The "Combined Defence Services" (CDS) Examination is conducted twice a year by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for the recruitment of candidates into the Indian Military Academy, Officers Training Academy, Indian Naval Academy and Indian Air Force Academy. The UPSC will conduct the CDS exam twice a year in the month of February and September. The recruitment notification of CDS will be released for around 400 vacancies each time.

Candidates who aim to serve the nation by joining the defence forces can start applying for the CDS examination. In order to apply online for the CDS examination, candidates should meet all the eligibility requirements set by the Commission.

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Examination Pattern and details

The selection of the candidates will be based on the written examination followed by an interview for intelligence and personality test. The shortlisted candidates will be placed at the respective academies based on the preference and merit.

CDS Selection Procedure

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is going to conducts Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination for recruitment of various vacancies under 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

1. Written Exam: 

i. Written Exam consists of Objective Type questions and time duration 2 hrs and maximum marks is 100 for each subject.
ii. For the candidates who are appearing for Indian Military Academy, Naval Academy, Air force Academy 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.
iii. 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.

2. Interview/ Personality Test: The candidates who are selected in written test are called for interview. The SSB procedure consists of two stage selection process-Stage I and Stage II. Only those candidates who clear the stage I are permitted to appear for Stage II.
a. Stage I comprises of Officers Intelligence Rating (OIR) tests are Picture Perception Description Test (PP&DT). The candidates will be shortlisted based on combination of performance in OIR Test and PP&DT.
b. Stage II comprises of Interview, Group Testing Officers Tasks, Psychology Tests and the conference. These testes are conducted over 4 days .
The personality of candidate is assessed by three different assessors viz. the interviewing Officer (IO), Group Testing Officer (GTO) and the Psychologist. There are 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 test.
3. Document Verification: Document Verification will be conducted only after the candidate has qualified for Interview/Personality Test.

4. Medical Examination: A Candidate recommended by the Services Selection Board will undergo a medical examination by a Board of Service Medical Officers. Women candidates will undergo Medical Examination by a Medical Board comprising male/ female doctors/ specialists/ Gynaecologist. There will be a Lady Medical Officer as member of Board. Only those candidates will be admitted to the Academy who are declared fit by the Medical Board.

CDS Exam Pattern Details

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

1. Written Exam:
i. Written Exam consists of Objective Type questions and time duration 02 hrs and maximum marks is 100 for each subject.
ii. For the candidates who are appearing for Indian Military Academy, Naval Academy, Air force Academy 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.
iii. 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:

Subject	Duration	Maximum Marks
English	2 Hours	100
General Knowledge	2 Hours	100
Elementary Mathematics	2 Hours	100

(B) For Admission to Officers’ Training Academy:

Subject	Duration	Maximum Marks
English	2 Hours	100
General Knowledge	2 Hours	100

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 consists 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 in written test are called for interview. The SSB procedure consists of two stage selection process-Stage I and Stage II. Only those candidates who clear the stage I are permitted to appear for Stage II.
a. Stage I comprises of Officers Intelligence Rating (OIR) tests are Picture Perception Description Test (PP&DT). The candidates will be shortlisted based on combination of performance in OIR Test and PP&DT.
b. Stage II comprises of Interview, Group Testing Officers Tasks, Psychology Tests and the conference. These testes are conducted over 4 days .
The personality of candidate is assessed by three different assessors viz. the interviewing Officer (IO), Group Testing Officer (GTO) and the Psychologist. There are 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 test.

CDS Syllabus Details

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is going to conducts Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination for recruitment of various vacancies under Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy, Air Force Academy and Officers Training Academy. The CDS syllabus details is given below.

PAPER – 1: ENGLISH:
The question paper will be designed to test the candidates’ understanding of English and workmanlike use of words.

PAPER – 2: GENERAL KNOWLEDGE:
General Knowledge including knowledge of current events and of such matters of everyday observation and experience in their scientific aspects as may be expected of an educated person who has not made a special study of any scientific subject. The Paper will also include questions on History of India and Geography of a nature which Candidate should be able to answer without special study.

PAPER – 3: ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS: 
Arithmetic:Number System-Natural numbers, Integers, Rational and Real numbers. Fundamental Operations addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, Square roots, Decimal, fractions. Unitary method, time and distance, time and work, percentages, applications to simple and compound interest, profit and loss, ratio and proportion, variation.
Elementary Number Theory- Division algorithm. Prime and composite numbers. Tests of divisibility by 2, 3,4,5,9 and 11. Multiples and factors. Factorization Theorem. H.C.F. and L.C.M. Euclidean algorithm, Logarithms to base 10, laws of logarithms, use of logarithmic tables.

ALGEBRA
Basic Operations, simple factors, Remainder Theorem, H.C.F., L.C.M. Theory of polynomials, Solutions of quadratic equations, relation between its roots and coefficients (Only real roots to be considered). Simultaneous linear equations in two unknowns-analytical and graphical solutions. Simultaneous linear in equations in two variables and their solutions. Practical problems leading to two simultaneous linear equations or in equations in two Variables or quadratic equations in one variable & their solutions. Set language and set notation, rational expressions and conditional identities, Laws of indices.

TRIGONOMETRY
Sine x, cosine x, Tangent x when 0 ≤x ≤90 Values of sin x, cos x and tan x, for x = 0, 30, 45, 60 and 90
Simple trigonometric identities.
Use of trigonometric tables.
Simple cases of heights and distances.

GEOMETRY
Lines and angles, Plane and plane figures, Theorems on (i) Properties of angles at a Point, (ii) Parallel lines, (iii) Sides and angles of a triangle, (iv) Congruency of triangles, (v) Similar triangles, (vi) Concurrence of medians and altitudes, (vii) Properties of angles, sides and diagonals of a parallelogram, rectangle and square (viii) Circles and its properties including tangents and normal, (ix) Loci.

MENSURATION
Areas of squares, rectangles, parallelograms, triangle and circle. Areas of figures which Can be split up into these figures (Field Book), Surface area and volume of cuboids, lateral surface and volume of right circular cones and cylinders, surface area and Volume of spheres.

STATISTICS
Collection and tabulation of statistical data, Graphical representation, frequency Polygons, histograms, bar charts, pie charts etc. Measures of central tendency.