Most of us are well aware of the syllabus and scope of ICSE. But a small problem arises when we have a lot of books available in the market and we get confused which will be the best for us. To minimise this confusion, I am going to prescribe the best books that are available in the market which will be the most beneficial for you to prepare for ICSE. Let us begin.
1. English Literature: The ICSE syllabus for English Literature includes the following:
The short stories are very easy to understand. they are written in simple language. the poems too are understandable but the problem arises in searching for the symbolic meaning of the poem. the difficult parts in a poem are its critical estimation, the appropriateness of its title, the symbolisms used in the poem and the literary devices used by the poet. To know the answers to all these questions , I would recommend you "Evergreen Treasure Trove Vol.1 (Poems) Workbook".
The workbook for the short stories is also available from evergreen publishers. The book is named " Evergreen Treasure Trove Vol. 2 (Short Stories) Workbook".
Now after completion of the texts and the workbook , you can achieve perfection for your ICSE by more practice. There are many test papers available for practice. The one that I recommend is the " Evergreen ICSE self study Literature in English Paper 2." This books comprises the entire syllabus that is included in ICSE. You will get the summary as well as questions and answers from all the prescribed texts in ICSE. Another book that you can opt for practicing Literature is the " Frank Way to Successful ICSE Literature papers".
2. Physics: The Physics Syllabus for class 10 is given in the link below-
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/12.Physics.pdf
The best book which you can buy for Physics is " ICSE Concise Physics Class 10 by Selina Publishers ". I have gone through this book. The textual matter is very good. This book is appropriate for scoring brilliantly in Physics. The solved numericals and exercises will help you in developing the technique of appropriately writing an answer. The point wise explanations of the topics included will help you to understand the chapter better . Concisely, this book will be a major help for you to ace the ICSE examination.
Another book which you can buy in place of the above one is " S. Chand's ICSE Physics" . I have gone through this book. The textual matter is very good. The topics are well explained. But I will suggest you to go for the "Concise" , since I feel it is a bit better.
After completion of the text, its again time for practice material. There are many a test paper available for physics. They all are beneficial for ICSE. Bout the one which is most important among them is the " Frank Way to Successful ICSE Physics papers". This book has solved as well as unsolved model test papers. After completing Frank , you can practice from " Evergreen ICSE self study in Physics" as well as " Goyal's ICSE model test papers".
3. Chemistry: The Chemistry syllabus of ICSE class 10 is given in the link below-
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/13.Chemistry.pdf
The chemistry for ICSE is very easy and scoring if one could understand the concepts properly and remember the chemical reactions. Keeping this in mind , the book that is the best for ICSE chemistry according to me is " Concise Chemistry". All the concepts are explained very clearly. The solved and unsolved exercises and numericals will help you to evaluate yourself after studying each and every chapter. In technological terms , the user interface of the book is very good.
Another textbook for Chemistry which is popular is " Simplified ICSE Chemistry by Dr. Viraf J Dalal ". This book has got some advanced stuff but its User interface is a bit boring as compared to the Concise. Those students who are not bored by the complexity in a book could surely opt fir this book. it contains the explanation of all the topics pointwise, which is easy to remember .
After completing the textual part, it is necessary to get the text papers. For chemistry , my first preference will be " Goyal's ICSE Chemistry Model Test Papers " and the second preference is "Frank Way to Successful ICSE Chemistry papers". The only reason for Frank being my second preference is that it contains some question answers from Class- XI and XII, and also has minor mistakes. There are some mistakes in Goyal too, but it contains all the questions within the scope.
4. Biology: The syllabus for biology is given in the link below:
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/14.Biology.pdf
Biology is one of the most scoring subjects in ICSE. If you could develop good concepts in biology, you can easily score more than 90% in this subject. The best biology textbook available in the market is " Concise Biology Class- 10 by Selina Publishers ". This book is all you need to ace your ICSE Biology exam. The textual matter is really very good, with complete explanation of each topic. Even some question in the exercises might be common in your ICSE question paper. Its presentation is also good and it maintains all the contents included in the scope.
The best suited test paper for biology would be "Frank Way to Successful ICSE Biology papers". The only problem you will face with this book is that it extends its contents outside the scope. Some of the question mentioned are not included in the ICSE biology syllabus. But the book has a solid skeletal structure in terms of questions, and it would help you a lot to score maximum marks in biology. Another test paper which I would suggest is " Evergreen ICSE self study in biology ". The quality of questions in this book is very good . If possible you can practice both the test papers, as it would be very much useful for you.
