UPSC NDA & NA 2026 Syllabus: Mathematics, GAT & SSB Selection Pattern

Exam Snapshot / परीक्षा अवलोकन

Important Dates & Event Schedule / तिथियां

Selection Stages & Exam Pattern / परीक्षा पैटर्न और विषय

Important Marking Rules & Qualifying Criteria / महत्वपूर्ण नियम

Syllabus Overview & Preparation Guidance / पाठ्यक्रम विवरण

The UPSC NDA & NA Examination follows a two-stage structure: a 900-mark written exam covering Mathematics and the General Ability Test, followed by a 900-mark SSB Interview and medical examination. Check the complete subject-wise syllabus, marking scheme and paper-wise weightage for NDA 2 2026 below.

NDA preparation is best organised around a clear mental split between two very different kinds of assessment, because the exam rewards two almost opposite skill sets and candidates who prepare for only one tend to struggle badly at the other stage. The written exam, held in a single day, consists of two papers: Mathematics, worth 300 marks across 120 questions in two and a half hours, and the General Ability Test (GAT), worth 600 marks across 150 questions, also in two and a half hours. The Mathematics syllabus draws almost entirely from the Class 11 and 12 NCERT curriculum and spans algebra (sets, relations and functions, complex numbers, quadratic equations, binomial theorem, sequences and series), matrices and determinants, trigonometry (including inverse trigonometric functions and their properties), analytical geometry of both two and three dimensions (straight lines, circles, conic sections, planes and lines in 3D), differential and integral calculus along with differential equations, vector algebra, and a statistics and probability component covering measures of central tendency, dispersion, and basic probability theory — candidates coming from a PCM background at school generally find this paper the more familiar of the two, though its objective, time-pressured format still demands dedicated speed-and-accuracy practice rather than just conceptual understanding. The GAT paper, by contrast, is really two exams stitched into one: a 200-mark English section testing grammar, vocabulary, synonyms and antonyms, and comprehension passages across 50 questions, and a 400-mark General Knowledge section across 100 questions that draws broadly from Physics, Chemistry, General Science, History (with particular emphasis on India's freedom movement), Geography, and current events of national and international importance — a breadth that rewards candidates who read newspapers and revise NCERT science and social-science textbooks consistently over many months rather than cramming shortly before the exam. Both papers apply identical negative-marking logic proportionate to their per-question value: Mathematics deducts one-third of 2.5 marks, or roughly 0.83 marks, for every incorrect response, while GAT deducts one-third of 4 marks, or roughly 1.33 marks, with no penalty at all for questions a candidate chooses to leave unattempted — a structural point that makes disciplined, confidence-based attempting (rather than exhaustive guessing) a meaningfully better strategy than trying to answer every single question on the paper. Crucially, and unlike some of UPSC's other exams that carry one purely qualifying paper, both Mathematics and GAT count fully and directly toward the 900-mark written total; there is no discarded or merely-qualifying component within the written stage itself. Clearing this written threshold — a threshold UPSC never publishes officially, though coaching-estimated ranges typically sit somewhere between 350 and 365 out of 900 for the General category based on recent cycles — opens the door to the far more elaborate and, in the eyes of most successful candidates, far more decisive SSB Interview, worth an equal 900 marks. The SSB itself unfolds over five days and is split into two sequential stages: Stage I, conducted on the first day, comprises the Officer Intelligence Rating (OIR) test and the Picture Perception & Description Test (PPDT), and functions as a screening filter — candidates who don't clear Stage I are sent home immediately and never proceed further, regardless of how strong their written score was. Candidates who clear Stage I move into the four remaining days of Stage II, which layer together psychological testing (the Thematic Apperception Test, Word Association Test, Situation Reaction Test, and Self-Description Test, all designed to surface a candidate's natural response patterns under time pressure rather than rehearsed answers), a full slate of Group Testing Officer tasks (group discussions, group planning exercises, progressive and half-group physical tasks, and a command task where each candidate briefly leads a small team), and finally a detailed personal interview conducted one-on-one with a senior interviewing officer, culminating in a conference where the full assessing panel jointly reviews every candidate's performance across all five days before finalising recommendations. Because the SSB assesses officer-like qualities such as leadership, initiative, and reasoning under pressure rather than testable academic content, it genuinely cannot be crammed the way the written exam can, which is exactly why most successful candidates begin structured SSB-specific preparation — practising group tasks, mock interviews, and psychological-test formats — well before their written result is even declared, rather than waiting to start once they've already qualified. Candidates who clear both the SSB and the subsequent medical fitness examination conducted by Service medical boards are then merged into a final merit list built purely from the sum of the written score (900) and the SSB score (900), giving a combined maximum of 1,800 marks, with UPSC preparing this list separately for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Naval Academy, and separately again for male and female candidates within each, given how much smaller the female vacancy allocation is relative to the male allocation across every wing. Beyond the written and SSB stages, medical fitness deserves more attention than most first-time aspirants give it, since it is the one filter that can disqualify an otherwise strong candidate on physical grounds alone rather than academic or interview performance: Service medical boards test height, weight-for-height ratio, chest expansion, vision (with specific, wing-dependent limits on uncorrected and corrected eyesight — the Air Force Flying Branch applies the strictest standards, including restrictions on refractive error and colour vision), hearing, dental health, and overall freedom from disqualifying conditions, and unlike the written exam or SSB, there is no coaching or last-minute preparation that can compensate for a genuine medical disqualification, which is why serious aspirants are advised to get a preliminary check with a general physician well before applying, particularly for eyesight and BMI, both of which can sometimes be improved with enough lead time. Timing preparation around the syllabus also matters: because Mathematics draws heavily on the Class 11-12 NCERT curriculum, candidates already in Class 11 or 12 have a natural head start if they treat their school coursework as dual-purpose preparation rather than starting NDA-specific revision from zero after graduating; for the GAT's General Knowledge component, a rolling twelve-month current-affairs revision cycle — rather than a last-month cram — consistently outperforms cramming, since UPSC's current-events questions frequently reference developments from several months to a year before the exam date rather than only the preceding few weeks. For candidates weighing which wing to prioritise on their application form, it's worth understanding that preference order genuinely matters at the allocation stage: UPSC allots wings by combining a candidate's overall merit rank with their stated order of preference among Army, Navy, Air Force and Naval Academy, so a candidate ranked comfortably within the Army cutoff but who lists Air Force first will still be considered for Air Force first, and only drops to Army if they don't make the Air Force cut — meaning preference order should reflect genuine willingness to serve in that wing rather than being treated as a mere formality, since a candidate cannot revise their preference list after submission.

यूपीएससी एनडीए परीक्षा दो मुख्य चरणों में होती है — लिखित परीक्षा (900 अंक) और एसएसबी साक्षात्कार (900 अंक)। लिखित परीक्षा में गणित (300 अंक, 120 प्रश्न, 2.5 घंटे) कक्षा 11-12 एनसीईआरटी पाठ्यक्रम पर आधारित है, जिसमें बीजगणित, त्रिकोणमिति, कलन, सदिश बीजगणित तथा सांख्यिकी शामिल हैं। सामान्य योग्यता परीक्षण (जीएटी, 600 अंक, 150 प्रश्न, 2.5 घंटे) में अंग्रेजी (200 अंक) तथा भौतिकी, रसायन, सामान्य विज्ञान, इतिहास, भूगोल व समसामयिकी सहित सामान्य ज्ञान (400 अंक) शामिल है। दोनों प्रश्नपत्रों में एक-तिहाई नकारात्मक अंकन लागू होता है — गणित में 0.83 अंक तथा जीएटी में 1.33 अंक प्रति गलत उत्तर। लिखित परीक्षा में सफल उम्मीदवार पांच दिवसीय एसएसबी साक्षात्कार में भाग लेते हैं, जिसमें प्रथम चरण में ओआईआर परीक्षण व पीपीडीटी होता है (केवल चयनित उम्मीदवार आगे बढ़ते हैं), तथा द्वितीय चरण में मनोवैज्ञानिक परीक्षण, समूह कार्य तथा व्यक्तिगत साक्षात्कार शामिल हैं। एसएसबी व चिकित्सा परीक्षण पास करने वाले उम्मीदवारों की अंतिम मेरिट सूची लिखित (900) व एसएसबी (900) अंकों को मिलाकर कुल 1800 अंकों में सेवा-वार व लिंग-वार तैयार की जाती है।

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