What is CDS (I) and (II) Exam?

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. 

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. 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. Explore more details regarding the CDS (I) & (II) examination below. 

CDS Exam Details  

CDS Notification 2022

The UPSC will release the CDS notification twice a year in the months of December and May. The recruitment notification of CDS will be released for around 400 vacancies each time. Aspirants should note that the number of vacancies in the notification is tentative and may be changed at any stage by Services.

CDS Exam Dates 2022

CDS (I) 2022

The UPSC will release the official notification of CDS (I) 2022 examination on April 10, 2022 and CDS (II) 2022 the online applications can be filled up from May 18 to June 14, 2022, till 6:00 pm. Aspirants are required to apply online using the official link www.upsconline.nic.in

The candidates applying for the examination must fulfil all the eligibility criteria for admission to the examination. The CDS (I) 2022 examination will be held on April 10, 2022, for admissions to the below-mentioned courses in the notification.

CDS (II) 2022

The UPSC will release the CDS (II) 2022 exam recruitment notification on May 18, 2022. The name of the notification is ”Combined Defence Service Examination (II), 2022 (Including SSC Women (Non-Technical Course).” The online applications will be accepted until June  14, 2022. A Combined Defence Services Exam will be conducted by the Union Public Service Commission on September 04, 2022. 

CDS Registration 2022

Interested candidates are advised to check whether they meet all the eligibility requirements set by the Commission prior to CDS registration. For CDS exam registration, candidates need to visit the official website of UPSC (http://upsconline.nic.in). 

Candidates should have details of one photo identity card such as the Aadhaar Card/ Voter Card/ PAN Card/ Passport/ Driving Licence/ any other ID card issued by the State/Central Government. The details in the ID card are required to filling up the CDS online application form. 

Aspirants are also advised to keep the scanned copy of the photo ID ready for uploading. The same photo ID card is required until the final selection. Explore the step by step CDS registration form 2022 here. 

Eligibility Criteria

1. Physical Criteria

   • Candidates must be physically and mentally fit according to prescribed physical standards for admission to CDS (I) & CDS (II) 2022
   • 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

2. Nationality:

   A candidate must be either:

   (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 or East African Countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, and Ethiopia or from Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

   Note:

   • 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 not, however, be necessary in the case of candidates who are Gorkha subjects of Nepal

3. Educational Qualification:

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

   Note:

   • Graduates with the 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.
   • 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 up to the last semester/year for which results have been declared up to the time of submission of application and they will be
   • required to submit proof of passing the degree examination at the time of commencement of course.
   • Candidates must be physically fit according to physical standards for admission to Combined Defence Services Examination (I) & (II), 2022 as per guidelines are given in the official notification.

4. Age Limit :

   Age Limits, Sex and Marital Status for CDS I & II 2022:

   1. For IMA – Unmarried male candidates born not earlier than January 02, 1999, and not later than January 01, 2004, only are eligible.
   2. For Indian Naval Academy – Unmarried male candidates born not earlier than January 02, 1999, and not later than January 01, 2004, only are eligible.
   3. For Air Force Academy – 20 to 24 years as on 1st January, 2003, i.e. born not earlier than 2nd January, 1999 and not later than 1st January 2003 (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, 1997 and not later than 1st January, 2003 only are eligible.
   4. For Officers’ Training Academy — (SSC Course for men) unmarried male candidates born not earlier than January 02, 1998, and not later than January 01, 2004, only are eligible.
   5. 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 January 02, 1998, and not later than January 01, 2004.

   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.

CDS (I) and (II) Examination Pattern

CDS (I) & (II) Scheme of Examination:

 The competitive examination comprises:

(a) Written examination.

(b) Interview for intelligence and personality test (vide Part ‘B’ of this Appendix) of such candidates as may be called for an interview at one of the Services Selection Centres.

The subjects of the written examination, the time allowed and the maximum marks allotted to each subject will be as follows:

1. Written Examination:

Note:

• Maximum marks allotted to the written exam and to the interviews will be equal for each course i.e. the maximum marks allotted to the written exam 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 Weights and Measures only will be set
• The candidates are not permitted to use a 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 the two-stage Selection process – stage I and stage II. Only those candidates who clear the stage I are permitted to appear for stage II. The details are:

(a) Stage I comprises of Officer Intelligence Rating (OIR) tests are Picture Perception* Description Test (PP&DT). The candidates will be shortlisted based on a 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. 

Combined Defence Services Examination (I) and (II) Syllabus 2021 Main Syllabus

Click on the attached file to download and know more about the Combined Defence Services Examination syllabus. The question paper will be designed to test the candidates’ understanding of English and workmanlike use of words.

CDS Exam (I) & (II) Question Papers

Below is the previous year’s solved question papers of Combined Defence Services Examination (I) and (II) conducted by UPSC. Careerindia is providing you with the latest question papers which can be downloaded from below:Download Question Paper

• CDS Exam (II) General Knowledge Question Paper 2019
• CDS Exam (I) English Question Paper 2019
• CDS Exam (I) General Knowledge Question Paper 2019
• CDS Exam (I) Elementary Mathematics Question Paper 2019
• CDS Exam (II) English Question Paper 2018
• CDS Exam (II) Elementary Mathematics Question Paper 2018
• CDS Exam (II) General Knowledge Question Paper 2018
• CDS Exam (II) Elementary Mathematics Question Paper 2019
• CDS Exam (II) English Question Paper 2019
• CDS Exam (I) Elementary Mathematics Question Paper 2020
• CDS Exam (I) English Question Paper 2020
• CDS Exam (I) General Knowledge Question Paper 2020
• CDS Exam (II) Elementary Mathematics Question Paper 2020
• CDS Exam (I) Elementary Mathematics Question Paper 2022
• CDS Exam (I) General English Question Paper 2022.
• CDS Exam (I) General Knowledge Question Paper 2022.
• CDS Exam (II) General Knowledge Question Paper 2021
• CDS Exam (II) English Question Paper 2021
• CDS Exam (II) Elementary Mathematics Question Paper 2021
• CDS Exam (I) General Knowledge Question Paper 2021
• CDS Exam (I) English Question Paper 2021
• CDS Exam (I) Elementary Mathematics Question Paper 2021
• CDS Exam (II) English Question Paper 2020
• CDS Exam (II) General Knowledge Question Paper 2020