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 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.

CDS Eligibility 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 following are the eligibility details to apply for the Combined Defence Services Exam.

Eligibility Details:

1. Nationality: A candidate must be unmarried and must either be:
(i) A citizen of India, or
(ii) A subject of Nepal, or
(iii) 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.
Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (ii) and (iii) above shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.
Certificate of eligibility will, however, not be necessary in the case of candidates who are Gorkha subjects of Nepal.
A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary, may be admitted to the examination provisionally subject to the necessary certificate being given to him/her by the Govt. before declaration of result by UPSC.

2. Age Limit:
(i) For IMA: Unmarried male candidates born not earlier than 2nd January, 2002 and not later than 1st January 2007 only are eligible eligible.
(ii) For Indian Naval Academy: Unmarried male candidates born not earlier than 2nd January 2002 and not later than 1st January 2007 only are eligible.
(iii) For Air Force Academy: 20 to 24 years as on 1st January 2026 i.e. born not earlier than 2nd January 2002 and not later than 1st January 2006 (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 2 nd January 2000 and not later than 1st January 2006 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): (SSC Course for men) unmarried male candidates born not earlier than 2nd January 2001 and not later than 1st January, 2007 only are eligible.
(v) For Officers Training Academy (SSC Women Non-Technical Course): (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, 2001 and not later than 1st January, 2007.
NOTE : Male divorcee/widower candidates cannot be treated as unmarried male for the purpose of their admission in IMA/INA/AFA/OTA, Chennai 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 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

Graduates with first choice as Army/Navy/Air Force are to submit proof of Graduation/provisional certificates on the date of commencement of the SSB Interview at the SSB.

Note: Those candidates who are studying in the final years 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 (I), 2025.

CDS Selection Procedure 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 following are the selection Procedure details to apply for the Combined Defence Services Exam…

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

1. Written Examination: 

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 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 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. 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.

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 (SSB) will undergo a medical examination (Special Medical Board) by a Board of Service Medical Officers. Only those candidates, who are declared fit by the Medical Board, will be admitted to the Academy. However, the President of the Medical Board will intimate the candidates declared unfit of their results and the procedure for an Appeal Medical Board (AMB)to be completed in a Command Hospital or equivalent within 42 days of Special Medical Board.