This time with reduced syllabus, are …

The fact is that the question paper revolves around the NCERT textbook and the concepts explained therein.  Hence, in theory, the NCERT textbook should be more than enough. However, in practice, students have found that referring to a good reference book acts as an aid or supplement. For example, if you use a reference book in Mathematics, you get the advantage of going through a number of solved problems and also get a lot of unsolved problems for practice.  In subjects such as Physics or Chemistry, some topics are explained in greater detail than the class X NCERT textbooks.  You would definitely have referred to a number of such books when you were in the IX standard, and it does make sense to follow a uniform strategy in classes IX and X.

Toppers normally advise their classmates to make the NCERT textbook the main study material, and supplement their efforts with reference books.  The reason for this is that the examination is based on NCERT books, and if you know your NCERT textbook well, you don’t need any supplementary material for the Class X boards.  In short, study your NCERT textbook really well, and use reference books only as supplements.