CDS (Combined Defence Services) Syllabus 2026

CDS EXAM PATTERN — CDS (II) 2026 CYCLE

Examination Notice No. 11/2026-CDS-II, notified 20 May 2026. Written exam: 13 September 2026.

SELECTION STAGES

- Stage 1 — Written examination (objective, offline OMR)

- Stage 2 — SSB Interview: intelligence and personality test at a Services Selection Centre

- Stage 3 — Medical examination; final merit and academy allotment

WRITTEN EXAM FOR IMA, INA AND AFA

English (Code 11) — 120 questions, 100 marks, 2 hours

General Knowledge (Code 12) — 120 questions, 100 marks, 2 hours

Elementary Mathematics (Code 13) — 100 questions, 100 marks, 2 hours

Written total — 300 marks

WRITTEN EXAM FOR OTA (SSC Men and SSC Women, Non-Technical)

English (Code 11) — 120 questions, 100 marks, 2 hours

General Knowledge (Code 12) — 120 questions, 100 marks, 2 hours

Written total — 200 marks

SSB INTERVIEW MARKS

Interview marks equal written marks: 300 each for IMA, INA and AFA, and 200 for OTA. Grand total is 600 marks for IMA, INA and AFA; 400 for OTA.

SSB runs in two stages. Stage I is the Officer Intelligence Rating (OIR) test plus Picture Perception and Description Test (PP&DT); only those who clear it go forward. Stage II is the Interview, Group Testing Officer tasks, Psychology tests and the Conference, conducted over four days. UPSC assigns no separate weightage to individual SSB tests.

NEGATIVE MARKING

Every question has four options. One-third (0.33) of the marks for a question is deducted for each wrong answer. Marking more than one option counts as a wrong answer and carries the same penalty. A question left blank carries no penalty.

MODE, LANGUAGE AND RULES

Pen-and-paper test; answers are marked on an OMR sheet with a black ball pen only. Calculators are not permitted. The General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics booklets are bilingual (Hindi and English); the English paper is in English only.

QUALIFYING MARKS AND MERIT

UPSC may fix qualifying marks in any or all subjects. A candidate must separately clear the minimum qualifying marks in the written exam (fixed by UPSC) and the SSB test (fixed by the SSB). Final merit is written marks plus SSB marks, rounded to two decimals. Ties are broken first by total written marks, then by General Knowledge marks. Final selection remains subject to medical fitness and vacancies.

EXAM DAY TIMINGS (13.09.2026)

English 9:00–11:00 AM; General Knowledge 12:30–2:30 PM; Elementary Mathematics 4:00–6:00 PM.

CDS SYLLABUS (UPSC APPENDIX-I) — CDS (II) 2026 NOTIFICATION

STANDARD OF PAPERS

Elementary Mathematics is of Matriculation (Class 10) level; English and General Knowledge are at Indian university graduate standard.

PAPER I — ENGLISH (CODE 11)

UPSC states only that the paper tests understanding of English and workmanlike use of words; no topic list is published. The 120 questions in CDS (I) 2026 used:

- Pairs of confusable words — the option describing both meanings correctly

- Synonyms and antonyms of an underlined word; idioms and phrases

- Correct usage of similar-sounding words in given sentences

- Matching words and specialised terms with meanings (List I / List II)

- Ordering of sentences — arranging jumbled parts P, Q, R, S between fixed S1 and S6

- Sentence pairs — does the second confirm, contradict, contrast or qualify the first

- Part of speech of an underlined word; prepositions and determiners in a blank

- Spotting errors among three underlined segments, or no error

- Reading comprehension — a passage with questions on argument and vocabulary

PAPER II — GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (CODE 12)

Official scope: current events and matters of everyday observation and experience in their scientific aspects, as expected of an educated person with no special study of any science subject; plus History of India and Geography answerable without special study.

Areas seen in the CDS (I) 2026 paper:

- Biology — cell organelles, human physiology, diseases, heredity

- Chemistry — compounds and formulae, acids, bases and salts, periodic table

- Physics and everyday science; basic computer awareness

- Geography and environment — tides, major ports, green energy targets

- Indian history and culture — prehistoric sites, ancient trade centres, Gupta administration, medieval travellers, reform movements; world history (Industrial Revolution)

- Polity — Constitutional articles, State List, Table of Precedence

- Economy — welfare and agriculture schemes, export and trade support measures

- International organisations, current affairs and defence — MoD bodies and armed forces training academies

PAPER III — ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS (CODE 13), IMA/INA/AFA ONLY

Arithmetic

- Number system: natural numbers, integers, rational and real numbers; fundamental operations; square roots; decimals

- Unitary method; time and distance; time and work; percentages; simple and compound interest; profit and loss; ratio, proportion and variation

Elementary Number Theory

- Division algorithm; prime and composite numbers; divisibility tests for 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 and 11; multiples and factors; factorisation theorem; HCF and LCM; Euclidean algorithm; logarithms to base 10 and log tables

Algebra

- Basic operations, simple factors, remainder theorem, HCF, LCM, theory of polynomials; quadratic equations and the relation between roots and coefficients (real roots only)

- Simultaneous linear equations in two unknowns (analytical and graphical) and simultaneous linear inequations in two variables; practical problems leading to them or to a quadratic equation in one variable

- Set language and notation; rational expressions and conditional identities; laws of indices

Trigonometry

- Sine, cosine and tangent for 0 to 90 degrees; values at 0, 30, 45, 60 and 90; simple identities; trigonometric tables; heights and distances

Geometry

- Lines and angles; plane and plane figures

- Theorems on angles at a point; parallel lines; sides and angles of a triangle; congruency and similarity; concurrence of medians and altitudes; angles, sides and diagonals of parallelogram, rectangle and square; circles with tangents and normals; loci

Mensuration

- Areas of squares, rectangles, parallelograms, triangles, circles and composite figures (field book); surface area and volume of cuboids and spheres; lateral surface and volume of right circular cones and cylinders

Statistics

- Collection and tabulation of data; frequency polygons, histograms, bar and pie charts; measures of central tendency