The "Combined Defence Services" Examination is conducted twice a year by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment into the Indian Military Academy, Officers Training Academy, Indian Naval Academy and Indian Air Force Academy.

The Notification for the examination is generally released in the months of October and June, and the examinations are conducted in February and November respectively. Only unmarried graduates are eligible to sit for the exam. Successful candidates are admitted into the respective Academies after an interview conducted by the service selection board(SSB)

Educational Qualification

All the candidates should have completed their Graduation or should be appearing for the final year degree examination. The individual educational qualification required for each institution is discussed below.

• I.M.A. and OTA: Degree of a recognized University or equivalent.
• Indian Naval Academy (INA):  Degree in Engineering from a recognized university/institution.
• Air Force Academy: Degree of a recognized University (with Physics and Mathematics at 10+2 level) or Bachelor of Engineering.

Note: The candidates who are in the final years of their Degree Course and have yet to pass the final year Degree examination are also eligible to apply. Such candidates are required to submit the proof of passing the requisite qualifying examination by a date to be specified in the Commission’ s Notice for the Examination.

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CDS 2019 Physical Criteria

To be applying for the Defence services the basic and the most important criteria for a candidate is to be physically and mentally fit. It is a category on which the candidate can look forward to serve its country in a way they want to.  

It is a vital eligibility criterion for a CDS 2019 candidate. He/ she should have good mental as well as physical health. Mentioned below are the Physical as well as mental guidelines to be followed by the candidates for the CDS 2019:

Physical Standards for CDS exam 2019

• It is advisable for the candidate to get oneself medically examined before filling application form. It is because if due to some reason the candidate was found unfit, he/ she wouldn’t be an eligible candidate. Hence, all the effort of the candidate will go in vain.
• It is important for the candidate to have a body, which is free from any disease as well as free from any disability. If at all the candidate who might be unfit may apply for Appeal Medical Board (AMB) to be completed within 42 days of SMB.

Height and Weight Standard Eligibility Criteria

Table 1: For Army and Navy Males

For Navy 45* and 47**

A ± 10% (for Navy) departure from the average weight given in the Table above is to be considered within normal limit. However, in individuals with heavy bones and broad built as well as individuals with thin built but otherwise healthy this may be relaxed to some extent on merit.

Table 2: For Air Force Male Candidates

(For FAT % (<20) of Normal Individuals)

The acceptable weight for Air Force candidates will be ± 10% of the average weight given above.

Table 3: For Female Officers’ Training Candidates

I) Written Exam Pattern

The scheme of the CDS written exam (subject combination) is slightly different for admission to various academies:

	Indian Military Academy	Naval Academy	Air Force Academy	Officers Training Academy
Subjects	English	English	English	English
	General Knowledge	General Knowledge	General Knowledge	General Knowledge
	Elementary Mathematics	Elementary Mathematics	Elementary Mathematics	-

The total marks for CDS written exam for Indian Military Academy, Naval Academy & Air Force Academy will be 300 marks.

The total marks for CDS written exam for Officers' Training Academy will be 200 marks.

II) SSB Interview

Candidates who qualify the written exam will have to appear before the Service Selection Board (SSB) for an interview (personality test.) You may have to appear in any of the 3 SSB centres in India: Allahabad, Bhopal or Bangalore.

The total marks for SSB round for Indian Military Academy, Naval Academy & Air Force Academy will be 300 marks.
The total marks for SSB round for Officers' Training Academy will be 200 marks.

The SSB shortlisting consists of two stages conducted over a total of 5 days. You need to qualify in stage-1 in order to further to stage-2. Details about these stages:

Day 1

1. Stage 1
a. An intelligence test known as "Officer Intelligence Rating (OIR)" - there would be a verbal test and a written test
b. A "Picture Perception & Description Test (PP&DT)"- You would have to describe a picture that is shown for 30 seconds, writing in detail about whatever is shown in the picture. You would be given 4 minutes for the same.
c. After writing about the picture, all candidates would be divided into groups of 15 and would have to discuss about the same photograph and arrive at a common conclusion about it.

Stage 1 would be conducted over 1 day. Candidates who don't clear this stage, would be asked to go back.

2. Stage 2 would be conducted over 4 days and would consist of a variety of activities through which your personality would be judged by 3 different people viz an interviewing officer (IO), a group testing officer (GTO) and a psychologist:

Day 2:

Different types of "psychological tests" would be held:

• Thematic Apperception Test: The word "apperception" means to be fully aware of an idea or feeling. In this test, 12 pictures (that includes a blank image) would be shown.  Each of these pictures would be flashed for 30 seconds each and you would be given 4 minutes to write a story around the situation shown by these 12 images, what was going on in these pictures and what would be the final outcome. Fot the blank image, you have to imagine a picture of your choice and write a story about it.
• Word Association Test: 60 words would be flashed in front of you for 15 seconds each and you have to jot down the whatever comes to your mind about each word.
• Situation Reaction Test: You would be provided with a booklet that lists 60 everyday situations in life. You will have to respond to each situation by writing down how you would react (think/ feel/ act) in each case.
• Self Description Test: You will be required to write 5 paragraphs related to your opinion about your parents/guardian, friends, teachers/ superiors.

Day 3:

Various tasks would be conducted by a "Group Testing Officer" (GTO):

• Group Discussion: You would be given two topics (one on a social issue and one related to a current event) to discuss informally in a group. The group discussion on each topic will last 20 minutes. You are not expected to arrive at any definitive conclusion.
• Group planning exercise:  This exercise would be conducted as follows - a given model would be explained, the GTO would then read out its narrative, you would be then given 5 minutes to read it yourself. Another 10 minutes will be spent in writing your individual solution to the problem and the next 20 minutes would be spent discussion the solutions in a group. Whatever final solution/ conclusion is derived, would have to be narrated.
• Progressive group task: This will be an outdoor activity in which four obstacles with progressively increasing levels of difficulty must be completed in 40 - 50 minutes. Structures, helping material and load will be provided to the group.
• Group obstacle race: One group will be pitched against another group to cross a set of six obstacles with a snake like load to carry.
• Half group task: This would be similar to the progressive group task with helping material and load to be carried. Every group will be divided into two sub-groups and would be given the same obstacle in such a manner that when one group is working, the other group cannot see it.  Each group would have to complete the task in 15 minutes.
• Lecturette:  A lecturette means a "short lecture." This is not a group task. You would be required to give a short talk (on a topic that you may choose from 4 given topics) to the group.  You will be given 3 minutes to prepare for your lecturette. Topics may vary from "women empowerment", "yoga", "stem cell research", "capital punishment for rape" etc.

Day 4:

This day would consist of some more group tasks:

•  Individual Obstacles: A set of 10 obstacles (numbered from 1-10; each number denoting the pint it carries) would have to be tackled individually within 3 minutes.
• Command Task:  Each individual is selected as their group's leader for one task consisting of an obstacle to be completed in 15 minutes (like the Progressive Group Task)
• Final Group Task: This would include an obstacle similar to the Progressive Group Task, to be finished in 15 - 20 minutes.

Day 5:

There would be a closing address, a conference and announcement of results followed by dispersal.

During the "conference", all the three assessors I.E. psychologist, interviewing officer and GTO meet together to discuss each candidate's performance and decide their final result. To remove any doubt, you are called in, so that they can judge you one last time by asking a few questions.

Detailed Syllabus for Written Exam:

Mathematics

Arithmetic

Number System: Natural numbers, Fundamental operations, Ratio and Proportion, profit and loss, applications to simple and compound interest, percentages, time and work, time and distance, Unitary method, Decimal fractions, Square roots, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, Rational and Real numbers, Integers and Variation.

Elementary Number Theory: Multiples and factors, Factorization Theorem, Tests of divisibility by 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 and 11, H.C.F. and L.C.M, Euclidean algorithm, Logarithms to base 10, Use of logarithmic tables, Prime and composite numbers, Laws of logarithms and Division algorithm. 

Geometry:  Plane and plane figures, Lines and angles, Properties of angles at a point, Parallel lines, Sides and angles of a triangle, Congruency of triangles, Similar triangles, Concurrence of medians and altitudes, Properties of angles, Circles and its properties including tangents and normals, Loci, Sides and diagonals of square, rectangle and parallelogram.     

Trigonometry: Sine ×, cosine ×, Tangent × when 0° < × < 90° Values of sin ×, cos × and tan ×, for × = 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90°, simple trigonometric identities, use of trigonometric tables and simple cases of heights and distances

Algebra: Set language and set notation, Laws of indices, Rational expressions and conditional identities, Practical problems leading to two simultaneous linear equations, Simultaneous linear inequations in two variables and their solutions, Simultaneous linear equations in two unknowns—analytical and graphical solutions, relation between its roots and coefficients, solutions of quadratic equations, theory of polynomials, Remainder Theorem, Basic Operations, simple factors, H.C.F., L.C.M etc.    

Statistics: Graphical representation frequency polygons, collection and tabulation of statistical data, measures of central tendency, histograms, pie charts, bar charts etc. 

Mensuration: Areas of squares, circle, triangle, rectangles and parallelograms,  Areas of figures which can be split up into these figures Surface area and volume of cuboids, lateral surface and volume of right circular cones and cylinders, surface area and volume of spheres.

English for CDS:

UPSC CDS English syllabus includes mostly grammatical questions. CDS English question paper design for test your English skills it includes the question from vocabulary part like the use of verbs, tenses, words etc. here you find some of the major topics from CDS 1 English syllabus below. study these topics in details. Fill in the blanks questions Sentence Correction questions Reading Comprehension & Finding errors and omissions etc

GS for CDS:

GK Syllabus have basic topics from all around us such as Latest current affairs about politics, sports, media, marketing, banking sector, economy, finance, awards & events, Indian history, and geography etc.

Negative Marking for CDS:

Negative marking is applicable for every wrong marked answer. In CDS paper, each question carries 4 options and out of which only 1 option is correct. For each incorrect answer, 1/3 of the marks will be deducted. ... However, if a question is left unanswered there will be no negative marking.