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
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:

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	This is to be prepared from NCERTs, then General Studies (GS) Manual and finally mock questions at the end of GS Manual. (optional): you may also read NIOS material on Geography for additional grip over the subject. Free download links @bottom. Please note: in GS Manuals, they often go into very minute details, 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.
Chemistry
Biology
Current affairs, biotech, nanotech, computer IT, space etc.	You can ignore this if you’re running out time. otherwise Go through www.Mrunal.org/snt 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.

Primary source	Indian Polity by M.Laxmikanth (click to buy from flipkart, pay on delivery) India Yearbook chapter number 3 and 20. (you don’t need to specifically buy the latest edition for CAPF, just use India 2011, Free download link @bottom)
Peripheral	Depending on your time and mood, the NCERT, NIOS political science and 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?

Various international summits, their locations, themes	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.
Agreements and dispute between countries for some border, island etc.
Joint military exercises (although I count them under “Defense” topic.)
Election of President / PM and which party does he belong to. (Although I count them under “Misc.GK=>Person in New (PIN)).
Basic things about international organizations such as UN, UNESCO, WTO, ASEAN, NATO etc.	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

https://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

Number theory	Divisibility, remainders LCM and HCF Unknown numbers from given conditions Fractions-comparisions.	my article explaining the concept of HCF, LCM click me NCERT Class 7 Chap 2, 9 (fraction) NCERT Class 10 Chap 1 (divisibility) Finally practice sums from your Quantitative aptitude book.
Algebra	Linear equation	“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 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.
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	Time speed distance Trains, platforms Boats-streams Time and Work Pipes and Cisterns	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	Basics explained in NCERT Class 8 Chap 3, 11.Then NCERT Class 9 Chap 9, 12, 13. Lastly NCERT Class 10 Chap 13
%	Profit, loss, market price, discount	how to solve without formulas: explained here click me
	Simple interest (SI), compound interest (CI), population growth	how to solve without formulas, explained here click me

• 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:

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:

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.

Appendix1: Download Links

1. Foxit PDF reader (necessary prerequisite for using Mrunal’s autonotemaker) click me to download
2. 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

Folder	Comment
History	Contains NCERT history chapters from class 7 to 12, in three zip files: ancient, medieval and Modern +NIOS Culture material
Science	Contains class 7 to 10 NCERT Science in three zips: physics, chemistry, biology. +NIOS Science material. (although there will be lot of overlapping) Class 11, 12 Science books given in the peripheral section below.
EnB	Contains selective chapters from class 6 to 12 from science and geography textbooks that are relevant for Environment and biodiversity. +NIOS material for environment and biodiversity EnB.
Economy	Contains NCERT class 11 + NCERT 12 Macro economics +NIOS economy material. Class 12 Micro-economics not included because not worth the time for CAPF. although download link in the peripheral section below.
Geography	Contains NCERT class 6 to 12 in five zip folders: physical, India, World, Agro and glossary. +NIOS material on geography (although lot of overlapping)

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

for précis, comprehension practice: Last 16 years’ UPSC papers of Compulsory English (1997-2012)	Click Me
for Essay fodder points: IGNOU booklet India Democracy and Development (MPS-003)	Click Me
for additional Essay practice: big list of mock topics	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:

1. [Interview] Central Police Forces Topper Gangavarapu Vikram
2. [Interview] Central Police Forces Topper Dharmendra Singh
3. [Interview] Central Police Forces Topper Kartikeya Mishra (AIR 4/CPF-2011)
4. [Interview] Central Police Forces Topper Swachhand Chavan