CDS Exam Pattern Details: Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is going to conduct the Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination for recruitment of various vacancies under the Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy, Air Force Academy and Officers Training Academy. The exam pattern of UPSC CDS details are given below:

1. Written Exam:

1. Written Exam consists of Objective Type questions and time duration 02 hrs and maximum marks is 100 for each subject.
2. Candidates who are appearing for the Indian Military Academy, Naval Academy, or Air force Academy have a written test comprising of English, General Knowledge and Elementary mathematics subjects and for candidates who are appearing for officers training academy the written test comprising of English and General Knowledge.
3. Candidates who are declared successful in the written exam will be detailed for intelligence and personality test at the Service Selection Board based on their preference, by the respective service HQ

(A) For Admission to Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy and Air Force Academy:

(B) For Admission to Officers’ Training Academy:

The maximum marks allotted to the written examination and to the interviews will be equal for each course. i.e the maximum marks allotted to the written examination and to the interviews will be 300, 300, 300 and 200 each for admission to the Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy, Air Force Academy and Officers Training Academy respectively.

The papers in all the subjects will consist of objective-type questions only. The question papers of General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics will be set bilingually in Hindi as well as English.

In the question papers, wherever necessary, questions involving the metric system of Weighs and Measures only will be set.

2. Intelligence & Personality Test: 

The candidates who are selected for the written test are called for an interview. The SSB procedure consists of two stage selection process-Stage I and Stage II. Only those candidates who clear stage I are permitted to appear for Stage II.

(a) Stage I comprises Officers Intelligence Rating (OIR) tests and are Picture Perception Description Test (PP&DT). The candidates will be shortlisted based on a combination of performance in the OIR Test and PP&DT.

(b) Stage II comprises of Interview, Group Testing Officers Tasks, Psychology Tests and the conference. These tests are conducted over 4 days.

The personality of a candidate is assessed by three different assessors viz. the interviewing Officer (IO), Group Testing Officer (GTO) and the Psychologist. There is no separate weightage for each test. The marks are allotted by assessors only after taking into consideration the performance of the candidate holistically in all the tests.

CDS Eligibility Details:

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is going to conduct the Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination for recruitment of various vacancies under the Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy, Air Force Academy and Officers Training Academy. The following are the eligibility details to apply for the Combined Defence Services Exam.

Eligibility Details:

 1. Nationality: A candidate must be either

(a) A citizen of India, or

(b) A subject of Nepal, or

(c) A subject of Bhutan, or

(d) A Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India, or
(e) A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Srilanka or East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire and Ethiopia or from Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (b), (c), (d) and (e) shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.

 2. Age Limit:

(i) For IMA: Unmarried male candidates born not earlier than 02-01-1996 and not later than 01-01-2001
(ii) For Indian Naval Academy: Unmarried male candidates born not earlier than 02-01-1996 and not later than 01-01-2001.
(iii) For Air Force Academy: Unmarried male candidates aged between 20 to 24 years as of 1st January 2020 i.e. born not earlier than 02-01-1996 and not later than 01-01-2000 (Upper age limit for candidates holding valid and current Commercial Pilot Licence issued by DGCA (India) is relaxable up to 26 yrs. i.e. born not earlier than 02-01-1994 and not later than 01-01-2000).

(iv) For Officers’ Training Academy (SSC Course for Men): Male candidates (unmarried) born not earlier than 02-01-1995 and not later than 01-01-2001.

(v) For Officers Training Academy (SSC Women Non-Technical Course): Unmarried women, issueless widows who have not remarried and issueless divorcees (in possession of divorce documents) who have not remarried are eligible. They should have been born not earlier than 02-01-1995 and not later than 01-01-2001.

Note: Male divorcee/widower candidates cannot be treated as unmarried males for the purpose of their admission in IMA/INA/AFA courses and accordingly they are not eligible for these courses.

 3. Educational Qualification:

(i) For I.M.A. and Officers’ Training Academy: Degree of a recognized University or equivalent.
(ii) For Indian Naval Academy: Degree in Engineering from a recognized university/institution.
(iii) For Air Force Academy: Degree of a recognized University (with Physics and Mathematics at 10+2 level) or Bachelor of Engineering.

 Note: Those candidates who are studying in the final year Degree course and have yet to pass the final year Degree examination are also eligible to apply.

Physical Standards:

 Candidates must be physically fit according to physical standards for admission to Combined Defence Services Examination.

CDS Selection Procedure Details:

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is going to conduct the Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination for recruitment of various vacancies under the Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy, Air Force Academy and Officers Training Academy. The following are the selection Procedure details to apply for the Combined Defence Services Exam…

UPSC Selection Procedure consists of three stages.

1. Written Exam
2. Interview/ Intelligence Test/ Personality Test
3. Document Verification
4. Medical Examination