Best Essay Books For UPSC 2025: Master UPSC Essay Writing With Expert Recommended Books!
Choosing the right Essay Books for UPSC is a critical for aspirants preparing for the upcoming Civil Services Mains Examination 2025. All candidates must be well-versed in Essay Writing for the UPSC Civil Services Mains examination. Each essay in the UPSC Mains constitutes 250 marks. Thus, candidates are recommended to prepare it with the best essay book for UPSC IAS as its marks are also calculated for deciding final merit. Several aspirants tend to approach essay writing for UPSC lightly but fail to understand that if they prepare it with the best essay book for UPSC, they could score wonders.
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| Download Free Ancient History Notes PDF Created by UPSC Experts | Download Link |
| Grab the Free Economy Notes PDF used by UPSC Aspirants | Download Link |
| Get your hands on the most trusted Free UPSC Environmental Notes PDF | Download Link |
| Exclusive Free Indian Geography PDF crafted by top mentors | Download Link |
| UPSC Toppers’ trusted notes, Now FREE for you. Download the Polity Notes PDF today! | Download Link |
| Thousands of UPSC aspirants are already using our FREE UPSC notes. Get World Geography Notes PDF Here | Download Link |
- In the UPSC Essay paper, aspirants will be given two sections with four choices of essay questions, out of which they need to attempt one from each.
- Each essay carries 125 marks, which makes UPSC Mains Paper 1 worth a total of 250 marks.
- Aspirants must know the best practices, strategies, and ideas for executing proper essay writing for UPSC and choose the best essay book for UPSC from the list given in this article.
- Our experts have also compiled the list to help you download the best essay book for UPSC PDF and score beyond the minimum UPSC Cut Off marks for qualification.
Check Essay Books For UPSC in Hindi here.
Essay Book For UPSC PDF (List)
Our experts have also provided a direct download link for the list of best Essay book for UPSC PDF below. Candidates can simply click on the download PDF link to get a list of the Best Essay Book for UPSC PDF handy and start practising Essay questions for the UPSC exam right away.
| List Of Essay Books For UPSC PDF | |
| Essay Book For UPSC in English | Download PDF |
| Essay Book For UPSC in Hindi | Download PDF |
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Essay Book for UPSC
Essay Writing for UPSC is an integral part of the UPSC Mains exam. Before the UPSC Syllabus was revised in the 2013 cycle, aspirants had to attempt only one essay for 300 marks. But now candidates have to choose to answer 1 essay from each of Section A and Section B in this paper. Each essay also has to be completed within 1000-1500 words. So it’s time you start covering the best Essay books for UPSC Mains to attempt two diverse topics with clarity of thought and expression.
In the table below, we have compiled the list of best reference materials along with publication and top highlights to help you choose the best Essay Book for UPSC IAS Mains Paper 1.
List Of Best Essay Books for UPSC 2025 |
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| Book Name | Author/Publication | Highlights |
| Essays For Civil Services & Other Competitive Examinations | Pulkit Khare | This essay book for UPSC covers 40 descriptive & relevant topics asked in the UPSC CSE exam. Plus, it decodes the art of creative writing in easy steps. |
| Selected Contemporary Essays For Civil Services & Other Competitive Examinations | Saumitra Mohan | It is imbued with first-hand coverage of major socio-political & economic topics of Essay writing for UPSC. |
| Mastering Essay & Answer Writing for UPSC Civil Services | Dr. Awadesh Singh | This thoroughly revised contains 27 new Essay chapters, 6 essay-type structural explanations, 30 Model Essays with several mindmaps, quotations, stories, poems, anecdotes, and 1 dedicated Philosophical essay chapter for best practice. |
| 151 Essays for IAS/ PCS & Other Competitive Exams | Disha Experts | This essay book for UPSC covers Static & Current Affairs topics focusing on Polity, Governance, Economy, Environment, and Social Development. Education, Culture, Science & Technology, Philosophy, etc. |
| A Book of Essays | Kalpana Rajaram | This UPSC Essay book is an intellectually stimulating coverage of various contemporary facts and figures, a large selection of famous quotations and works of eminent personalities. |
| Essay Paper for Civil Services Main Examination | Pavneet Singh and Sonali Bansal | This Essay book for UPSC is divided into 4 sections - Basic introduction & paper pattern changes post-2013, powerful words & phrases, model essays, and short essays on the latest themes and questions. |
Also, check UPSC Mains Strategy for Essay paper in detail here!
