CDS 2026 Exam Syllabus
Combined Defence Services Exam for recruitment into the Indian Military Academy, Officers Training Academy, Indian Naval Academy and Indian Air Force Academy requires cadets with hard-headed and expedient caliber. An intense and pragmatic CDS syllabus designed at each step for the most suitable and fitted selection procedure in CDS Written Exam. CDS syllabus broadly divided into three subjects: English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics. The standard of the syllabus for Elementary Mathematics will be of matriculation level and for other subjects will be of graduation level.
For Admission to Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy and Air Force Academy:—
| Subject |
| English |
| General Knowledge |
| Elementary Mathematics |
For Admission to Officers’ Training Academy :—
| Subject |
| English |
| General Knowledge |
CDS Syllabus for English Language
The questions in this section designed to test the candidate’s understanding of English and work man like use of words. Questions in the sections basically asked from the following topics:
| Antonyms | Sentence improvement | Comprehension |
| Synonyms | Word substitution | Ordering of sentences |
| Spotting Errors | Selecting Words | Ordering of words in a sentence |
CDS Syllabus for General Knowledge
The General Knowledge section tests a candidate’s knowledge regarding the current events. Topics included in the General Knowledge section given below.
| Economics | Physics | Current Awareness |
| Politics | Chemistry | Sociology |
| History | Defense | Award |
| Geography | Environment | Sport |
| Biology | Cultural | Book |
| Statement true/false | — | — |
Note:Candidates need to read the newspapers regularly in order to keep themselves updated with the recent events.
CDS Syllabus for Elementary Mathematics
ARITHMETIC
S. NO. | CHAPTER | S. NO. | CHAPTER |
1 | NUMBER SYSTEM | 9 | PROFIT AND LOSS |
2 | FUNDAMENTAL OPERATIONS ADDITION, SUBTRACTION, MULTIPLICATION, DIVISION, SQUARE ROOTS, DECIMAL FRACTIONS. | 10 | RATIO AND PROPORTION |
3 | UNITARY METHOD | 11 | VARIATION
|
4 | TIME AND DISTANCE | 12 | ELEMENTARY NUMBER THEORY—DIVISION ALGORITHM
|
5 | TIME AND WORK | 13 | PRIME AND COMPOSITE NUMBERS
|
6 | PERCENTAGES | 14 | TESTS OF DIVISIBILITY BY 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 AND 11
|
7 | APPLICATIONS TO SIMPLE AND COMPOUND INTEREST | 15 | MULTIPLES AND FACTORS
|
8 | H.C.F. AND L.C.M. EUCLIDEAN ALGORITHM
| 16 | LOGARITHMS TO BASE 10, LAWS OF LOGARITHMS, USE OF LOGARITHMIC TABLE
|
ALGEBRA
S.NO. | CHAPTER | S.NO. | CHAPTER |
1 | Basic Operations | 7 | Simple Factors |
2 | Remainder Theorem | 8 | H.C.F. and L.C.M. |
3 | Theory of polynomials | 9 | Solutions Of Quadratic Equations, Relation Between Its Roots And Coefficients Only Real Roots To Be Considered |
4 | Simultaneous linear equations in two unknowns | 10 | Simultaneous linear in equations in two variables |
5 | Practical problems leading to two simultaneous linear equations or in equations in two variables or quadratic equations in one variable & their solutions
| 11 | Set Language And Set Notation |
6 | Rational expressions and conditional identities | 12 | Laws Of Indices
|
TRIGONOMETRY
S.NO. | CHAPTER | S.NO. | CHAPTER |
1 | Sine ×, cosine ×
| 4 | Tangent × when 0° < × < 90°
|
2 | Values of sin ×, cos × and tan ×, for × = 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90°
| 5 | Simple Trigonometric Identities
|
3 | Use Of Trigonometric Tables
| 6 | Simple Cases Of Heights And Distances
|
GEOMETRY
S. No. | Chapter | S. No. | Chapter |
Lines And Angles, Plane And Plane Figures, Theorems On | |||
1 | Properties Of Angles At A Point
| 4 | Congruency Of Triangles
|
2 | Sides And Angles Of A Triangle
| 5 | Similar Triangles
|
3 | Parallel Lines
| 6 | Concurrence Of Medians And Altitudes
|
7 | Properties Of Angles, Sides And Diagonals Of A Parallelogram, Rectangle And Square
| 8 | Circles And Its Properties Including Tangents And Normal
|
9 | Loci
| – | – |
MENSURATION
S. No. | Chapter | S. No. | Chapter |
1 | Areas Of Squares, Rectangles | 5 | Parallelograms, Triangle And Circle |
2 | Areas Of Figures Which Can Be Split Up Into These Figures (Field Book) | 6 | Volume Of Right Circular Cones And Cylinders |
3 | Surface Area And Volume Of Cuboids | 7 | Surface Area And Volume Of Spheres |
4 | Lateral Surface | – | – |
STATISTICS
S. No. | Chapter | S. No. | Chapter |
1 | Collection and tabulation of statistical data | 2 | Graphical representation frequency polygons |
3 | Histograms, bar charts, pie charts etc. | 4 | Measures of central tendency |
