How to crack UPSC CDS Exam? This blog post gives you all that - Exam Pattern Analysis, Sample/Previous Papers & Prep Books
CDS-I 2015 Exam is going to be held on 15th February,2015 and this article of mine provides you the Study/Prep materials for UPSC CDS (Combined Defence Services) exam – it at first discusses about the exam pattern/scheme of CDS exam and than points you to the sources of sample papers, guide books and the coaching institutes to help you prepare for the CDS exam.This blog post also acts as a sequel to my previous blog article titled: CDS Exam (I) 2015: Notification, Eligibility & Forms, which tells you what is a CDS exam and how to apply for the same along with the eligibilities required and where to get the CDS exam forms.
CDS Scheme/Exam Pattern:
CDS selection process consists of following three stages:
1.0 CDS Written exam.
2.0 SSB Interview.
3.0 Medical test.
How many candidates appear in each CDS exam? I had made an analysis based on CDS Exam data from UPSC Annual Reports (2006-2011) and following is the finding:
As you can see from above table, only about 50- 60% of those who applies for CDS exam appears in the CDS exam – thus about 40% of applicants is eliminated automatically! Good news for you is not it? However, please know that CDS exam is very very competitive - there are only about 500-550 seats every year about 50,000 appears for it - thus only about 1 in each 100 is selected - the success rate is about .01 in CDS exam.
As you can find from above exam pattern – you have 1 minute for each question (120 questions, 120 minutes) in English & GK paper while you have 1.2 minute per question for Maths paper (You do not have to appear in Maths paper, if you are appearing CDS exam for OTA, Chennai). Thus you have sufficient time for answering CDS papers – hence accuracy more than speed is the key to doing good in CDS exam.
You should also be accurate in answering the questions because there is negative marking - 1/3rd marks for each wrong answer!
CDS Exam Syllabus:
You can go through the blog post titled CDS Exam Syllabus to find the syllabus for this exam.
CDS Exam Answer sheets:
CDS Answer sheets are of type Optical Response Sheet (ORS), which looks like the one shown at right. You have to mark the correct answer by darkening the option circle completely with HB pencil – right method along with some wrong method is shown in the screenshot.
This is important, because many examinees marks their answers incorrectly on the ORS answer sheet, as a result of which they are not selected.Previous Five Years CDS Exam papers /Sample Papers:
So you may be searching for some free online sample papers for CDS exam? I searched on the net and found the following CDS Exam Previous 5-Years Papers:
From UPSC website: CDS Exam Previous Years actual test papers:
Click here to download the CDS-I 2014 Exam English test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2014 Exam General Knowledge test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2014 Exam Elementary Maths test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2013 Exam English test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2013 Exam General Knowledge test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2013 Exam Elementary Maths test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2012 Exam English test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2012 Exam General Knowledge test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2012 Exam Elementary Maths test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2012 Exam English test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2012 Exam General Knowledge test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2012 Exam Elementary Maths test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2011 Exam English test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2011 Exam General Knowledge test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2011 Exam Elementary Maths test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2011 Exam English test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2011 Exam General Knowledge test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2011 Exam Elementary Maths test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2010 Exam English test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2010 Exam General Knowledge test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2010 Exam English test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2010 Exam General Knowledge test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2010 Exam Elementary Maths test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2009 Exam English test paper
Click here to download the CDS-II 2009 Exam General Knowledge test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2009 Exam English test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2009 Exam General Knowledge test paper
Click here to download the CDS-I 2009 Exam Elementary Maths test paper
Although there were some other sample papers on the net, I could not find them that good.
You can also buy the following books for solved papers of CDS exam:
CDS Chapter-wise, Section-wise Solved Papers by Arihant Experts
List Price: Rs. 275, Offer Price: Rs. 270, Discount: Rs. 5 (1%)
Prep Books CDS Exam:
Although above sample papers gives you some idea on what sort of questions are asked in the CDS exam, you would need more study materials for practice and hence can use following guide books for CDS exam. These books are available in most of the book stores, but you can also order them online by clicking the links below, from Flipkart.com which offers huge discounts upto 30%, apart from free shipping/postage in India. You can choose to pay through Credit Card/Debit Card/Internet Banking. You can also choose to pay through “Cash-on-Delivery” i.e. you pay in cash only when the same is delivered at your doorstep:Pathfinder for CDS Examination: A Complete Self Study for CDS Examination by Brijesh Tripathi, Satyajeet Rawat, Neetika Goyal.Publisher: Arihant
List Price: Rs. 575, Offer Price: Rs. 403, Discount: Rs.172 (30%)
CDS Examination: Solved And Practice Papers by Jha S N ; Publisher: Kalinjar
List Price: Rs. 200.
CDS Exam Hindi Guide Book:
CDS Sanyukt Raksha Sewa Pariksha by R. Gupta's Publisher: RPH
List Price: Rs. 300.
CDS Previous Years Papers (Solved) (Hindi) by RPH Editorial Board
List Price: Rs. 247
CDS Exam Coaching Institutes:
I could find following institutes offering coaching program for CDS exam, besides other defence exams (like NDA etc.):
C. S. Institute of Defence & Management: It offers a 30 day CDS exam training program for a fee of Rs. 5900/- (Including Boarding & lodging: Rs. 8800/-). Click here to know more about it
Disha Academy offers CDS Exam coaching program for OTA, Chennai. Click here to know more about itC. S. Institute of Defence & Management: It offers a 30 day CDS exam training program for a fee of Rs. 5900/- (Including Boarding & lodging: Rs. 8800/-). Click here to know more about it
Preparatory materials for CDS SSB Interview:
After being selected in the CDS exam, you would need to appear in SSB Interview. What is SSB Interview? What tests are conducted in SSB Interview? Which book to study for SSB Interview? Visit my previous blog post titled: SSB Interview and how to prepare to know the answers of all these questions.
Hope above information on the study materials for CDS exam: Sample Papers, Books & Coaching institute is found useful by you. Best wishes for your CDS written exam!
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