CDS Exam’s full form is the Combined Defence Service Exams. These CDS Exams get organized twice a year by the UPSC. CDS Exams are for enrolment in the post of Indian Naval, Air Force and Army officers. The CDS Exams usually occur in February and November.
CDS Exams is a national-level defence entrance examination. Millions of Indian people take part in CDS Exams and become defence officers.
The selection of the applicants will be on the basis of a theoretical exam. After that, an interview for intelligence and personality will get taken. The written exams are CDS Exams 1 and CDS Exams 2. Interviews got done by the SSB.
The CDS Exams 1 2022 written exam occurred on 10th April 2022 in offline mode. The result will be declared in the month of May. The CDS Exams 2 2022 will take place in the month of September 2022.
Table of Contents
About CDS Exam 2022
Particulars
Details
Name
Combined Defence Service Exam
Abbreviation
CDS Exams
Organized by
Union Public Service Commission
Chief of Defense Staff
General Manoj Mukund Naravane
Exam level
National
Occurrence
Twice a year
Mode of Exam
Offline
Recruitment process
Written examinations and SSB interviews
Duration
Two hours
Language of Question Paper
English and Hindi
Application Fee
INR 200/-
Exam motive
Enrolment of Indian Naval, Air Force and Army officers
The UPSC publishes the notification on their official website in October and August. There are around 400 vacancies every time. The applicants should keep in mind that the number of openings is temporary. It can get altered at any stage by the SSB.
CDS Exam is held twice a year and for the year 2022, the exam is announced for April & September. UPSC has released the CDS exam dates 2022 for the CDS I & CDS II exams along with the UPSC Calendar 2022. As per the notification the CDS I 2022 Exam is scheduled to be held on 10th April 2022 & CDS II 2022 on 04th September 2022. Check all the important dates for the UPSC CDS 2022 exam and set your reminder so you don’t miss any dates.
CDS 2022 Exam Date
Events
CDS-I Dates
CDS-II Dates
CDS 2022 Notification Release Date
22nd December 2021
18th May 2022
Online Registration Start Date
22nd December 2021
18th May 2022
Online Registration End Date
11th January 2022 (6 pm)
14th June 2022
Online Application Withdrawn
18th to 24th January 2022
To be notified
CDS Admit Card Release Date
3rd week of March 2022
August 2022
CDS Exam Date 2022
10th April 2022
04th September 2022
CDS Answer Key (Unofficial)
10th April 2022
04th September 2022
CDS Answer Key (Official)
May 2022
October 2022
CDS Result
May 2022
October 2022
Interview Dates
To be notified soon
To be notified soon
Final Result
To be notified soon
To be notified soon
The CDS notification 2022 can be downloaded using the following steps :
Search for the official website of UPSC.
Select the “What’s New” section.
Under that, look for the CDS-2 2022 notification link and select it.
The CDS-2 2022 notification comes on the computer screen.
The applicant should download the notification PDF.
CDS Exams Date
The CDS application form 2022 will get released on the official website. The CDS application form consists of 2 parts. One part is that the applicants need to create their ID registration. The second part is that the applicants need to submit their application fees online.
CDS Exam Events
Important Dates for CDS 1 Exam
Important Dates for CDS 2 Exam
Admit Card
14 March 2022
August 2022
Exam date
10 April 2022
4 September 2022
Result date
May 2022
October 2022
SSB interview
To be informed
To be informed
Subject Papers
Exam time table
English language
9 am – 11 am
General Knowledge
12 pm – 2 pm
Elementary Mathematics
3 pm – 5 pm
CDS Exams Application Fee
The fee for the application form for the General Category students is INR 200/-
The reserved category applicants are not required to pay the application fees.
Both online and offline mode of transaction is available for the students. The student can complete the process using Credit Card or Debit Card or Net Banking. The applicant can also deposit cash to any SBI bank branch.
Category
CDS Application fee
General
200/-
SC/ST/Females
Not required
CDS Exams Eligibility Criteria
Educational CDS Qualifications
The educational qualifications differ for various positions.
For IMA and OTA, the applicant should be a graduate.
In the case of INA, the aspirant should hold an engineering degree.
Then for AFA, the candidate should hold an engineering degree. He should also have Physics and Maths at 10+2 or should be a B.Tech graduate.
The applicants in the first choice category should have their provisional certificates.
The applicants who are sitting for their finals can also apply for the exam. They should not have a backlog in any examination. They have to show their passing degree at the beginning of their course.
Nationality
Firstly, the applicant should be a native Indian or can be a citizen of Nepal or Bhutan.
