What is CDS 2021 Exam?
The full of CDS exam is Combined Defence Services Examination. It is the exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) twice a year for both male and female candidates. It selects the candidates for the Indian Military Academy (Dehradun), Officers Training Academy, Chennai (Madras), Indian Naval Academy (Ezhimala), Air Force Academy (Hyderabad) for the branch of Army, Navy, and Airforce.
Types of Commission in UPSC CDS Exam:
There are two types of commission offered by the UPSC CDS these are:
Permanent Commission (PC) for Men:
Candidates joining the Indian Military Academy (Dehradun), Indian Naval Academy (Ezhimala), and Air Force Academy (Hyderabad) will join the defence force as Permanent Commission officers and will continue to serve till the age of superannuation.
Short Service Commission (SSC) for Men & Women:
(i) The candidate men and women joining the Officers Training Academy, Chennai (Madras) will be commissioned as a short service commission officer in the Army.
(ii) 10 Years is the initial tenure for both the short service commission (SSC) Officers. On the availability of vacancies, merit, suitability, and willingness 4 years of extension can be given.
(iii) On the availability of vacancies, merit, suitability, and willingness. Consideration for grant of permanent commission is done in the last 1 year of service.
UPSC CDS Exam Highlight:
| S.NO | Features | Details |
| 1. | Exam Name | Combined Defence Services Examination |
| 2. | Exam level | National |
| 3. | Conducted by | Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) |
| 4. | Exam frequency | Twice a year |
| 5. | Mode of exam | offline |
| 6. | Syllabus of Exam | For the candidates applying for Indian Military Academy (IMA), Indian Naval Academy (INA), and Air Force Academy:
For the candidates applying for Officers Training Academy (OTA) Chennai:
|
| 7. | Pattern of Exam | Paper 1 English has 120 objective questions from different sections of English. Each question is of 0.83 marks, so the paper is of a total of 100 marks.
Paper 2 General Knowledge (GK) has a total of 120 objective questions. Each question is 0.83 marks, so the maximum marks for paper 2 are 100. Paper 3 Elementary Maths has a total of 100 objective questions. Each question is of 1 mark so the maximum marks for paper 3 are 100. Note:
|
| 8. | Duration of Exam | Paper 1 English is of 2hrs.
Paper 2 General Knowledge is of 2hrs Mathematics (Paper 3) is of 2hrs. |
| 9. | Language of Exam | Hindi and English |
| 10. | CDS Exam fee | 200 Rs (Free for SC/ST candidate) |
| 11. | CDS Portal Official website (Apply online) | https://www.upsc.gov.in/ |
| 12. | CDS Notification | 28/10/2020 CDS (1) 2021
04/08/2021 CDS (2) 2021 |
| 13. | CDS Admit Card | 30 days before the exam |
| 14. | CDS Exam Date | 07/02/2021 CDS (1) 2021
14/11/2021 CDS (2) 2021 |
| 15. | CDS Exam Result | Within a month |
| 16. | Test Cities | 41 |
| 17. | CDS SSB Centres | For Army:
Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), and Bangalore (Karnataka) For Navy: Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), and Bangalore (Karnataka) For Airforce: Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Mysore (Karnataka), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), and Gandhi Nagar (Gujrat) |
UPSC CDS Exam 2021 Vacancies Highlight:
The CDS vacancies are announced with the CDS notification by the UPSC. In CDS (1) 2021 the total number of vacancies are 345 for Indian Military Academy (Dehradun), Officers Training Academy, Chennai (Madras), Indian Naval Academy (Ezhimala), Air Force Academy (Hyderabad) for the branch of Army, Navy, and Airforce. The details of vacancies are shown below:
Academy |
Number of Vacancies |
|
Indian Military Academy (Dehradun) (Army wing NCC ‘C’ certificate holders have 13 reserved vacancies) |
100 |
|
Indian Naval Academy (Ezhimala) (Navy wing NCC ‘C’ certificate holders have 6 reserved vacancies) |
26 |
|
Air Force Academy (Hyderabad) (Airforce wing NCC ‘C’ certificate holders have 3 reserved vacancies) |
32 |
|
Officers Training Academy, Chennai (Madras)- SSC (men) |
170 |
|
Officers Training Academy, Chennai (Madras)- SSC (women) |
17 |
| Total |
345 |
UPSC CDS (1) 2021 Exam Dates:
The important CDS (1) 2021 dates are given below:
| Events | Dates |
Description |
|
Notification |
28/10/2020 |
Schedule and other exam details are released. |
|
Application Form |
28/10/2020 |
Online registration for NDA started. |
|
Last Date to Apply |
17/11/2020 |
Candidates must submit their online applications before this date. |
|
Admit Card |
07/01/2021 |
Admit Card will be available to download. |
|
Written Exam |
07/02/2021 |
The offline written exam will be held in three shifts. |
|
Result |
23 March 2021 |
Declaration of results of selected candidates. |
|
SSB interview |
Between April to May 2021
Between June to July 2021 (for OTA) |
SSB will be conducted for the selected candidates from stage 1 of the written exam. |
UPSC CDS (2) 2021 Exam Dates:
The important CDS (2) 2021 dates are given below:
|
Events |
Dates |
Description |
|
Notification |
04/08/2021 |
Schedule and other exam details are released. |
|
Application Form |
04/08/2021 |
Online registration for NDA started. |
|
Last Date to Apply |
24/08/2021 |
Candidates must submit their online applications before this date. |
|
Admit Card |
October 2021 |
Admit Card will be available to download. |
|
Written Exam |
14/11/2021 |
An offline written exam will be held in two shifts. |
|
Result |
December 2021 |
Declaration of results of selected candidates. |
|
SSB interview |
Between January to February 2022
Between March to April 2022 (for OTA) |
SSB will be conducted for the selected candidates from stage 1 of the written exam. |
Important Related Links for CDS Exams
| CDS SSB Process | |
Eligibility Criteria for UPSC CDS (1) 2021 Exam:
The following criteria have to be fulfilled by the candidate to be eligible for the UPSC CDS 2021 exam.
