What is NDA?

The National Defence Academy (NDA) exam is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The exam is conducted for the recruitment of individuals in the Army, Navy and Air Force Wings of NDA.

• The NDA Exam is conducted twice a year.
• The exam is conducted in two stages, stage one is the written exam and stage two is the interview.
• The written exam is conducted in two meetings, one for GAT and the other for Mathematics.
• The training period after the selection is 3 years.

First, the candidate must clear the written exam, then they are called for an SSB interview, those who clear the interview must go through a thorough medical check-up based on the standards set by the board.
Finally, a merit list is released with the names of the recommended candidates. Marks of all the stages are added up, only those who clear get mentioned and called for training.
 

NDA Highlights

The key points of the NDA Exam are as follows

NDA Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria are a crucial part of the NDA exam and are discussed below in detail.
NDA Eligibility Criteria: Nationality

The candidates have to be one of the following to be eligible for the NDA exam.

• Indian citizen
   
• A subject of Nepal or Bhutan
• A Tibetan refugee who came to India before January 1st, 1962 with an intention of permanently settling in India.
• Individuals of Indian origin who have migrated from the countries - Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, and East African countries - Kenya, Uganda, The United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire and Ethiopia or Vietnam with an intention of permanent settlement.

The certificate of eligibility must be issued by the Government of India to all foreign nationals. However, it is not necessary to be produced by the Gorkha subjects of Nepal.
 

NDA Eligibility Criteria: Marital Status

• Both male and female candidates must be unmarried throughout the selection process as well as till the training is completed.

• If a candidate marries before training, they will not be selected.

• If a candidate marries during training, he/she will be discharged and liable to pay all the expenditure incurred on him/her during the training by the government.
   

NDA Eligibility Criteria: Educational Qualification

• Candidates who are 12th class pass under the 10+2 pattern of education from any state board or equivalent examination are eligible for the Army wing of the National Defence Academy.

• For the Air Force and Naval Wings of National Defence Academy, candidates must have a 12th pass with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics or appear in one of a 10+2 pattern of school education from any state board or equivalent.

NDA Age Limit and Relaxation

• For the NDA 1st Notification, the candidates who are born not before July 02, 2003, and not after July 01, 2006, are eligible.
• For the NDA 2nd Notification, the candidates born between January 02, 2004, and January 01, 2007, are eligible.
• The candidate must write the date of birth as mentioned in the matriculation certificate, secondary school leaving certificate, or any other equivalent certification recognised by the Indian University. No other document for proof of date of birth will be accepted by the commission.
   

Physical Standards

The National Defence Academy (NDA) exam is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The exam is conducted for the recruitment of individuals in the Army, Navy and Air Force Wings of NDA.

• The NDA Exam is conducted twice a year.
• The exam is conducted in two stages, stage one is the written exam and stage two is the interview.
• The written exam is conducted in two meetings, one for GAT and the other for Mathematics.
• The training period after the selection is 3 years.

First, the candidate must clear the written exam, then they are called for an SSB interview, those who clear the interview must go through a thorough medical check-up based on the standards set by the board.
Finally, a merit list is released with the names of the recommended candidates. Marks of all the stages are added up, only those who clear get mentioned and called for training.
 

NDA Application Fee

• After filling the application form, the candidate needs to pay the application fees online.
• The application fee for the NDA Exam is INR 100.
• SC and ST candidates are exempted from paying the application fees.
   

NDA Exam Pattern

The National Defence Academy (NDA) exam is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The exam is conducted for the recruitment of individuals in the Army, Navy and Air Force Wings of NDA.

• The NDA Exam is conducted twice a year.
• The exam is conducted in two stages, stage one is the written exam and stage two is the interview.
• The written exam is conducted in two meetings, one for GAT and the other for Mathematics.
• The training period after the selection is 3 years.

First, the candidate must clear the written exam, then they are called for an SSB interview, those who clear the interview must go through a thorough medical check-up based on the standards set by the board.
Finally, a merit list is released with the names of the recommended candidates. Marks of all the stages are added up, only those who clear get mentioned and called for training.
 

NDA Syllabus

The candidates preparing for the NDA exam must be thoroughly clear with the exam syllabus. The NDA Exam is one of the most competitive exams in the country.
The section-wise syllabus for the NDA Exam is given below.
 

NDA Mathematics Syllabus

The syllabus for the NDA Mathematics section is as follows.
 

NDA General Ability Test (GAT) Syllabus

The exam syllabus for the various sections in the NDA General Ability Test (GAT) is tabulated below: 

NDA Application Process

The candidates have to fill their application forms on the website of UPSC. The NDA Application Process is completely online. The NDA application has 2 parts- Part I and Part II. The candidates must fill the application form well within the stipulated time before the link gets deactivated.

The steps to fill the NDA Application Form are as follows.

• Step 1: Visit the official website of UPSC at upsc.gov.in.
• Step 2: Click on “ONLINE APPLICATION FOR VARIOUS EXAMINATIONS OF UPSC”.
• Step 3: Click on “Click Here for PART I” and read the instructions carefully and click on “Yes”.
• Step 4: On page 1 fill in the details such as name, gender, date of birth, parents’ name, nationality, etc., and click on “continue”.
• Step 5: On page 2, select the options and mark them between 1 to 4 or mark ‘0’ if you do not want to give any preference. Those who are from Sainik /Military School or Son of JCO/NCO/Other Rank Officer must fill pages 3 & page 4.
• Step 6: Pay the application fees via any online payment mode at your convenience.
• Step 7: Select the examination centre and upload a Photograph and Signature.
• Step 8: Download the application form and take a printed copy for future reference.
   

