Preparation Strategy for Combined Defence Services (CDS) 2016
Exam Date – 14 Feb’16
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts Combined Defence Services (CDS) exam twice a year to select the candidates for admission to various courses being organized under Indian Military Academy (IMA), Indian Navy Academy (INA), Air Force Academy (AFA) & Officers Training Academy (OTA).
Examination Pattern:- The exam will consist of three papers, namely, English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics, which conduct as separate papers of duration of two Hours each. All three papers consist of objective type (multiple choice) questions.
The papers on English and General Knowledge will have 120 questions each while the Elementary Mathematics will have 100 questions. The language of General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics question papers will Hindi and English both.
Question Paper Pattern for IMA, INA and AFA
| Subject | Question | Marks | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | 120 | 100 | 2 Hours | Objective type |
| General Knowledge | 120 | 100 | 2 Hours | |
| Elementary Mathematics | 100 | 100 | 2 Hours | |
| Total marks |
| 300 |
|
|
Question Paper Pattern for OTA
| Subject | Question | Marks | Duration | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | 120 | 100 | 2 Hours | Objective type |
| General Knowledge | 120 | 100 | 2 Hours | |
| Total marks |
| 200 |
| |
There will be negative marking of one-third (.33%) for each wrong answer.
Preparation Strategy for CDS Exam
English
The motive of this paper is to test the candidate's understanding of English language. This paper will comprise of basic grammar, spotting the correct sentences, antonym, synonym, etc. Analysis of English paper in CDS Exam I 2015 is as below-
| Topic | Questions |
|---|---|
| Antonym | 7 |
| Synonym | 8 |
| Spotting Errors | 20 |
| Sentence improvement | 20 |
| Word substitution | 5 |
| Selecting Words | 20 |
| Comprehension | 23 |
| Ordering of sentences | 10 |
| Ordering of words in a sentence |
Important tips for English Paper
- You need to develop the habit of reading the newspaper regularly to improve your vocabulary and reading speed for solving comprehension.
- You also need to read one basic grammar books to clear the concepts, which will help you in solving the spotting error, sentence improvement etc.
- For solving Antonyms & Synonyms segment, you need to memorize new words on daily basis.
- Lastly, go through previous year question papers for understanding the nature of questions therein.
- Suggested Study Materials- Jagranjosh.com, Hindu Newspaper, Times of India, Grammar books (Wren & Martin) etc.
General Knowledge
General Knowledge paper will test the candidate’s knowledge on various general subjects including History, Geography, Polity, Economics, General Science, Current Affairs, etc. Analysis of GK in CDS Exam I 2015:-
| Topic | Question |
|---|---|
| Economics | 9 |
| Politics | 17 |
| History & Culture | 21 |
| Geography & Environment | 18 |
| General science | 7 |
| Physics | 10 |
| Chemistry | 11 |
| Current Affairs, Defence Related, Social Issue | 23 |
| Statemen |
Important Tips:
- You need to read newspapers regularly and watch news channel for the latest incidents of National & International.
- Candidates must read anyone monthly magazine and marked important topics related to exam. So that it will help you in revision at the last moment.
- Students must read NCERT books, which will help you in solving the question of various topics like History, Geography, Polity, and Science etc.
- For this section candidate must go through previous year papers to understand the pattern of paper.
- Study Materials – Jagranjosh.com, Hindu Newspaper (English Medium), Dainik Jagran(Hindi Medium), NCERT Books of all subjects etc.
Elementary Mathematics
In this Section question will be asked from various topics like Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Mensuration and Basic statistics. Usually, the standard is that of matriculation.
Important tips:
- First of all, candidates go through previous year papers to understand the standard of Maths question and plan accordingly.
- You have to first pick those topics in which you are comfortable and start practice on daily basis. After that move on to difficult part and try to solve it.
- Please make sure that you have clear concepts of all topics.
- Try to learn all important formulae’s on paper, which will help you for revision in last time.
- In this section, you have to focus on practice and practice regularly.
- Study materials – Quantitative Aptitude – Dr.R.S Aggarwal.
On the basis of previously written results, we will provide you the expected cut off of various Academies.
| Expected Cut off marks of various Academies | |
|---|---|
| IMA | 95-105 |
| INA | 95-105 |
| AFA | 125-135 |
| OTA (Men) | 75-85 |
| OTA (Women) | 75-85 |
The Commission has the discretion to fix to qualify in any or all the subjects of the examination.
When you qualify CDS Exam, the next step is to appear for intelligence and personality test which is being conducted by Service Selection Board (SSB) for a period of 4 days and later medical examination is taken.
Comments
All Comments (0)
Join the conversation