5. Mathematics: The syllabus for ICSE Mathematics is given in the link below:
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/11.Mathematics.pdf
The syllabus for ICSE and CBSE is more or less same. All the books available in the market are written by top writers , and the types of questions follows dynamic variations. The book that is prescribed by most of the schools as well as private tutors is "Understanding ICSE Mathematics by M.L. Agarwal". If you solve all the exercise questions of this book as well as the examples, it would bring you good results. but Mathematics is all about practice. So in my opinion, sticking to one or two books would not yield expected results. The more you practice, the more you will be a pro at Mathematics. So I present a complete list of the Mathematics books I suggest for ICSE. You can either buy them, or you can collect the xerox of the unsolved papers and exercises from your friends.
6. History and Civics: The ICSE syllabus for History and Civics is given in the link below:
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/9.History%20and%20Civics.pdf
Now before discussing about the book, I know most of the students out there are completely bored by this subject. Keeping in mind the boredom you face while studying history and civics, I would like to recommend " Total History and Civics by Morning Star publication ". Why this book? because it had got the concepts in regular and periodic way. The exaggeration is much less, and point wise explanations are made. Hence the students could interact much better with this book. The book is much user friendly and the exercises are very beneficial for ICSE examination.
Now if you don't find History and Civics boring , and its one of your favorite subjects, I would recommend you the " Modern Indian History Contemporary World and Civics by Avichal Publishing Company". It is one of the topmost books available for History and Civics. The contents are well exaggerated and informative.
Coming to the test papers, the " Frank Way to successful ICSE History and Civics papers " would be enough. If you could complete the textbook exercises and Frank model test papers before time, and sitting idle in search of more practice papers, you can go for the prelim papers of different schools and solve them. It would be very helpful.
7. Geography: The geography syllabus for ICSE is given in the link below:
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/10.Geography.pdf
The textbook that I will recommend for Geography is " A textbook of ICSE Geography by Goyal Brothers Prakashan ". The book is very effective as it contains all the topics explained point wise, which will help you in remembering and writing the answers accurately. The books contains charts for mineral distribution and the Agricultural crops.
Another book that is as useful as this is the " Candid Discovering the World ".
The test paper that you could opt for geography is " Frank Way to Successful ICSE Geography papers ".
8. Computer Applications: The syllabus for computer application is given in the link below:
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/20.Computer%20Applications.pdf
Two of the best books available for ICSE computer application are " Understanding Computer applications with BLUE J by Arya Publishing Company" and "Computer application by Dhanpat Rai and Co". There are two aspects in Computer Applications - Theory and Programming. Now where they two differ? The APC Computer Application book strikes equally on theory as well as programming. The theory part is really very good . You will have a strong grip over the theory as well as programming in Java if you have this book. The book by Dhanpat Rai and Co. focuses more on programming. Though its theory part is also good, but the language of APC is much better. On the other hand , the programmings are of critical standards in the latter, and it aces in the programming field. In conclusion, those who are moderately good at theory could opt for Dhanpat Rai , whereas those who need overall improvement could go for APC.
There are many test papers available for computer. The most important ones are "Frank Way to Successful ICSE Computer papers" and " Arihant Chapter wise Topic-wise".
I hope all the books which I have mentioned in this post will be helpful for your ICSE examination. All the students who have visited my blog, Wish you all the best for your ICSE exams. Visit the blog for more ICSE related posts. If you have any questions or doubts, feel free to ask me in the comment section. For all the readers, provide me with feedbacks and suggestions.
- THE MERCHANT OF VENICE by William Shakespeare- The Merchant of Venice is available from two publishers, Oxford and Morning Star. Students can buy any of these two, but let me discuss what these may lack. I have personally gone through both the books. The MOV by "Morning Star" is a little censored. Some of the lines from the actual text are missing. But it provides meanings of the difficult words you will come across in the text. On the other hand, the MOV by Oxford is completely uncensored , but it contains lesser word meanings than the Morning Star, and it might be difficult for you to understand the meanings of the dialogues by yourself if you don't have a paraphrase book.
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| OXFORD MERCHANT OF VENICE |
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| MORNING STAR MERCHANT OF VENICE |
Now , after getting the textbooks for the drama, you will require a paraphrase book or a workbook or a question answer book as per your requirement. The paraphrase book I would recommend is the "Morning star Text with Paraphrase".
