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(Studyplan) Combined Defense Services CDS - Booklist, Strategy, Free Study Material, Previous Papers, Cutoffs, Physical Medical - Mrunal
(Studyplan) Combined Defense Services CDS - Booklist, Strategy, Free Study Material, Previous Papers, Cutoffs, Physical Medical - Mrunal
DONOT apply for CDS exam, unless and until youre certain that you fulfill all medical/physical requirements
(Given @the bottom of this article). Because in past, many candidates have cleared the written exam, but
failed in the medical test. The SSB interview tips given in a seperate article click me
1. Topicwise Breakup:
2. Grab the weapons (Booklist)
3. 1: History & Culture
1. Ancient
2. Medieval
3. Modern History
4. Culture
4. 2: Science
1. Physics
2. Chemistry
3. Biology
5. 3: Geography
1. Physical Geography
1. Universe
2. Earth: Basics
3. Rocks/Geology related
4. Atmosphere and Climate related
5. Ocean related
6. Disaster related
2. Indian Geography
3. World, Human and Economic Geography
4. Agriculture
6. 4: Environment and Biodiversity (EnB)
7. 5: Polity
8. 6: Economy
9. 7: International relations/events/diplomacy
10. 8: Defense
11. 9: Misc GK
12. Conclusion / summary / final tips
13. Appendix1: Download Links
1. NCERT and NIOS (Essential/Core)
2. History
3. Science
4. EnB
5. Economy
6. Geography
7. India yearbook
8. NCERT and NIOS (Peripheral)
14. Appendix2: CDS notification, cutoffs, previous papers
1. CDS(II) 2013 Notification
2. Cutoffs 2011
3. CDS Previous papers
15. Appendix3: Physical Standards, Medical checkup rules for CDS
1. Height
2. Weight
3. Weight: Females
4. Eye standards
5. Radial keratotomy
6. Laser Surgery
7. Visual Standards for Navy
8. Pregnancy
9. X-ray Exams
10. Other physical criteria
11. Physical Conditioning Test
12. Airforce: Special tests
13. Appeals after rejections
Topicwise Breakup:
CDS exam is held twice a year, so lets see how were last three papers?
Science 26 19 28
History n Culture 19 22 18
Geography 15 24 15
Economy 12 5 14
Polity 11 20 14
Misc.GK 7 6 14
IR 6 6 10
EnB 11 7 7
Defense 8 7 0
Agro 5 4 0
Often the new players make mistake of preparing too much current affairs, but as you can see in the table,
majority of the paper is made up of static/theory topics only. Even in Economy and Polity while lot of current
events take place but majority of the MCQS are centered on theory only.
1. NCERT and NIOS textbooks (even here, youve to do very limited study of specific chapters, as
explained in this article. free download links @bottom)
2. Indian Polity by M.Laxmkanth (religiously mugup this book for ~10 marks in the exam.)
3. General Studies Manual (for filling up the gaps/topics left in NCERTs + for practice of mock questions)
you dont need to buy latest edition, because static topics (history, geography, science) remain one
and same in all edition. So grab second hand/used copy for a cheaper price or borrow it from a friend.
Any publication will work: Unique, TMH, Spectrum etc.
First well see how to approach static topics (history, geography, science, EnB, economy and polity.) then
well see how to approach the current affairs (for IR and Misc.GK)
for History/culture portion, use the Tamilnadu (TN) State education board books, theyre better than
NCERTs. Click me for free download
end of update-
can be sub-classified into following:
Culture Music, painting, dance, religion, architecture, books etc. in above 3 periods.
World update: in CDS(II)2013, UPSC did ask a few questions from World history. You may consult
history Lucents GK book + Mrunal.org/history for this. more details soon.
Lets see how much history was asked in last three papers?
Ancient 3 4 1
Medieval 0 2 1
Modern 12 6 5
Culture 4 10 11
total 19 22 18
In old times, UPSC used to ask trivial GK question from kings, war timelines etc. =waste of time in
preparation.
But nowadays, questions usually centered around culture or just true/false/find correct statement;
cause-effect-reasons type questions.
I suggest you look at last 2-3 years papers by yourself (given in the appendix) and see it yourself.
Ancient
1. Harappa
2. Jainism-Buddism (includes Asoka etc.)- Although this can be classified under culture.
Ive already uploaded the NCERTs according to topics (and not according to standards/classes), so just
download from appendix and start reading. If you already have downloaded NCERTs from any other source,
then prepare in following sequence:
Medieval
If youre willing to take the risk (or running out of time), you can even skip this topic (kings, wars,
dynasties etc.). Because rarely 1-2 question come from medieval portion nowadays. But do prepare
culture related things from medieval period.
