UPSC CDS 2024

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts the Combined Defence Services Examination twice a year for candidates who wish to begin their careers in the Indian Air Force, Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy, and Officer’s Training Academy. Candidates are selected based on the written exam and the SSB interview for intelligence and personality testing.

The Union Public Service Commission will conduct the UPSC CDS 1 exam 2024 on April 21, 2024. Aspirants can apply for the examination from December 20, 2023, until January 9, 2024. Check out the article to learn more about the UPSC CDS important dates, notification, registration process, exam pattern, syllabus, results, etc.

UPSC CDS Exam Summary 2024

Let us have an overview of the UPSC CDS 2024 before getting into other details:

Particulars	Details
Name of Exam	Combined Defence Service Examination
Conducting Body	Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)
Purpose of Exam	Selection of Candidates for Admission to IMA, INA, AFA, and OTA
Frequency of Exam	Twice a Year
Mode of Exam	Offline
Language	English and Hindi
Number of Phases	Two Phases – Written Exam and SSB Interview (intelligence and personality test)
Number of Questions	340 (240 for Admission to OTA)
Number of Subjects	Three (Two for Admission to OTA)
Time Duration	Two Hours For Each Subject
Type of Questions	Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
Negative Marking	Yes
Official Website	upsc.gov.in

Here are some recent updates released by the UPSC regarding the Combined Defence Service Examination 2024.

• UPSC will begin the CDS 1 2024 application form submission on December 20, 2023.
• UPSC will conduct the CDS (I) 2024 exam on April 21, 2024.
• UPSC will release the CDS 1 2024 notification on December 20, 2023.

The detailed notification for the CDS 1 2024 exam will be released on December 20, 2023. The notification will include all information such as exam dates, registration procedure, exam pattern, syllabus, and other important information.

We will update the direct notification PDF link. Till then, aspirants can refer to last year’s UPSC CDS notification, or use the direct PDF link.

The Commission has released the exam dates for CDS 1 & 2 exam along with the UPSC Calendar 2024. Per the calendar, the CDS I 2024 online registration will start on December 20, 2023, and end on January 9, 2024. Check out the important dates in the table below:

Events	CDS 1 Dates	CDS 2 Dates
CDS 2024 Notification Release Date	December 20, 2023	May 15, 2024
Online Registration Start Date	December 20, 2023	May 15, 2024
Online Registration End Date	January 9, 2024	June 4, 2024
Online Application Withdrawn	To Be Notified	To Be Notified
CDS Admit Card Release Date	March 2024	August 2024
CDS Exam Date 2024	April 21, 2024	September 1, 2024
CDS Answer Key 2024 (Unofficial)	April 2024	September 2024
CDS Result 2024	May 2024	September 2024
Interview Dates	To Be Notified	To Be Notified
Final Result	To Be Notified	To Be Notified

UPSC CDS vacancy 2024 will be announced along with the official CDS 1 notification 2024. Till then, candidates can refer to the UPSC CDS 2023 vacancies from the table below:

Refer to the CDS 1 2023 vacancy below:

Name of the Academy	Number of Vacancies
Indian Military Academy, Dehradun	100
Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala	22
Air Force Academy, Hyderabad	32
Officers’ Training Academy, Chennai (Madras) SSC Men	170
Officers Training Academy, Chennai SSC Women	17
Total Vacancies	341

Also, check out the CDS 1 2022 vacancies from the table below:

Department	Number of Vacancies
Indian Military Academy (IMA)	100
Indian Naval Academy (INA)	22
Air Force Academy (AFA)	32
Officer Training Academy – Men (OTA)	170
Officer Training Academy – Women (OTA)	17
Total	350

Check out the CDS 2 2022 vacancies from the table below:

Department	Number of Vacancies
Indian Military Academy (IMA)	100
Indian Naval Academy (INA)	22
Air Force Academy (AFA)	32
Officer Training Academy – Men (OTA)	169
Officer Training Academy – Women (OTA)	16
Total	339

Candidates must note that the following details may differ as per the job location, experience, and various other factors. Check out the pay scale for UPSC CDS in the table below:

CDS Ranks/Job Profile	CDS Pay Scale (As per 7th Pay Commission)	Pay Matrix Level
Lieutenant	Rs. 56,100 – 1,77,500/-	Level 10
Captain	Rs. 61,300 – 1,93,000	Level 10B
Major	Rs. 69,400 – 2,07,200	Level 11
Lieutenant Colonel	Rs. 1,21,200 – 2,12,400	Level 12A
Colonel	Rs. 1,30,600 – 2,15,900	Level 13
Brigadier	Rs. 1,39,600 – 2,17,600	Level 13A
Major General	Rs. 1,44,200 – 2,18,200	Level 14
Lieutenant General	Rs. 1,82,200 – 2,24,400	Level 15
HAG + Scale	Rs. 2,05,400 – 2,24,400	Level 16
VCOAS	Rs. 2,25,000	Level 17
COAS	Rs. 2,25,000	Level 18

