Defence & Paramilitary · Government job

CDS

Combined Defence Services Examination

Recruitment of graduates as officer cadets into the Indian Military Academy (Dehradun), Indian Naval Academy (Ezhimala), Air Force Academy (Hyderabad) and the Officers' Training Academy (Chennai) for Short Service Commission.

Eligibility

Graduates or final-year students. IMA and OTA accept any degree; INA requires an engineering degree; AFA requires a degree with Physics and Mathematics at 10+2, or an engineering degree. IMA, INA and AFA are for unmarried candidates (women now admitted to some academies per notification); OTA admits both men and women.

Age limit: IMA 19-24, INA 19-22, AFA 20-24 (up to 26 with a valid CPL), OTA 19-25 years

Exam pattern

Offline OMR test. IMA, INA and AFA candidates take three papers: English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics, each 100 marks and 2 hours. OTA candidates take only English and General Knowledge (200 marks). One-third negative marking on every wrong answer. Qualified candidates face a five-day SSB interview (300 marks for IMA/INA/AFA, 200 for OTA), followed by medicals.

Syllabus at a glance

English tests grammar, vocabulary, spotting errors, ordering and comprehension. General Knowledge covers current affairs, history, geography, polity, economy, general science and defence affairs. Elementary Mathematics is at Class 10 level: arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, geometry, mensuration and statistics.

Upcoming dates

Event	Date	Status
CDS (I) 2027 notification (per UPSC Calendar 2027)	2 Dec 2026	expected
Online application window	2-22 Dec 2026	expected
CDS (I) 2027 written exam	11 Apr 2027 (Sunday)	confirmed
Written result (I) 2027	May-Jun 2027	expected
CDS (II) 2027 notification	12 May 2027 (applications till about 1 Jun 2027)	expected
CDS (II) 2027 written exam	19 Sep 2027 (Sunday)	confirmed

Expected dates follow the usual calendar; confirm on the official notification before planning.

Free prep material

Previous papers

UPSC Previous Question Papers

Official past CDS papers for all three subjects; repeated themes are common in English and Maths.

Official

UPSC Online Application Portal

Applications, admit cards and cycle notices.

Study material

NCERT Textbooks

Class 6-10 Maths and Class 6-12 history, geography, polity and science cover most of the GK and Maths papers.

Study material

Press Information Bureau - Ministry of Defence

Primary source for defence exercises, appointments and schemes asked in the GK paper.

Video course

SSBCrack (YouTube)

Free CDS GK and current-affairs revision plus detailed SSB interview guidance.

Official

Join Indian Army

Official entry details, SSB procedure and medical standards for IMA and OTA.

Standard books

Pathfinder CDS Combined Defence Services Entrance Examination - Arihant Experts (Arihant)
Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations - R.S. Aggarwal (S. Chand)
Objective General English - S.P. Bakshi (Arihant)
Word Power Made Easy - Norman Lewis
Indian Polity - M. Laxmikanth (McGraw Hill)
Lucent's General Knowledge - Lucent Publications

How toppers play it

Each paper has a separate minimum (usually around 20 per cent) and the aggregate cutoff for IMA is typically around 45-50 per cent, so balance all three papers rather than overloading one.
Elementary Mathematics is Class 10 level but time-pressured (100 questions in 2 hours); practise shortcuts for arithmetic, time-speed-distance and mensuration.
English is the most controllable score: solve at least ten years of CDS English papers, since spotting-errors and synonym/antonym questions repeat patterns.
For GK, prioritise static science, history and geography over chasing current affairs; mark defence-specific news (exercises, platforms, appointments) for the last month.
With one-third negative marking, skip guesswork in GK unless you can eliminate two options.