Exam Blog: Math Books for JEE

This blog post is taken nearly verbatim from myPAT, a FIITJEE student community. I made this post originally while a JEE aspirant.



Mathematics Booklist

Many people here seem confused regarding which books to refer to for Math. Here is a rough guide:

  1. FIITJEE CP Packages- Fact: 11th packages are good. 12th packages are mostly very, very easy. But they are important for basics.

  2. R.D. Sharma- It is the reference book for school exams and boards. NCERTs are below the level asked even in school exams. So RD must be done only, but compulsorily, for school exams.                                                                                                                                     

  3. R.D. Sharma Objective- This is a series that is recommended by many for the JEE objective level. But I haven't done these personally.                                                                       

  4. MPP For Mathematics by SK Goyal- Another book that I haven't done personally. But some of my friends do it and it is a good book.                                                                      

  5. Problem Plus in  IIT-JEE Mathematics by A. Das Gupta - It is an overall complete book for JEE, but it has become a bit outdated. Some problems are good, but some have become irrelevant in the post-subjective era. But it is still good for complete coverage of Main, and a basic level of Advanced.                                                                         

  6. Higher Algebra - There are two books by name of Higher Algebra; by Hall and Knight and by Barnard and Child. Both are good books, but Hall and Knight is more relevant for JEE because Barnard and Child has certain beyond JEE sections. But overall, both done together give good coverage. Number theory sections from both books are not part of JEE syllabus (can be referred to for RMO, however)                           
                                     


  7. Vikas Gupta Coordinate Geometry- No, SL Loney is not the best book for Coordinate Geometry. I know this because I've done it. But the best book in Coordinate Geometry, hands down, is VG CG. It is five times the level of SL Loney. And every single problem is in the JEE Advanced format, and even the level of questions is wonderful. If your Coordinate Geometry becomes awesome due to this book, no need to thank me.                                                                                                                                                             

               
  8. GRB Calculus by Sameer Bansal - The God-book or Bible of Calculus. As simple as that. It is the book to do for Calculus. The best problem book for (introductory) Calculus on the face of this Earth, no exaggeration                                                                                           

  9. Thomas' Calculus: If you have enough time then you must read and understand Calculus from this book. It's really beautiful.                                                                                 

  10. Play With Graphs: It is a small handbook-type textbook for Graph transformations and Graphical solutions. It is a very important technique used in Mathematics, but traditional textbooks don't cover this aspect, hence the necessity for this book.                                                                                                  

  11. The Black Book of Mathematics- Do you know that the very best problems of JEE Advanced level are compiled and printed in the form of a book? This is none other than the Problems in Mathematics by Vikas Gupta, infamous as the black book of Mathematics. Why infamous, you ask? Simply because this book has the terrible reputation of being bone-crunchingly difficult ( but that's just hype). The fact is, that anyone aiming for a decent score in JEE Advanced must at least once do the problems of this book. They are really, really amazing problems.                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

And some other popular books, which are insufficient for JEE are SL Loney Trig., SL Loney Coordinate, and Arihant DPP series. 

A disclaimer: The above list draws from my own experience and that of my mentors and peers. So use your own free will while taking any decision.

Cheers! ∎

AB

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