a Discipline
- 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
- Geo6_7_Our Country India
- Geo9_1_size and location
- Geo9_2_physical
- Geo9_4_CLIMATE
- Geo11_1_India_Location
- Geo11_2_India_Structure and Physiography
India: rivers
- Geo9_3_drainage
- Geo10_3-water resources
- Geo11_3_India_Drainage System
- Geo12_India_6_Water Resources
India: Economic geography
- Geo10_1_resources & Development
- Geo10_5-mines & ENERGY RESOURCES
- Geo10_6-industries
- Geo10_7-transport
- Geo12_India_7_Mineral and Energy Resources
- Geo12_India_8_Manufacturing Industries
- Geo12_India_9_Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context
- Geo12_India_10_Transport and Communication
- Geo12_India_11_International Trade
- Geo12_India_12_Geographical Perspective on Selected Issues and Problems
India: Human geography
- Geo9_6_Population
- Geo12_India_1_Population – Distribution, Density, Growth and Composition
- Geo12_India_2_Migration – Types, Causes and Consequences
- Geo12_India_3_Human Development
- Geo12_India_4_Human Settlements
World, Human and Economic Geography
- Geo7_7_transport
- Geo7_8_Life in tropical areas
- Geo7_9_life in Grasslands
- Geo7_10_life in Deserts
- Geo8_1_Resources
- Geo8_3_minerals and energy
- Geo8_5_industries_steel_IT
- Geo8_6_Human Resources
- Geo12_1_Nature n Scope
- Geo12_2_The World Population Distribution, Density and Growth
- Geo12_3_Population Composition
- Geo12_4_Human Development
- Geo12_6_Secondary Activities
- Geo12_7_Tertiary and Quaternary Activities
- Geo12_8_Transport and Communication
- Geo12_9_International Trade
- 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.
- Geo8_4_agri
- Geo10_4-agriculture
- Geo11_6_India_Soils
- Geo12_5_Primary Activities
- Geo12_India_5_Land Resources and Agriculture
- Sci7_3_Fibre to Fabric
- Sci7_9_Soil
- Sci8_1_Crop Production And Management
- 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:
- Biology12_13_Organisms and Populations
- Biology12_14_Ecosystem
- Biology12_15_BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
- Biology12_16_Environmental Issues
- Chemistry11_14_ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY
- Economy11_9_ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
- Geo6_8_India Climate, Vegetation and Wildlife
- Geo7_1_environment
- Geo7_2_rocks
- Geo7_3_Rivers
- Geo7_4_Air
- Geo7_5_water
- Geo7_6_Jungle
- Geo8_2_Soil, Water, Natural Vegetation and Wildlife Resource
- Geo9_5_forest and wildlife
- Geo10_2-forest & wildlife resources
- Geo11_4_India_Climate
- Geo11_5_India_Natural Vegetation
- Geo11_15_Life on the Earth
- Geo11_16_Biodiversity and Conservation
- Sci7_7_Weather, Climate and Adaptations of Animals to Climate
- Sci7_16_Water A Precious Resource
- Sci7_17_Forests Our Lifeline
- Sci7_18_Waste water Story
- Sci8_7_Conservation Of Plants And animals
- Sci8_18_Pollution Of Air And Water
- Sci9_14_Natural Resources carbon cycle
- Sci10_14_Source of energy
- Sci10_15_environment_food chain
- 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.
Primary source |
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Peripheral |
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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:
- First you read the chapter on President, Vice President and immediately move to the chapter on governor. Then read on Emergency provisions.
- Read chapter on PM and cabinet, then move to CM and state council of Ministers.
- 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.
- Once parliament is finished, move to State legislative assembly.
- Supreme Court and then High court, tribunals.
- Attorney Gen =>Advocate General
- UPSC =>State PSC
- Finance Commission =>Planning Commission=>Nat.Development council
- Now Centre State relation and Interstate relations.
- Election Commission=> chapter on election, Anti-defection
- All the National Commissions on Women, SC, ST,OBC, CVC, Lokpal and so on.
Once ^this is done. Move to
- Citizenship, Fundamental rights, DPSP, duties.
- Amendment of Constitution=> preamble
- Jammu Kashmir => Scheduled and Tribal Areas.
- 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
- NCERT class 11 and 12. (free download link @bottom.) Class 12 macroeconomics=good, but class-12 microeconomics=ignore.
- NIOS material for economy (free download link @bottom)
- Mrunal.org/economy (most of the economic survey related summaries given in it)
- 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?
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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. |
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you’ll find them covered under your GS Manual + 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
- 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
- Within sports: lawn tennis
- Within PIN: international personas (PM, President, chiefs of various organization etc.)
