UPSC NDA & NA 2026–27: Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Eligibility, Dates and Preparation

NDA & NA at a glance

These facts are as per the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination (II), 2026 notice (Examination Notice No. 10/2026-NDA-II, published 20 May 2026), its time-table, the Commission's press note of 3 September 2026 and the question papers of 13 September 2026. The NDA & NA (I) 2027 dates are from the UPSC Programme of Examinations 2027.

Selection process

1. Online application at upsconline.nic.in through the Universal Registration Number (URN), the Common Application Form and the exam-specific module. For NDA & NA (II) 2026 the window ran from 20 May to 9 June 2026 (6:00 PM). The candidate lists the services he or she wants in order of preference from 1 to 4, and is considered only for those. An application cannot be withdrawn or corrected after submission.
2. e-Admit Card on upsconline.nic.in on the last working day of the week before the exam. No paper admit card is sent.
3. Written examination on one day: Mathematics from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM and the General Ability Test from 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM (2026 time-table). Entry to the venue closes 30 minutes before each session, and every candidate goes through face authentication. The Commission fixes the minimum qualifying marks at its discretion.
4. Representations on the questions and the provisional answer keys can be made online from the 3rd day after the exam until 6:00 PM on the 7th day.
5. Written result. The (II) 2026 written result has been declared: UPSC lists both the roll-number list and the list with names for this examination under What's New on upsc.gov.in. Qualified candidates register on joinindianarmy.nic.in with the same e-mail ID they gave UPSC, and are allotted a Selection Centre and an SSB date there.
6. SSB interview (Intelligence and Personality Test, 900 marks) at a Services Selection Board, Air Force Selection Board or Naval Selection Board. Stage I is the Officer Intelligence Rating (OIR) tests and the Picture Perception and Description Test (PP&DT). Only those who clear it go on to Stage II: the Interview, Group Testing Officer tasks, Psychology tests and the Conference, over four days. For (II) 2026 the notice expects SSBs from December 2026 to January 2027.
7. Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS) for SSB-qualified candidates who opted for the Air Force and are willing. A candidate takes CPSS only once in life. One who fails it cannot apply again for the flying branch, but can be considered for Air Force Ground Duties and the other services he or she chose.
8. Medical examination by a Board of Service Medical Officers for candidates recommended by the SSB. A candidate declared unfit is told how to seek an Appeal Medical Board, and after that a Review Medical Board.
9. Final merit and joining. Qualified candidates are placed in one list on the total of written and SSB marks. Seats in each service are filled on merit-cum-preference, subject to eligibility and medical fitness. Men and women are selected separately against their own vacancies. A joining letter comes through the online profile, and a candidate who does not report within seven days of the reporting date without prior intimation can lose the seat.

A candidate must clear the minimum marks separately in the written examination and in the SSB's Officer Potentiality assessment. Marks are rounded to two decimals. A tie in the final marks goes first to the higher written total, then to the higher General Ability Test score, then to the older candidate. A candidate called to the SSB for the first time for a type of commission gets to-and-fro AC III-tier rail fare or bus fare.

Exam pattern

Written examination

The notice gives the marks and the time. The question counts are printed on the NDA & NA (II) 2026 test booklets, which also say that every question in a paper carries equal marks. Each question has four options. One-third of the question's marks is deducted for a wrong answer, and marking more than one option counts as wrong. A blank costs nothing. Mathematics and Part B of the General Ability Test are printed in Hindi and English; Part A is in English only. Calculators and log tables are not allowed, and no scribe is allowed.

General Ability Test

With every question worth 4 marks, Part A works out to 50 questions and Part B to 100.

Part B (General Knowledge): section weightage

The notice calls these weightages approximate; the marks and questions here are worked out from them. Physics, Chemistry and General Science together carry about half of Part B.

General Knowledge syllabus

The notice says Part B broadly covers Physics, Chemistry, General Science, Social Studies, Geography and Current Events. Its topic list shows the scope and is not exhaustive: questions on similar topics that it does not name may also be asked.

Guidance, not from the notice: Section D goes beyond Indian history. It asks elementary Polity, planning and rural development, Gandhian ideas and world history. GK24's GK notes have no separate world-history subject, so read the Renaissance and the four revolutions from your school history textbooks. The Physics questions of the 2026 General Ability Test included numericals on refraction, electrical resistance, circular motion and latent heat, so practise the formulas along with the facts.

Eligibility and age limit

All conditions below are for NDA & NA (II) 2026. The (I) 2027 notice will set its own age band.

Nationality

A candidate must be a citizen of India, a subject of Nepal, or a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam to settle permanently in India. Subjects of Nepal and persons of Indian origin need a certificate of eligibility from the Government of India; Gorkha subjects of Nepal do not.

Age, sex and marital status

Only unmarried men and women born not earlier than 1 January 2008 and not later than 1 January 2011 were eligible for the (II) 2026 exam. The date of birth is taken only from the Matriculation or Secondary School certificate, or an equivalent certificate, and cannot be changed later. A candidate must not marry until the full training is over. One who marries after applying is not selected, and a cadet who marries during training is discharged and must refund the cost of training.