Nationality:
The candidate must be Unmarried and
(i) citizen of India, or
(ii) subject of Nepal, or
(iii) Indian origin person migrated from the following countries: Sri Lanka and East African Countries of Kenya, Uganda, Pakistan, Burma, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Malawi, Zaire with the intention to settle permanently in India.
For the candidate of categories of (ii) and (iii) the certificate of eligibility has to be issued by the Indian Government.
Gorkhas of Nepal will not need the certificate of eligibility.
Age Limits, Sex and Marital Status:
- The Candidates applying for Indian Military Academy (IMA) must be unmarried and born not earlier than 02/01/1998 and not later than 01/01/2003.
- Candidates applying for Indian Naval Academy (INA) must be unmarried and born not earlier than 02/01/1998 and not later than 01/01/2003.
- Candidates applying for Air Force Academy must be between 20 to 24 years of age as of 01/01/2022 and born not earlier than 02/01/1998 and not later than 01/01/2002. The Commercial pilot license holder will get an age relaxation of 2 years (below 25 years candidates must be unmarried above 25 years of married candidates are also eligible).
- Candidates applying for Officers’ Training Academy (SSC-Men) must be unmarried and born not earlier than 02/01/1997 and not later than 01/01/2003.
- Candidates applying for Officers’ Training Academy (SSC-Women) must be unmarried and born not earlier than 02/01/1997 and not later than 01/01/2003.
- Male widower/divorcee will not be considered unmarried.
Educational Qualification:
The education qualification of the candidate is different for the different academies. The education qualifications for the academies are given below:
|
Academy |
Education Qualification |
|
Indian Military Academy (IMA) |
Graduation Degree |
|
Officers’ Training Academy (OTA) |
Graduation Degree |
|
Indian Naval Academy (INA) |
Engineering Degree |
|
Air Force Academy |
Graduation Degree (with maths and physics in 10+2) Or Engineering Degree |
CDS Physical Standard:
The candidate has to be physically fit as per the standard of the Training Academies. For more details about the physical standard follow the official CDS exam notification.
UPSC CDS Exam Selection Process:
The selection process for the CDS exam involves the following steps:
Filling of the Application Form:
The candidate has to register himself to the official website of the UPSC and fill the application form. The application form will be filled in two parts is part 1 is the registration form and part 2 consists of all the personal details.
Issue of Admit Card:
The candidates who have successfully submitted the application form will have to download the admit card which will be released by the UPSC one month prior to the exam.
Written Exam:
The CDS written exam will be conducted in the three shifts which have 3 papers. Each paper is of 100 marks and will be of 2 hours. Paper 1 of English and paper 2 of General Knowledge will be common for all the candidates and paper 3 of Mathematics for all the candidates other than the candidates who have OTA as their first preference.
Declaration of Result:
After one month of the written exam, the UPSC declares the CDS written exam result on the official website of the UPSC in pdf format. The qualifying candidates have their roll number on the list and will be called for the SSB interview.
CDS SSB Interview:
The written qualifying candidates will be tested for 5 days in the SSB interview process. The SSB is conducted in two stages the screening test (stage 1) and stage 2 is for the candidates who will clear the stage 1 screening.
Final Merit List:
The final selection of the candidates is made on the basis of the marks of the written exam and the SSB interview. The merit list is prepared on the availability of the vacancies in the academies and published on the official UPSC website.
CDS Salary:
A good salary is given in the armed force, apart from the salary an officer gets much more pay in terms of allowance and service pay.
During the entire training period in the service academy, a gentleman cadet (GC) gets a stipend of Rs 56,100/- per month.
After the training, the salary is as per the rank of the officer which is different for different ranks.
See Here: NDA 2021 Exam complete detail