Complete list of books that i used during my preparation for GATE & IES

Before you read- It really doesn’t matters to which branch you belong to. You could be from Mechanical, ECE or Civil. Even then, this blogpost is for you too. Please read this to the end.

Hello dear friends,

I hope you all are enjoying reading my blog & it is helping in your preparation to achieve your big dream.

In fact, it is one of the entry in my impossible list to get accolades from people like- “Your blog helped me a lot in clearing IES/GATE”.

Wait a sec! What? Impossible list? What’s that?

Haha.. I knew it. This is one impossible list by Mr. Joel Runyon, reading whose blog inspires me to inspire people. Read his impossible list by clicking here.

Now, the important part for which you are here-

The booklist. First of all, it is for Electrical engineers only. For Mechanical guys, i’ll write it soon. ( Getting inputs from one of my friend from Mechanical who has also cleared IES).

Second thing, what i believe is that there is nothing like a hard & fast rule that you should read these books only. There may be even better books available in the market. But, i am giving the list of books which i used to prepare for the exam.

The purpose of books is to make you understand concepts & give you ample practice. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. If you are able to understand the concepts from a book, then you don’t need to go for another book just for the reason that someone else has read it.

Third is, Please try to stick to one book. Going for multiple books for a single subject may not be wise as it will lead to wastage of time & money. If you are going through one book & feeling comfortable with it, do not change it.

So, before you stop reading the blog & close the tab, i should tell you the name of the books.

I am giving the name of the books along with the links, in case, you want to buy it. This is not an exhaustive link. I am writing the name of the books which are coming to my mind now. In case i miss some subject, mention it in the comments & i will reply asap/

My Book list for IES (Electrical)

1. Electrical Machines by P S Bhimbra.
2. Power Electronics by P S Bhimbra.
3. Electrical Power systems by C L Wadhwa.
4. Power system engineering by Nagrath & Kothari (Specially for faults & relays)
5. Circuit Theory by A K Chakrabarthy
6. Electronic Devices & Circuits by Boylestad OR
7. Electronic Devices & Circuits by J B Gupta (It is better than Boylestad)
8. Electrical Engineering Materials by J B Gupta
9. Control Systems by Norman Nise (Much better than Gopal)
10. Control Systems by B S Manke (Awesome book to have ample practice)
11. Signals & Systems by Oppenheim Wilsky
12. Electrical & Electronic measurements by A K Sawhney
13. Electromagnetism by Sadiku
14. Digital Electronics by Morris Mano
15. 8085 Microprocessor by Ramesh Gaonkar
16. Solid State devices by B G Streetman

Note: Here i have written the names of standard books only. Regarding other (competition specific) books, i have added the links on the RHS of this page.

That’s all i can recollect for now.

One question that might be coming in your mind is – Should i buy standard books or coaching notes?

I will suggest- First standard books, then if you feel the need, then coaching notes. Personally, i don’t think you will need coaching notes if you have the books.

Still books are better. Why?

They make your concepts more clear. They are not targeted towards any examination, so they give you complete, in-depth knowledge. Coaching notes (as i have seen with many people) usually touch the concepts & without going into any depth, move on. So, if you are doing self preparation using the notes, many doubts will come into your mind, but no one will be there to answer them.

Thank you for reading the post. I hope you have enjoyed it. Please comment whatever you feel about the post.

All the best 🙂