NDA Selection Process

The NDA Selection Process involves two stages. 
Stage-1 is the written examination and 
stage-2 is the SSB interview stage. 
The complete recruitment process in the NDA exam is judged based on marks scored out of 900 collectively in both stages of recruitment.
After the declaration of NDA Results 2022, qualified candidates will have to register themselves at www.joinindianarmy.nic.in within two weeks. Allotment of selection centres and dates will then be notified on the registered email ID.
NDA Selection Process: SSB Interview
SSB Interview comprises two stages- Stage 1 (OIR and PPDT) and Stage 2- (Interview, Group Tasks, Psychology Test, and Conference). After stage 2 is completed, a final merit list is generated by the UPSC for the final recruited candidates. The SSB Interview is elaborated in detail below.

NDA Selection Process: NDA Document Verification

After the personal interview round, the eligible candidates will have to appear for the document verification round. The qualified candidates must bring the required original documents to the Services Selection Centre (SSC).

• Qualification Certificate

• Proof of Identity (Pan card, Voter ID, Aadhar Card, etc.)

• Birth Certificate

• Passport Size Photographs

• Category certificate for the Reserved category candidates

• Proof of Residence

 NDA Selection Process: NDA Medical Examination

• After the written exam and SSB selection, the scores of both the stages are combined and the final selection will be based on the medical standards and the merit-cum preference list.
• The physical standards are different for each service wing, which includes height dimensions, eyesight, dental health, internal organs functioning, respiratory system, and other physical and internal check-ups are done.
• The medical test is the final stage of the selection process. The candidates are suggested to get tested before the actual medical test to avoid disappointment at the last stage.
• The medical board may and can dismiss temporarily or permanently a candidate as unfit, if not up to the standards set by the board.

NDA Notification 2022

The official notification for the NDA 1 exam 2022 has been released on the official website of UPSC. The key details such as the application process, important dates, and vacancies are announced in the official notification.
 

NDA DATE 2022

The NDA Exam Dates 2022 have been announced. Given below are the exam dates for both phases of the NDA Exam
 

NDA 2022 Vacancy Details

The number of vacancies for the NDA 2022 is 400  vacancies that have been announced for the various wings of the Indian army. However, this is an approximate number of vacancies and thus are subject to changes.  The breakdown of the vacancies announced for the year 2022 is tabulated below. 
 

NDA Admit Card

UPSC releases the NDA Admit Card on the official website three weeks prior to the exam. The NDA Admit card bears the exam related details like the student’s name, roll number, exam centre, exam date & timing, etc. The candidates will not be permitted to appear in the examination without their admit card.

How to download NDA Admit Card?
The steps to download the NDA Admit Card are as follows.

• Visit the official website of UPSC.
• Search and click on the link ‘Download NDA Admit Card 2022’.
• You will be redirected to an instruction page, read it carefully and agree to the terms and conditions.
• Another page will open with options for Roll number or Registration number, choose either and in the text, box fill in your date of birth.
• Also, a CAPTCHA image will appear, enter the image that you see. Click on submit.
• A soft copy of your NDA Admit card will appear.
• Click on print and download the admit card.
   

NDA Exam Centres

The NDA exam is conducted in multiple states and the candidates are allotted centres according to the preferences they fill in the application form.

• The allotment of centres is done on a first-apply-first-allot basis.
• If the desired centres are not allotted due to full capacity at some of the centres, the candidate must choose another centre.

The exam centres have limited seats, for which candidates are advised to apply early to get their preferred exam centre.

NDA 2022 Exam Pattern

• The NDA exam is conducted in two sessions. There will be two papers in the NDA exam Mathematics and General Ability Test (GAT).
• The exam is conducted in an objective pattern. The questions are provided in both English and Hindi.
• 2.5 hours will be given for each exam.
• Paper 1 has 120 questions and is of 300 marks. The first exam starts at 10 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. One can refer to the syllabus section for the distribution of topics.
• Paper 2 has 150 questions and is of 600 marks. The second exam starts at 2 p.m. till 4:30 p.m.
   

NDA Exam Pattern is tabulated below in detail.
 

NDA Results 2022

The NDA Results are declared within a period of a month and a half (tentative). The candidates are advised to keep checking the updates on the result on the official website.
The selected candidates are to visit the respective websites to register themselves willing for the next stage of selection i.e., SSB interview within a span of 20 days of the declaration of the result.
The SSB results including the medical result and final merit list, are declared within a span of 40 days.
 

How to check NDA Results?
The steps to check the NDA Results are given below.

• Go to the official website of UPSC.
• On the homepage search bar, type the name of the exam and click on it.
• On the next page, enter your roll number and the captcha image code and click submit.
• Next, the result will open, and you can take a printout or save a soft copy.

NDA Expected Cut-off

• The candidates need to clear the NDA Written exam to appear for the next round of selection, i.e, SSB Interview. The candidates must score the minimum qualifying marks to move to the next round.
• The NDA cut-off depends on many factors like the difficulty level of the paper, the number of candidates who appeared, the category of the candidates, etc.
• The expected cut-off for the written exam is bound to fluctuate.
   

Given below is the NDA Previous Years’ Cut-offs to give the candidates an idea about the minimum qualifying marks:
 

On passing out from the National Defence Academy, the cadets go to the respective training academies. The Army cadets go to the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun; the Naval Cadets go to the Indian Naval Academy in Ezhimala, and Airforce cadets go to the Air Force Academy in Hyderabad and Air Force Technical College in Bengaluru for the Non-Technical ground duty and Technical ground duty respectively.

List of Few NDA Books for Reference

To prepare effectively for the NDA Exam one must have several good books handy. NDA books will help the candidates focus better on the subject matter at hand and ultimately score more marks in the exam.
The section-wise NDA books for exam preparation are given below: