CDS 2025: Notification, Application Form, Exam Date, Eligibility, Syllabus & More

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will released the application form for the CDS 2025 exam soon through online mode. CDS is known as the Combined Defence Services Exam is a national-level entrance examination held by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) twice a year. The exam is conducted to select officers for the Indian Armed Forces, such as Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.

The CDS exam is organized in two stages: a written test and an interview. The written test will be held through an offline mode and consist of three papers: English, General Knowledge, and Elementary Mathematics. Each paper is of 2 hours duration and consist of 100 marks. The interview will be organized by the Services Selection Board (SSB) and consist of a series of tests that assess a candidate’s personality, intelligence, and leadership qualities.

The CDS exam is highly competitive, and applicants must be prepared well to succeed. They can refer to previous years’ question papers, study materials, and practice tests to prepare for the exam. Coaching classes are also available for candidates who require additional guidance and support.

UPSC CDS 2025 Notification: Application Soon

UPSC CDS 2025 Application Form will be released soon through online mode. Click here for Application Details.

UPSC CDS I 2025 Notification will be released soon. Click here to check the notification brochure. The link will be provided here.

UPS CDS Highlights 2025:

UPSC CDS I Important Dates:

UPSC One Time Registration 2025

CDS Application Form 2025:

CDS I 2025 Application Form will be released soon by the UPSC. The candidates who have not yet applied for the exam can apply for the CDS 1 exam before the last date. CDS application form 2025 will be released by December 2024 on the UPSC website. The candidates who apply successfully for the CDS 1 exam 2025 will be eligible to appear for the written exam which is scheduled for 21st April 2025.

The candidates who are willing and are eligible to apply for the CDS 1 exam must do so within the given time period to avoid last minute hassle. CDS exam is a defence exam that is held two times in a year for appointing candidates in the Indian Armed Forces. Candidates must go through this post to know about the important dates related to the CDS exam such as CDS 1 apply online link, important dates, documents to upload, etc.

How to register for CDS application form?

Part-II: Fee Payment, Exam Centre Selection, Uploading Images

Candidates need to log in with the generated registration ID to fill in the details in Part II of the CDS application form. The Part-II registration comprises the following steps:

• Fee Payment
• Uploading of Photograph
• Uploading of Signature
• Uploading of Photo-Identity Proof

Application Fee Payment

Candidates can pay the examination fee through cash/credit card/debit card or net banking. The fee structure is provided below.

Fee once paid shall not be refunded under any circumstances nor can the fee be held in reserve for any other
examination or selection.

CDS Eligibility Criteria 2025:

(a) Nationality: A candidate must be unmarried and must either be:
(i) a Citizen of India, or
(ii) a subject of Nepal, or
(iii) a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka and East African Countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire and Ethiopia or Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.
Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (ii) and (iii) above shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.
Certificate of eligibility will, however, not be necessary in the case of candidates who are Gorkha subjects of Nepal.
A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary, may be admitted to the examination provisionally subject to the necessary certificate being given to him/her by the Govt. before declaration of result by UPSC

(b) Age Limits, Sex and Marital Status :
(i) For IMA—Unmarried male candidates born not earlier than 2nd January, 2001 and not later than 1st January, 2006 only are eligible.
(ii) For Indian Naval Academy—Unmarried male candidates born not earlier than 2nd January, 2001 and not later than 1st January, 2006 only are eligible.
(iii) For Air Force Academy—
Age: 20 to 24 years as on 1st January, 2025 i.e. born not earlier than 2nd January, 2001 and not later than 1st January, 2005 (Upper age limit for candidates holding valid and current Commercial Pilot Licence issued by DGCA (India) is relaxable upto 26 yrs. i.e. born not earlier than 2nd January, 1999 and not later than 1st January,
2005 only are eligible.
Note: Candidate below 25 years of age must be unmarried. Marriage is not permitted during training. Married candidates above 25 years of age are eligible to apply but during training period they will neither be provided married accommodation nor can they live with family out of the premises.
(iv) For Officers’ Training Academy—(SSC Course for men) unmarried male candidates born not earlier than 2nd January, 2000 and not later than 1st January, 2006 only are eligible.
(v) For Officers’ Training Academy—(SSC Women Non-Technical Course) Unmarried women, issueless widows who have not remarried and issueless divorcees (in possession of divorce documents) who have not remarried are eligible. They should have been born not earlier than 2nd January, 2000 and not later than 1st January, 2006.
NOTE : Male divorcee/widower candidates cannot be treated as unmarried male for the purpose of their admission in IMA/INA/AFA/OTA, Chennai courses and accordingly they are not eligible for these courses.

(c) Educational Qualifications:
(i) For I.M.A. and Officers’ Training Academy, Chennai — Degree of a recognised University or equivalent.
(ii) For Indian Naval Academy— Degree in Engineering from a recognised University/Institution
(iii) For Air Force Academy—Degree of a recognised University (with Physics and Mathematics at 10+2 level) or Bachelor of Engineering.
Graduates with first choice as Army/Navy/Air Force are to submit proof of Graduation/provisional certificates on the date of commencement of the SSB Interview at the SSB.