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| Merchant of Venice Text with Paraphrase : Morning star |
Now most importantly, the one book which will be very helpful for writing the question answers from the Merchant of Venice, both reference to the context and long answers, is "Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice by Lena D'souza". The book is published by allied publishers, and the quality of the book is also very good. All the answers are written in present tense, so students won't be confused in the tense and language of the content.
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| Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice by Lena D'souza |
And with this ends the Merchant of Venice section. I have gone through all the books that I have mentioned here and I truly believe they will be of great help for your ICSE.
- TREASURE TROVE- This is a collection of poems and stories.
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| ICSE Treasure Trove |
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| Evergreen Treasure Trove Vol. 1 (Poems) Workbook |
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| Evergreen Treasure Trove Vol. 2 (Short stories) workbook |
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| Evergreen ICSE self-study Literature in English |
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| Frank way to successful ICSE English Literature papers |
2. Physics: The Physics Syllabus for class 10 is given in the link below-
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/12.Physics.pdf
The best book which you can buy for Physics is " ICSE Concise Physics Class 10 by Selina Publishers ". I have gone through this book. The textual matter is very good. This book is appropriate for scoring brilliantly in Physics. The solved numericals and exercises will help you in developing the technique of appropriately writing an answer. The point wise explanations of the topics included will help you to understand the chapter better . Concisely, this book will be a major help for you to ace the ICSE examination.
 |
| Concise Physics Class-10 |
Another book which you can buy in place of the above one is " S. Chand's ICSE Physics" . I have gone through this book. The textual matter is very good. The topics are well explained. But I will suggest you to go for the "Concise" , since I feel it is a bit better.
 |
| S. Chand's ICSE Physics |
After completion of the text, its again time for practice material. There are many a test paper available for physics. They all are beneficial for ICSE. Bout the one which is most important among them is the " Frank Way to Successful ICSE Physics papers". This book has solved as well as unsolved model test papers. After completing Frank , you can practice from " Evergreen ICSE self study in Physics" as well as " Goyal's ICSE model test papers".
 |
| Evergreen ICSE self study in physics |
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| Goyal's ICSE physics model test papers |
3. Chemistry: The Chemistry syllabus of ICSE class 10 is given in the link below-
The chemistry for ICSE is very easy and scoring if one could understand the concepts properly and remember the chemical reactions. Keeping this in mind , the book that is the best for ICSE chemistry according to me is " Concise Chemistry". All the concepts are explained very clearly. The solved and unsolved exercises and numericals will help you to evaluate yourself after studying each and every chapter. In technological terms , the user interface of the book is very good.
 |
| Concise Chemistry Class 10 |
Another textbook for Chemistry which is popular is " Simplified ICSE Chemistry by Dr. Viraf J Dalal ". This book has got some advanced stuff but its User interface is a bit boring as compared to the Concise. Those students who are not bored by the complexity in a book could surely opt fir this book. it contains the explanation of all the topics pointwise, which is easy to remember .
 |
| Simplified ICSE Chemistry |
After completing the textual part, it is necessary to get the text papers. For chemistry , my first preference will be " Goyal's ICSE Chemistry Model Test Papers " and the second preference is "Frank Way to Successful ICSE Chemistry papers". The only reason for Frank being my second preference is that it contains some question answers from Class- XI and XII, and also has minor mistakes. There are some mistakes in Goyal too, but it contains all the questions within the scope.
 |
| Frank Way to successful ICSE Chemistry papers |
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| Goyal's ICSE chemistry model test papers |
4. Biology: The syllabus for biology is given in the link below:
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/14.Biology.pdf
Biology is one of the most scoring subjects in ICSE. If you could develop good concepts in biology, you can easily score more than 90% in this subject. The best biology textbook available in the market is " Concise Biology Class- 10 by Selina Publishers ". This book is all you need to ace your ICSE Biology exam. The textual matter is really very good, with complete explanation of each topic. Even some question in the exercises might be common in your ICSE question paper. Its presentation is also good and it maintains all the contents included in the scope.