After that: Read the Medieval history section in your GS Manual and finally mock questions. But keep in
mind: GS manuals contain truckload of kings and timelines in the medieval period, dont waste time
mugging them up.
Modern History
Important: NCERTs dont cover all MCQ worthy topics from within the Modern history / freedom struggle.
Therefore you must do following
While reading above NCERTs, youll come across lot of culture related topics (in painting, literature, dance,
music, religion etc.) however for better and consolidated preparation, I suggest you also go through the
NIOS study material for Culture. (Free download links @bottom)
2: Science
@Arts/commerce students
yeh mujse nahi hoga / science is not my cup of tea = this is loser talk. You want to pass CDS or SSC,
then science has to be prepared, whether you like it or not. Besides, NCERT textbooks explain the science
in very lucid, layman friendly manner, so science is that not difficult, just read and revise often.
@Science/Engineer/Medical students
dont live in some overconfidence that Just because Im M.Sc (Botany) so I dont need to read these
stupid class7 NCERT science textbooks. I know everything!
Because, you may be good at the technical and latest things happening in your graduation field, but UPSC
asks from basic principles and theories that might have evaporated from your head after you left highschool
years ago. Therefore, no matter what your academic qualification is, always start with NCERTs.
Science subtopic 1. This is to be prepared from NCERTs, then General Studies (GS) Manual and
Comment
finally mock questions at the end of GS Manual.
Physics
2. (optional): you may also read NIOS material on Geography for additional grip
Chemistry over the subject. Free download links @bottom.
3. Please note: in GS Manuals, they often go into very minute details, like
Biology
chemical formulas of hormones etc. dont waste that much time. You just need
basic science concepts, principles and their day-to-day application clear.
Current affairs, You can ignore this if youre running out time. otherwise
biotech, nanotech,
Go through www.Mrunal.org/snt
goto library, read whatever competitive magazine you get (CST, Pratiyoigta,
computer IT, space goto library, read whatever competitive magazine you get (CST, Pratiyoigta,
etc. Chronicle, Wizard) and note down important things from science-tech pages.
Physics 8 7 6
Chemistry 5 5 10
Biology 6 4 11
Sci-Tech 7 3 1*
total 26 19 28
Physics
1. Sci10_13_Magnet
2. Sci10_12_electricity
3. Sci10_10_light
4. Sci9_12_Sound
5. Sci9_11_Work And Energy
6. Sci9_10_Gravitation
7. Sci9_9_Force And Laws Of Motion
8. Sci9_8_Motion
9. Sci8_16_Light
10. Sci8_14_Chemical Effects Of Electriccurrent
11. Sci8_13_Sound
12. Sci8_12_Friction
13. Sci8_11_Force And Pressure
14. Sci7_15_Light
15. Sci7_14_Electric Current and its Effects
16. Sci7_13_Motion and Time
17. Sci7_4_Heat
18. Physics11_1_What is Physics
Chemistry
1. Sci7_5_Acids,Bases andSalts
2. Sci7_6_Physical and Chemical Changes
3. Sci8_3_Synthetic Fibres And Plastics
4. Sci8_4_Materials Metals And Non-Metals
5. Sci8_5_Coal And petroleum
6. Sci8_6_Combustion And Flame
7. Sci9_1_Matter In Our Surroundings
8. Sci9_2_Is Matter Around Us Pure
9. Sci9_3_Atoms And Molecules
10. Sci9_4_Structure Of The Atom
11. Sci10_1_Chemical Reactions and Equations
12. Sci10_2_Acids, Bases and Salts
13. Sci10_3_Metals and Non-metals
14. Sci10_4_Carbon and its Compounds
15. Sci10_5_Periodic Classification of Elements
Biology
1. Sci7_1_Nutrition in Plants
2. Sci7_2_Nutrition inAnimals
3. Sci7_10_Respiration in Organisms
4. Sci7_11_Transportation in Animals and Plants
5. Sci7_12_Reproduction inPlants
6. Sci8_2_Microorganisms Friend And foe
7. Sci8_8_Cell Structure And Functions
8. Sci8_9_Reproduction In Animals
9. Sci8_10_Reaching Theage Of Adolescence
10. Sci9_5_The Fundamental Unit Of life
11. Sci9_6_Tissues
12. Sci9_7_Diversity In Living Organisms
13. Sci9_13_Why Do We Fall ill
14. Sci10_6_Life Processes
15. Sci10_7_Control and Coordination
16. Sci10_8_reproduction
17. Sci10_9_evolution
18. Sci10_11_human eye
19. Biology12_11_Biotechnology Principle and Processes
20. Biology12_12_Biotechnology and its Applications
3: Geography
Geography can be further classified into
Physical 9 12 8
Indian 3 10 7
World 3 2 0
Agro 5 4 0
Total 20 28 15
Earlier geography used to encompass Environment biodiversity (EnB) + agriculture, but now both of
them have grown up and getting more special attention from UPSC Examiners. (Although in 2013s
CDS-1, the agro MCQs were conspicuously absent.)
