UPSC Combined Defence Services Examination (II)(UPSC CDS)

About this exam

The Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination is conducted twice a year by UPSC (CDS I around April, CDS II around September) to recruit graduates as commissioned officers into the Indian Armed Forces via four academies: Indian Military Academy (IMA, Dehradun), Indian Naval Academy (INA, Ezhimala), Air Force Academy (AFA, Hyderabad), and Officers' Training Academy (OTA, Chennai — Short Service Commission). Selection has two stages: a written examination (objective, OMR-based — English, General Knowledge, and Elementary Mathematics for IMA/INA/AFA; English and GK only for OTA) followed by the Services Selection Board (SSB) Interview, a 5-day assessment covering Officer Intelligence Rating, Picture Perception & Description, Group Testing Officer tasks, psychology tests, a personal interview, and a conference. Final merit combines written and SSB marks equally — the SSB carries the same weight as the entire written paper.

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