CDS Cut Off

The UPSC CDS cut off is the mark secured by the last recommended candidate in each category, published by UPSC as a "minimum qualifying marks" notice after the final result. Download the official cut-off notices below — 15 PDFS, straight from UPSC.

How to read these numbers

CDS cut offs are published separately for each academy, because the OTA paper set excludes Elementary Mathematics and is marked out of 200 rather than 300. Compare like with like: an OTA cut off cannot be read against an IMA cut off.

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 moves the cut off

• the number of vacancies finally confirmed by the cadre controlling authorities
• the number of candidates who appeared
• the difficulty of the paper that year
• category-wise reservation

The qualifying floor is separate from the cut off

Do not confuse the two. Clearing the minimum qualifying marks in an individual paper does not shortlist you — you must also reach the cut off for your category, which is usually far higher. Both conditions apply together.