UPSC NDA & NA

UPSC NDA & NA is the competitive entrance examination used to select candidates for pre-commission training leading to entry into the Army, Navy and Air Force wings of the National Defence Academy, and into the Indian Naval Academy under the 10+2 Cadet Entry Scheme. For NDA & NA (II), 2026, UPSC states that the examination is for the NDA’s 158th Course and the Indian Naval Academy’s 120th course, commencing in July 2027.

Written-exam success alone does not guarantee admission: candidates who qualify the written examination proceed to the SSB intelligence and personality test, and eligibility and original documents are verified at later stages.

• This is a defence-officer entry examination, not an undergraduate college-admission test.
• Service preferences matter: applicants must indicate at least one preference and are considered only for services they list in their application.
• Women candidates are eligible and UPSC explicitly encourages women to apply; selection and merit lists are prepared separately for men and women according to notified vacancies.

For the Army wing of NDA, the academic requirement is Class 12 (10+2) pass or an equivalent qualification from a state board or university. This makes the Army-wing route potentially available to students from Arts & Humanities, PCB, PCM and PCMB backgrounds, provided they meet all other cycle-specific conditions.

For the NDA Air Force and Naval wings, and for the Indian Naval Academy’s 10+2 Cadet Entry Scheme, Class 12 with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics (PCM) is required. In practical stream terms, PCM and PCMB meet this subject requirement; Arts/Humanities and PCB without Mathematics do not meet the stated PCM requirement for those options.

Class 12 candidates awaiting their final result may apply, but they must provide proof of passing by the date set in the notification. Students appearing in Class 11 are explicitly not eligible. Applicants must also meet nationality, unmarried-status, age, physical-fitness and medical standards specified for the relevant examination cycle.

• NDA & NA (II), 2026: unmarried male or female applicants born between January 1, 2008 and January 1, 2011 were eligible.
• Nationality is generally Indian citizenship; the notice also provides for specified Nepalese subjects and certain persons of Indian origin, subject to the stated certificate rules.
• Candidates must undertake not to marry until completing full training; marriage after applying or during training has consequences set out in the notice.
• Physical fitness is assessed against the notification’s medical and physical standards, including service-specific requirements.

The written examination is conducted in one day and has two objective-question papers: Mathematics for 300 marks and the General Ability Test (GAT) for 600 marks, each with 2½ hours. Mathematics and GAT Part B are bilingual in Hindi and English. UPSC applies negative marking for wrong answers, and calculators, mathematical tables and logarithmic tables are not permitted.

Candidates who clear the written stage undergo the SSB intelligence and personality test, also carrying 900 marks. The final process therefore evaluates academic aptitude through the written papers and officer potential through the SSB stage; candidates must also satisfy physical and medical standards.

For the September 13, 2026 NDA & NA (II) examination, UPSC notified approximately 394 vacancies, explicitly described as provisional and subject to training capacity. Vacancy counts and service distribution should always be treated as cycle-specific rather than assumed for future exams.

• Written: Mathematics — 300 marks; General Ability Test — 600 marks; total — 900 marks.
• SSB test/interview: 900 marks.
• OMR responses for NDA & NA (II), 2026 must be marked using a black ball pen.
• UPSC publishes official previous question papers, including Mathematics and GAT papers for NDA & NA (I), 2026.

Applications are submitted online through UPSC’s application portal. The 2026 notice describes four modules: account creation, Universal Registration Number (URN), Common Application Form (CAF), and the examination-specific module. The URN is created once and reused, while the application number changes for each examination.

Applicants should prepare identity, date-of-birth and educational-qualification information and supporting documents before applying. The notice requires an uploaded photograph, a live photo capture in the CAF, and a clear uploaded signature. A government-issued photo-ID detail is required for the URN profile and the same ID should be carried for the examination and SSB.

For NDA & NA (II), 2026, the stated examination fee was ₹100. SC, ST, female candidates, and eligible wards of serving or ex-JCOs/NCOs/Other Ranks were exempt; OBC and EWS candidates were not exempt under that notice. This fee and all deadlines are cycle-specific. The application deadline for that cycle—June 9, 2026, 6:00 p.m.—has passed as of July 19, 2026.

• Use the official portal only; UPSC states that no other application mode is allowed.
• Choose service preferences carefully: post-submission changes to preferences or other application fields are not permitted for NDA & NA (II), 2026.
• Download the e-admit card from the UPSC portal when issued; it is not sent by post or email.
• Check the next official UPSC NDA & NA notification for future-cycle dates, fees, age dates, vacancies and document requirements.

Build preparation around the official syllabus and the two-paper structure. Mathematics includes higher-secondary topics such as algebra, matrices and determinants, trigonometry, analytical geometry, differential and integral calculus, vector algebra, statistics and probability. The GAT covers English and broader general-ability content specified in the UPSC notice.

Use UPSC’s official previous-year Mathematics and GAT papers under timed conditions, then review errors and accuracy. This is particularly important because the papers are objective type and wrong answers attract negative marking.

Written-exam preparation should be accompanied by sustained fitness, communication and leadership development for the SSB and by early review of medical/physical standards. Coaching is not an official requirement; candidates should rely first on the current UPSC notice, syllabus and official question papers.

• Prioritise Class 11–12 mathematics mastery even if applying only for the Army wing, because the written Mathematics paper is common to the exam.
• Practise GAT English, science, social studies, current-awareness and reasoning areas against the current official syllabus.
• Simulate both 2½-hour papers and practise careful OMR marking with the permitted black ball pen.
• Read the medical and physical-standards appendix before investing heavily in the attempt, especially if targeting Flying or other service-specific options.

Selected candidates undertake integrated academic, military, outdoor and leadership training at NDA. The National Defence Academy describes its programme as three years across six terms, after which cadets receive a Jawaharlal Nehru University degree. Army cadets then proceed to the Indian Military Academy, Naval cadets to the Indian Naval Academy, and Air Force cadets to the Air Force Academy for further pre-commission training before commissioning.

The degree path is service- and allocation-dependent rather than a direct choice among ordinary college programmes. NDA’s published joining instructions state that Naval, Air Force Flying and Air Force Ground Duty (Technical) cadets study the B.Tech curriculum. Army cadets are allocated Science, Computer Science or Social Science streams based on Class 12 Physics/Mathematics performance and seat availability; eligible Army cadets may be classified into the B.Sc. Science stream, while others join Social Science. Therefore, this node should not be read as a direct route to a generic BBA programme.

Training and eventual commissioning remain conditional: clearing the written exam does not itself confer a right to admission, and candidates must satisfy SSB, documentation, medical and other prescribed requirements.

• NDA phase: three years of joint academic and military training.
• Post-NDA training: service-specific academy training before commissioning.
• Academic outcome: a JNU degree after successful NDA course completion, with course/stream determined by service and allocation rules.
• Career outcome: commissioned-officer entry in the allocated Indian Armed Forces service, subject to successful completion of the required training.