Also, the aspirant can also be a Tibetan migrant who came to India before 1st January 1962.
Furthermore, they can also be an Indian person who resettled from outside India.
Lastly, they should have a certificate provided by the Government of India. But, this certificate is not compulsory for the Gorkha residents of Nepal.
Age Limit
The lowest age limit for CDS Exams is 19 years.
The age limit also has an essential role in the CDS examination.
Designations
Age limits
Born within
IMA
19 – 24
2nd July 1998 – 1st July 2003
INA
19 – 24
2nd July 1998 – 1st July 2003
AFA
20 – 24
2nd July 1998 – 1st July 2002
OTA (men and women)
19 – 25
2nd July 1997 – 1st July 2003
Gender and Marital Status Requirements
Gender and Marital Status are also very much necessary.
Designations
Gender
Marital Status
IMA
Male
Unmarried
INA
Male
Unmarried
AFA
Male
Unmarried
OTA
Male
Married / Unmarried
OTA
Female
Unmarried
The applicants whose age is less than 25 years old should remain unmarried. Marriage is not allowed during the training session. Married individuals above 25 years of age get permission to apply.
During the training session, they cannot have any married living quarters. They also cannot live with their family out of the property.
CDS Vacancies
The UPSC has published the CDS vacancy details along with the official notification.
The applicants can read the CDS vacancy details. It will help them to understand the hiring process.
Below are the details for CDS 1 Vacancy and CDS 2 Vacancy according to the designations.
For CDS 1 2022 Vacancies
Designations
Course
NCC Vacancies
Total Vacancies
IMA, Dehradun
152nd DE course starting from January 2022
13
100
INA, Ezhimala
Executive Branch (General Service) / Hydro course beginning from January 2022
6
26
AFA, Hyderabad
Training Course (Pre–flying) starting from January 2022
3
32
OTA, Chennai
115th SSC (Non-Technical) Course for Men beginning from April 2022
Nil
170
OTA, Chennai
29th SSC (Non-Technical) Course for Women initiating from April 2022
Nil
17
Total
22
345
For CDS 2 2022 Vacancies
Designations
Course
NCC Vacancies
Total Vacancies
IMA, Dehradun
153rd DE course starting from July 2022
13
100
INA, Ezhimala
Executive Branch (General Service) / Hydro course beginning from July 2022
3
22
AFA, Hyderabad
Training Course (Pre–flying) starting from July 2022
3
32
OTA, Chennai
116th SSC (Non-Technical) Course for Men beginning from October 2022
Nil
169
OTA, Chennai
30th SSC (Non-Technical) Course for Women starting from October 2022
Nil
16
Total
19
339
CDS Salary
After getting appointed, a Lieutenant will get INR 56,100 – 1,77,500/- per month. Throughout the training session, other applicants get a fixed salary of INR 56,100/- per month. From Lieutenant to Brigadier, one gets a proper military service salary of INR 15,500/- each month. The applicants can get an idea about the CDS salary structure from the table below.
Positions
Level
Salary
Promotion after
Lieutenant
Level 10
INR 56,100 – 1,77,500
Promotion after the training gets completed
Captain
Level 10 B
INR 61,300 – 1,93,900
After two years of service
Major
Level 11
INR 69,400 – 2,07,200
After six years of service
Lieutenant Colonel
Level 12 A
INR 1,21,200 – 2,12,400
After thirteen years of service
Colonel
Level 13
INR 1,30,600 – 2,15,900
After fifteen years of service
Brigadier
Level 13 A
INR 1,39,600 – 2,17,600
After twenty-three years of service
Major General
Level 14
INR 1,44,200 – 2,18,200
After twenty-five years of service
Lieutenant General
Level 15
INR 1,82,200 – 2,24,100
After twenty-eight years of service
HAG + Scale
Level 16
INR 2,05,400 – 2,24,400
After twenty-six years of service
VCOAS/ Lieutenant General / Army Cdr
Level 17
INR 2,25,000 (allotted)
No limitations
COAS
Level 18
INR 2,25,000 (allotted)
No limitations
CDS Syllabus 2022
Applicants can download the previous year’s papers for better knowledge. The CDS Exam syllabus gets organized based on the questions from three sections. They are General Knowledge, Elementary Math, and English Language. All the appeared applicants can later see their results on the official website of UPSC. Even the UPSC CDS syllabus is available on the same website.
