CDS-1 2026 Paper Analysis and Expected Cut-Off Marks

The CDS-1 2026 exam is over, and now every aspirant is curious about how it went and the expected cut-off marks. Conducted by UPSC on 12th April 2026, the exam had three papers – English, General Knowledge, and Elementary Mathematics. At Centurion Defence Academy, one of India’s most trusted defence coaching institutes, we’ve analysed the exam in an easy-to-understand way.

CDS-1 2026 ANALYSIS OF ALL THREE PAPERS:

The examination titled CDS-1 2026 was completed successfully, and all those aspiring candidates are now eagerly waiting for information regarding their exam performance and what the cut-off mark should be for each subject. The examination took place on 12th April 2026 under the supervision of UPSC and had three sections: English, GK and Elementary Mathematics.

Paper	Total Questions	Difficult Questions	Secured Attempt
ENGLISH	120	Moderate	70-80 Questions
GK	120	Moderate	70-80 Questions
ELEMENTARY MATHS	100	Moderate	45-52 Questions

CDS-1 2026 ENGLISH PAPER ANALYSIS:

According to the CDS syllabus for the English paper, a total of 120 questions were distributed in the exam. See the table below to have an idea of the level of difficulty of the English paper in the CDS exam.

Topics in the English Section	Number of Questions		Difficulty Level	Easy Questions	Moderate Questions	Brain Busters (Difficult)
Prepositions and Determiners (Fillers)	10		Easy to Moderate	05	04	01
Spotting Errors	05		Easy	04	01
Usage of Paired Words	10		Easy	08	02
Antonyms	10		Easy (Mostly repeated ones)	07	02	01
Synonyms	10		Moderate	05	02	03
Idioms & Phrase	10		Moderate	04	04	02
Sentence Rearrangement (S1-S6)	10		Easy to Moderate	06	03	01
Word Matching	10		Moderate to Difficult	02	02	06
Comprehension Passage		05	Easy	05
Word Meaning	10		Moderate to Difficult	04	02	04
Parts of speech	10		Easy to Moderate	07	03
Sentence Co-relationship (S1-S2)	10		Moderate to Difficult (Confusing Options)	03	04	03
Similar-sounding words (Homophones)	10		Easy to Moderate	05	03	02

CDS-1 2026 GK PAPER ANALYSIS:

According to the syllabus, there were a total of 120 questions in the CDS-1 2026 General Knowledge paper. Here, you can have an idea about the difficulty level of the CDS GK paper and assess your performance.

Subjects	Sub-Section	Number of Questions	Difficulty Level	Easy Questions	Moderate Questions
History
Geography
Indian Geography
Polity & Governance
Economics
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Current Affairs
Static GK

CDS-1 2026 ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS ANALYSIS:

As we have already mentioned, the elementary mathematics paper is mandatory for those candidates who want to join the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Air Force Academy (AFA), or Indian Naval Academy (INA).

Here you can get a detailed analysis of the CDS-1 2026 mathematics paper.

Topics	No of Questions	Difficulty Level	Easy Questions	Moderate Questions	Brain Busters (Difficult)
Arithmetic	16	6	2	6	2
Algebra	20	9	2	5	4
Geometry	16	5	2	7	2
Trigonometry	14	5	0	7	2
Mensuration	16	8	1	5	2
Statistics	4	2	0	3	0
Number System	12	4	2	4	2

CDS-1 2026 WRITTEN EXAM EXPECTED CUT-OFF MARKS:

CDS aspirants are requested to note that the UPSC will release the CDS-1 2026 written exam cut-off score after the announcement of the final result.

However, based on the analysis of all three papers and the level of difficulty in questions, the approximate cut-off marks for the CDS-1 2026 written exam are as mentioned below:

ACADEMIES	CUT-OFF SCORE
IMA [INDIAN MILITARY ACADEMY]
INA [INDIAN NAVAL ACADEMY]
AFA [AIR FORCE ACADEMY]
OTA MEN
OTA WOMEN

CDS WRITTEN EXAM PREVIOUS YEARS’ CUT-OFF MARKS:

With the help of the previous years’ cut-off marks for CDS written exams, you can get an idea of the expected cut-off mark for the CDS-1 2026 exam. It will also help you realise the current trends of the CDS exam.

EXAM CYCLE	IMA	INA	AFA	OTA MEN	OTA WOMEN
CDS 1 2025	120	104	128	81	81
CDS 2 2024	117	90	126	81	81
CDS 1 2024	120	100	128	87	87
CDS 2 2023	127	110	136	104	104
CDS 1 2023	132	122	142	101	101
CDS 2 2022	126	118	136	98	98
CDS 1 2022	136	128	147	100	100
CDS 2 2021	138	132	148	102	102
CDS 1 2021	145	136	158	107	107
CDS 2 2020	139	134	152	97	97
CDS 1 2020	130	118	143	93	93
CDS 2 2019	134	122	148	95	95
CDS 1 2019	116	105	129	78	78
CDS 2 2018	116	102	131	80	80
CDS 1 2018	118	98	138	69	69

Centurion Defence Academy is known as the best defence exam coaching in India; Centurion is undoubtedly your first preference, irrespective of your aim to join NDA, CDS, AFCAT, MNS, and any other leading defence examinations due to its comprehensive coaching facility and up-to-date information.

In relation to CDS-1 2026, Centurion Defence Academy provides you with the correct answer keys to all three papers, including English, General Knowledge, and Elementary Mathematics. Stay informed about all important information regarding the dates of results, cutoff marks, SSB interview preparations and other relevant information by following Centurion Defence Academy.