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 consist of objective type questions only. The question papers (Test Booklets) 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.
Candidates must write the papers in their own hand. In no circumstances will they be allowed the help of a scribe to write answers for them.
The Commission have discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all the subjects of the examination
The candidates are not permitted to use calculator for answering objective type papers (Test
Booklets). They should not therefore, bring the same inside the Examination Hall
2. Intelligence & Personality Test: 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 Officer 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 Officer Tasks, Psychology Tests and the Conference. These tests are conducted over 4 days. The details of these tests are given on the website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in.
The personality of a 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. In addition, marks for Conference are also allotted based on the initial performance of the Candidate in the three techniques and decision of the Board. All these have equal weightage.
The various tests of IO, GTO and Psych are designed to bring out the presence/absence of Officer Like Qualities and their trainability in a candidate. Accordingly candidates are Recommended or Not Recommended at the SSB.
Click Here for CDS Eligibility Criteria
Sir, I have completed Graduation in Physics. Am i eligible to apply for CDS exam?