UPSC CDS Exam Pattern 2025:

1. The Competitive examination consist of:
(a) Written examination as shown in para 2 below.
(b) Interview for intelligence and personality test (vide Part ‘B’ of this Appendix) of such candidates as may be called for interview at one of the Services Selection Centres.
2. The subjects of the written examination, the time allowed and the maximum marks allotted to each subject will be as follows:
(a) For Admission to Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy and Air Force
Academy:—

(b) For Admission to Officers’ Training Academy :—

UPSC CDS Syllabus 2025:

ENGLISH (Code No. 01)
The question paper will be designed to test the candidates’ understanding of English and workmanlike use of words.

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (Code No. 02)
General Knowledge including knowledge of current events and of such matters of everyday observation and experience in their scientific aspects as may be expected of an educated person who has not made a special study of any scientific subject. The paper will also include questions on History of India and Geography of a nature which
candidate should be able to answer without special study.

ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS (Code No. 03)
ARITHMETIC
Number System—Natural numbers, Integers, Rational and Real numbers.
Fundamental operations, addition, substraction, multiplication, division, Square roots, Decimal fractions. Unitary method, time and distance, time and work, percentages, applications to simple and compound interest, profit and loss, ratio and proportion, variation.

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

ALGEBRA
Basic Operations, simple factors, Remainder Theorem, H.C.F., L.C.M., Theory of polynomials, solutions of quadratic equations, relation between its roots and coefficients (Only real roots to be considered). Simultaneous linear equations in two unknowns—analytical and graphical solutions. Simultaneous linear inequations in two
variables and their solutions. Practical problems leading to two simultaneous linear equations or inequations in two variables or quadratic equations in one variable & their solutions. Set language and set notation, Rational expressions and conditional identities, Laws of indices.

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. Simple cases of heights and distances.

GEOMETRY
Lines and angles, Plane and plane figures, Theorems on (i) Properties of angles at a point, (ii) Parallel lines, (iii) Sides and angles of a triangle, (iv) Congruency of triangles, (v) Similar triangles, (vi) Concurrence of medians and altitudes, (vii) Properties of angles, sides and diagonals of a parallelogram, rectangle and square, (viii) Circles and
its properties including tangents and normals, (ix) Loci. 21

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

STATISTICS
Collection and tabulation of statistical data, Graphical representation frequency polygons, histograms, bar charts, pie charts etc. Measures of central tendency.

INTELLIGENCE AND PERSONALITY TEST
The SSB procedure consists of two stage Selection process – stage I and stage II. Only those candidates who clear the stage I are permitted to appear for stage II. The details are:-

(a) Stage I comprises of Officer Intelligence Rating (OIR) tests are Picture Perception* Description Test (PP&DT). The candidates will be shortlisted based on combination of performance in OIR Test and PP&DT.

(b) Stage II Comprises of Interview, Group Testing Officer Tasks, Psychology Tests and the Conference. These tests are conducted over 4 days. The details of these tests are given on the website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in.

CDS 2025 Admit Card:

CDS Admit Card 2025 will be released a month before the exam. To download the CDS admit card the registered candidates will have to login to their registered account on the official website. The candidates need their application number and date of birth to log in to their registered account.

The CDS (Combined Defence Services) exam is a national-level exam to select candidates for the Indian Armed Forces. The candidates are trained in IMA, INA, AFA, and OTA. The selected candidates undergo rigorous training to be recruited as Lieutenant in the Indian Armed Forces.

CDS Answer Key 2025:

CDS Answer Key 2025 will be released after the completion of the exam process for the CDS exam. However, the unofficial answer key for the CDS exam by the coaching centres will be provided on this article. The candidates will be able to calculate their probable marks with the help of the CDS 1 answer key by comparing the answer key with the CDS response sheet.

Along with the release of the CDS answer key PDF, the coaching institutes will release the UPSC CDS expected cut-off for the exam. The official result and the answer key for the CDS exam will be released by the UPSC after the recruitment process is over for the CDS exam next year.

CDS Result 2025:

The result will be announced by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) after conducting the exam. UPSC CDS is one of the most sought-after career options after graduation for aspirants who are wiling to join the defence sector-Army, Navy and Air Force. After clearing the written exam and SSB interview, candidates will secure admission to the prestigious Indian Military Academy (IMA), Indian Naval Academy (INA), Air Force Academy, and Officers’ Training Academy (OTA).

To get admission to the Indian Armed Forces academies, the candidates have to secure the CDS cut off marks which is released by the UPSC after analysing the marks secured by the candidates. The candidates can check their expected scores by analysing the CDS answer key released by the coaching institutes. However, the final answer key is released by the UPSC after the recruitment of the candidates in the academy.

CDS Exam Centres 2025: