Best Books for NTSE STAGE 1 Preparation

I have already made a post regarding NTSE STAGE 1 PREPARATION GUIDE. So, do check it out first:

https://atharvadehadraya.blogspot.com/2020/05/ntse-stage1-preparation.html

Honestly speaking, there is no single book which can be regarded as IDEAL and SUFFICIENT for NTSE prep. So, your choice of books should be WISE and I'll help you out with it.
Without any delay, let's jump on to the BEST BOOKS for NTSE STAGE 1:

1. MAT (Mental Ability Test) :

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Many Authors absolutely flood their books with large number of topics many of which may not even be important from NTSE Stage 1 point of view, just to make the book sell more. But REMEMBER, their goal is to sell the book to more students, your goal is to clear the exam. So be SMART and AWARE, avoid buying such books by just watching it in your friend's hand. Not all books are beneficial, so pick your book wisely. I will suggest only those books which I have used myself.

Study Material of any good coaching institute: Good coaching institutes generally include a wide variety of questions and targeted topics in their material to make it ASPIRANT-FRIENDLY. Such materials are really good for practice as they help you build your speed and thinking skills. So, begin your MAT practice with this.

Tata McGraw Hill (Study Package for NTSE): This book contains a nice variety of MAT problems (Both Stage 1 and 2) plus it is good for SAT as well (NTSE Stage 2). But, few chapters of MAT are purely for NTSE STAGE 2 such as Statement-Conclusion and you need not solve them for Stage 1. Otherwise, this book is very nice.

S.Chand Publications NTSE book (OPTIONAL): Though I had used quite an old version of this book for MAT preparation, it proved to be useful. You can use it for extra practice because for NTSE MAT, Coaching Material with a standard book like McGraw Hill plus previous years questions is itself a good combo.

Previous Years Questions: You should practice all those MAT questions from previous papers which are more than 5 years old as you will practice rest papers as FULL LENGTH TESTS. Also, you will get huge amount of MAT questions from previous years papers of OTHER STATES ITSELF. Those are really good resources for nice MAT questions.

R.S. Aggarwal Book on MAT (Highly Optional): If you have prepared very well for all subjects, then you can try few topics from this book. But still, I would suggest you to rather give more time to Social Science prep rather than solving this book as you can solve it later on for Stage 2.

2. SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test):

(a) SCIENCE :

STATE BOARD BOOK: State Board Science Book is a must-read book as most questions will be based on it. Cover all theory given in it, don't treat anything as unimportant. Highlight things which you would like to revise repeatedly. Try to completely revise the Science book at least twice before the exam. Give equal weightage to Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

Study Material of a good institute: After completing theory of any chapter/topic, you can practice few questions from material of a good institute. I personally do not suggest to use any particular PUBLICATION's BOOK because most of them consist of so many irrelevant questions which are not even close to the NTSE syllabus and may instead waste your time.

In PHYSICS, I have seen so many books having questions based on Wheatstone Bridge, Star-Delta Connection etc. which, though can be understood by a X standard student, but are included in class XII syllabus and have no significance in NTSE exam AT ALL. So, if you get engaged in these kind of questions, you are actually wasting your time and nothing else.

In Biology as well, many books contain so many irrelevant questions that you may feel demotivated if you just see them. For example, a book had a question regarding formula of Chlorophyll A and B, one had question on ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY etc. These kind of questions are good for a person appearing for Medical Entrance, not for a X standard student targeting an exam like NTSE.

Previous Years Questions: Practice of previous years questions is highly recommended and highly beneficial. They will give you correct idea about the pattern and trend of questions asked in the exam.

So, according to me, this much is sufficient to prepare well for Science at NTSE Stage 1 level as you will be taking your Academic Lessons at your School/Coaching as well.

(b) SOCIAL SCIENCE:

STATE BOARD BOOKS: State Board Books are like the BIBLE of Social Science. Repeated revision of History, Geography, Political Science and Economics is essential for scoring good in NTSE. So, keep reading this book whenever you get free time and churn the information given in the book in your mind. Remember, maximum weightage of marks is given to History and Geography as compared to the other two.

Study Material of a good institute: You should cover all your theory from the State Board Book and then go for solving questions from the study material. Remember, it is good to join a coaching to prepare well for NTSE, but if you want to buy study material from an institute, be super-careful and ensure that the content provided by them is dedicated for YOUR STATE, as most states have a different syllabus, specially when it comes to Social Science.
Again, I would not recommend using a particular publication's book for Stage 1 due to non-uniform syllabus across the country. For NTSE Stage 2, as syllabus is UNIFORM for all, there is no harm in using such books.

Previous Years Questions: They give you good idea of trend of questions from a particular topic in past years. Few of them may even get repeated as well. So, revise them properly.

That's all about Social Science. Your main focus should be to revise theory as many times as possible, if you are thorough with the theory, you'll be able to get most questions correctly.

(c) MATHEMATICS:

State Board Book: Go through all topics given in the book and mark out those chapters which you haven't yet studied in your School/Coaching and which are not in your CBSE or other board's syllabus. Cover them from this book and take help from a teacher if are stuck somewhere. In maths, remembering formulae and identities is important as you may find many questions based directly on formula.

Study Material of a good institute: When you cover all your weak topics, you can solve a few questions from these. I am assuming that you study Mathematics as a part of your regular Academic Studies and don't require too much additional practice for basic topics.
For Mathematics, you may solve any standard book which you use for regular studies such as R.D. Sharma, R.S. Aggarwal etc.

Previous Years Questions: They are good to improve speed and accuracy.

So, you need not get troubled as far as Mathematics is concerned as nearly all questions will be EASY or MODERATE. Focus more on your accuracy and speed.