The syllabus for all posts is the same except for CDS OTA. The CDS OTA syllabus does not have a mathematical element to it. It comprises of only General Knowledge and English Language. However, CDS Maths Syllabus for other candidates only concerns concepts learned until Grade 10 but on a higher and more complex level.
Some candidates get selected for SSB interviews. These successful applicants are then designated for the particular post by the SSB. A total of 6,552 applicants get shortlisted for SSB interviews. The question paper gets divided into three sections. They are General Knowledge, Mathematics, and the English language. The applicants should be well aware of the subjects as well as the topics for the examination.
Subject Papers
Topics
General Knowledge
Current events of 4-5 months from the examination date
History
Physical Science
Biological Science
Geography
Political Science
English language
Basic Grammar
Synonyms
Antonyms
Comprehension Solving
Error Spotting
Para Jumbles
Elementary Mathematics
Natural numbers
Integers
Percentages
Rational and Real numbers
Time and work
Time and distance
Profit and loss
Ratio and proportion
Prime and composite numbers
Simple and compound interest
HCF and LCM
Euclidean algorithm
Geometry
Logarithms
Trigonometry
Statistics
Mensuration
CDS Exam Pattern
The CDS 2022 examination pattern gets classified into two parts.
Theoretical Examination
Intelligence and Personality Examination.
The examination pattern for OTA is different from IMA, INA, and AFA. CDS examination pattern for IMA, INA, and AFA IMA, INA, and AFA has three subjects. The total marks of the subjects are 300.
Subject Papers
Marks
Time scale
General Knowledge
100
2 hours
English
100
2 hours
Elementary Mathematics
100
2 hours
CDS examination pattern for OTA
OTA has two subjects. The total marks of the subjects are 200.
The total time scale is 4 hours.
Subject Papers
Marks
Time scale
GK
100
2 hours
English
100
2 hours
The applicant gets a negative marking in case of incorrect answers.
The quality of the papers in the case of Elementary Mathematics will be of 10th class level.
The quality of the papers in other subjects will be of a graduate level.
The examination papers are set in two languages. English and Hindi.
The CDS preparation needs serious hard work and dedication. Candidates are requested to go through as many CDS books as possible to qualify the exam.
CDS Exam Admit Card
The CDS admit card got released on the official website of UPSC. The admit card always gets released three weeks before the examination. The applicants have to visit the official website. Next, The applicant should log in to their account with their Roll No and Registration No.
Then the applicant gets advised to go through the admit card. The applicant has to check whether the information is correct or not. After that, the applicant can download the admit card. They had to bring it to the exam centre. Or else, the applicant would not get permitted to appear for the examination.
If the applicants find any difficulty in the Admit Card, then they will not get permission to sit in the exam.
The CDS Exams results get declared on the official website in two stages. Firstly, the Theoretical exam and then, the final selection. The committee first publishes the result of the theoretical examination. Then they publish the final result. The result shows the roll numbers and names of candidates in PDF format. These candidates are then interviewed by the SSB.
The CDS cut off are different for different posts. The lowest is for OTA. Every year the cut-off changes but if a candidate wants to know what a good score is, then the answer to that will be a score of 120-150.
The applicants who sat for the examination get qualified to see the result.
Steps to check CDS Exams Results –
Firstly, select the official website of UPSC.
Then, select the “Results” link under the “Navigation” section.
Under that, look for the “UPSC CDS II Result” link and select it.
Then, Fill in the necessary details such as Registration Number and Date of Birth.
Select the “Submit” button.
Lastly, Check the Result status with your Roll Number and Name.
The cut-off is the least score needed to appear in these examinations. The CDS Exams Cut-off score gets released after the CDS Exams Result.
Academics
Theoretical examination
Final examination
IMA
120 – 130
245 – 255
INA
105 – 120
233 – 245
AFA
145 – 150
268 – 270
OTA (Men)
73 – 85
162 – 170
OTA (Women)
74 – 85
164 – 170
How to apply for CDS Exam?
At first, the applicant should visit the official website.
Then, select the Online Application for Various Examinations of UPSC.
After that, the applicant selects the Part-I category.
Then click on the Combined Defense Services Examination section.
The applicant should go through the instructions from Part-I.
Then they should click on the ‘Yes’ button.
The application form comes on the computer screen.
Next, the applicant has to fill in the contact details and personal information.
Based on the age and notification, the applicant should select their desirable institute.
After that, the Registration ID gets created.
Then, the applicant should complete the Part-II Application form next.
The applicant should pay the application fees.
Then they can select their preferable examination centre.
Next, the applicant should upload the scanned copy of their signature and photograph. This will be in the mentioned file size and dimensions.
