NDA, CDS Exam Schedule 2026 Out; UPSC Releases Dates

• UPSC announces NDA, NA and CDS 2026 examination schedule; all three defence entrance exams to be conducted on April 12, 2026.
• NDA/NA exams include Mathematics and GAT papers, objective format, bilingual, totaling 900 marks, held in two shifts.
• CDS exam conducted in three shifts with English, General Knowledge and Mathematics papers; qualifiers advance to SSB interview stage.

The Union Public Service Commission has come up with the date sheet for conducting the National Defence Academy/Naval Academy examination as well as the Combined Defence Services examination in 2026.

Those who are going to appear in this prestigious entrance exam need to know that all three exams are going to be conducted on April 12, 2026.

Both NDA/NA Examinations will be held in the same day. There will be two papers; Paper 1 Mathematics (10am to 12:30pm) and Paper 2 General Ability Test (GAT) (2pm until 4:30pm). The format of the two papers will be objective-type questions and the language of the questions will be English and Hindi.

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 The Mathematics Paper consists of 300 Marks and the GAT consists of 600 Marks. The Maximum Marks for the Written Examination will be 900.

On the same day, CDS exams will be held in three different sessions. The English paper will be held from 9:00 to 11:00 AM, and the General Knowledge paper will be held from 12:30 to 2:30 PM.

 The last paper will be Elementary Mathematics, which will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 PM. The CDS papers will carry 100 marks and will be objective type. The General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics papers will be in English and Hindi.

The candidates who manage to qualify for the written selections of NDA, NA, and CDS will then be selected for the interview for the Services Selection Board (SSB). Candidates are advised to go through the pattern of the exam and then prepare for the same.