Defence Exams 2026–27: NDA, CDS and Agniveer Compared, Eligibility, Dates and GK Preparation

Defence exams at a glance

NDA and CDS figures are from the (II) 2026 notices of 20 May 2026. Agniveer figures are from the Army's Recruiting Year (RY) 2027 notifications and the Navy's 01/2027 and 02/2027 batch advertisements.

The Air Force's Agniveervayu intake is notified separately on agnipathvayu.cdac.in; this page compares the Army and Navy entries.

Which defence exam should you take?

By qualification

• Class 8 or Class 10 pass: only Agniveer. Army Tradesmen 8th pass needs Class 8. Army General Duty needs Class 10 with 45% aggregate. Navy MR needs Class 10 with 50%.
• Class 12 pass or appearing: NDA & NA opens up. Its Army wing takes any stream; its Air Force and Naval wings and the Naval Academy need Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Class 12 also qualifies for Army Agniveer (Technical) and (Clerk/Store Keeper Technical) and Navy SSR, each with its own subject and percentage conditions.
• Graduate or in the final year: CDS. IMA and OTA take any degree. INA needs an engineering degree or a B.Sc. with Physics. AFA needs Physics and Mathematics at 10+2, or a B.E.

By age

The bands overlap: a candidate born in 2008 fell within both the NDA & NA (II) 2026 and the Army RY 2027 bands. The NDA and CDS notices give no category-wise age relaxation.

By marital status

• NDA & NA: only unmarried men and women. A candidate must not marry until the full training is over.
• CDS: unmarried candidates for IMA, INA and OTA. For AFA, candidates below 25 must be unmarried; married candidates aged 25 or more may apply but get no married accommodation during training. OTA (Women) also accepts issueless widows and issueless divorcees who have not remarried. Male divorcees and widowers are not treated as unmarried.
• Agniveer: only unmarried candidates, who must not marry during the four years. Army Women Military Police also accepts widowed, divorced or legally separated women without children.

Officer or Agniveer

NDA and CDS lead to a commission as an officer. IMA gives a Permanent Commission as Lieutenant. OTA gives a Short Service Commission as Lieutenant for 10 years, extendable by 4. As per the (II) 2026 notices, pay after commission starts in Level 10 (₹56,100–1,77,500), plus Military Service Pay of ₹15,500 a month.

Agniveers serve four years as a distinct rank. The monthly package is ₹30,000 in the first year and ₹40,000 in the fourth. On exit, the Seva Nidhi package is about ₹10.04 lakh, and there is no pension or gratuity. Up to 25% of each batch may be enrolled in the regular cadre.

GK24 guidance: the GK syllabi overlap heavily, so a Class 12 candidate can prepare for NDA and Agniveer with the same notes.

How defence selection works

What they share

• Every entry starts with an objective written test, and General Knowledge is part of it.
• Every entry checks medical fitness before selection.
• A final merit list decides who is selected, against the vacancies.

Officer entries: written exam, then SSB

NDA and CDS candidates who clear the UPSC written exam go to a Services Selection Board (SSB). Stage I is the Officer Intelligence Rating tests and the Picture Perception and Description Test. Those who clear it stay four more days for Stage II: interview, Group Testing Officer tasks, psychology tests and the conference. Air Force candidates also take the Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS).

A candidate must clear the minimum marks in the written exam and the SSB separately. Final merit is the total of the two.

Agniveer entries: online test, then physical tests

The Army's Phase-I is the online Common Entrance Exam (CEE). Candidates shortlisted on the CEE go to a recruitment rally for the Physical Fitness Test (PFT), the Physical Measurement Test (PMT) and a medical examination. In the RY 2027 notification, a 1.6 km run in up to 5 minutes 30 seconds earns men 60 marks, and 10 pull-ups earn 40.

The Navy's Stage I is the online INET. Shortlisted candidates take a PFT: a 1.6 km run in 6 minutes 30 seconds for men and 8 minutes for women, with squats, push-ups and sit-ups. Those who pass take a Stage II written exam and the recruitment medical. The select list is drawn on Stage II written marks.

Medical standards

• NDA and CDS follow the Joint Order Manual of Medical Standards for Entry into Armed Forces (1st Edition). Permanent tattoos are allowed only on the inner forearm and the back of the hand.
• Army Agniveers are examined at the rally; an unfit candidate can seek a review within 21 days.
• The Navy asks a minimum height of 157 cm and vision of 6/12 uncorrected, 6/6 corrected.

Defence exam calendar

NDA and CDS dates come from the notices and the UPSC Programme of Examinations 2027 (as on 20 May 2026), whose dates are liable to alteration. Agniveer dates are as the Army RY 2027 notification and the Navy advertisements give them. NDA and CDS status is as on 29 October 2026, and Agniveer status as on 24 September 2026.

NDA & NA and CDS share their exam days. The next UPSC defence exam is NDA & NA (I) and CDS (I) 2027 on 11 April 2027. The notifications used here give no dates for Army RY 2028 or the next INET.

General Knowledge in defence exams

NDA & NA: Part B of the General Ability Test

Part B carries 400 marks in 100 questions. The notice gives these approximate weightages.

Physics, Chemistry and General Science together carry about half of Part B. Section D also covers the Constitution, planning, Panchayati Raj and world history, such as the French, Industrial and Russian Revolutions.

CDS: the General Knowledge paper

The notice names current events, everyday science, and the History of India and Geography, at graduate level. The paper has 120 questions in two hours. GK24's count of the CDS (II) 2026 paper, which is guidance and not an official break-up, found about 37 science questions, about 20 each on Polity and History, 15 on Geography, 10 on the Economy and 10 on current events.

Army Agniveer CEE: General Knowledge and General Science

In the General Duty and Tradesmen papers, General Knowledge and General Science carry 15 questions each out of 50. The Technical paper has 10 questions on General Knowledge and Reasoning. The Clerk/Store Keeper Technical paper has 5 each on General Knowledge and General Science.

The GK syllabus covers India and its neighbours: history, culture and geography; sports and awards; the Indian Armed Forces; inventions; the Constitution; books and authors; and recent events. General Science covers cells, plants and animals, the human body and common epidemics.

Navy INET: General Awareness

General Awareness is one of four sections for SSR, with English, Science and Mathematics. It is one of two for MR, with Science and Mathematics. The Navy publishes the INET syllabus and sample papers on joinindiannavy.gov.in.

Where GK24 covers it (GK24 guidance)

Science is the common thread: about half of NDA's Part B, about a third of the CDS (II) 2026 paper, and 15 of 50 Army General Duty questions.

How to prepare for defence exams with GK24

This weekly plan is GK24's guidance, not part of any notice. It works for one defence exam, or for NDA and Agniveer together.

• Cover enough months. Read at least the 6 to 8 months of current affairs before an NDA exam, and 8 to 10 before CDS.
• Practise the real length. In the last two months, time full sets: 150 General Ability Test questions in 2½ hours for NDA, 120 General Knowledge questions in 2 hours for CDS, and 50 questions in an hour for the Army CEE.
• Mind negative marking. Skip what you cannot narrow down in NDA, CDS and the Navy INET.
• Do not stop at GK. Mathematics and English carry the other written marks, the SSB carries as many marks as the written exam, and the Agniveer rally needs running and pull-ups.