After that, the applicant should click on the “Submit” button.
Lastly, the application form should get printed by the applicant.
Ans. The eligibility criteria for the CDS examination are divided according to the academy to which one is applying. Indian Naval Academy applicants must be Engineering graduates. On the other hand, the Air Force Academy applicants must have a bachelor’s degree in Physics and Math as compulsory subjects. The Officers Training Academy and Indian Military Academy accept students from any field. All applicants must necessarily be Indian citizens or from Tibetan refugees, Nepal and Bhutan. For the Indian Naval Academy and the Military Academy male unmarried aspirants must be between January 1997 to July 2002. Officer’s training candidates should be between January 1996 to July 2002. The Air Force Academy accepts individuals with birth years between January 1997 to July 2001. Finally, single women, widows and unmarried divorcees born between January 1996 to July 2002 can apply to the Officers Training Academy.
Q.2 Are CDS and NDA the same?
Ans. No, the CDS examination is conducted for admission to the Officer’s Training Academy, Indian Naval Academy, Indian Military Academy and also to the Air Force Academy. On the other hand, the NDA examination is held for admission to the Army, Air Force, and the Navy departments at the National Defence Academy.
Q.3 Is the CDS exam after the 12th?
Ans. No, the minimum educational requirement to attempt the CDS examination is a bachelor’s degree. The applicant could have either graduated with a relevant degree or is awaiting the results of the examinations. There are, however, requirements on the type of degree, depending on the institute one is applying to.
Q.4 How is the CDS exam conducted?
Ans. The CDS examination, the first stage, takes place in offline mode. There are three papers English, Elementary Mathematics and also General Knowledge. Candidates applying for the Indian Military, Naval and Air Force Academy need to attempt all three papers. The Officer’s Training Academy candidates need to take only two papers, English and General Knowledge. Each paper is two hours in duration, and the questions are objective.
Q.5 Is it essential to get eligible for CDS I before CDS II?
Ans. Yes, The CDS examination takes part in two parts. Part one is a written examination that consists of three papers. Applicants must obtain a pass in all papers to be eligible for the next round. The following rounds are a personal interview round and a medical test. Once all rounds are done successfully, applicants will receive intimation from taking admission.
Q.6 Is there any physical examination for CDS Exams?
Ans. Yes, Candidates who successfully complete phases one and two will have to attend a medical test. This is a crucial step to ensure that the chosen candidate is physically fit. They must have the stamina and be able to carry out all duties of an officer. Any disabilities or diseases, if not present currently but could come up later due to work stress, are also looked into.
Q.7 Are the CDS-2 2022 Admit Cards released?
Ans. No, there are no known dates for the admit cards of CDS 2. However, the application window is open from May 18, 2022 to June 14, 2022. The tentative date for the release of the CDS 2 admit card is August 2022. After that, the examination date is September 4, 2022, while the declaration of the result is in the month of October 2022.
Q.8 When will the CDS 2 2022 notification get released?
Ans. UPSC, the conducting body of CDS, has already released some dates for CDS 2. Currently, only the application dates are known. Interested applicants can apply to take the test between May 18, 2022 to June 14, 2022. The actual examination is set to take place on September 4 2022. Any other dates will be released soon.
Q.9 What is the pattern of CDS theoretical examination?
Ans. The written part of the CDS examination consists of three different papers. There is English, Elementary Mathematics and General Knowledge. Each paper is two hours long and has 100 marks in total each. The question type of all the papers is objective type, and there are three sections. There are negative markings for each wrong answer where a 1/3 mark is deducted.
Q.10 How many shifts do the CDS Exams include?
Ans. The CDS examinations occur twice a year, named CDS 1 and CDS 2. There are three shifts, one each for each subject, on the examination day. The English paper is the first and takes place between 9:00 am to 11:00 am. After that, the General Knowledge paper is between 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm, and lastly, Mathematics takes place between 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Q.11 Does UPSC release the CDS Exams answer key?
Ans. Yes, UPSC does release the examination answer key. The answer key is available online after the examination is done and the results are declared. One can expect to access the answer key after the merit list for the CDS examination is also declared. The estimated time period from the declaration of the results to the release of the answer key is around 30 days.
Q.12 Can women get registered for the CDS Exams?
Ans. Yes, women who are not married yet, widows and unmarried divorcees can apply to take the CDS examination. However, women cannot apply to all the academies that the CDS examination offers admission to. The non-technical courses provided at the Officer’s Training Academy are open to women only. For the current year, these courses will commence in October 2023.
