CDS Qualification

Introduction To CDS Exam

The following article provides an outline for CDS Qualification. CDS stands for Combined Defense Services Exam. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts this exam twice in a year.

As defined, this is combined exam for recruitment of the commissioned officer in different defense departments:

• Air Force Academy (AFA)
• Indian Military Academy (IMA)
• Officer Training Academy (OTA)
• Indian Naval Academy (INA)

CDS Exam Months:

Notification of the CDS exam is released in the months of October and June. CDS exams are conducted two times in a year in the month of February and September. The CDS-2021 exam notification was released for 345 posts for male and female candidates. These exams are written exams followed by SSB interviews.

Criteria Of CDS Qualification

Interested candidates applying for the CDS exam please follow important eligibility guidelines.

1. CDS Eligibility Educational Qualification

CDS exam-2021 educational qualification for all the exams is as the following:

Officer Department	Educational Qualification
IMA AND OTA	Degree from any recognized universities
INA	Degree in engineering from any recognized universities
AFA	Degree in physics and mathematics at class 12 level from any recognized universities Or Degree in engineering

Note: Candidates who are in the final year of graduation can also apply for the CDS exams. Graduate people have to submit a provisional certificate at the time of SSB interviews.

2. CDS Exam Percentage Criteria

• Candidates who are applying for the post of AFA should be passed class 12 or equivalent exam in physics and math with 60 percent marks.
• Candidates should have a graduate degree from any recognized institute with 60% aggregates.

CDS Exam Eligibility Criteria

Candidates applying for CDS Exam-2021 should check with the following eligibility criteria:

1. Age Limit And Marital Status

CDS exam age limit criteria are the same for male and female candidates. The minimum age eligibility for the CDS exam is 19 years. Candidates must be unmarried for all the officers in CDS Exams.

Officer Department	Age Limit	Marital Status	Gender
IMA	19 years -24 years	Unmarried	Male
INA	19 years-22 years	Unmarried	Male
AFA	19 years-23 years	Candidates below 25 years of age must be unmarried.	Male
OTA (SSC Course For Men)	19 years-25 years	unmarried	Male
OTA (SSC Women Non-Technical Course)	19 years-25 years	Unmarried women, issueless widows and issueless divorcee	Female

Note: Candidates should not be divorcees or widowers.

2. Nationality

Nationality eligibility criteria for the CDS exam are as following:

• He/she must have permanent citizenship of India.
• He/she must be a subject of Nepal or Bhutan.
• A Tibetan refugee who come to India before 1 January 1962.
• A candidate born in India can be migrated from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Burma, The United Republic of Tanzania, East African companies of Kenya, Zambia, Zaire, and Malawi.

3. Physical Standards For CDS

The candidate’s physical standard criteria must be followed by the UPSC advertisement standard.

Some rules of standards are:

• They should be fit with physical fitness as well as mental fitness.
• Candidates shouldn’t have hearing problems and disabilities in-ear.
• Tattoos on candidate’s bodies do not allow in physical fitness exams.
• Shouldn’t be a Hernia sufferer.

4. Height And Weight Standards For Male Candidates

Male candidates who are interested in army and navy officer check with the following chart:

Male Candidates Height Criteria In Centimeters (Without Shoes)	Weight In Kgs
	18 Yrs	20 Yrs	22 Yrs	24 Yrs
152	44	46	47	48
155	46	48	49	50
157	47	49	50	51
160	48	50	51	52
162	50	52	53	54
165	52	53	55	56
168	53	55	57	58
173	57	59	60	61
175	59	61	62	62
178	61	62	63	64
180	63	64	65	66
183	65	67	68	68
185	67	69	70	71
188	70	71	72	74
190	72	73	74	76
193	74	76	77	78
195	77	78	79	81

5. Height And Weight Standards For Female Candidates

Female Candidates Height Criteria In Centimeters (Without Shoes)	Weight in Kgs
	20 Yrs	25 Yrs	30 Yrs
148	39	41	43
150	40	42	43.5
153	42	43.5	45
155	43	44	46
158	45	46	48
160	46	47	49
163	47	49	51
165	49	51	53
168	50	52	54

6. Vision Standards

Vision standards for INA candidates.

Parameters	Standards
Uncorrected Without Glasses	6/12,6/12
Corrected With Glasses	6/6,6/6
Limits Of Myopia	-1.5D
Limits Of Hypermetropia	1.5D
Binocular Vision	111
Limits Of Color Perception	1

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to CDS Qualification. Here we discuss the introduction, criteria of CDS qualification and exam eligibility criteria respectively. You can also go through our other suggested articles to learn more –

1. CDS UPSC
2. CDS Syllabus
3. CDS Age Limit
4. CDS Eligibility