SSC CGL Book list by topper: SSC CGL is a graduate-level examination in which lakhs of candidates appear every year. Staff Selection Commission conducts Combined Graduate-level exams to appoint candidates as Income tax officers, excise officers, audit officers, and other posts of ‘B’ and ‘C’ grades in various government departments. As you know, lakhs of candidates appear in this exam every year which results in very high competition. Right choices in the book are a necessity to crack the examination for any candidate. In this blog, we will provide you with a detailed list of SSC CGL Book list by the topper. This list will help you sail through the tough competition of the SSC CGL examination.
Table of Contents
SSC CGL Book list by topper
The last year, SSC changed the pattern, and candidates are selected based on only a two-tier examination. We will be providing you with a list of books separately for each tier in this blog.
SSC CGL Book list by topper for Tier I
Tier I of SSC CGL is an objective type test. It includes four sections namely General Awareness, General Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude, and English. We have given below the book list by topper for each section.
SSC CGL Book List for General Awareness
The General Awareness section of the Tier I exam consists of questions related to history, geography, politics, environment, general science, and basic computer operations. We have provided below the list of books that will give you a better understanding and knowledge of General Awareness.
Book | Author/Publication |
GK Blast | Oliveboard |
General Knowledge | Lucent’s Publication |
NCERT books | NCERT |
General Knowledge | Disha Publications |
SSC CGL Book List for English
The English section of the Tier I exam consists of grammar and passages. The section mostly consists of active/passive voice, synonyms, antonyms, proverbs, articles, etc, We have provided below the list of books that will make you fluent in English grammar.
Books | Authors/Publications |
English Simplified | Oliveboard |
English for General Competition | Neetu Singh |
Word Power Made Easy | Norman Lewis |
English | Ajay K Singh |
SSC CGL Book list for General Reasoning
The General Reasoning section is considered one of the scoring parts of Tier I. This section consists of questions of verbal and non-verbal reasoning, coding-decoding, classification, Venn diagrams, etc, We have provided below the SSC CGL Book list by toppers of General reasoning. These books will help you throughout the examination.
Books | Author/Publications |
Puzzle Mania | Oliveboard |
A modern approach to verbal and non-verbal reasoning | S.Chand and sons |
Reasoning | Kiran Publications |
Reasoning | Rakesh Yadav Readers Publication |
SSC Book list for Quantitative Aptitude
Quantitative Aptitude is considered one of the toughest and time-taking sections of the Tier I examination. To ace this section, aspirants need to do regular practice. This section consists of basic mathematics like percentages, probability, compound interest, algebra, etc, We have provided below the list of books that will give you a better knowledge of the quants section.
Books | Author/Publications |
Data Interpretation Decoded | Oliveboard |
Quantum CAT | Arihant Publications |
Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examination | S.Chand and R.S. Aggarwal |
SSC CGL Book List by Topper for Tier II
THE SSC CGL Tier II examination consists of three papers. Paper I is mandatory for each candidate while Paper II and III are only for the candidates applying for the posts of Junior Statistical Officer and Assistant Audit Officer/ Assistant Accounts Officer.
SSC CGL Book list for Paper I
Paper I of Tier II also consists of four sections. English, Quantitative Aptitude, and General Intelligence sections are the same for all. Candidates can prepare for these subjects from the books listed for Tier I. Paper I also consists of a Computer. We have provided below the book list for the computer section.
Books | Author/Publications |
Computer Knowledge for Competitive Exams | Dr. P.K Pandey |
Computer Knowledge | by Lucent |
SSC CGL Book list for Paper II (Finance and Economics)
Paper II of the Tier II examination consists of finance and economics. Paper II is compulsory for the candidates appearing for the post of Assistant Audit Officer/Assistant Accounts Officer . We have listed below some of the best books for the preparation of finance and economics.
Books | Author/publications |
Insurance Assured | Oliveboard |
Finance and Economics Guide | AAO by R.Gupta |
Financial Management and Economics for Finance | CA Namit Arora |
SSC CGL Book list for Paper III (Statistics)
Paper III of the Tier II examination consists of statistics. Paper III is compulsory for the candidates appearing for the post of Junior Statistical Officer. We have listed below the SSC CGL book list by topper for the Statistics.
Books | Author/Publications |
Statistics Guide for SSC CGL | R. Gupta. |
Statistics Previous year question papers | Kiran |
Statistics in short for competitive examination | Nobin Chandra Paul. |
We have listed above the SSC CGL book list by the topper that will help you throughout the preparation journey. Consistent hard work and practice through these books will help you to
crack the SSC CGL examination. Along with the book list, aspirants must be aware of the SSC CGL exam pattern.
SSC CGL Exam Pattern
SSC CGL Exam Pattern consists of two tiers. Tier I consists of objective-type questions having four sections. Tier II consists of subjective-type questions and has separate papers for the posts of JSO and AAO.
Tier I Exam Pattern
Tier I – Computer Based Examination
The total time duration of SSC CGL 2023 is 60 minutes. Merit list will be prepared on the basis of overall performance of candidates in Tier-II Examination only. This means Tier-1 is qualifying in nature now. All sections of paper 1 must be qualified separately.
Section | Questions | Marks |
General Intelligence Reasoning | 25 | 50 |
General Awareness | 25 | 50 |
Quantitative Aptitude | 25 | 50 |
English Comprehension | 25 | 50 |
Total | 100 | 200 |
*Negative marking of 0.50 for each wrong answer
- A duration of 60 minutes is given to every candidate for this exam.
- There is a negative marking of 0.50 marks for each wrong answer.
Tier II Exam Pattern
The Tier II exam consists of three papers. Paper I is compulsory for all candidates.
- Paper I consists of two sessions. Session I consists of subjective type questions of English, reasoning, quant, and computer. While Session II consists of a 15-minutes computer test.
- There is no negative marking for wrong answers.
- Only candidates appearing for the post of AAO are eligible for Paper II. Paper II consists of the 100 marks questions of Finance and Economics.
- Only candidates appearing for the post of JSO are eligible for Paper III. Paper III consists of the 100 marks questions of Statistics.
Detailed breakup of all papers of the SSC CGL Tier – 2 New Pattern is as follows :
Paper | Session | Section | Subject | Questions | Marks |
I (Common for all posts) | I (2 hours and 15 minutes) | I (1 hour ) | Module I – Mathematical abilities Module II –Reasoning and General Intelligence | 30 30 Total = 60 | 60 x 3= 180 |
II (1 hour ) | Module I – English Language Comprehension Module II – General Awareness | 45 25 Total = 70 | 70 x 3 = 210 | ||
III (15 minutes) | Module – I – Computer Knowledge module | 20 | 20 x 3 = 60 | ||
II (15 minutes) | III | Module – II : Data Entry Speed Test | One data entry task of 2000 key | ||
II (Only for JSO) | 2 hours | Statistics (Paper I as above) | 100 | 100 x 2 = 200 | |
III – AAO (Assistant Audit Officer) & Assistant Accounts officer | 2 hours | General Studies (Finance & Economics) (Paper I as above) | 100 | 100 x 2 = 200 | |
Total | 500 | 850 |
Conclusion
We hope this blog gave you detailed information regarding the SSC CGL Book list by toppers. To read more such blogs, visit the Oliveboard website!
- JAIIB 2023 Exam Registration Dates Out – Know Here
- Success Story of Anantha Giri Padmanabhan | Cleared NABARD Grade A 2022
- Best Books for JAIIB 2023 [UPDATED]: Preparation Resource
- JAIIB Study Materials – Free JAIIB Mock Test And Notes
- Important Tribes of India for SSC CGL – Types and Names Check Here
DOWNLOAD THE OLIVEBOARD APP FOR ON-THE-GO EXAM PREPARATION
- Video Lessons, Textual Lessons & Notes
- Topic Tests covering all topics with detailed solutions
- Sectional Tests for QA, DI, EL, LR
- All India Mock Tests for performance analysis and all India percentile
- General Knowledge (GK) Tests
Free videos, free mock tests, and free GK tests to evaluate course content before signing up!
Frequently Asked Questions:
GK Blast
General Knowledge
NCERT books
General Knowledge
English Simplified by Oliveboard
English for General Competition by Neetu Singh
Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
English by Ajay K Singh
There are no limits to the number of attempts a candidate can make in SSC CGL.
Yes, there is a negative marking in SSC CGL. For every wrong answer, a 0.23 mark will be deduced.
Candidates can check the blog to get a detailed list of SSC CGL book for each section.

I have been writing blog content for different exams for more than 3 years now. Being an aspirant myself and having closely worked with students and mentors, I know what kind of content an aspirant is looking for. Apart from writing content, I like watching movies.
Oliveboard Live Courses & Mock Test Series