How to Prepare for UPSC CDS Exam 2024? The Armed Forces and the Para Military Organisations offer a number of exciting career opportunities for young men and women. The services offer a good standard of living and the career in the Armed Forces is very much rewarding and thoroughly satisfying for self-respecting, intelligent, brave men and women, who have leadership qualities, and are not daunted by physical hardships or uncongenial surroundings. Careers in the Armed Forces offer a very attractive, challenging and progressive option for young men and women, once they finish their Higher Secondary (10+2), Graduate or Post Graduate studies. The young persons, once inducted into the services with proper training and field experience, become fully capable of handling difficult and complex matters in operational and administrative spheres.
The main aim of competitive examinations is to look for knowledge, abilities, aptitudes and broad personality traits in the prospective candidates, for posts from the lowest to the highest levels. The recruiting agencies broadly look for inherent potential in the candidates, their innate abilities and aptitudes on the basis of the hypothesis that, so long as the basic human raw material selected shows promise, training and development programmes could shape them into the type of officers they need in the organisation. The emphasis, therefore, is on assessing the two major aspects of the candidate basic abilities and aptitudes (judged through Written Test) and personality traits (judged through Interview, Group Discussion, Psychological Test, etc.).
Scheme of the CDS Exam 2024: How to Prepare for UPSC CDS Exam 2024?
The subject of the Written Test, the time allowed and the maximum marks allotted to each subject will be as follows:
(A) For admission to the Indian Military Academy, Indian Naval Academy, and Air Force Academy, candidates must undergo a rigorous selection process that includes both written examinations and an SSB (Services Selection Board) test/interview. The written examination is divided into three subjects: English, General Knowledge, and Mathematics, each with a duration of 2 hours and a maximum of 100 marks. After clearing the written exams, candidates must undergo the SSB test/interview, which spans 5 days and carries a maximum of 300 marks.
(B) For admission to the Officers’ Training Academy, candidates must successfully complete a selection process that includes both written examinations and an SSB (Services Selection Board) test/interview. The written examination consists of two subjects: English and General Knowledge, each with a duration of 2 hours and a maximum of 100 marks. Candidates who pass the written exams then proceed to the SSB test/interview, which lasts for 5 days and is valued at 300 marks. The SSB process evaluates the candidate’s leadership abilities, communication skills, and overall fitness for a commission in the armed forces.
Some Important Tips CDS Exam 2024 (How to Prepare for UPSC CDS Exam 2024?)
(i) All subject papers will consist of objective-type questions.
(ii) The standard of paper in Elementary Mathematics will be that of Matriculation. The standard of papers in other subjects will approximately be of level expected from a Graduate level.
(iii) UPSC carries the discretion to fix minimum qualifying marks in any or all the subjects in the Examination.
(iv) The candidates are not permitted to use Calculators or Mathematical or Logarithm Tables while attempting Objective Test Questions. They should not, therefore, bring the same in the Examination Hall.
(v) In framing the questions, the Metric System of Weights and Measures only will be used.
(vi) Candidates must write the papers in their own handwriting. Under no circumstances will they be permitted to use a scribe to write the answers on their behalf.
The brief Syllabus prescribed by the UPSC for the English Test Paper is as follows:
The questions in English will be designed to test the candidates’ understanding of English and work-man like use of words. The syllabus includes areas like grammar and usage, vocabulary, comprehension, and cohesion in extended texts to evaluate the candidates’ proficiency in English.
Therefore, the main aim of this test is to judge how well candidates understand the grammatical rules and their usage, how well candidates do comprehend the idea conveyed in a given passage and how well candidates can express a certain idea.
After a comprehensive analysis of the prescribed syllabus and previous years’ question papers, it is clear that usually the common topics only are covered in English Test Paper and there are no marked changes in the nature of questions. The questions are asked more or less on the same pattern. The number of questions asked from different topics shows only a little variation. However, some changes may be effected in the forthcoming examination if it contributes towards making it more relevant. But this is not a matter of great concern, Candidates may chalk out their preparation strategy right now for clinching success.
Common Errors (Spotting the Errors)
Generally, 15-16 questions are asked on Common Errors. In this type of questions a sentence is divided into three parts and candidates are required to spot that part that contains an error. If a sentence has no error, the answer will be (D), i.e., No error. The errors may be either grammatical or idiomatic. Candidates should ignore the errors of punctuation, if any. A good command over grammar and usage is though required to solve such questions. Candidates are required to indicate only one alternative for each question.
Jumbled Parts of a Sentence
In this type of questions, some parts of a sentence are jumbled up and these are labelled as P, Q, R and S. Candidates are required to re-arrange these jumbled parts to produce the correct sentence. The most important aspect of such questions is the re-arrangement of the four parts to form a grammatically correct sentence. It may not be that simple to identify the proper sequence of the four parts, but one can easily identify the two parts that must go together. This helps the candidates to eliminate one or two Answer Choices. Now candidates must read the sentence in the sequence of the remaining Answer Choices to see which one makes the most appropriate sentence. Apart from being grammatically correct, the sentence should also be logically consistent.
General Knowledge
The term “General Knowledge” has very wide connotation. Any piece of information qualifies for coming under the domain of General Knowledge. The various subjects included in the domain of General Knowledge are: History, Geography, Economy, Science, Indian Polity and Constitution, Traditional General Knowledge, Current Affairs, etc. First of all we should have a careful glance at the syllabus prescribed by the UPSC for CDS Examinations:
General knowledge, including awareness of current events and everyday observations and experiences from a scientific perspective, as would be expected of an educated individual who has not specialized in any particular scientific subject. The paper will also feature questions on Indian history and geography that candidates should be able to answer without requiring any special study.
The above mentioned syllabus is obviously not exactly defined. On the basis of this syllabus and after analysing the question papers of previous years’ examinations we can delineate the sphere of General Knowledge for the concerned examination. Candidates must prepare a plan for study on scientific basis in such a way that maximum learning is accomplished with least effort and in minimum possible time.