Again, our approach is NCERT => GS Manual => Mock questions.
(optional): you may also read NIOS material on Geography for additional grip over the subject. Free
download links @bottom.
Note: In GS manual, they sometimes go in very minor details e.g. state where particular breed of
goat/pig/cow/buffalo is found. dont waste time in such details. Even for Indian geography, you should
know broad things. If you try to prepare every detail, youll be stuck there forever.
Physical Geography
Universe
When you go to universe, there is no dearth of GK regarding relative size, color, distance of various planets
etc. but again keep the time factor in mind.
Earth: Basics
From earth basics, UPSC usually asks a few questions on
1. Latitudes, Longitudes and timezones (perhaps to test the level of the wanna be navy officers.)
2. oceanography
3. atmosphere, climate, weather phenomenon related
Rocks/Geology related
1. Geo11_5_Minerals and Rocks (after that, immediacy read the Indian geography chapters related to
distribution of mines and minerals in India)
2. Geo11_6_Geomorphic Processes
3. Geo11_7_Landforms and their Evolution.
Ocean related
6. Geo11_13_Water (Oceans)
7. Geo11_14_Movements of Ocean Water
Disaster related
8. Geo11_7_India_Natural Hazards and Disasters
9. Sci7_8_Winds, Storms and Cyclones
10. Sci8_15_Some Natural Phenomena lightening earthquakes
Misc
Indian Geography
Here UPSC often asks questions on rivers-tributaries. but then again, no point in mugging up beyond a
level. Apart from NCERT, also read chapter 30 from India Yearbook (free download link @bottom).
India: rivers
1. Geo9_3_drainage
2. Geo10_3-water resources
3. Geo11_3_India_Drainage System
4. Geo12_India_6_Water Resources
India: Economic geography
1. Geo9_6_Population
2. Geo12_India_1_Population Distribution, Density, Growth and Composition
3. Geo12_India_2_Migration Types, Causes and Consequences
4. Geo12_India_3_Human Development
5. Geo12_India_4_Human Settlements
Agriculture
Agriculture MCQs are slowly getting more attention in both CSE and CDS exams. Here is the list of NCERT
chapters that should be specifically read and revised. More emphasis on soil-types, crops and cropping
technologies.
1. Geo8_4_agri
2. Geo10_4-agriculture
3. Geo11_6_India_Soils
4. Geo12_5_Primary Activities
5. Geo12_India_5_Land Resources and Agriculture
6. Sci7_3_Fibre to Fabric
7. Sci7_9_Soil
8. Sci8_1_Crop Production And Management
9. Sci9_15_Improvement In Food Resources
Besides, certain chapters of NCERT Geography and Science textbooks also help in EnB. Here is the list:
5: Polity
In both Civil service exam and CDS exam, polity MCQs form a signification portion. The cost: benefit ratio is
quite good.
3. Depending on your time and mood, the NCERT, NIOS political science and sociology
Peripheral
textbooks. (again free download @bottom).
Here are some tips on how to Laxmikanths book efficiently and get a good grip over the polity within a short
period of time?
Dont study the book in a linear fashion (that is chapter 1,2,3,4sequence)
1. First you read the chapter on President, Vice President and immediately move to
the chapter on governor. Then read on Emergency provisions.
2. Read chapter on PM and cabinet, then move to CM and state council of Ministers.
3. Chapter on Parliamentary system and then directly to parliament, but after
budget topic is done pause this chapter and move to on CAG. Then come back
and resume the chapter on parliament.
4. Once parliament is finished, move to State legislative assembly.
5. Supreme Court and then High court, tribunals.
6. Attorney Gen =>Advocate General
7. UPSC =>State PSC
8. Finance Commission =>Planning Commission=>Nat.Development council
9. Now Centre State relation and Interstate relations.
10. Election Commission=> chapter on election, Anti-defection
11. All the National Commissions on Women, SC, ST,OBC, CVC, Lokpal and so on.
Note: the short explanations given in appendix of every chapter= should be read.
Single time reading of Laxmikanth= useless. Revise his book, minimum 3 times.
