The Union Public Service Commission was activated the UPSC CDS 1 application form 2026 from December 10 to December 30, 2025. Earlier the commission released the UPSC CDS 2026 notification on December 10, 2025, at upsc.gov.in/upsconline.nic.in. The UPSC CDS 1 application form 2026 link has been activated along with the notification on the same day. The commission announced the UPSC CDS 1 exam date 2026 on the official website. As per the notification, the UPSC CDS 2026 exam date for CDS 1 is April 12, 2026. In the UPSC CDS exam date notice, the exam is only conducted for one day.
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Candidates are recommended to check the website often to know about the latest CDS 2026 exam dates. Interested candidates can check their eligibility before applying for the UPSC CDS exam. The CDS 1 exam will be conducted across the country at various exam centres. The CDS exam 2026 will be conducted in offline mode. Check all the latest updates related to the CDS 1 exam dates in this article below.
UPSC announced the CDS 1 2026 exam dates on their official website. To know more about the CDS exam date 2026, check the table below.
CDS 2026 Events | CDS 1 2026 Exam dates |
CDS Notification 2026 | December 10, 2025 |
CDS 2026 Application Form date | December 10, 2025 |
Last date for CDS Application Form | December 10, 2025 |
| CDS application form correction facility | TBA |
CDS1 2026 admit card release date | TBA |
CDS 1 2026 Exam date | April 12, 2026 |
| CDS 1 result date | TBA |
CDS 2026 Events | CDS 2 2026 Exam dates |
CDS Notification 2026 | May 20, 2026 |
CDS 2026 Application Form date | May 20, 2026 |
Last date for CDS Application Form | June 9, 2026 |
| CDS application form correction facility | TBA |
CDS2 2026 admit card release date | TBA |
CDS 22026 Exam date | September 13, 2026 |
| CDS 2 result date | TBA |
Quick Links: CDS Eligibility Criteria 2026
| Date | Time | Subject |
| April 12, 2026 | 9:00 AM TO 11:00 AM | ENGLISH |
| 12:30 PM to 02:30 PM | GENERAL KNOWLEDGE | |
| 04:00 PM TO 06:00 PM | ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS |
Yes, the CDS exam is held twice a year by the UPSC with the goal of recruiting candidates into various departments in the Defence Services. In 2026, the CDS 1 will be held on April 12, 2026, and CDS 2 is going to be held on September 13, 2026. The notification for CDS 1 was released on December 10, 2025, and the CDS 2 notification 2026 will be released on May 20, 2026. Candidates are advised to go through the notification for the CDS exam they wish to attempt for a comprehensive look at details related to the examination.
The Union Public Service Commission released the CDS 1 notification 2026 on December 10, 2025 at upsc.gov.in. The CDS notification 2026 contains all the important exam dates for the recruitment process, application form/online registration, CDS exam syllabus, exam pattern and much more. For more information, check the upcoming CDS 2026 notification.
The Union Public Service Commission released the CDS 1 2026 application form on December 10, 2025. Candidates were able to submit the CDS 1 application form until December 30, 2025. The UPSC CDS application form 2026 was released in online mode. The CDS 2026 application form has to be submitted at upsc.gov.in.
All eligible, qualified and interested aspirants wanting to join the Indian Armed Forces can fill the CDS application form online. Those who successfully submit their CDS application form 2026 will get their admit card for the Combined Defence Services exam.
Quick links: CDS Selection Process 2026
The last day to fill out the CDS 1 2026 Application Form is December 30, 2025. Candidates must be sure to fill out the CDS application forms before this date. Candidates have not been provided a window of time to correct any mistakes in the application form this time.
The UPSC will issue the CDS 1 admit card 2026 a few days before the exam, in online mode at upsc.gov.in. Candidates can use their CDS login credentials like registration and date of birth, to download the hall ticket. The UPSC CDS 1 2026 admit card is issued separately for each stage of the selection process i.e. the written exam and SSB interview. On the day of the CDS exam 2026, candidates need to carry their admit card and an original valid photo ID card with them, or else they won't be allowed to appear for the examination.
The Combined Defence Services is held twice every year. The CDS 1 is being held on April 12, 2026. The CDS 1 exam dates 2026 was released in the official notification and UPSC calendar. The Official advertisement for this exam was released on December 10, 2025.
The Union Public Service Commission will release the CDS question paper online on the official website. Candidates and future aspirants can download CDS previous years' question papers from the official UPSC website. The CDS question papers 2026 help aspirants improve their preparation for the CDS exam. Practising previous year's question papers also helps them to get a real feel of the CDS 2026 exam pattern and the difficulty level of the questions asked, and the weightage of the topics.
Check Here List of Other Government Exams
The UPSC CDS 2026 result will be declared in online mode. The CDS result 2026 contains the roll number of qualified candidates. Candidates who appeared for the CDS 2026 exam can check their result on the UPSC website – upsc.gov.in. The CDS result 2026 will be released in PDF format on the Commission's website.
Candidates have to clear all the stages of the CDS 2026 selection process to get inducted into any one of the three Indian Defence Services. The final CDS result 2026 features the roll numbers and names of all selected candidates for the three services separately. The CDS 2026 result is released separately for both stages of the examination.
The Commission will release the CDS 1 exam answer key in online mode on the official website after the completion of all the stages of the recruitment process. As per the upcoming exam dates the official CDS 2026 answer key is likely to be released after the exam. The answer key of CDS 1 exam will be released for all the sets A/ B/ C/ D in PDF format for all three subjects.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
CDS exam is conducted to recruit candidates for the three defence services i.e. Indian Army, Air Force and Navy.
CDS exam is conducted in offline mode for all the stages of the selection process.
The CDS written exam has two to three papers depending on the course the candidate apply for. For more details, candidates can check CDS exam pattern 2026.
CDS 2026 exam has two stages - Written exam and SSB interview.
The CDS admit card 2026 will be released a few weeks before the exam, on the official website.
The CDS 2 result 2026 will be declared on in online mode at upsc.gov.in.
Yes, the UPSC CDS exam is held twice a year.
On Question asked by student community
Hello aspirant,
On August 23, 2024, the Union Public Service Commission made the NDA 2 2024 admit card available on its official website, upsc.gov.in/upsconline.nic.in. The timeframe for editing NDA 2 2024 application forms was open until June 11, 2024. On June 5, 2024, the NDA rectification window opened. On June
Hello there,
Yes, you can apply for the Combined Defence Services (CDS) exam for the Indian Military Academy (IMA) after completing your graduation in 2027, based on your date of birth, 29th November 2003. Here’s how your eligibility works out:
Eligibility Criteria for CDS IMA:
Age Limit: For IMA, the
To determine your eligibility for the CDS (Combined Defence Services) exam in 2027, we need to consider the age criteria set by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which conducts the exam.
For the CDS exam, the age criteria generally are as follows:
Hello aspirant,
The upper age limit for CDS IMA is 24 years. Since you are currently 21 years 3 months old, you have 2 years and 9 months left to appear for the CDS IMA exam. This means you can attempt the exam 3 more times before reaching the age
Hello Aspirant
The eligibility criteria for CDS is that the candidate must be between the ages of 19 to 25 years. Since you were born in 2003, that will make you 24 years old, making you eligible for the exam.
But, just to be on the safer side, I would