Apart from reading the best Essay book for UPSC in Hindi and English, all candidates are recommended to refer to other study materials. Candidates must thoroughly understand that the UPSC Essay paper doesn’t merely consist of GS papers written in an elongated, long format. Candidates will need to prepare diverse topics on GK & Current Affairs from General Studies too as well develop an analytical and opinionated approach to write authoritative essays. Thus, it is essential to go through other reference books for Essay Writing UPSC as given below.
| Book Name | Author/Publication |
| India Since Independence | Bipin Chandra |
| The Story of My Experiments with Truth | Mahatma Gandhi |
| The Discovery of India | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Satya ke Prayog | Mahatma Gandhi |
| Getting India Back on Track: An Action Agenda for Reform | Ratan N. Tata, Bibek Debroy |
| Social Problems in India | Ram Ahuja |
| Women In Indian Society | Neera Desai and Usha Thakkar |
| The Climate Book | Greta Thunberg |
| Indian Art and Culture | Nitin Singhania |
| India’s Struggle for Independence | Bipin Chandra |
| Democracy In India - Class XII Polity | NCERT |
| Hindu Editorial Columns | The Hindu |
| Yojana Magazine | Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India |
| Kurukshetra Magazine | Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India |
| Frontline Magazine | The Hindu Group |
Also check other NCERT Books For UPSC in detail here!
How to Prepare with The Best Essay Book For UPSC 2025?
Before going through any Essay Writing book for UPSC, all aspirants must properly know how to write essay in UPSC as shared by our experts in the linked article. We’ve also shared the best tips on Essay writing for UPSC Mains paper 1 in the pointers below.
- Follow UPSC Essay Writing Structure: First, aspirants must choose the right Essay topic based on the options given. Then, analyse the context and formulate the structure in this manner - introduction, historical context (if applicable), main body or conflict linked with Current Affairs, pros & cons, future applications, conclusion, etc.
- Highlight Essential Topics: While referring to any Essay book for UPSC, candidates must start highlighting important topics based on two grounds - topics asked previously in the UPSC Mains exam, and contemporary events.
- Prepare Essay Writing with Keywords: Candidates must note down important keywords of any central theme from the essay writing book for UPSC while practising. This will help them to quickly grasp conflicting themes and understand the central idea to implement in the introduction-body-conclusion paragraphs.
- Analyse Previous Question Papers: All aspirants must start solving UPSC Essay Previous Year Question Papers to understand the type of topics, difficulty level and change in pattern on Essay writing for UPSC.
- Refer to Solved Model Papers: Candidates can refer to any Essay book for UPSC that contains solved questions. It will help you analyse how to structure an essay, implement facts and figures, initiate an argument or drop a conclusion in a maximum of 1500 words.
- Stick to Grammar & Word Count: While preparing from any Essay writing book for UPSC, candidates should focus on grammatical knowledge as it’s the base of an essay. Use simple and legible sentences, and ideas without dragging too much on any particular context. Limit your essay to around 1000 to 1500 words as it’s the baseline.
- Practice with Essay Coaching for UPSC: Candidates are also recommended to enrol in the best Essay Course for UPSC Mainsto prepare Essay writing for UPSC with best expert tips, suggestions and industry-level questions.
- Refer to Revised Edition Books: Candidates are recommended to read UPSC Books on Essay Writing that are not published before 2021 as GK & Current Affairs play a pivotal role in the preparation of the UPSC Mains Paper 1.
Download UPSC Essay Question Papers PDF [Last 5 Years’]
If you are preparing for the UPSC Mains Essay Paper, it is crucial to practice actual questions that have been asked in the previous versions of the Civil Services Mains. Download last 5 years’ UPSC Essay Question Papers from the table below –
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UPSC Essay Previous Year Question Papers |
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Year Wise UPSC Essay Question Papers |
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UPSC IAS Essay Previous Year Paper 2024 |
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UPSC IAS Essay Previous Year Paper 2023 |
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UPSC IAS Essay Previous Year Paper 2022 |
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UPSC IAS Essay Previous Year Paper 2021 |
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UPSC IAS Essay Previous Year Paper 2020 |
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Previous Year Questions on Essay Writing for UPSC
Several candidates search for the previous year Essay writing topics for UPSC preparation. It is very important to analyse questions asked in previous UPSC Essay papers to understand the type of topics and its difficulty level. Go through the table below to check previous 10 years’ UPSC Essay topics for best preparation.
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Download Previous UPSC Essay Writing Topics in PDF!
We hope that this article on could provide complete information to help you choose the best Essay book for UPSC and start preparing for Mains right away. For more such advanced exam resources, expert preparation tips and more study materials, download the Testbook App now for free.