Perks, Allowances and Benefits

Candidates serving in the defence sector are eligible for a number of benefits and allowances depending on their posting and ranking, such as:

• Highly Active Field Area Allowance
• Compensatory Modified Field Area Allowance
• Compensatory Field Area Allowance
• Transport Allowance
• High Altitude Allowance
• Dearness Allowances(DA)
• Kit Maintenance Allowance
• Siachen Allowance
• Uniform Allowance

Candidates applying for the UPSC CDS exam must meet the below mentioned criteria to apply for the examination. Here are the full details of the CDS eligibility criteria:

Age	Varies From 18 to 25 Years for Different Forces
Educational Qualification	Graduation/Engineering Degree
Nationality	Citizen of India, or Subject of Bhutan, or Tibetan refugee, or Nepal, or India origins migrated from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, and East African Countries of Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zaire, Malawi, and Ethiopia or Vietnam to settle in India permanently.
Number of Attempts	Till Age Permits
Marital Status	Unmarried/Married
Experience	Not Required

The Union Public Service Commission released the CDS application form online. Here, you can find details on how to apply online for the CDS exam.

• 1st Step: Visit the official website of UPSC.
• 2nd Step: Then enter your credentials under the heading “Part I” of your application form. Ensure to check the eligibility criteria and then apply.
• 3rd Step: Following “Part A,” a registration ID will be generated, and you can proceed to “Part B” of the CDS II application form.
• 4th Step: Upload all scanned documents and signatures in the specified format.
• 5th Step: Pay the application fee and select your exam centre.
• 6th Step: Check all details and finally click on “Submit”
• 7th Step: Download and take a printout of the application form for future reference.

CDS Application Fee

Here the applicants can check the CDS 2024 application fee and submit the application form.

Category	Application Fee
Female/SC/ST Candidates	No Fees
Others	Rs.200

Check out the exam centers for the UPSC CDS 2024 exam from the table below:

State	Exam Centre
Tripura	Agartala
Gujarat	Ahmedabad
Mizoram	Aizawl
Uttar Pradesh	Allahabad
Karnataka	Bengaluru
Uttar Pradesh	Bareilly
Madhya Pradesh	Bhopal
Punjab	Chandigarh
Tamil Nadu	Chennai
Tamil Nadu	Cuttack
Uttarakhand	Dehradun
Delhi	Delhi
Karnataka	Dharwad
Assam	Dispur
Sikkim	Gangtok
Andhra Pradesh	Hyderabad
Manipur	Imphal
Arunachal Pradesh	Itanagar
Rajasthan	Jaipur
Jammu and Kashmir	Jammu
Assam	Jorhat
Kerala	Kochi
Nagaland	Kohima
West Bengal	Kolkata
Uttar Pradesh	Lucknow
Tamil Nadu	Madurai
Maharashtra	Mumbai
Maharashtra	Nagpur
Goa	Panaji
Bihar	Patna
Andaman and Nicobar	Port Blair
Chhattisgarh	Raipur
Jharkhand	Ranchi
Odisha	Sambalpur
Meghalaya	Shillong
Himachal Pradesh	Shimla
Jammu and Kashmir	Srinagar
Kerala	Thiruvananthapuram
Arunachal Pradesh	Tirupati
Rajasthan	Udaipur
Arunachal Pradesh	Visakhapatnam

CDS exam pattern for the written test for admission to Indian Military Academy (IMA), Indian Naval Academy (INA), and Air Force Academy (AFA) includes three subjects – Elementary Mathematics, English and General Knowledge. However, admission to Officers Training Academy (OTA) will only have two subjects in their written test – English and General Knowledge.

CDS exam marking scheme for INA, IMA, AFA is listed below:

Subjects	Number of Questions / Maximum Marks	Time Duration
English	120 / 100	2 hours
Elementary Mathematics	100 / 100	2 hours
General Knowledge (GK)	120 / 100	2 hours
Total	340 / 300	6 hours

UPSC CDS 1 exam pattern for OTA is mentioned below:

Subjects	Number of Questions/ Maximum Marks	Time Duration
English	120 / 100	2 hours
General Knowledge (GK)	120 / 100	2 hours
Total	240/200	4 hours

Each correct answer attracts 1 mark in the UPSC CDS exam.

• Negative Marking: For every wrong answer given by the candidate, there is a negative marking of 1/3.
• Time Duration: The total time duration for each section is 2 hours.

The UPSC CDS syllabus is mainly based on three subjects — Elementary Mathematics, General Knowledge, and English language. Candidates who wish to score well in the examination must be well aware of the syllabus and prepare for it thoroughly. 

Subjects	Topics
English	Antonyms, Synonyms, Sentence improvement, Comprehension, Spotting Errors and more
General Knowledge	Economics, Current Awareness, Defence, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and more
Elementary Maths	Arithmetic, Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry, Mensuration, and Statistics and more

Check out the detailed UPSC CDS syllabus here.

