CDS Exam Pattern 2026: Papers, Marks and Marking Scheme

The CDS Exam Pattern 2026 decides how your time and marks are split across the Combined Defence Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The written test is an offline, objective exam of three papers for the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Indian Naval Academy (INA) and Air Force Academy (AFA), and two papers for the Officers Training Academy (OTA). Candidates who qualify then face a five-day Services Selection Board (SSB) interview, which carries as many marks as the written exam.

The pattern is the same for CDS I and CDS II, and it did not change for the CDS II 2026 exam held on 13 September 2026. This page explains each paper, the real value of a question, how negative marking works in practice, the SSB stages and how the final merit is calculated, with a worked example for each.

Table of Contents

• CDS Exam Pattern at a Glance

• CDS Written Exam Pattern

• Key Rules of the Written Exam

• Exam Day Timetable

• CDS Marking Scheme and Negative Marking

• What the Pattern Means for You

• Minimum Qualifying Marks

• SSB Interview Pattern

• How the Final Merit Is Calculated

• Paper-wise Time Management

• Common Mistakes and Outdated Information

CDS Exam Pattern

The total is 600 marks for IMA, INA and AFA and 400 marks for OTA. UPSC prepares a separate merit list for each academy.

CDS Written Exam Pattern

Which papers you take depends on the academies you choose in your application. If you opt for OTA along with any other academy, you take all three papers.

For IMA, INA and AFA

For OTA (Men and Women)

The notification fixes the marks and duration of each paper but does not print the number of questions. The question counts above are taken from recent papers and have stayed stable, though UPSC can change them.

Key Rules of the Written Exam

• Objective questions with four options: Every question is multiple choice, and you mark the answer on an OMR sheet with a black ballpoint pen.

• Language of the papers: General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics are set in both Hindi and English. The English paper is in English only.

• No calculators: Calculators are not allowed in any paper, so Maths speed depends on mental arithmetic and shortcuts.

• Same pattern for both sittings: CDS I and CDS II follow an identical scheme. Only the dates, vacancies and age windows change.

• Level of difficulty: English and General Knowledge are pitched at the standard expected of a graduate, while Elementary Mathematics is pitched at matriculation (Class 10) level.

Exam Day Timetable

All papers are held on a single day, usually a Sunday. The CDS II 2026 schedule released by UPSC was as follows.

Timings can change between cycles, so check the timetable and the reporting time printed on your e-admit card. UPSC closes entry to the venue before each session begins, and a late arrival means losing that paper. Plan meals and rest between sessions, because the Maths paper comes last, when fatigue is highest.

CDS Marking Scheme and Negative Marking

One-third of the marks assigned to a question is deducted for each wrong answer. Marking more than one option counts as a wrong answer, even if one of them is correct. A question left blank carries no penalty.

Because English and GK have 120 questions for 100 marks, a question in these papers is worth less than one full mark. The table shows the actual value of each question.

Some pages still show one mark for every CDS question. That holds only for Maths, so use the figures above when you calculate mock scores.

What the Pattern Means for You

• Three wrong answers cancel one right answer: In every paper, the penalty is exactly one-third of a question's value. Twelve careless errors in English cost you about 3.3 marks, which can be the gap between qualifying and missing out.

• Blind guessing gains nothing: With four options, a pure guess has a one-in-four chance. The expected gain is zero, because the average reward and the average penalty cancel out. If you can rule out even one option, the odds tilt in your favour, so guess only after elimination.

• English and GK are one-minute papers: 120 questions in 120 minutes leaves one minute per question. Maths gives you about 1.2 minutes per question, but many questions need calculation without a calculator.

• OTA candidates have no Maths cushion: With only 200 written marks, every English and GK mark carries more weight, and a weak English score is hard to recover in the SSB.

Worked example: English paper

Suppose you attempt 100 of the 120 questions and get 82 right and 18 wrong. Your score is 82 x 0.83 = 68.3, minus 18 x 0.28 = 5.0, which gives about 63.3 out of 100. Had you skipped the 18 questions you were unsure of, you would have scored about 68.3. Reviewing your mocks this way shows whether your guesses are helping or hurting, and the section-wise analysis in Testkart mock tests makes that review quicker.

Minimum Qualifying Marks

UPSC has the discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all papers of the written exam, and it sets a separate aggregate cut-off for each academy. Recent cut-off releases have been reported with a minimum of 20% in each paper, but treat this as a reported figure and confirm it in the official cut-off document for your cycle.

In practice, this means a very low score in one paper can disqualify you even if your total is above the academy cut-off. Do not abandon any paper while preparing. Previous written and final cut-offs are compared on the CDS cut-off page.

SSB Interview Pattern

Candidates who qualify the written exam are called by the service headquarters to a Services Selection Board for an intelligence and personality test. It runs for about five days and has two stages. Only those who clear Stage I stay on for Stage II.

AFA candidates also take the Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS). A candidate who has failed CPSS or the Pilot Aptitude Battery Test earlier is not eligible for AFA. The SSB has no written syllabus, so preparation is about general awareness, clear thinking and fitness built over months, not crammed after the result.

How the Final Merit Is Calculated

For each academy, UPSC adds the written exam marks and the SSB marks of candidates who have qualified both, then places them in order of merit. A candidate must also be found medically fit to join the academy.

Worked example: IMA

A candidate scores 150 out of 300 in the written exam and 120 out of 300 at the SSB, for a total of 270 out of 600. The last candidate recommended for IMA in CDS II 2025 is reported at about 250 out of 600, so this candidate would have been comfortably inside the list. Another candidate with 135 in the written exam would need about 115 at the SSB to reach the same benchmark.

The example shows why the SSB matters as much as the written test. A strong SSB can lift an average written score, and a weak SSB can sink a high one. When two candidates tie, the cut-off documents show UPSC ranking them by aggregate marks, then written marks, then General Knowledge marks, and then age, with the older candidate placed higher.

Paper-wise Time Management

Fill the OMR sheet as you go, in blocks of 10 to 20 questions, rather than leaving it to the end. Transferring 120 answers in the final five minutes is a common cause of shading errors.

Common Mistakes and Outdated Information

• Using one mark per question for every paper: This inflates English and GK mock scores. Use 0.83 marks per question for these papers.

• Assuming OTA candidates skip Maths in every case: If you also choose IMA, INA or AFA, you sit the Maths paper too.

• Treating the written exam as the finish line: The SSB carries equal marks, so neglecting it until the result is out costs rank.

• Attempting every question: With one-third negative marking, fixing your attempt range during mocks is safer than deciding on exam day.

Older pages may show outdated dates or session timings, so follow the latest notification and admit card on upsc.gov.in.