Notes
CDS — Study material for this exam
Because English and general knowledge appear in every CDS entry and carry the whole of the OTA written examination, they deserve the largest share of study time for most candidates. Within general knowledge, the defence-specific content is worth building deliberately from past papers and defence news, since standard study material does not cover it.
A daily routine
- Thirty minutes of English — grammar rules and a running vocabulary list.
- Thirty minutes of general knowledge, rotating between static themes and current events.
- A defence news source followed regularly, for the awareness seam.
- Mathematics practice timed, if you are sitting the three-paper set.
- Physical training on most days.
- English — the common paper
- Grammar rules as a short, stable set, plus a running vocabulary list built from past papers. Comprehension speed built by reading a passage a day. A hundred marks in every entry and the most predictable return in the examination.
- General Knowledge — the wide paper
- Polity, modern history, geography, economy and general science at general level, kept as themed lists for quick revision rather than as continuous reading. Add a defence awareness list, which nothing else on your shelf will cover.
- Elementary Mathematics — for three of the four entries
- Arithmetic, elementary algebra, geometry, mensuration and basic trigonometry at class 10 level. Practise for speed rather than for difficulty; the material itself will not stretch a graduate.
- Current affairs — with a defence emphasis
- A general news habit covers the standard current events questions. Following defence and security news specifically covers the seam that most candidates leave entirely unprepared.
The overlap with other examinations is worth exploiting deliberately. CDS English and general knowledge sit close enough to SSC and other UPSC papers that material prepared for one serves the others with little modification, and candidates sitting several examinations in a year should maintain a single set of notes rather than parallel ones. The only genuinely CDS-specific document you need is the defence awareness list.
One defence news source, followed regularly
Twenty minutes a week with a reliable defence news source, with anything new added to your list, is enough to keep the awareness strand current. The aim is not comprehensive coverage of every development but familiarity with the systems, organisations, exercises and programmes that recur — which is exactly what the paper asks about.
Reading for a graduate-entry defence examination.| Paper | Read this | Do not spend time on |
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| English | Grammar applied through practice, comprehension at pace, and vocabulary from sustained reading. It is a full paper here. | Treating it as a section rather than a paper. |
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| General knowledge | History, geography, polity, economy, general science and current affairs, with a defence and international-relations layer. | Depth in one subject; the paper is broad and single-fact. |
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| Elementary mathematics | School arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, mensuration and statistics — set at school level and required only for the academies where it applies. | Preparing mathematics for an entry that does not examine it. Check which papers your chosen academy requires. |
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| Defence and current affairs | One reliable defence news source, followed regularly, plus national and international current affairs. | Accumulating defence trivia without the policy and institutional context questions are built on. |
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| Selection board and medical | The board process and the medical standards, read early from official sources. | Deferring physical and medical preparation until after the written result. |
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