- 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
Number theory |
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Algebra | Linear equation |
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Avg and Ratios | Wine-Water mixture (Alligations) | Can be solved without formula. read this article click me |
Simple Average | Just practice sums from your quantitative aptitude book. | |
Ratio-Proportion-variations | For ratio-proportion NCERT Class 8 Chap 13. | |
Partnership | Can be solved without formula. read this article, click me | |
STD |
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All of them can be solved effortlessly, with just one Universal STD formula.Explained in various articles of Mrunal.org/aptitude |
Mensuration | Area, Volume, Perimeter |
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% | Profit, loss, market price, discount |
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Simple interest (SI), compound interest (CI), population growth |
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- 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
- trigonometry
- Geometry theory except the area, volume, perimeter (AVP).
- coordinate geometry
- quadratic equations
- 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:
Sr.No | Topic | RS Aggarwal Chapter No. |
1. | Direction Sense Test. | 8 |
2. | Sitting arrangement: circular | 6 |
3. | Sitting arrangement: rectangle | 6 |
4. | Sitting arrangement: “table” based e.g. lecture schedules, job-car-cloth color, building-car-newspaper etc. | 6 |
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:
- Word based.
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Long Essay (four essays are given; you’ve to write only one of them in 800 words.)
- Short Essay ( two topics are given, you’ve to pick one and write 250 words)
- Reading comprehension (a paragraph is given and you’ve to read and write answers based on that paragraph)
- Précis (a long paragraph is given, you’ve to write short version of it.)
- 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.
Appendix1: Download Links
- Foxit PDF reader (necessary prerequisite for using Mrunal’s autonotemaker) click me to download
- Almost all of these PDF files provides direct copying of text. => That means you can use Mrunal’s autonotemaker to quickly make notes and mindmaps out of it, just use mouse cursor to highlight a particular line /phrase and my software will copy its text in a separate file. for more instructions click me
NCERT and NIOS (Essential/Core)
TN State edu Books (for History) https://files.secureserver.net/0fnzZYT7SDNuC9
NIOS (for Culture) https://files.secureserver.net/0fdAWETp4sONW5
NCERT files: topicwise: https://mrunal.org/download
India yearbook
- earlier government used to upload free PDF files for India yearbook (e.g. India 2010, India 2011 etc.)
- But since 2012, they stopped. However, for CAPF you don’t need a latest edition and you don’t need to refer all chapters. (Most of the schemes etc. covered in my economic survey articles).
- so, just download the India 2011 edition click me And read chapter following chapters
- 1.Land and the People
- 2.National Symbols
- 3.The Polity (for polity)
- 9. Defense
- 20 Justice and Law (for polity segment)
- 30. State and UT (for geography related questions)
Free Study Material English/Paper II
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Click Me |
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Click Me |
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Click Me |
NCERT and NIOS (Peripheral)
read these if depending on your time and mood.
NIOS | Single folder contains many courses from NIOS: sociology, political science etc. download as per your time, mood and requirement. | Download |
NCERTs
Biology | 12 | Biology | Download |
Chemistry | 12 | Chemistry 1 | Download |
Chemistry | 12 | Chemistry 2 | Download |
Economics | 12 | Introductory Microeconomics | Download |
Economics | 10 | Understanding Economic Development Class X Social Science | Download |
Economics | 9 | Economics for Class 9 | Download |
Physics | 12 | Physics 1 | Download |
Physics | 12 | Physics 2 | Download |
Political Science | 12 | Contemporary World Politics Political Science Class 12 | Download |
Political Science | 12 | Political Science 2 for Class 12 | Download |
Political Science | 11 | Political Theory Political Science Class 11 | Download |
Political Science | 11 | Indian Constitution at Work Political Science Class 11 | Download |
Political Science | 7 | Social and Political Life Part 2 – Class 7 | Download |
Political Science | 8 | Social and Political Life – Class 8 | Download |
Social sci. | 10 | Democratic Politics Part 2 for Class X Social Science | Download |
Sociology | 12 | Sociology Indian Society | Download |
Sociology | 12 | Sociology Social Change and Development in India for | Download |
Sociology | 11 | Introducing Sociology Class 11 | Download |
Sociology | 11 | Understanding Society Sociology Class 11 | Download |
World history | 9 | India and Contemporary World 1 for Class 9 | Download |
World history | 10 | India and the Contemporary World 2 Class X Social Science | Download |
Appendix2: CAPF notification, cutoffs, previous papers
CAPF 2013 Notification
Official notification PDF uploaded here: click me
read it for medical standards etc.
Cutoffs
Year | Gen | OBC | SC | ST |
2009 | 136 | 128 | 105 | 115 |
2010 | 126 | 121 | 111 | 116 |
Please note: In the year 2009 & 2010 paper I was for 250 marks & paper II was for 150 marks, Personality test for 200 marks. But From 2011 they have changed to paper I for 250 marks & paper II for 200 marks, Personality test for 150 marks.
