CDS

Combined Defense Services Examination is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission twice a year for entry in the Armed Forces as an Officer.
Name of the Course:
- Indian Military Academy, Dehradun [including vacancies reserved for NCC Certificate(Army Wing) holders.
- Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala-Course Executive (General Service) {including vacancies reserved for NCC ‘C’ Certificate holders (Naval Wing)}.
- Air Force Academy, Hyderabad (Pre-Flying).
- Officers Training Academy, Chennai, SSC Course (for Men).
- Officers Training Academy, Chennai, SSC Women (Non- Technical).

Type of Entry	Age	Educational Qualification
Flying Branch	19-23 years	Graduates in any discipline with minimum 60% aggregate and have Maths and Physics at 10+2 level OR BE/B.Tech with minimum 60% aggregate.
Technical Branch	18-28 years	BE/B.Tech in Aeronautical Engineer (Electronics) and Aeronautical Engineer (Mechanical) with minimum 60% aggregate.
Ground Duty Branches (Administration & Logistics)	20-23 years	Graduates in any discipline with minimum 60% aggregate.
	20-25 years	Post Graduate in any discipline with minimum 50% aggregate.
Ground Duty Branches (Accounts)	20-23 years	Graduate in Commerce with minimum 50% aggregate.
Ground Duty Branches (Meteorology)	20-25 years	Post Graduate in any science stream with minimum 50% aggregate.
Ground Duty Branches (Education)	20-27 years	Post Graduate in any discipline with minimum 50% aggregate.

The entrance for Central Defense Services comprises of a Written Exam followed by and Intelligence and Personality Test. The details follow:

Written Examination for Indian Military Academy, Naval Academy and Air Force Academy

Written Examination for Officers’ Training Academy

General (but important) instructions about written examination

The papers in all the subjects will consist of Objective (multiple choice answer) Type questions only.
SI units will be used in the papers and Candidates should use only International form of Indian numerals (i.e. 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc.) while answering question papers.
Commission have discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all the subjects of the examination.
Candidates are not permitted to use calculators for answering objective type papers (Test Booklets). They should not, therefore, bring the same inside the Examination Hall.

For more detailed exam instructions for Conventional and Objective type papers go through Exam Instructions

For Syllabus of the papers check the CDS Subject list.

The Union Public Service Commission will declare a qualified list of candidates (based on the written exam).
The selected candidates will appear before a Services Selection Board for Intelligence and Personality Test.
The total maximum marks for the interview will be 200 for OTA and 300 for IMA, Naval and Air Force.
Candidates for the Air Force wing and Naval Aviation will also undergo a Pilot Aptitude Test.

Two stage selection procedure will be based on Psychological Aptitude Test and Intelligence Test.
All the candidates will be put to stage one test on first day of reporting at Selection Centres.
Only those candidates who qualify at stage one will be admitted to the second stage.
Those candidates who qualify stage II will be required to submit the original Certificates along with one photocopy each of :
Original Matriculation pass certificate or equivalent in support of date of birth
Bachelors Degree along with mark sheets in support of educational qualification
For final qualification, candidates should secure the minimum qualifying marks separately in (i) Written examination and (ii) SSB test as fixed by the Commission in their discretion.
Qualified candidates will then be placed in the final order of merit on the basis of total marks secured by them in the Written examination and the Services Selection Board Tests.
The final selection for admission will be made in order of merit depending on the number of vacancies in each wing.
The selection will be subject to medical fitness and suitability in all other respects.