CDS Syllabus 2023: Check Here Subject-wise Topics, Exam Pattern for IMA INA OTA AFA
CDS Syllabus 2023: The Combined Defence Services (CDS) examination is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for the selection of eligible male and female candidates for admission to the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Officers Training Academy (OTA), Indian Naval Academy (INA), and Air Force Academy (AFA). Candidates who meet the eligibility criteria such as age limit, educational qualifications, and physical standards can appear for the exam.
The CDS exam is considered to be one of the toughest exams in the country. As per the last 10-year data and insights gathered from the exam trend analysis, the overall difficulty level of the exam each year has been found to be moderate to difficult. Examining the question trends, past years' papers, and previous years' exam analysis can provide information regarding the expected number of questions, important topics, cut off trend, and difficulty level. We have also covered the last 5 years trend for GK to understand the topic-wise question weightage.
In this article, we have discussed the detailed syllabus and the latest exam pattern for the CDS exam.
CDS Exam Overview
UPSC conducts the exam twice in a year.
| Parameters |
Details |
| Name of exam |
Combined Defence Services Examination |
| Conducted by |
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) |
| Exam level |
National |
| Exam frequency |
Twice a year (April and September) |
| Exam mode |
Offline |
| Exam stages |
Written exam and SSB Interview |
| No of questions |
Elementary Maths: 100 General English: 120 General Knowledge: 120 |
| No.of papers |
Indian Military Academy (IMA), Indian Naval Academy (INA) and Air Force Academy (AFA): Three (English, General Knowledge, and Elementary Mathematics) Officers’ Training Academy (OTA): Two (English and General Knowledge) |
| Total marks |
Written Exam IMA, INA and AFA: 300 OTA: 200 SSB Interview IMA, INA and AFA: 300 OTA: 200 |
| Marking scheme |
1 mark for the correct answer 0.33 marks for wrong answers |
UPSC CDS Syllabus 2023
Candidates preparing for the exam are advised to study from the official syllabus. Refer to the following table to check the subject-wise topics. The standard of the papers in elementary mathematics will be of matriculation level. The standard of papers in other subjects will approximately be such as may be expected of a graduate of an Indian University.
| English |
General Knowledge |
Elementary Mathematics |
| Reading Comprehension Spotting Errors Sentence Rearrangement Idioms & Phrases Ordering of Sentences Cloze Test (Fill in the Blanks) Synonyms & Antonyms Grammar Vocabulary |
History Geography Politics Economics Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) Current Affairs Static GK |
Arithmetic Algebra Trigonometry Geometry Mensuration Statistics |
CDS Toppers Preparation Strategy, Mock Test for General Knowledge
CDS Exam Pattern
The exam pattern consists of objective-type questions only. The question papers of General Knowledge and elementary mathematics will be set bilingually (Hindi and English). In question papers, wherever necessary, questions involving the metric system of weights and measures only will be set.
Candidates are required to write the papers with their own hand. In no circumstances, a scribe will be allowed. The use of calculators for answering objective-type papers is not allowed.
Candidates should note that negative marking is applicable for wrong answers marked by a candidate in the objective-type question papers. For both writing and marking answers in the OMR sheet, candidates must use a black ball pen only. Use of pencil or any other colour pen is not allowed.
Check below the CDS exam pattern academy-wise.
Exam Pattern for INA, IMA & AFA
| Subject |
Maximum Marks |
Duration |
| Elementary Mathematics |
100 |
2 hours |
| General Knowledge |
100 |
2 hours |
| English |
100 |
2 hours |
| Total |
300 |
6 hours |
Exam Pattern for OTA
| Subject |
Maximum Marks |
Duration |
| General Knowledge |
100 |
2 hours |
| English |
100 |
2 hours |
| Total |
200 |
4 hours |
CDS SSB Interview
Candidates who clear the written examination will be called to appear in the SSB interview round for Intelligence and Personality Test. There shall be two stages in the interview. In stage I, there shall be officer intelligence rating (OIR) tests and picture perception description tests (PP&DT). In stage II, there shall be interview, group testing officer tasks, psychology tests, and the conference.