UPSC CDS Exam

Application Process

Application Form can be filled up by following these steps:

Stage 1: Basic Registration

• Log on to the official site of UPSC Online and click on the Examination tab.
• Select the option of ‘Combined Defense Services Examination (I)’.
• The Part I Registration page will open.
• Aspirants will have to provide general details such as Name, Date of birth, Mailing Address, Category, etc.
• They will then have to choose their preference for IMA, NA, AFA and OTA. Preference for the various fields should be indicated using numbers 0/1/2/3/4 with 1 being the highest preference.
• Applicants must indicate whether they have obtained or likely to obtain NCC ‘C’ certificate (Sr. Division). They will also have to specify whether they are serving the armed forces.
• Candidates can then verify the information mentioned in the Application form and can modify it in case of any mismatch/ discrepancy. No changes or modifications will be permitted after this stage.
• After all the above steps are complete, individuals must print out the confirmation page of Part 1 Registration which will have their unique Registration ID and other details for reference.

Stage 2: Uploading of Documents & Fee Payment

• Select the option of ‘Part I Registration’ after completing the first part. Enter the Registration ID and Date of Birth.
• Applicants will first have to pay the application fees. They can choose any 1 out of the 3 options- Pay by Cash, Card or Pay by Net banking to pay the fees.
• The next step is to upload scanned images of Photograph and Signature. Candidates must upload their recent, passport-sized, color photograph and signature as per the desired specifications.
• Aspirants can view the uploaded images by clicking on ‘Preview’ and can confirm it once they are satisfied with quality of images.
• They will then have to select the exam centers from the drop-down menu for appearing in the CDS I 2019 Examination. All the exam centers will be allotted on first come first serve basis.
• After all the above steps are completed, a confirmation page will be generated. Candidates should take a print out of this page for future correspondence.

Payment of Application Fee

Aspirants can pay the application fees for CDS 2019 exam by cash, card or net banking. The process for rendering fees via each method is given below:

• Pay by Cash- On selecting this option, a system generated bank challan of State Bank of India will appear on the screen. Applicants must print out this challan and submit the requisite fees by cash at any branch of the bank. They must save the student copy of the challan as proof of payment.
• Pay by Debit/ Credit Card or Net banking- Aspirants can pay the fees through Debit/Credit card or through the Net Banking facility of State Bank of India/ State Bank of Patiala/ State Bank of Travancore/ State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur/ State Bank of Hyderabad/ State Bank of Mysore. They must enter the required payment details on the bank page and save the receipt of transaction.

CDS 2019 Application Fees for various Categories are:

Vacancies

Name of the Course and Approximate No. of Vacancies:

Selection Process

UPSC Selection Process consists of three stages.
1. Written Exam
2. Interview/ Intelligence Test/ Personality Test
3. Document Verification
4. Medical Examination

Written Exam: Written Exam consists of Objective Type questions and time duration 2 hrs and maximum marks is 100 for each subject. 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.

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.
Document Verification: Document Verification will be conducted only after the candidate has qualified for Interview/Personality Test.

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.

Eligibility Criteria

 ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS OF CDS:

Physical Criteria

• Candidates must be physically and mentally fit according to prescribed physical standards for admission to CDS (I) & CDS (II) 2019.
• A candidate who has resigned or withdrawn on disciplinary grounds from any of the training academies of Armed Forces is not eligible to apply.
• Permanent body tattoos are only permitted on inner face of the forearm, i.e. from inside of elbow to the wrist and on the reverse side of palm/back (dorsal) side of the hand.
• Permanent body tattoos on any other part of the body are not acceptable and candidates will be barred from further selection. Tribes with tattoo marks on the face or body as per their existing custom and traditions will be permitted on a case to case basis.
• The concessions are not applicable for Air Force Height and Weight standards are mentioned i the official notification for Army and Navy only. Interpolation for weights against height not mentioned may be done.

(a) Nationality: A candidate must be unmarried and must either be:

(i) a Citizen of India, or
(ii) a subject of Bhutan, or
(iii) a subject of Nepal, or
(iv) a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before the 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India. or

(v) a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka and East African Countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania,
Zambia, Malawi, Zaire and Ethiopia or Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.
Note: Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v) above shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India. 

Age Limit

Age Limits, Sex and Marital Status of CDS:
(i) For IMA- Unmarried male candidates born not earlier than 2nd January, 1996 and not later than 1st January, 2001 only are eligible.
(ii) For Indian Naval Academy- Unmarried male candidates born not earlier than 2nd January, 1996 and not later than 1st January, 2001 only are eligible.
(iii) For Air Force Academy- 20 to 24 years as on 1st January, 2020 i.e. born not earlier than 2nd January, 1996 and not later than 1st January, 2000 (Upper age limit for candidates holding valid and current Commercial Pilot Licence issued by DGCA (India) is relaxable upto 26 yrs. i.e. born not earlier than 2nd January, 1994 and not later than 1st January, 2000) only are eligible.
Note: Candidate below 25 years of age must be unmarried. Marriage is not permitted during training. Married candidates above 25 years of age are eligible to apply but during training period they will neither be provided married accommodation nor can they live with family out of the premises.
(iv) For Officers' Training Academy- (SSC Course for men) unmarried male candidates born not earlier than 2nd January, 1995 and not later than 1st January, 2001 only are eligible.
(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 2nd January, 1995 and not later than 1st January, 2001.
NOTE : Male divorcee/widower candidates cannot be treated as unmarried male for the purpose of their admission in IMA/INA/AFA courses and accordingly they are not eligible for these courses.

Educational Qualification

Educational Qualifications of CDS

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

Note: Candidates who are studying in the final year/semester Degree course and have yet to pass the final year degree examination can also apply provided candidate should not have any present backlog upto the last semester / year for which results have been declared upto the time of submission of application.

Syllabus

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.

Exam Pattern

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:

(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 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.

Job Profile

Roles and Responsibilities

• If you are selected in one of the branches of armed forces then you are set for your rest of the life.
• Apart from getting pay, perks and pension you also get many benefits that are missing from a private job.
• Your job can be challenging depending upon which type of armed force you join.
• Your job can be very tough and disciplined so you have to prepare yourself for it.
• After successful completion of Combined Defence Services training, the candidates pass out in the rank of a designated officer will be entitled to the pay and allowance of the rank.

Result

Not yet published

Cutoff

Combined Defence Services Examination (I) – 2018 - Publication of cut-off marks.

*Subject to a minimum of 20% marks in each paper.