An allied topic of Polity is rights-issue for example women rights, children rights,
SC/ST/OBC/PH/Minorities and various schemes meant for that. Although not much is asked from It and
Most of that stuff is already covered under my economic survey chapter summaries :Mrunal.org/economy
and Mrunal.org/polity
6: Economy
Dont waste your time in mugging up stupid numbers (like IIP in xyz month, how much sharemarket went up
or down etc.). In CDS/IAS exam the Economy MCQs are mostly static/theory based. To prepare Economy
use following resources
You dont need to specifically buy Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh for CDS exam, but if you have it (or
can borrow from a friend) then do read it.
7: International relations/events/diplomacy
until now we saw how to prepare the static / theory areas viz. history, geography, science, polity, EnB
and economy. Now comes a current-affairs-oriented topic: International events.
What separates CDS exam from CSE (IAS/IPS) exam is the specific attention paid to IR and defense
MCQs. So, what type of questions are asked in International events and from where to prepare their
answers?
1. Various international summits, their Goto library, read whatever competitive magazine you get
(CST, Pratiyoigta, Chronicle, Wizard) and note down
locations, themes
important things from diary of international events + Person
in news.
2. Agreements and dispute between
countries for some border, island etc.
8: Defense
The questions about various missiles, DRDO technology, joint-military exercises with other countries.
although 2013s CDS(I) did not contain any specific questions from Defense but 2012s both CDS (I & II)
had questions from defense.
A lot of topics that happened from 2012 upto March 2013, are already compiled in the following article
http://mrunal.org/2013/03/defense-current-affairs-compilation-2012-13-missiles-joint-exercises-operations-
organizations.html
beyond that, again Goto library, read whatever competitive magazine you get (CST, Pratiyoigta,
Chronicle, Wizard) and note down important things from diary of international events + Person in news.
for basics about army, navy, airforce: organization, recruitment, training etc. read Chapter 9 Defense
From India Yearbook. (You dont need to specifically buy India 2013, just refer the India 2011 free PDF
given at bottom of this article. Because that chapter remains almost one and same in all editions of India
yearbook.)
9: Misc GK
It involve sports, awards, books-authors, persons in news and all other stupid infinite trivial database.
Awards 2 2 2
Books-authors 1 0 3
Sports 1 2 3
total 7 6 14
Ive published compilation from 2012 to March 2013 click me after that, goto library, read whatever
competitive magazine you get (CST, Pratiyoigta, Chronicle, Wizard) and note down important
names/details. Following areas to concentrate
Youll find the material organized in various folders. Click on individual folder and download zip files. Here is
the description about the contents of individual folder:
Folder Comment
Contains NCERT history chapters from class 7 to 12, in three zip files: ancient,
Contains NCERT class 6 to 12 in five zip folders: physical, India, World, Agro and
Geography glossary.
+NIOS material on geography (although lot of overlapping)
India yearbook
earlier government used to upload free PDF files for India yearbook (e.g. India 2010, India 2011 etc.)
But since 2012, they stopped. However, for CDS you dont need a latest edition and you dont need to
refer all chapters.
just download the India 2011 edition click me
Single folder contains many courses from NIOS: sociology, political science etc.
NIOS Download
download as per your time, mood and requirement.
NCERTs
Social sci. 10 Democratic Politics Part 2 for Class X Social Science Download
World history 10 India and the Contemporary World 2 Class X Social Science Download
Cutoffs 2011
As per earlier R.T.I:
There is no provision for reservation (category wise) in CDS examination however, course-wise cut-off
marks of written examination are as under
CDSE(I)-2011 90 111 45 72
CDSE(II)-2011 93 126 78 68
Height
1. The candidate must be in good physical and mental health and free from any disease / disability which
is likely to interfere with the efficient performance of duties.
2. There should be no evidence of weak constitution, bodily defects or over weight.
3. The minimum acceptable height for male candidates is 157.5 cms. ( 157 cms for Navy and 162.5 cms
for Air Force ).
4. For Women candidates minimum acceptable height is 152 cms.
5. For Gorkhas and individuals belonging to hills of North Eastern region of India, Garhwali and Kumaon,
the Minimum acceptable height will be 5 cms less.
6. In case of candidates from Lakshadweep, the minimum acceptable height can be reduced by 2 cms.
7. These concessions are not applicable for Navy and Air Force. Height and weight standards are given
below for Army and Navy only.
8. Interpolation for weights against height not mentioned may be done.
Weight
Weight in Kgs.
Height in Centimetres ( Without shoes )
18 years 20 years 22 years
152 44* 46 47
155 46 48@ 49
157 47 49 50
160 48 50 51
162 50 52 52
165 52 53 55
168 53 55 57
170 55 57 58
173 57 59 60
175 59 61 62
178 60 62 63
180 63 64 65
183 65 67 67
185 67 69 70
188 70 71 72
190 72 73 74
193 74 76 77
195 77 78 78
Weight: Females
Weight in Kgs.
Height in Centimetres (Without shoes)
20 years 25 years 30 years
148 39 41 43
150 40 42 43.5
153 42 43.5 45
155 43 44 46
158 45 46 48
160 46 47 49
163 47 49 51
165 49 51 53
168 50 52 54
Eye standards
A candidate should be able to read 6/6 in a distant vision chart with each eye with or without glasses
(For navy and Air Force without glasses only)
Myopia should not be more than 3.5D and hypermetropia not more than 3.5D including Astigmatism.
For women candidates the minimum acceptable visual acuity are : Distant vision (corrected) better eye
6/6 worse 6/18, Myopia of not more than minus 5.5 including Astogination.
Internal examination of the eye will be done by means of ophthalmoscope to rule out any disease of the
eye.
A candidate must have good binocular vision. The colour vision standard will be CP-III for Army.
For Navy it will be CP-I for Executive Branch and CP-II for the rest.. A candidate should be able to
recognise red and green colours.
Radial keratotomy
Candidates who have undergone or have the evidence of having undergone Radial Keratotomy, to
improve the visual acuity, will be permanently rejected for all the three services.
In order to detect PRK/LASIK all the candidates at SMB will be subjected to the measurement of Axial
length by A-Scan biometer.
Laser Surgery
Candidates who have undergone Laser Surgery for correction of refractive error will be considered for
commission in Army if they fulfill following criteria :-
Notes : The candidates will be asked to declare at the time of medical examination that he has undergone
LASER procedure as above. He will be subjected to a thorough corneal and retinal evaluation by the
ophthalmologist. However, he will be declared unfit at the SMB and those found to be within the acceptable
limits for approval as above will be advised to undergo an Appeal Med. Board. During AMB he will be
subjected to a thorough corneal and retinal evaluation as also scrutiny of the records by a Senior Adviser in
Ophthalmology.
Pregnancy
For women candidates if pregnancy is detected at any stage, after selection at SSB or during training will
debar the candidates from grant of commission.
X-ray Exams
The following conditions detected on X-ray examination will be disqualifying for entry to Armed Forces.
Chest should be healthy. The minimum range of expansion after full inspiration should be 5 cms. In
recording the measurements, fraction of less than 0.5 cm will be ignored, 0.5 cm will be recorded as
such and 0.6 cm and above will be recorded as 1 cm. X-Ray of the chest is compulsory and will be
taken to rule out any disease of the chest.
There should be no disease of bones and joints of the body.
A candidate should have no past history of mental breakdown or fits.
The hearing should be normal. A candidate should be able to hear a forced whisper with each ear at a
distance of 610 cms. in a quiet room. There should be no evidence of present or past disease of the ear,
nose and throat.
There should be no sign of functional or organic disease of the heart and blood vessel. Blood pressure
should be normal.
The muscles of abdomen should be well developed and there should be no enlargement of liver or
spleen. Any evidence of disease of internal organs of the abdomen will be a cause for rejection.
Un-operated hernias will make a candidate unfit. If operated, this should have been done at least 1 year
prior to the present examination and healing is completed.
There should be no hydrocele, varicocele or piles.
Urine examination will be done and any abnormality, if detected will be a cause for rejection.
Any disease of the skin which is likely to cause disability or disfigurement will also be a cause for
rejection.
Prospective candidates are advised to keep themselves in good physical condition by following the under
mentioned routine :-
In addition to the above, the following medical standards will be applicable in respect of Air force candidates
only :
1. Anthropometric measurements acceptable for Air Force are as follows :
1. Candidates who are unfit may apply for Appeal Medical Board (AMB) to be completed within 42 days of
SMB and may request for Review Medical Board (RMB) within one day of completion of Appeal Medical
Board.
2. Candidates declared unfit by AMB will be intimated by the President AMB about procedure of
challenging the findings of AMB.
3. The candidates will also be intimated that holding Review Medical Board (RMB) will be granted at the
discretion of DGAFMS based on the merit of the case and that RMB is not a matter of right.
4. The candidate should request for RMB if he/she so desires to ADG Rtg. (CDSE) Army Hq., West
Block-III, RK Puram, New Delhi.-110066 and a copy of the same is handed over to the President of
AMB. The O/o the DGAFMS will inform the date and place (Delhi and Pune only) where the candidate
will appear for RMB.
Mrunal recommends
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