Combined Defence Services Examination is often abbreviated as CDS. The Union public service commission (UPSC) always conducts CDS twice per year. This exam is conducted for recruiting officers in the Indian Naval academy, Indian Military academy, Indian Air Force Academy and Officers training academy. The CDS exam is perfect for those, who want to do something for the betterment of the nation by being a part of the air force, army, and navy.
Details of the stages of the recruitment method
The CDS exam pattern involves distinct stages in the recruitment procedure. At first, the candidates are qualified for the written test and then they have to appear for the interview round before the service selection board. If any of the candidates are selected in the interview round, he or she can get selected in the Indian Military academy in Dehradun, Naval academy in Goa and Air Force Academy in Begumpet. On the other hand, the other candidates can be a part of the officer training academy, 18th SSC Women of short service commission in the non-technical division and officers training academy in Chennai.
Qualification for the written test
Just before appearing for the exam, you ought to find out if you can fulfill the eligibility criteria for CDS or not. CDS is a kind of objective paper, which tests the English aptitude, elementary math and general knowledge of the candidates. The candidates can appear for two distinct types of the exam under CDS. The first type of exam is conducted for the aspirants of the naval academy, air force academy, and Indian military academy. The English section consists of 120 questions and 100 marks are there in this section. The other two sections of general knowledge and elementary mathematics comprise of 120 and 100 questions, and the total marks are 100. All the questions are presented in the MCQ format and 4 options are present in every question. The negative marking of 0.33 marks would be given on all the wrong answers.
Aspirants and CDS exam
The second type of exam under CDS is conducted for the training academy for officers. In this exam, the mathematics section is not included and it has 200 marks in total. 100 marks are allotted in each section of English and general knowledge. In the CDS exam pattern, the English section is incorporated just to test the basic English skills of the candidates. The questions of English section consists of reading comprehension, synonyms, antonyms, correcting the sentences, jumbled sentences and doing fill in the blanks. On the other hand, you can do well in the section of general knowledge if you keep yourself updated about the recent scientific inventions, current affairs, geography, history, and many others. The section of elementary mathematics tests the knowledge of the aspirants on every topic that has been taught to students till the level of class 10. The cutoff is present on all CDS exams and if you clear the cut-off, you would be eligible to get the interview call in the future.
Interview process and evaluation method
After the CDS exam, the interview phase is done for the selected candidates only. The UPSC (Union public service commission) would announce the list of the selected candidates for the interview. The short-listing of candidates would be done depending on the candidates' performance in the written test. The selected candidates have to take the personality and intelligence test in the interview phase. A candidate would be a part of group activities afterward and he or she has to give lectures, discuss certain topics. These tests are done to assess both the social and intellectual abilities of the candidates. The Pilot aptitude test is done for only the candidates belonging to the IAF and INA. The performance of all these candidates would be judged and the analysis of performance would be done out of 300 marks for the IAF, IMA, and INA.
In addition, the critical analysis of the performance of the individuals would be done out of 200 marks only for OTA. The candidates who would qualify the minimum amount of cut-off marks for service selection board and in the written tests, they would be finally selected. However, the final selection of candidates would be completed based on the availability of vacancies. You can join an educational institution, where the teachers aid students to prepare for the CDS exam, competitive exam, NDS exam, and many others.