It is important that you follow a few preparation tips in order to score high marks in the examination. Here are some of the preparation tips for UPSC CDS created by the experts on Embibe:

• Study from NCERT Textbooks: NCERT books are specifically designed to help you prepare for competitive examinations. The books have simple and basic concepts that you can easily understand. NCERT books also have a few exercises at the end of the chapters to help you practice.
• Reference Books: Reference books come with plenty of exercises and questions for you to solve. There are easy as well as difficult questions in the book. By solving the exercises, you can easily answer the questions quickly in the final exam question paper. 
• Categorise Topics (Difficulty-level wise): Dividing the topics based on their difficulty level will help you strategise your study. We recommend you to first prepare for the easy ones and then move to the ones you find difficult. Doing this will help you cover the syllabus quickly. 
• Read Concepts Thoroughly: It is always important to first understand and then learn. Knowing the concept and then reading and understanding it thoroughly will help you in your final examination. If you are able to understand the basic concept, you do not have to mug it up.
• Practice Mock Tests: Practicing mock test series will help you improve your problem-solving skills and writing skills. Embibe’s mock test series will give you an exact idea of the final exam paper. It is designed in accordance with the latest exam pattern.
• Solve Previous Years’ Question Papers: Solving the UPSC CDS previous year question papers will help you get a better idea of the exam and also the type of questions that are asked in the exam. It will be like a practice test for you to analyse your preparation so that you can improve on the topics that need more practice. 
• Revise Every Day: It is important that you revise what you study every day. A habit of revision every day will help you study efficiently for your examination. This way, you will memorise quickly.

UPSC CDS Admit Card 2024

UPSC will release the CDS 1 exam hall ticket online on in March 2024, tentatively. Below you can find the procedure to download the UPSC CDS admit card, the details mentioned on the admit card, and the required documents candidates need to carry.

Candidates can follow the below-mentioned steps to download the UPSC CDS admit card 2024:

• 1st Step: Go to the official website of UPSC.
• 2nd Step: Go to the “Examination” tab and click on “Active Examinations” from the drop-down menu box.
• 3rd Step: Now click on “Combined Defence Services Examination (1), 2024”.
• 4th Step: Then click on “Click Here” against “e-Admit Card”.
• 5th Step: Now, click on “Click Here” under the column “To Download e-Admit Card”
• 6th Step: Read the instructions properly and then click on the “Yes” button.
• 7th Step: Select “By Registration ID” or “By Roll Number”.
• 8th Step: Enter your Registration ID/CDS Roll Number and Date of Birth
• 9th Step: Now enter the captcha code and click on the “Submit” button.
• 10th Step: Your CDS admit card will appear on a new screen. Download it and print a few copies of the same. Also, save the PDF file in a safe folder on your device.

The exam conducting authority will release the UPSC CDS answer key soon on its official website since the result is declared. Candidates can follow the below-mentioned steps to check the answer key:

• 1st Step: Visit the official website of UPSC.
• 2nd Step: Click “Examination>>Answer Keys” on the homepage.
• 3rd Step: Click on the link against “Combined Defence Service Written Examination Answer Key 2024”
• 4th Step: The UPSC CDS Answer Key pdf will be opened,
• 5th Step: Download the pdf and check your responses marked from the answer key.

The UPSC CDS result for Paper 1 2024 will be released in May 2024.

Candidates can follow the below-mentioned steps to download the UPSC CDS result 2024:

• 1st Step: UPSC’s official website is upsc.gov.in, and students should visit the site first. 
• 2nd Step: Click on the accessible ‘UPSC CDS 1 Result 2024’ link on the homepage.
• 3rd Step: A new PDF file will appear on the screen. It is possible for candidates to check their names in it.
• 4th Step: Candidates can access the PDF online and print a copy for future reference.

The CDS cut-off 2024 will be released soon. Candidates can check out the expected cut-off marks for UPSC CDS from the table below:

Academy	Written Exam	Final Exam
IMA (Indian Military Academy)	119 – 131	244 – 256
INA (Indian Naval Academy)	104 – 121	232 – 246
AFA (Air Force Academy)	146 – 151	267 – 271
OTA (Officers’ Training Academy) men	73 – 84	161 – 170
OTA (Officers’ Training Academy) women	75 – 85	164 – 170

Following are the frequently asked questions and their answers related to the UPSC CDS 2024:

Q: Who is the conducting authority for the CDS Exam? 

Ans: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts the CDS Exam every year.

Q: When will the UPSC CDS 1 notification be released?

Ans: The UPSC CDS 1 notification 2024 will be released on December 20, 2023.

Q: How many times is the CDS exam conducted in a year? 

Ans: The CDS examination is held twice a year.

Q: How many attempts are allowed for the CDS exam? 

Ans: There are no such restrictions on the number of attempts you can make for the CDS exam.

Q: In what mode is the CDS examination conducted?

Ans: The CDS exam is conducted in offline mode (pen-and-paper-based).