1. Readymade books for APFC exam
  2. Cost Factor
  3. Paper 1 General English
  4. Paper 2 General Studies
  5. Two rules to crack this exam

Important Updates:

19 September
Accountancy Study Material Added: CLICK ME
11 August

  1. For Videos containing explaination of Aptitude questions of earlier APFC exams: Click ME
  2. The Previous Years’ Question papers of APFC exam are uploaded in a separate article, click me to download them.
  3. I’ve archived all the important articles related to APFC exam, on this link: www.mrunal.org/apfc

Question from a Visitor

Could you please tell me what should I study for the post of Assistant Commissioner of Employee provident fund I have checked the syllabus but if you could tell me what should I study(I mean reference books etc.).

Readymade books for APFC exam

  • Exams like APFC are not taken at regular interval, so whenever such exam comes, some bogus moneyminded publication houses, just copy paste few paragraphs and pages related to the syllabus topics, from other books and publish a Guidebook for APFC exam, containing 300 pages!
  • After 1 month, These people will just change the book cover release the same content for Sales Tax inspector’s exam! Therefore such bogus quality readymade books or study material does not serve much purpose.
  • Reason: Many candidates also prepare simultaneously for UPSC, State PSC, Banks, SSC and similar jobs therefore competitive level is always very high. You need to have your basic concepts clear and foundations strong. Don’t try to look for shortcuts using such readymade books. (Same Advice for RBI officer, LIC AAO and other similar exams.)

Cost Factor

The General Studies Manual (TMH, Unique, Spectrum)  are quite expensive. They’re written for UPSC exam hence very thick and heavy. But the entire manual is not relevant for APFC exam, you’ve to do selective study of only a few topics. So better just borrow it from some friend or try to get an old copy.

Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner (APFC) comprises the following major topics/ broad areas.
The medium of the test will be both English and Hindi.

Paper 1 General English

The questions in General English component of the test will be designed to evaluate candidate’s understanding of English language and workman-like use of the words.

Please go through the separate article on ( how to prepare English for APFC exam. Click Me)

Paper 2 General Studies

Note: whenever I mention NCERT, know that it is legally downloaded for free, in Hindi or English from the official website of NCERT (http://www.ncert.nic.in/ )
Now talking about specific topics under Assistant Provident Fund manager’s exam.
Flipkart.com buy books for IAS,IBPS,CAT,CMAT with discount!

Current Events
  1. Download this package to prepare current affairs since Jan’11. https://mrunal.org/studymaterial/current-affairs-package-2012
  2. From now, ask your newspaperman to throw either Read The Hindu or Indian Express.
Indian Culture  Heritage
  1. NCERT class 7 to 12 (History books), class 11/12 books on Art n Culture.
  2. (optional) History portion from Tata Macgrawhill General Studies Manual– read stuff related to art, painting, dance, music from Ancient, medieval and modern era.
Freedom Movements
  1. NCERT class 7 to 12 for History.
  2. History portion from Tata Macgrawhill General Studies Manual.

Note: Syllabus clearly says “Freedom movement” so read only Post-1857 period, no need to read Ancient (Harappa) or Medival (Mughals).
+ do all the mock tests given at the end of General Studies Manual.
Population Don’t know, what exactly this means! May be Human Geography class 11/12 book of NCERT could help.
Development and Globalization See if there are some pdf files on www.egyankosh.ac.in (you’ll need to register there to download files, but it is free.)
Governance and Constitution of India The best book ever written: relevant for all exams
Indian Polity by M.Laxmikanth (TMH Publication)
Thorough revision for 5-7 times.
Do all mock questions given at the end of his book.
Present Trends in Indian Economy

You may also use
Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh (Tata Macgrawhill Publication). Out of all the books on economy, that’re in market right now, this one is the best in my opinion. It gives comprehensive coverage of all the important topics of Indian Economy from exam point of view- without getting into numbers and dates. Whether you’re preparing for UPSC, State PSC or Bank/MBA interviews, it’ll be of great help to you.

NOT Recommended Books: Mishra Puri, Dutt Sundaram, Uma Kapila. Because they’re written from academic point of view, we only need some basic and essential concepts from “Exam point of view”. Similarly I donot recommend Pratiyogita Darpan’s “Special” book on Indian Economy for its obsession with numbers and other trivial information.
Accountancy and Auditing Use National Open School (NOS) material: Click MEYou can use NCERT books. I think class 11/12 has these subjects.OR search www.egyankosh.ac.in  (may be in BA/MA Economics section)
Or if they’re asking deep questions, you may use Unique Publication’s book on “Commerce” optional subject for UPSC. It has elaborate chapters on Audit and Account. 
Industrial Relations & Labour Laws Search www.egyankosh.ac.in
Insurance OR search www.egyankosh.ac.in
Basic Knowledge of Computer Applications If you’re comfortable with computers, then I don’t think any special preparation is required.
Else use NCERT’s books on Computer (may be class 10,11,12)
or may be
Pdf files from www.egyankosh.ac.in for any certificate courses on computer.
General Science NCERT class 7 to 10 (Freely downloaded from official site)
(for additional grip) Science portion from Tata Macgrawhill General Studies Manual.
Geography NCERT Class 7 to 10 (Social Science) + Class 11-12 (Geography) should be more than sufficient. And then you may solve the MCQs given in the
(for additional grip) GS Manual.
Elementary Maths & Statistics Many people appear for IBPS and SSC have really good grip over aptitude portion. They’ll also appear for Asst. Provident fund. Hence competition becomes really tough. One should be thoroughly prepared for maths and aptitude topic.

  1. Mrunal’s articles on Aptitude (Free) to get the basic concepts clear.

The standard reference books for aptitude would be (relevant for any exam starting from Bank Clerk to CAT)

  1. Quantam CAT by Sarvesh Kumar
  2. RS Agarwal’s Verbal and Nonverbal reasoning.

However, if you don’t have so much time to go through both of above books, may be you can use IBPS Manual of Disha Expert , it covers all aptitude topics in brief with enough mock-questions.
General Mental Abilities Same as above.

There are only two rules to crack this exam

  1. For Non-aptitude (history, polity etc) Revise – revise – revise
  2. For aptitude (math,logical reasoning) practice- practice-practice.