Tips to crack CDSE
If you are young, courageous and patriotic and wish to dedicate your services to defending the nation and its people then Combined Defence Service (CDS) is the path for you. The CDS exam can help you join the nation’s defence forces.
Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) conducts CDSE twice a year, in May and September to recruit officer cadre to the Army, Navy and Air Force.The written test is followed by an interview by the Services Selection Board (SSB). The final selection will factor in the candidate’s choice, preferences of cadre and merit. Successful candidates are trained at the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, Air Force Acadamey (AFA), Begumpet, Hyderabad, Naval Academy (NA), Goa and Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai.
The CDSE challenge
Preparation for the CDSE exam calls for concentrated practice and prolonged preparation. There are instances when people start preparing for the exam right from the school days. For the NDA, choice of subjects starts after the 10th grade. The choice of subjects opted for +2 is crucial as maths and science students would have an edge in the CDS written exam.
Application forms and other details are published by the UPSC in leading newspapers and Employment News in the month of May-June and November-December each year. One can also download the details from http://mod.nic.inThe filled in forms should be submitted by the month of April, on completion of 2nd year of graduation and in August for the February exam. Candidates between 19-24 years of age at the time of examination can apply.
The candidate’s English language ability, general knowledge, science and mathematics are tested for admission to the IMA, AFA and Naval Academy. Those seeking admission to the OTA need to appear for English and General Knowledge papers alone. Each paper carries 100 marks and is of 2 hours duration. The weightage of marks is determined by the UPSC and vary from subject to subject.
The candidates qualifying the UPSC written exam are interviewed by the SSB to grade their place in the final list of successful candidates.
Though English is the preferred language in which the written examination and interviews are conducted success trends don’t suggest that English speaking urban candidates are at any advantage over their rural counterparts. What you speak is more important than how you speak, and that carries you through. The ‘how’ is what the academy undertakes to groom you for.
Another constituent of the CDSE is the personality test. This comprises:
Situation Reaction Test (SRT) Sixty situation questions will be provided and the candidate is required to solve them within 30 minutes.
Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT) A set of 12 pictures will be shown and the candidate will have to write a story in 36 minutes.
Word Association Test (WAT) Sixty words will be given and the candidate will have to make a sentence in 15 seconds for each word.
Group Test This is conducted among 8-10 candidates. The test consists of group planning, group discussion, outdoor group tasks and debates.
Physical Standards Medical officers of the SSB will hold a medical test to determine physical fitness.
A candidate who has stated Air Force as his first choice but fails to qualify the interview will be tested for other choices and recommended accordingly.
IMA and OTA
Candidates appearing for IMA have to appear in written exam for Mathematics, English and General Studies, whereas for OTA only English and General Studies are applicable. IMA candidates undergo 18 months and OTA candidates 11 months of training. At the end of the training both are given the rank of Lieutenant in the Army. IMA candidates get permanent commission whereas OTA candidates get Short Service Commission (SSC) for 10 years. After completing 10 years of service SSC officers can either leave the service, ask for extension of four more years or ask for Permanent Commission (PC). Those seeking extension or PC are screened by a board of officers and granted extension/PC, if found suitable.
5 Tips to crack CDSE
The UPSC exam is held in one day i.e. starting from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. You must get used to sitting on a chair all day through and concentrate as well. Therefore, train to enforce self discipline and be physically and psychologically fit to take on the exam. Select a suitable coaching centre which has 6-7 hours of teaching, if necessary.
Be thorough with the layout of the exam. Multiple-choice questions with negative marking is the current trend. Candidate should attempt those questions first which he is sure of and thereafter start with those where some doubts exist about the correct choice. Where not sure, it is better to leave the question unanswered. The candidates will get about a minute to answer each question. It would be advisable to practise old question papers to pick up speed and correctness.
The first paper is on General Knowledge, comprising 120 questions on History, Geography, Indian Polity, Current Affairs and General Science etc. The syllabus is very vast and candidates get confused about what and from where to study. Cull out relevant information from newspapers and magazines to sharpen general awareness.
English is the second paper where your knowledge of basic English grammar is tested. You will do well to revise your English grammar.
The Maths paper is set at the 9th or 10th level with 100 questions. A number of students who did not have maths at +2 level are wary of this paper and generally opt out.
So work hard now if you intend to party harder later.
By Col. Surinder Chhabra
(The author is Director, Cavalier Academy, New Delhi)
no suggestion which material hv 2 preferre,and what r d mistake of generel candidates………….
which tyep of book for cdse.
I m doing bsc it frm magadh university. and i want to join defence .
what book should be prefer for CDSE exam………..
i am student of second year in branch electronics and communicataion i want to join indian army and navy pls tell me which test i will crack or for which posts i will apply officers or soobedar.
hello sir
im doing my final year BCA.i want to join the prestigious indian army this year itself.sir although ive done some research about how to get into the army but yet i have some doubts.
1) can women get into IMA?or is it only restricted to men?
2)being a BCA student what all options do i have in the Indian Army?
3)and what is the career graph i mean what are the various posts that i can thrive for?
wish to see a reply
thank you
sheeja paulose
Sir,
I want to know what kind of topics are presented in GROUP DISCUSSIONS session and what type of questions are asked in INTERVIEW ROUNDS?
Please specify with example.
Also, I want to know what are the general mistakes the aspirants do during GD’s and PI’s.
As you are also an army officer, so please share your experience as well.
Thank You.
sir,
i am taking coaching for CDSE from a recognised coaching institute.But that coaching is only for clearing written paper, and i wanted to know about SSB step by step so that i can prepare for that too.
please if you could help me out.
thank you
i am student of third year in branch mechanical engineerig i want to join indian air force and navy pls tell me which test i can crack plz…… sir
jai hind sab, which is the best writer book for cdse in english and g.k paper. {Army OTA} Thanking you.
Sir,I am wearing spect.I am a B.E graduate.I want to join Indian Army.I am writing CDSE on sep19.Am I eligible for the test?please reply
Sir,
Please tell me which books i refer for CDSE maths paper.
jai hind sab, which is the best writer book for cdse in english and g.k paper. {Army OTA} Thanking you.
sir,
i am a student of BCA II year. and i want to join navy or air force but the eligiblity criteria of CDS is that only BSC and BE students can go for air force and navy. so what should i do ?
i want myself to work for my motherland and i want to join the defence services of india by hook or by crook…..waiting for your positive reply..thank you
Sir,
I am Doing BE Electronics & Communication.I have spects with power -0.5 for both eyes.I want to join technical branch mainly in airforce. May I get through?? And can I apply for the exam after my 2nd year in engineering??Waiting for your reply
Thanking you
Regards
Pooja
hello sir,
i have one question about the per question marks in GK and English exam.
is that 0.83 or 1 no. for one question
another question is : what is the comman cuttoff every year in CDSE to get SSb call
what book should be prefered for CDSE exam………..
i will definitely crack cds and would become a high ranking officer in ima..
Sir,i h’ve completed BSC & want 2 join army .What iz the best fr me?IMA or OTA Bt im weak in maths & best in GK.Which bk shld i read fr preparing english.
respected sir,
sir you are the director of Cavalier Academy, i wanted to know the branch here in pune is your’s or is it some other one.
hi sir i have be in cs in 2008 but i have not any job so pls tal me what i do
sir your website is very interesting but i m also know step by step process of ssb interview & how to prepare for us as well as plz tell me how many time will spend for prepare of cds written examination
tum logon ko koyi kaam nayi hai kya..bloody assholes..
Respected Sir,
I am doing MCA final year.I want to write to cdse exam. how can I prepare? and which books are use for prepare (mainly English and GK)? how much time need for prepare? pls tell me . thanking you..
Sir,
I have given CDSE two times but i was not able to clear this exam.
This time i am eligible for OTA only and I am very afraid that this time i will be able to clear this exam or not.
Sir please give me some name of books which i can prefer to clear OTA and also name of ANY COACHING to clear this exam.
sir,
i m b. pharm student. what the opportunities after my degree to join defence services.
Which books should preffer to crack cds exam
Jai hind sir,
i am AC(U\T) VINOD
My trade is communication technology. i want to become a commessioned officer.where preparation books are available and which type of books are good to prepare?
sir please give me suggetions on this comments
Jai hind sir,
i am ac(u\t) vinod
sir i want to become a commissioned officer.sir which type of books are i wil b prepared to crack the cdse and tell me the names of those books names?
i am in the first year of graduation.
sir please tell me the roadway to success.
i want to crack cds.
Respected Sir,
please give me guidence to clear CDS exam i hav done NCC also from Air wing. please help me i’ll be thankful to u
sir, i am a bcom graduate jalgaon maharashatra, want to be an army officer. needed by a proper guidence. thank u for info privided.
CDSE BY A.K. Malhotra
Sir,i have to know the physical standard required to join IMA.
sir,
tell me about SRT
sir please give me the informations about the best coaching institute for cdse in allahabad and delhi.
I am engineering student.
please give me your guidence to clear
cdse exam and details regarding to books that have to refer.
azad
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