 |
| Concise Biology Class-10 |
The best suited test paper for biology would be "Frank Way to Successful ICSE Biology papers". The only problem you will face with this book is that it extends its contents outside the scope. Some of the question mentioned are not included in the ICSE biology syllabus. But the book has a solid skeletal structure in terms of questions, and it would help you a lot to score maximum marks in biology. Another test paper which I would suggest is " Evergreen ICSE self study in biology ". The quality of questions in this book is very good . If possible you can practice both the test papers, as it would be very much useful for you.
 |
| Frank Way to Successful ICSE biology papers |
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| Evergreen ICSE self study in biology |
5. Mathematics: The syllabus for ICSE Mathematics is given in the link below:
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/11.Mathematics.pdf
The syllabus for ICSE and CBSE is more or less same. All the books available in the market are written by top writers , and the types of questions follows dynamic variations. The book that is prescribed by most of the schools as well as private tutors is "Understanding ICSE Mathematics by M.L. Agarwal". If you solve all the exercise questions of this book as well as the examples, it would bring you good results. but Mathematics is all about practice. So in my opinion, sticking to one or two books would not yield expected results. The more you practice, the more you will be a pro at Mathematics. So I present a complete list of the Mathematics books I suggest for ICSE. You can either buy them, or you can collect the xerox of the unsolved papers and exercises from your friends.
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| Goyal's ICSE mathematics |
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| ICSE mathematics by DK Bhattacharya |
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| ICSE mathematics by RD Sharma |
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| Together with Mathematics |
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| ICSE Self study in Mathematics |
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| ICSE Chapterwise Topicwise (Arihant) |
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| Understanding ICSE Mathematics |
6. History and Civics: The ICSE syllabus for History and Civics is given in the link below:
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/9.History%20and%20Civics.pdf
Now before discussing about the book, I know most of the students out there are completely bored by this subject. Keeping in mind the boredom you face while studying history and civics, I would like to recommend " Total History and Civics by Morning Star publication ". Why this book? because it had got the concepts in regular and periodic way. The exaggeration is much less, and point wise explanations are made. Hence the students could interact much better with this book. The book is much user friendly and the exercises are very beneficial for ICSE examination.
 |
| Total History and Civics |
Now if you don't find History and Civics boring , and its one of your favorite subjects, I would recommend you the " Modern Indian History Contemporary World and Civics by Avichal Publishing Company". It is one of the topmost books available for History and Civics. The contents are well exaggerated and informative.
 |
| Modern Indian History Contemporary World and Civics |
Coming to the test papers, the " Frank Way to successful ICSE History and Civics papers " would be enough. If you could complete the textbook exercises and Frank model test papers before time, and sitting idle in search of more practice papers, you can go for the prelim papers of different schools and solve them. It would be very helpful.
 |
| Frank Way to successful ICSE History and Civics papers |
7. Geography: The geography syllabus for ICSE is given in the link below:
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/10.Geography.pdf
The textbook that I will recommend for Geography is " A textbook of ICSE Geography by Goyal Brothers Prakashan ". The book is very effective as it contains all the topics explained point wise, which will help you in remembering and writing the answers accurately. The books contains charts for mineral distribution and the Agricultural crops.
Another book that is as useful as this is the " Candid Discovering the World ".
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| Discovering the world |
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| A textbook of ICSE Geography by Goyal Brothers |
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| Frank Way to Successful ICSE Geography papers |
8. Computer Applications: The syllabus for computer application is given in the link below:
https://cisce.org/pdf/ICSE-Class-X-Syllabus-Year-2018/20.Computer%20Applications.pdf
Two of the best books available for ICSE computer application are " Understanding Computer applications with BLUE J by Arya Publishing Company" and "Computer application by Dhanpat Rai and Co". There are two aspects in Computer Applications - Theory and Programming. Now where they two differ? The APC Computer Application book strikes equally on theory as well as programming. The theory part is really very good . You will have a strong grip over the theory as well as programming in Java if you have this book. The book by Dhanpat Rai and Co. focuses more on programming. Though its theory part is also good, but the language of APC is much better. On the other hand , the programmings are of critical standards in the latter, and it aces in the programming field. In conclusion, those who are moderately good at theory could opt for Dhanpat Rai , whereas those who need overall improvement could go for APC.
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| Understanding Computer Applications with BlueJ |
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| Computer Applications by Sumita Arora |
There are many test papers available for computer. The most important ones are "Frank Way to Successful ICSE Computer papers" and " Arihant Chapter wise Topic-wise".
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| Arihant ICSE Chapterwise Topicwise |
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| Frank way to successful ICSE Computer Applications |
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