ART and CULTURE booklist and approach for UPSC CSE Prelims
1. NCERT Fine Arts class 11: A good point to start and develop interest about the rich tradition of art forms in India
2. Nitin Singhania: Too exhaustive at times. You can check from which chapters questions have been asked in previous years (given at the end of each chapter) and focus more on those topics e.g. architecture, music, dance, paintings, puppetry etc.
3. I used to mark important places/ items and 2 or 3 most important facts to remember on black India maps. Helped me in revising quickly and also a good practice for the mains answer.
4. Mark places on news on India maps from each month of current affairs magazine. Look for important geographic/economic features of that place too.
5. Adding extra points from prelims mock in the books itself work well for art and culture too.
~ UPSC CSE Topper.