Combined Defence Services (CDS)

CDS 2025 exam will be conducted twice every year. Exams 1 and 2 will be conducted on April 13, 2024 and September 14, 2025 respectively. Candidates who opt for the exam 1 will have to register from December 11-31, 2024. The registration schedule for the exam 2 will be from May 28- June 17, 2025. Every year, a total of 5 lakh students apply for the CDS examination for both sessions. Also, last year a total of 8373 students got shortlisted for the SSB interview.

CDS 2025 application form can be filled out online at the website, upsconline.nic.in. Students need to register at the OTR platform and create a strong password. All the General and OBC category candidates must pay CDS application fees of INR 200, which is non-refundable. The female and SC/ ST category candidates are exempted from paying the application fees. All the required documents must be uploaded within 20-300 KB in the application form.

As per CDS exam pattern, the paper will be set in an offline pen and paper-based mode. There will be multiple-choice questions set in a bilingual format, i.e., Hindi and English. The paper pattern will be different for IMA, INA, & AFA with that of OTA. The duration of the IMA, INA, and AFA papers will be 6 hours and the OTA will be 4 hours. Each correct answer dwells a +1 mark and a -0.33 mark is deducted for every incorrect approach. The difficulty level of the paper remains easy to moderate every year.

UPSC releases CDS results as a scorecard at the website, upsconline.nic.in. The results include names and roll numbers. Post-declaration of results, UPSC also releases the mark sheets 15 days from the declaration. UPSC CDS cut off of the previous year was 110-125 for IMA and INA and 85-150 for AFA and OTA.

What is UPSC CDS 2025 Examination?

CDS or Common Defence Services Examination is conducted for those who want to get recruited at the Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, and Officers' Training Academy. The exam is held on a national level by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Every year, the exam is held twice, once in April and another in September. A total of 10 lakh students appear for the exams each year, and 6000-8000 out of them qualifies the test for further SSB interview rounds. The SSB interview session is conducted over 4 days.

CDS 2025 Examination Highlights

CDS exam is conducted nationally by UPSC, and the highlights for the same are as follows:

CDS 2025 Exam Dates

CDS exam dates remained the same as of NDA 2025 schedule. All the exam dates of CDS 2025 has been announced from the UPSC’s end as detailed below:

CDS 2025 Application Process

CDS 2025 registration process for the exams 1 and 2 will commence in April 6, 2025 and May 28, 2025 respectively. The last date to register for exams 1 and 2 will be December 31, 2024 and June 17, 2025 respectively. The registration fees must be paid via cash or Visa/Master/Rupay Credit/Debit Card/UPI Payment/ Net Banking. The complete registration and application form filling process are as follows:

Steps to Apply for CDS 2025 Examination

Candidates must follow the below-mentioned steps to register for the CDS 2025 examination:

Step 1: Visit the official website of UPSC, viz., upsconline.nic.in

Step 2: Go to the “One Time Registration (OTR) for Examination of UPSC and Online Application” link.

Step 3: Click on the ‘OTR’ option, and enter details, such as name, gender, date of birth, parents’ names, minority status, mobile number, email ID, and class 10th roll number. Verify all the details once filled properly.

Step 4: Answer any two security questions, enter the security captcha, and hit the ‘Submit’ option. Create a strong password.

Step 5: Next, log in with either email ID/ mobile number/ registration ID. Enter OTP or password, and fill in the captcha.

Step 6: Provide personal, and academic details, test city preferences, and upload a photograph, and signature.

Step 7: Payment of CDS 2025 examination application fees.

CDS 2025 Application Fees

CDS registration fees for all categories has been tabulated below.

CDS registration fees for all categories has been tabulated below.

CDS 2025 Exam Image Uploading Guidelines

The guidelines for uploading the photograph, and signature in CDS application form have been tabulated below:

CDS 2025 Exam Image Uploading Guidelines

The guidelines for uploading the photograph, and signature in CDS application form have been tabulated below:

below:

CDS 2025 Eligibility Criteria

Students who meet CDS 2025 eligibility criteria can only fill out the application form. The eligibility criteria in terms of nationality, age limit, and educational qualifications remains different for different wings/ academies, as detailed below:

CDS 2025 Syllabus

CDS 2025 syllabus will be different for IMA/ INA/ AFA and OTA. The exam syllabus is of matriculation level and questions will be asked from English Language, General Knowledge, and Elementary Mathematics. The weightage of every section is of 100 marks. Students can check the below-mentioned subject-wise topics to be covered for CDS 2025 exam preparation:

CDS 2025 Exam Pattern

UPSC has made no change in CDS exam pattern since past few years, and the same is expected in the coming 2025 year. The exam is conducted in an offline pen and paper-based mode. The test paper is set in both Hindi and English languages. Candidates will be asked a total of 200-300 multiple choice-based questions depending on the paper he/ she chooses. The detailed insights of CDS 2025 exam pattern are as follows:

CDS 2025 Admit Card

CDS admit cards will be available for students who have successfully registered for the examination 1 or 2. It is one of the essential documents to be carried on the day of examination and must be retained till the day of the examination. CDS 2025 admit cards contains details such as name, roll number, photo ID proof, exam center details, guidelines, photograph, signature, etc.

CDS 2025 Admit Card Downloading Steps

CDS 2025 admit card on April 6th and September 7th, 2025 for exams 1 and 2 can be downloaded by adhering to these steps:

Step 1: Go to the official website, viz., upsconline.nic.in

Step 2: Click on the “E-Admit Cards for Various Examinations of UPSC” link .

Step 3: Provide registration ID or roll number, and date of birth. Fill in the captcha image as displayed.

Step 4: Download CDS 2025 admit cards and take a printout for the exam day.

CDS 2025 Results

UPSC will release CDS 2025 results of exams 1 and 2 on by the second week of May 2025 and the fourth week of August 2025 respectively. The process for checking CDS 2025 results are as follows:

Step 1: Go to the UPSC’s official website, i.e., upsc.gov.in

Step 2: Under the ‘Examination’ tab, click on the “Active Examination” option.

Step 3: Click on the “Combined Defence Services Examination I/ II, 2025”, and, select the paper opted from IMA, INA, AFA, and OTA.

Step 4: Click on the “Written Result”, and download CDS 2025 result PDF and take a printout.

CDS 2025 Cut Off

The minimum qualifying marks set in CDS examination as 20% for all the wings/ academies. CDS 2025 cut off will be made for the written exam and also for the final or interview stage. The cut off marks will be made based on the previous year’s trends, number of students qualifies the written and interview test, and vacancies available. Candidates can refer to the below-given CDS cut off of previous year to get acquainted about the good score: