UPSC NDA Notification 2021, Important dates, Exam pattern, Eligibility & Syllabus.

UPSC has invited applicants for National Defence Academy. Entrants who have made their mind to dedicate their life to service to the nation can now complete their UPSC NDA Online Application 2021. As per the official UPSC NDA Notification 2021, the online application will start from 5th August 2021. On the last day for the UPSC NDA Online Application by 25th, August 2021 entrants must complete registration.

UPSC NDA has declared about 418 for NDA (I) & 413 for (II) vacancies for 2021. The NDA exam is conducted in two phases as per the UPSC NDA Exam Pattern 2021. The 1st phase is the written exam and the 2nd one is the interview. It is important to know how and when is the exam will be conducted. Let’s have a look at the dates of the NDA Exam:

UPSC NDA Notification 2021 – Exam High Lights:

Events	Dates
Conducting Body	UPSC
Exam Mode	Offline
1st Phase	Written
2nd Phase	Interview
Question Type	MCQ
Total Marks in Written exam	900
Exam Language	English or Hindi
NDA (I) Notification release	8th Jan 2021
NDA (II) Notification release	16th June 2021
Application start date NDA (I)	Jan 8th 2021
Application start date NDA (II)	June 16th 2021
Last Day of Registration NAD (I)	28th Jan 2021
Last Day of Registration NAD (II)	6th July 2021
Admit Card Release NDA (I) & (II)	10th August 2021
NDA Written Exam	6th September 2021
NDA results	Tentatively in Nov 2021

 

Now that we are aware of the important dates for the NDA exam it becomes necessary to know who is eligible for the exam. Before starting to prepare entrants must go through all the criteria of UPSC NDA Eligibility 2021 to know if they fulfil all the criteria to apply for the exam at all. So let’s have a look into the details:

UPSC NDA Notification 2021 on Eligibility:

The UPSC NDA Eligibility 2021 criteria are divided into four parts. The nationality, Education, Age limits and Fitness of an entrant. An entrant can make 6 attempts to crack the exam. However, entrants have to be within the age limit. Entrants who are eligible should apply for the exam or else the registration will be canceled. Let’s have a look at the aspects of Eligibility:

• Nationality.
• Age Limit
• Educational Qualification.
• Permissible Disabilities.

Nationality:

• The entrant must be a citizen of India or a subject of Nepal or Bhutan.
• He or She can be a refugee from Tibet, who had come to India before January 1st, 1962, to settle down here forever.
• The entrant can be a person of Indian origin, who arrived from East African Countries of Kenya, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Burma, the United Republic of Tanzania (Formerly Tanganyika and Zanzibar), Zaire, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi, and Pakistan, to settle down in India forever.
• A person who has got a certificate of eligibility from the govt of India.
• If the entrant is a person who has not yet received the certificate of eligibility by the govt of India, will be allowed to appear for the exam however job will only be made after he or she submits the same.
• UPCS has exempted Gorkha and Nepali community from providing eligibility certificates.
• However, entrants belonging to other communities (a refugee from East Africa, Bhutan & others) will have to provide a certificate of eligibility.

Now you already know about the very basic eligibility criteria i.e. citizenship. We will not have a look at the next aspect of criteria that is the Age limit for UPSC NDA.

Age Limit:

Department Name	Age Limit	Entrant’s Marital Status	Gender
NDA	Max 19.5- Min 16.5	Unmarried	Male
Navy	Maximum 19.5- Min 16.5	Unmarried

 

• Female entrants and married males are not eligible for NDA & NA.
• The DOB should the same as in the admit card of Matriculation or Higher Secondary exam.
• Successful entrants are not allowed to marry until full training of NDA is completed.
• If an entrant gets married before completing the NDA exam they will be asked to leave and submit all the cost incurred by Govt to train them.

The above table shows the age criteria for various depts. Now let’s have a look into the educational skills needed for NDA exam:

Educational Qualification:

• Entrants must complete their 10+2 or higher secondary from a recognized University.
• Entrants who are in 11th standard are not eligible for NDA exam.
• UPSC will allow entrants who are in 12th standard and yet to receive their passing certificate are allowed to appear for the NDA exam under the special provision,. However, they have to submit their passing certificate before the time period that is fixed by UPSC.
• Entrants who took INSB or PABT and have failed to qualify are not allowed for air force anymore.
• Entrants who are banned by ministry of defence for some reason they are also not eligible for the NDA exam.

UPSC NDA Eligibility 2021- Physical Standards:

The Defence Personals have to work in extreme weather conditions and many adverse situations. Entrants must ensure that they are physically fit mentally strong to handle each situation. UPSC have some fixed standards in matter of fitness let’s find out what are those. Entrants have to meet this standard to be able to be a part of Indian Defence system.

Grounds of Rejection:

• Piles.
• Hydrocele / Phimosis / Varicocele
• Deviated Nasal Septum
• Overweight / Underweight
• Gynaecomastia
• Waxed Ears

UPSC will not consider an entrant eligible if he is suffering from any of the above-mentioned ailments. Entrants must try to rule out all these issues before appearing for the exam. It is obvious that an entrant who wants to crack the NDA exam must be preparing their bodies as well since a period of time to rule out above health issues. They must also increase their physical strength through regular exercise, diet, running, jogging, weight lifting. This will help the entrants to crack the medical test and the training easily. Now let’s find out the physical standards needed for the NDA exam:

NDA Physical Standards:

 NDA & Air Force:

Height	Weight
	Age-18-19	17-18	16-17
152	45	44	42.5
155	47	45.3	43.5
157	48	47	45
160	49	48	46.5
162	51	50	48
165	53	52	50
167	54	53	51
170	56	55	52.5
173	58	57	54
175	60	59	56
178	62	61	58
180	64.5	63	60
183	66.5	65	62.5

 

Navy:

Height	Weight
	Age-18	17	16
152	46	45	44
155	47	46	45
157	49	47	46
160	50	48	47
162	52	50	48
165	53	52	50
167	55	53	52
170	57	55	53
173	59	57	55
175	61	59	57
178	62	61	59
180	64	63	61
183	67	65	63

 

Acceptable Physical Feature Measurement for Air Force Pilot:

	Maximum	Minimum
Length Of Legs	120 CMS	99 CMS
Length Of Thighs	64 CMS
Height While Sitting	96 CMS	81.50 CMS

 

Vision Standard for NA & Airforce:

NAVY Vision Standard
Without glasses (uncorrected)	6/6	6/9
With glasses (corrected)	6/6	6/6
Myopia Limits	0.75
Hypermetropia Limits	+1.5
Binocular vision	III
Limits of colour perception	I

 

Note: Entrants who regularly wears spectacles are not eligible for Airforce.

Air Force Vision Standard
Minimum Distant Vision	6/6	6/9
Correctable Vision	6/6 only for Hypermetropia
Colour vision	CP-I
Hypermetropia	+2.0 D Sph Manifest
Myopia	Nil
Retinoscopy Myopia	0.5 in any Meridian permitted
Astigmatism	+ 0.75 D Cyl (within + 2.0 D.Max) Maddox Rod Test.

 

SL No	at 6 meters Exo-6 prism D	at 33 cms Exo-16 prism D
1	Eso-6 prism D	Eso-6 prism D
2	Hyper-1 prism D	Hyper-1 prism D
3	Hypro-1 prism  D	Hypo-1 prism D

 

Physical Fitness Requirement:

• Entrants must be able to do skipping.
• Must be able to run 2.4km in 15 mins.
• Entrants should be able to do push-ups & Sit-ups a minimum of 20 each.
• Must be able to do rope climbing 3-4 meters.
• Must be able to do chin-ups minimum 8.

Note:

• Ghosrkhas / Garwals / Kumaon any community of northeast will have relaxation in height by 2cm.
• Height relaxation of 2.5cm is also provided if medical board advice that the person can grow taller in future.
• Chest size of all entrants should be 81com and 86cm after a full inhalation.

Now that we are aware of the UPSC NDA Eligibility criteria for 2021 let’s move to the next important aspect of the NDA Exam that is the UPASC NDA Exam Pattern 2021. So that you can understand what are the phases of the exam you are going to face.

UPSC NDA Notification 2021 – Exam Pattern:

The exam for the NDA exam is divided into two phases. 1st phase is a written exam and 2nd one is the interviews. The question type of written exam will have MCQ questions to answer. Thereafter comes the interview round. Let’s have a look into the details:

UPSC NDA Exam Phase 1:

We already know there are two kinds of questioning pattern for various departments that an entrant has chosen while registering themselves. Let’s have a look into the details of questing pattern and marking scheme:

NDA Written Exam Subjects:

Exam Papers	NDA Subjects	Max Score	Time Limit
1st Paper	Maths	300	2 Hours & 30mins
2nd Paper	General Ability Test	600	2 Hours & 30mins
Total		900	5 hours

 

General Ability Test Sections:

SL No	Subjects	Sections	Max marks	Duration of Time
1	Basic English		200	2hours & 30 mins
2	General Knowledge	General science	40
		Geography	80
		Chemistry	60
		Physics	100
		Current Affairs	40
		History	80
	Total		600

 

Notes:

• Each question will carry 1marks or less in case of some subjects.
• There will be negative marking of 1/3 marks for each wrong answers.
• The question for GK & Maths will be in Hindi and English both.
• Scrib option is not allowed to be accessed. Entrants have to write the exam on their own.
• The question will be MCQ in nature.

Marking Scheme:

SL No	Subjects	Score Per Correct Answer	Deduction For the Wrong Answer
1	General Ability Test	4	1.33
2	Maths	2.5	0.83

 

UPSC NDA Notification 2021- Exam Pattern Phase 2:

The second phase of the exam is the interview round. The interview will be done in two-phase. The marks obtained in the 1st phase of the exam will decide if the entrant is going to be qualified for the Interview round. Thereafter the entrants will the move to the 1st round of interview.

Round 1:

Nature Of Test	Name of Tests
Screening Test	Verbal and non-verbal tests
	PPDT

 

Round 2:

Nature Of Test	Name of Tests
Psychological Test	Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
	Word Association Test (WAT)
	Situation Reaction Test (SRT)
	Self Description Test (SD)
	Group Testing Officers Test
Group Testing Officers Test	GD
	GPE
	PGT
	HGT
	IOT
	Command Task
	Snake race/Group Obstacle Race
	Individual lecture
	FGT
Interview
Conference

 

So after the successful completion of the written exam, entrants will go for interview round and fitness test as well. We now know about the subjects that are required to study for NDA Exam. However, its important to know what are the subtopics that need to be studied within those subjects. Let have a look at the UPSC NDS Syllabus 2021 now:

UPSC NDA Notification 2021- Syllabus:

Physics:

1.       Matter & its properties (mass, weight etc). 2.       Specific gravity. 3.       Archimedes principle. 4.       Motion. 5.       Velocity and Acceleration. 6.       Newton’s Laws of Motion. 7.       Force and Momentum. 8.       Force Parallelogram. 9.       Stability and Body Equilibrium. 10.   Gravity. 11.   Elementary Work Ideas. 12.   Power and Energy. 13.   Heat effects. 14.   Telegraph. 15.   Periscope, 16.   Temperature and heat measurement. 17.   State change and latent heat. 18.   Heat transfer modes. 19.   Rectilinear light. 20.   Simple Pulleys. 21.   Telephone

22.   Hydrometer, Pressure Cooker. 23.   Reflection and refraction propagation. 24.   Spherical mirrors and human eye lenses. 25.   Natural and artificial magnets. 26.   A magnet’s properties. 27.   Earth as a magnet. 28.   Electricity. 29.   Ohm’s Law. 30.   conductors and non-conductors 31.   Telescope, Siphon, Levers, Balloon, Pumps, 32.   Simple Electrical Circuits, Current Heating. 33.   Lighting and Magnetic Effects. 34.   Electrical Power Measurement. 35.   Primary and Secondary Cells. 36.   X-Ray Use. 37.   Simple Pendulum. 38.   Thermos Flask, Gramophone, Microscope, Mariner’s Compass.

 

Chemistry:

Chemistry
Hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide preparation and properties	Chemical Combination Law.	Air and water properties	Changes in physical and chemical conditions.
Oxidation and reduction.	Acids, bases, salts, etc.	Fertilizers— Artificial and Natural.	Carbon— various forms
The material used in the preparation of substances such as Soap, Glass, Ink, Paper, Cement, Paints, Gun-Powder and Safety Matches.	Atomic Equivalent and Molecular Weights structure	Basic ideas on Atom	Valence

 

General Science:

General Science
Life basis — cells	Living and non-living difference.	Tissues	Protoplasm
Human Body’s basic knowledge and its important organs.	Plant and animal growth and reproduction.	Common epidemics, causes and prevention of them.	The Meteors and Comets Solar System.
Food — man’s energy source.	Eclipses.	Food constituents	Balanced diet
Eminent Scientists ‘ achievements

 

History:

History
A comprehensive survey of Indian History	Freedom movement.	Indian Constitution and Administration elementary study.	Focusing on culture and civilization.
Panchayati Raj.	The basic knowledge of India’s Five-Year Plans.	Community Development Co-operatives.	Bhoodan, Sarvodaya, Mahatma Gandhi’s Basic Teachings
National Integration and Welfare State.	Modern world forces.	Renaissance	Exploration and Discovery
American Independence War.	Russian Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.	French Revolution.	Impact on society of science and technology.
UN, Panchsheel, Democracy,	One World Concept.	India’s role in today’s world.	Socialism, and Communism.

 

Geography:

Geography
Latitudes, Longitudes.	The shape and size of the Earth.	Time Concept	Earth’s movements and effects.
Date-Line International.	Rocks and their classification; mechanical and chemical weathering, earthquakes and volcanoes.	Earth’s origin.	Ocean Currents and Tides Atmosphere and their composition
Temperature and Atmospheric Pressure	Humidity	Planetary Winds, Cyclones and Anti-cyclones	Condensation 23 and Precipitation
Climate Types, World’s Major Natural Regions.	Natural vegetation.	India’s regional geography— climate	Resources for minerals and power; location and distribution of agricultural and industrial activities.
Important seaports and major seaports	Land and air routes.

 

Current Affairs:

Current Affairs
Knowledge of major events that have occurred in India over the past few years.	Important personalities around the world including those related to cultural and sports activities	Current major events in the world.

 

English:

English

Vocabulary

Grammar & Usage

Comprehension

 

Maths:

Maths
Algebra	Matrices and Determinants	Trigonometry
Analytical geometry of two and three dimensions	Differential calculus	Integral calculus and differential equations
Vector Algebra	Statistics And Probability

 

The subjects of the NDA exam is not very vast and can be cracked with little hard work. Let’s have a look into the process of downloading the UPSC NDA Admit card:

UPSC NDA Amit Card Download:

• Open the official website of UPSC.
• Look for the admit card link provided in the right-hand side of the page.
• There would be, admit card link for various other exams conducted by UPSC.
• Select the admit card link for the UPSC NDA exam.
• You will have to enter your registration ID or roll no or DOB and click on submit button.
• You will then be able to download the admit card.
• Check all the details given in your admit card if all your details are correct or not.

In case of any mistake in the details provided in your admit card inform immediately to UPSC. Send mail to UPSC in the stated email id- [email protected] Inform which information is wrong. UPSC will further communicate with you after making the necessary corrections. However, the data have to match with the details you have put in the UPSC NDA Online Application. Entrants must make sure they have put all correct details in the application form in the 1st place. Let’s have a look at some instructions follow for the day of the exam.

UPSC NDA Notification on Instruction For Exam Day:

• Entrants must go and check the location of the exam centre a few days prior to the exam to ensure they are aware of the correct location.
• Entrants must not carry any banned team in the exam hall. Banned teams include mobile phones, Bluetooth device, calculator, paper etc.
• Reach the exam hall one hour prior to the exam start time to ensure you find your seat according to roll number. Also to get your documents verified while entering the hall.
• Dress comfortably so that you can ensure you are comfortable while sitting for hours in the exam hall.

In conclusion, the exam dates are already out now. Entrants looking forward to completing UPSC NDA Online Application must go to the official website and finish it as soon as possible. Entrants must also prepare your UPSC NDA Study plan to crack the exam. It not very difficult to crack the exam if entrants study and do the revisions.

UPSC NDA Notification FAQ: