The first question which pops up in every JEE aspirants mind-Which books to solve? Quite a naive question(you will realize it after you give the exam :p). Don't worry, I am here to guide you all ; )
You might wanna check out individual subject posts as well : )
The answer is subjective and varies from person to person. But let me tell you, that basically, all good and highly valued books in the market are good(there are some bullshit books too, and stay away from them).
The structure of the post will be Subject-Must have books-Book sets for additional practice(but choose only one set of them)-Books for those aiming for very good ranks or Olympiads.
I will be mentioning many books. Don't get overwhelmed on seeing it. Most people don't study them all. Some books are good for theory, some for problems and some books are used for specific topics. I'll mention alternatives to books. You can buy them too. I'll provide pros and cons wherever possible.
I have extensively searched the web for the latest and best editions of the books. To ease out things for you guys, I have included links to the books too, so that you can directly buy the books instead of wasting time searching for them(time is precious!). Just click on the link, and you will see the correct edition.
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PHYSICS-
Must have books-
1. HC Verma- God book of JEE Physics. Must do for all. Read theory and solve questions. As many as possible. If you are buying one book, this is it.
2. NCERT- Another must have. Reading NCERT will help you answer the theoretical problems asked in the paper, and will help you with JEE(Main). It will give you a heads up for boards too. Also, see the links below for all four books(read both parts of classes 11th and 12th).
3.Previous papers questions- Must solve each and everyone of them.
For more practice(and must have for those who don't go for any coaching)-
1.Arihant Physics Series- Its an awesome resource for quality problems and must have for self-study students who are serious. It will help you clear all the concepts which are taught in coaching. Coaching guys can use it as extra practice. This is must solve for self-study guys if you wanna crack JEE(Advanced). It has really nice problems and theory.
2. Cengage Series- This is an equally good series. I haven't used it personally, but I heard it is good. You can use it as an alternative to Arihant(avoid using both, it will confuse you), if you r teachers/ friends discuss it, or you like it. As you wish.
Books for problem practice-
You can do Coaching sheet+must have books+ Problem books as a complete package(I did this too). Include the books above(in point 2) if you don't go to coaching.
1. DC Pandey-Awesome numericals.
2. D. Mukherjee- Awesome book for theoretical questions. Simple, and very conceptual book.
Books for a high rank/Olympiads-
1. I.E. Irodov- Must solve this if you are aiming for top 100/Olympiads(shown above).
2. Resnick Halliday Krane- Mainly for Olympiads, but it has great theory and problems. A notch above HCV.
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MATHEMATICS-
Fortunately, I find that mathematics doesn't need many books, so I'll list them directly instead of categorizing. So, the must-have book for coaching student is just NCERT and past papers. To be honest, NCERT isn't needed much in Mathematics, but you can read it for JEE(Main) specific topics or boards. Just solve your coaching stuff really well(or follow the next point if you are not satisfied, or aspire for more).
So, you can choose between Arihant Skills in Mathematics or Cengage series by G. Tewani. Both have good questions, but I found Arihant to be good. I solved them and they have really good questions.
Arihant-
Cengage-
For Extra practice, you can go for A Das Gupta (specially for class 11 students). You can go to my Olympiads page for books related to Olympiads.
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CHEMISTRY-
Again, like mathematics, Chemistry is best taught by Coaching classes. It would be best if you try to get your hands on them. Still, for self-study guys, I would suggest you to go for popular books on the subject, like the ones given below, for theory. There is no good book of Physical Chemistry for theory known to me, but you can go for P. Bahadur for problems. I have mentioned few more books below, which I heard are good(I mostly studied foreign author books and my coaching sheets. You can again follow Cengage or Arihant series if you are studying on your own. But I feel that students with access to good coaching material should avoid books for theory.
Also, NCERT is very important for chemistry section. Study NCERT really well. It is highly important. Remember everything in NCERT.
NCERT-
Some good books-
Cengage(I treid my best, but Inorganic Chemistry part 1 is not available as latest edition on Amazon)
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There are countless books available out there. But not all books are good. I recommended only books I personally found good or heard from a credible person about their quality. I missed many good books like RC Mukherjee and all, mainly because I don't want to confuse you guys. It is easy to get confused. Read the description I mentioned before buying. Too many books are bad too.
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