Interview experience of Previous Toppers
For the interview experience of previous CAPF-2011s toppers read following:
@umakant.. I had referred some site for report writing. General format is
Title:
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
It’s same as we find it in newspaper. Imagine how a newspaper reports when a flood occurs. Practice on same lines.
Thanks sir and good luck for your upcoming training session
sir please upload current affairs latest section ,long time no update on current affairs
very good plan prepretion in capf
I wanted to share about the work of assistant commandant of CPF.
Baring CISF all others ( CRPF,BSF,ITBP,AR..) All are combat jobs.
Postings will be in LWE/ J&K/N.E + BORDER AREAS).
In these posts there will be no civilian life and you can keep only your family in your job posting place but many 80% to 90% will not keep bcoz of the risk. For name sake it is a Group- A post but completely different from other Group A posts of Central Govt.There is a lot of stagnation in these forces.. According to MHA an AC should become a DC in 6 yes including training but at present situation AC to DC it takes around 10 years…and so on. Hardly one who joins these forces get 2 promotions.
Training will be very hectic and strenuous (so for ppl who want to prepare for CSE can’t do it any cost).
There is also a bond of 8.5 lakhs approx one who wants to leave the force after training.
So finally I want to inform that unless one doesn’t have a craze for combat jobs don’t join these forces excepting CISF.
but in CISF Also there is stagnancy.
The higher personal of these forces work in a very unorganized way baring IPS officers who come under deputation.
And the posts above DIG are reserved only for IPS.
sir muje btayiea kam time mein tyari kaise karoon im from bca
history economy and curent affairs mein problem hae
CAPF AC KE LIYE CURRENT AFFAIRS ME KY SAB IMPORTANT TOPIC H………
AND INDIAN HISTORY AND CULTURE M KY SAB QUESTION IMPORTANT H……..PLZ TELL US
2015 cut off of assistant commandant 1 paper ?????
Sir, i hv already in armed forces . I wanted to become asst cmdt in capf .wht r the books i hv to refer n any age relaxation for defence person
capf exam whole ticket not received yet
CAN’T DOWNLOAD UPSC CAPF HALL TICKET ….PLS HELP
I do not agree
Sandy
hey , i use bifocal glasses, am i eligible for capf
upsc capf ac ka preparation online kaise karoon?
i’m crazy for cpf xam….finally a good site catched up…thanks a lot
How to make a command on essay writing plz give comments
Sir I have recently joined paramilitary as sub inspector . am I eligible for getting age relaxation as central civilian government employees. I m 25 years and my category is general .based on that am I eligible for applying for CPF 2017…dob-17/04/1992
Anyone want to create a Whatsapp group specially for CPF then please add me 9572531378 ….it’s a good idea of preparation and share our thinking and experience in this group
bhai ji agar whatsapp group banayiyega to mujhe bhi add kar dijiyega 8090340878
Sir capf ke liye kuch study plan suggests Karo Maine distance se B com kari hai plz help me
Hi Sir,
My dob is – 02-08-1992.
Please let me know if i can appear for CAPF 2017 exam.. As per the notification, person should not be born earlier than 02nd august 1992(if we go by notifications of 2016 exam).
Thanks
he/she must been born not earlier than 02-08-1991 and not later than 01-08-1996. You’re born in 1992 hence you can apply.
hi sir when physical test /medical test admit card issue it send by post or upsc site
Thank U Mrunal sir ,
Earlier I had fobia by studying the tremendous syllabi of CAPF (AC) exam but Sir as you have suggested us !
“what you should study and what should not”
Really it inspired me to go ahead !
Thanks a lot Sir !
भारत माता की जय !?
sir,
my dob is 3 june 1992, is am eligible for capf 2017
can I crack CAPF exam in seven months? is this need a different strategy or go with as given on this portal. how many hours needed to crack in seven months? which type of approach should be needed?
Respected Sir, MY name is Manish Sir i need PDF notes of CPF in hindi medium tell me the way how to download that if it is.
Sir ,
i have applied for LDCE Assistant Commandant in CISF . kindly Recommend me books and Study material for preparing the exam,,
Sir ,I m a high court haryana employee as clerk. My dob 9/9/1990. Is age relaxation for also or only central govt.plz help me
Hello sir,
I had read tamilnadu history book for tnpsc exams.Can i skip ncert history portion completely and focus on tn history book.It is enough to capf exam?
Thanks for giving help me sir.i am so happy sir.now it’s my responsibility that i read and get a lot of knowledge in my indian polity.
Hello there,
I want to be an AC in CISF or BSF. My chest is 32cm will I be able to clear medical test of capf? If not than how much it should be?