UPSC & Civil Services · Government Exams

NDA Exam Pattern

Every figure here is from the NDA and NA Examination 2026 notifications.

NDA · checked 19 September 2026

The dates, vacancies and rules below are read on the conducting body’s own site and rewritten as each notice appears. The guide beneath carries the full pattern, syllabus, cut-offs and free mock tests.

Free NDA mock test NDA syllabus Today’s current affairs

19September 2026

Checked 19 September 2026

NDA: the facts that matter now

01
NDA I: exam 12 April 2026, written result 8 May. NDA II: notified 20 May, applications to 9 June, exam 13 September 2026; result due about eight…
2026 cycles
02
Union Public Service Commission twice a year — NDA and NA Examination (I) and (II) — for the National Defence Academy and the Indian Naval Academy…
Conducted by
03
394 per cycle — Army 208, Navy 42, Air Force 120 (Flying 92, Ground Duty Technical 18, Non-Technical 10), Naval Academy 24; 24 of them for women
Vacancies
04
Unmarried men and women; class 12 (with physics, chemistry and mathematics for the Navy, Air Force and Naval Academy); born 1 January 2008 – 1…
Eligibility

Pattern

NDA — NDA exam pattern 2026: Mathematics, General Ability Test, negative marking and the SSB

The NDA examination has a written stage of two objective papers worth 900 marks and an SSB interview worth another 900; the two are added for the final merit. The written papers are one day, with Mathematics in the morning and the General Ability Test in the afternoon.

Written examination. Objective; OMR; one third of the marks of a question deducted per wrong answer.
Paper	Questions	Marks per question	Marks	Time
Mathematics	120	2.5	300	2 hours 30 minutes
General Ability Test — Part A English	50	4	200	2 hours 30 minutes for both parts
General Ability Test — Part B General Knowledge	100	4	400
Total	270		900

General Knowledge (Part B) section weights.
Section	Share of Part B	Approximate marks
Physics	25%	100
Chemistry	15%	60
General Science	10%	40
History, freedom movement	20%	80
Geography	20%	80
Current events	10%	40

How the written stage is used

Minimum in each paper and an aggregate cut-off — Fixed by the Commission; candidates above both are declared qualified for the SSB in a roll-number list.
Marks are not published until the final result — Written marks, SSB marks and cut-offs appear after the final merit list.
Men and women — Separate written results and merit lists against the vacancies notified for each.

SSB interview — 900 marks over five days at a Selection Centre.
Stage	Content
Stage I (day 1)	Officer Intelligence Rating tests; Picture Perception and Description Test; screening on the combination
Stage II (days 2–5)	Psychology tests (TAT, WAT, SRT, self-description), Group Testing Officer tasks (group discussion, planning exercise, obstacles, command task), the interview, and the conference
Air Force candidates	Computerised Pilot Selection System after recommendation; one attempt in a lifetime

NDA syllabus for Mathematics and the GAT Free NDA mock tests on the 2026 pattern NDA previous year papers

Exam resources