The Combined Defence Services exam (CDS) is a gateway for the young and energetic men and women to join the Indian armed forces. The CDS exam 2019 will be conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). CDS exam is conducted for the recruitment into the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Officers Training Academy (OTA), Indian Naval Academy (INA) and Indian Air Force Academy (AFA).

UPSC conducts CDS exam twice in a year.  The two phases of the exams are known as CDS-I and CDS-II. According to the UPSC calendar, the CDS-I exam is scheduled in February 2019 and CDS-II exam will be conducted in November 2019. And this is the right time to kick-start your CDS exam preparation. Here in this article, we will share the details about CDS exam 2019 with you. It includes CDS 2019 exam dates, eligibility criteria for CDS 2019 and CDS 2019 exam pattern etc.

Important dates

UPSC has released the official dates for both of the CDS exam 2019. Here are the details of the same.

FOR CDS I           

• The official notice will release on 31^st October 2018.
• The online application process for CDS exam 2019 will begin from 31^st October 2018.
• The last date for the online application form submission is 26^th November 2018.
• The admit card for the CDS-I 2019 exam will be issued before the 3 weeks of the exam.
• The CDS 2019 written exam will be conducted on 3^rd February 2019.
• The result for CDS-I will be announced in March 2019.

FOR CDS II          

• The official notice will release on 12^th June 2019.
• The online application process for CDS exam 2019 will begin from 12^th June 2019.
• The last date for the online application form submission is 8^th July 2019.
• The admit card for the CDS-II 2019 exam will be issued before the 3 weeks of the exam.
• The CDS 2019 written exam will be conducted on 8^th September 2019.
• The result for CDS-I will be announced in October 2019.

Application Fee

The application fee for the CDS exam is Rs. 200/-. Candidates from reserved category and female candidates can fill the online application form of CDS exam 2019 at free of cost.

Eligibility Criteria

Educational Qualification: Here are the details of required educational qualification for CDS 2019.

• To join Indian Military Academy (IMA) and Officers Training Academy (OTA) the candidate must have completed his graduation from a recognized
• To join Air Force Academy (AFA) the candidate must be a graduate with PCM in 10+2 or he/she must have completed B. Tech.
• To apply for Indian Naval Academy (INA) the candidate needs to have an engineering degree from a recognized
• Candidates appearing in the final year of their course or graduation can also appear in CDS 2019 exam.

Age:  Here are the details of the age limits based on the CDS 2019 exam dates.

• To appear in CDS I 2019 the candidate’s date of birth should not be earlier than 2^nd January 1996 and should not be later than 1^st January 2001.
• If any candidate wishes to join Officers Training Academy then his date of birth should not be earlier than 2^nd January 1995.
• To appear in CDS II 2019 the candidate’s date of birth should not be earlier than 2^nd July 1996 and should not be later than 1^st July 2001.
• If any candidate wishes to join Officers Training Academy then his date of birth should not be earlier than 2^nd July 1995.

Only unmarried male candidates are eligible for the training in IMA/NA/AFA/OTA. Married male candidates above 25 years of age are eligible for AFA. Unmarried, Issueless widow or divorcee female candidates are eligible for the nontechnical courses.

CDS 2019 exam pattern

The selection process for CDS includes a written exam, personal interview, documents verification, and medical test. Here we are giving you the information about CDS 2019 written exam pattern.

The written exam of CDS is an offline exam and bilingual except English section. In this question paper, objective type questions will be asked. These questions will be taken from   English, Elementary Mathematics, and General Knowledge. With every wrong answer, 1/3^rd of the marks assigned to the question will be deducted from the candidate’s score.

Here is the CDS 2019 exam pattern for Indian Military Academy, Air Force Academy, and Indian Naval Academy.

• The CDS 2019 exam will have three subjects, English, Elementary Mathematics and General Knowledge.
• Each topic is of maximum 100 marks and exam duration will be 2 hours for each of the topics.

Here is the CDS 2019 exam pattern for Officers’ Training Academy.

• For OTA the exam pattern and conditions will remain the same but for this examination, candidates will have to give exam of English and General Awareness only.

The English section is aimed to test the candidates’ basic English skills. It includes the Synonyms, Antonyms, jumbled sentences etc. The questions in the General Knowledge section are based on the current affairs and the Elementary Mathematics section has the questions from the Maths of 10^th standard.  The final selection of the candidates will be based on the on the available vacancies.

Here we have summed up all the information related to CDS exam 2019. If you have any doubt related to this, please feel free to write us in the comment section.