Educational qualification

Students appearing in Class 12 can apply. For the (II) 2026 cycle they must send proof of passing by 10 June 2027, and the date is not extended. Students of Class 11 are not eligible. A candidate who failed CPSS or the Pilot Aptitude Battery Test earlier can still be considered for Air Force Ground Duty branches. A candidate who resigned or was withdrawn on disciplinary grounds from an armed forces training academy, or who was removed from NDA or the Naval Academy for lack of officer-like qualities, is not admitted.

Physical standards

Medical standards follow the Joint Order Manual of Medical Standards for Entry into Armed Forces (1st Edition), available on joinindianarmy.nic.in. The notice advises candidates to get minor problems such as ear wax, a deviated nasal septum, tonsillitis or being over- or underweight treated before the SSB. Permanent tattoos are allowed only on the inner forearm and the back of the hand.

Application fee

The fee is ₹100, paid online by net banking, Visa, MasterCard or RuPay credit or debit card, or UPI. SC and ST candidates and women pay no fee. Wards of serving or former JCOs, NCOs and ORs of the Army, and of equivalent ranks of the Navy and Air Force, are also exempt if they study in a Military School or a Sainik School run by the Sainik Schools Society. OBC and EWS candidates pay the full fee. A fee once paid is not refunded.

Important dates

The (II) 2026 exam was held on 13 September 2026 in two sessions, and UPSC has published both question papers on its website. The next exam is NDA & NA (I) 2027 on 11 April 2027. Its notice is not out yet: the UPSC calendar of 20 May 2026 lists it for 2 December 2026 and says calendar dates can change. The (I) 2027 age band, vacancies and course numbers will be in that notice.

How to prepare General Knowledge and current events for NDA

This plan is GK24's guidance, not part of the notice. Part B carries 400 marks, more than the whole Mathematics paper, and half of it is science.

1. Start with Physics. Section A carries about 100 marks. Read the GK24 General Science notes on motion, work and energy, gravitation and pressure, heat, light, sound and electricity, and solve the numericals in each.
2. Then Chemistry and Biology. Sections B and C carry about 100 marks together. Class 9 and 10 science covers most of their topics; revise them with the GK24 notes on atoms, acids and salts, carbon, cells, the human body, nutrition and diseases.
3. History and Polity together. Section D mixes Indian history, the freedom movement, the Constitution, planning and world history. Read GK24's Indian History and Indian Polity notes topic by topic.
4. Geography with a map. Section E carries about 80 marks. Read the Geography notes and mark rivers, ports, minerals and crop regions on a blank map of India.
5. Current affairs daily. Section F carries about 40 marks. Read GK24's daily current affairs, written from official releases in English and Hindi, and cover at least the 6 to 8 months before your exam. Note defence exercises, appointments, sports winners and awards separately.
6. Test yourself. Solve the NDA previous-year questions on GK24 to see which topics return, and take the daily, weekly and monthly current-affairs quizzes and the topic quizzes. Skip a question you cannot narrow down: a wrong answer in the General Ability Test costs about 1.33 marks.

Do not neglect Part A. English carries 200 marks and is set only in English, so read a newspaper editorial every day for vocabulary and comprehension.

Training and pay

Training

• National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune: three years of academic and physical training for cadets of all three services. The first two and a half years are common to all cadets.
• Degree: Jawaharlal Nehru University awards B.Sc., B.Sc. (Computer) or B.A. to Army cadets, B.Tech to Naval cadets, and B.Tech, B.Sc. or B.Sc. (Computer) to Air Force cadets. The B.Tech is awarded after the later pre-commissioning training.
• Army cadets go to the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, for one year and are granted Permanent Commission as Lieutenant.
• Naval cadets go to the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala, for one year and become Sub-Lieutenants.
• Air Force flying cadets train at the Air Force Academy, Hyderabad, for one and a half years; after one year of basic flying training they get Permanent Commission (on probation) as Flying Officer. Ground Duty (Non-Tech) cadets also go to the Air Force Academy, and Ground Duty (Tech) cadets to the Air Force Technical College, Bengaluru.
• Naval Academy (10+2 Cadet Entry Scheme) cadets train for four years at the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala, and get a B.Tech from JNU.

Cost and stipend during training

At NDA the Government bears the cost of training, accommodation, books, uniforms, boarding and medical treatment. Parents meet pocket and private expenses, which the notice puts at normally not more than ₹3,000 a month. Financial assistance of ₹2,500 a month can be granted if the parents' income is below ₹45,000 a month. On arrival, a cadet deposits ₹41,495 with the Commandant: five months' pocket allowance at ₹4,000, ₹7,200 for the Army Group Insurance Fund and ₹14,295 for first-semester incidentals. The cost of clothing and equipment is added in the joining instructions. The notice gives a fixed stipend of ₹56,100 a month, the starting pay of Level 10, to cadets during training in the service academies, which it describes as the training period at IMA. Several states give their own scholarships or one-time grants to NDA cadets, and the notice lists them.

Pay after commission

On commissioning, pay is fixed in the first cell of Level 10, and the training period does not count as commissioned service. Officers from Lieutenant to Brigadier also get Military Service Pay of ₹15,500 a month, plus dearness allowance and other allowances by posting.

Higher ranks go up to Level 18 (₹2,50,000 fixed) for the Chief of the Army Staff. All figures are from the NDA & NA (II) 2026 notice.