UPSC CDS 2026: Notification, Vacancy, Syllabus, Cut Off, Result

UPSC CDS (Combined Defence Services Examination) is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission to recruit for Officer entry to the Indian Military Academy Dehradun, the Indian Naval Academy Ezhimala, the Air Force Academy Hyderabad and the Officers' Training Academy Chennai. The CDS (II) 2026 notification declares 451 across the four academies, including 275 for the 126th SSC (Men) course and 18 for the 126th SSC (Women) course at OTA Chennai.

UPSC CDS selection process

1. Written Examination
2. SSB Interview — Stage I screening and Stage II testing
3. Medical examination and merit list

UPSC CDS selection runs through the stages below, each of which must be cleared in sequence.

1. Written Examination
2. SSB Interview — Stage I screening and Stage II testing
3. Medical examination and merit list

Exam pattern by stage

Document verification

UPSC verifies eligibility against original documents only after a candidate has qualified for the Interview or Personality Test. Until that point, admission to every stage is purely provisional — the issue of an e-Admit Card does not mean your candidature has been cleared. A candidate can therefore sit and clear a paper and still be found ineligible later.

Final merit

Merit is prepared from the marks that count for this examination, and posts are allotted by merit-cum-preference against the confirmed vacancies. Ties are broken by rules published by the Commission — typically the marks in the compulsory papers, and where those are equal, seniority in age.

UPSC CDS exam pattern

Total marks

IMA, INA and AFA: written 300 marks + SSB 300 marks. OTA: written 200 marks + SSB 200 marks.

Negative marking

Yes — one third of the marks assigned to a question is deducted for each wrong answer.

UPSC does not normalise marks

This is the single most common misconception carried over from SSC. UPSC conducts each paper in one sitting with one question paper, so there are no shifts to equate and no normalisation formula. A published UPSC cut off is a raw mark you could actually have scored on the paper — which is why the figures are clean numbers rather than five-decimal scores.

What is next for UPSC CDS

CDS (II) 2026 was held on 13 September 2026, on the same day as NDA & NA (II) 2026, and the written result was declared on 19 October 2026 — 8,956 candidates qualified for the SSB interview. The CDS (I) 2027 notification is due on 2 December 2026 for an examination on 11 April 2027.

CDS Eligibility

UPSC CDS eligibility requires the following. A degree from a recognised university for the IMA and OTA. For the Indian Naval Academy, a degree in Engineering. For the Air Force Academy, a degree with Physics and Mathematics at 10+2, or a degree in Engineering. The age limit for CDS (II) 2026 varies by academy — 19 to 24 years for the IMA and INA (born between 1 July 2003 and 1 July 2008), 20 to 24 years as on 1 July 2027 for the Air Force Academy (born between 1 July 2003 and 1 July 2007; up to 26 years for holders of a valid DGCA Commercial Pilot Licence), and 19 to 25 years for the OTA short service commission courses (born between 1 July 2002 and 1 July 2008). IMA, INA and OTA candidates must be unmarried (the OTA women's course also admits issueless widows and divorcees who have not remarried); at the Air Force Academy only candidates below 25 must be unmarried.

Educational qualification

A degree from a recognised university for the IMA and OTA. For the Indian Naval Academy, a degree in Engineering. For the Air Force Academy, a degree with Physics and Mathematics at 10+2, or a degree in Engineering.

Age limit

For CDS (II) 2026 the limit varies by academy — 19 to 24 years for the IMA and INA (born between 1 July 2003 and 1 July 2008), 20 to 24 years as on 1 July 2027 for the Air Force Academy (born between 1 July 2003 and 1 July 2007; up to 26 years for holders of a valid DGCA Commercial Pilot Licence), and 19 to 25 years for the OTA short service commission courses (born between 1 July 2002 and 1 July 2008). IMA, INA and OTA candidates must be unmarried (the OTA women's course also admits issueless widows and divorcees who have not remarried); at the Air Force Academy only candidates below 25 must be unmarried.

Age relaxation

The CDS notice provides no category-wise relaxation of these limits. The only extension is for Air Force Academy candidates holding a valid DGCA Commercial Pilot Licence, who may be up to 26 years old.

Number of attempts

No limit on attempts within the age window.

Nationality

A candidate must be a citizen of India, or fall within the other categories of nationality set out in the Examination Notice — which for most services include subjects of Nepal and Bhutan, Tibetan refugees who came to India before 1 January 1962, and persons of Indian origin who have migrated from certain countries with the intention of permanently settling in India.

CDS Application Form

UPSC CDS applications are submitted online at upsconline.nic.in. Since 2025 UPSC uses a four-module portal, and three of those modules can be completed before the notification is even published.

Important dates — CDS (II) 2026

Application fee

₹200. Female candidates and SC / ST candidates are exempted.

The URN and the Common Application Form

UPSC issues every candidate a Universal Registration Number (URN), which is registered once in a lifetime and is common to every UPSC examination. The Application Number, by contrast, is generated per examination and changes each time. Keep both — UPSC asks for them in any future correspondence.

How to apply

1. Create an account on upsconline.nic.in.
2. Complete Universal Registration to generate your URN. This can be done at any time — you do not need to wait for a notification.
3. Fill the Common Application Form (CAF) with your personal details, qualification and category, and upload the supporting documents. A live photograph must be captured at this stage in addition to the uploaded photo.
4. Open the examination-specific module during the application window, choose your centre and options, pay the fee and submit.

UPSC advises using an Aadhaar card as the identity document, because it verifies automatically and avoids manual checks later.

Correcting your application

UPSC provides a one-time facility to update the URN profile. Changes made to the profile do not flow back into applications already submitted — they apply only to applications made after the profile is re-locked. This catches people out every cycle.

CDS Vacancy

UPSC CDS vacancies for CDS (II) 2026: 451 across the four academies, including 275 for the 126th SSC (Men) course and 18 for the 126th SSC (Women) course at OTA Chennai.

Posts covered

Officer entry to the Indian Military Academy Dehradun, the Indian Naval Academy Ezhimala, the Air Force Academy Hyderabad and the Officers' Training Academy Chennai.

Pay

Stipend of ₹56,100 per month during training; on commissioning as Lieutenant, Pay Level 10 of the Defence Pay Matrix plus Military Service Pay of ₹15,500.

How UPSC announces vacancies

UPSC publishes an approximate vacancy figure in the Examination Notice and states in the same paragraph that the number is liable to alteration. The final figure is settled once the cadre controlling authorities confirm their requirements, which is usually after the Main Examination. The number in the notice is therefore an indication, not a commitment.

Reservation

Vacancies are reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, the Economically Weaker Sections and Persons with Benchmark Disability as fixed by the Government. The notice sets out the category-wise break-up, including the sub-categories of disability against which each PwBD vacancy is identified.

CDS Salary & Job Profile

UPSC CDS posts carry Stipend of ₹56,100 per month during training; on commissioning as Lieutenant, Pay Level 10 of the Defence Pay Matrix plus Military Service Pay of ₹15,500, plus Dearness Allowance, House Rent Allowance and Transport Allowance.

Posts and pay

Officer entry to the Indian Military Academy Dehradun, the Indian Naval Academy Ezhimala, the Air Force Academy Hyderabad and the Officers' Training Academy Chennai.

Allowances

Because HRA and Transport Allowance are city-linked, two officers on identical basic pay take home noticeably different amounts — a metro posting pays more in allowances than a district posting, though the district posting usually comes with official accommodation and a vehicle.

Career progression

Promotion follows time scales fixed for the service, moving through Junior Time Scale, Senior Time Scale, Junior Administrative Grade, Selection Grade and above. The pay matrix levels rather than the entry salary are what make these posts competitive over a career.