NDA (National Defence Academy) Exam is organized every year by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and for the year 2024 NDA (I) Application Form will be out in December 2023. UPSC NDA is a national-level entrance exam through which various candidates are selected for training in the Indian Navy, Indian Military and Air Force. It is important for the candidates to qualify for the entrance test for selection into NDA. The entrance test will be followed by SSB interview rounds & medical tests for the final entry into NDA. Go through our article to know complete details about NDA 2024 for instance application form, exam dates, eligibility, exam pattern, etc.
NDA 2024 Overview
| Name of the Exam | National Defence Academy Exam |
| Organizing Authority | Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) |
| Application mode | Online |
| Level of Exam | National level |
| Exam mode | Offline |
| Selection process | Entrance exam, SSB Interview, and Medical Test |
| Official website | www.upsc.nic.in. |
NDA 2024 Important Dates
| Events | NDA-I | NDA-II |
| Publication of official notification | December 2023 | May 2024 |
| Application form release date | December 2023 | May 2024 |
| Last date to apply | January 2024 | June 2024 |
| Last date to pay the application fee by cash | January 2024 | June 2024 |
| Application withdraw date | January 2024 | – |
| Admit card release date | March 2024 | August 2024 |
| Exam date | April 2024 | September 2024 |
| Result declaration | May 2024 | October 2024 |
| SSB Interview | September 2024 | |
Eligibility Criteria
Nationality:
- Applicant must be a citizen of India/ Nepal/ Bhutan or a refugee of Tibetan (who came to India before the year 1962).
- Foreign nationals (except Gorkhas) will have to produce a certificate of eligibility issued by the Government of India.
Gender, Age & Marital Status:
- Both Male & Female candidates are eligible to apply for NDA Exam 2024.
- Only unmarried male candidates can apply for NDA Entrance Exam 2024.
- Aspirants will not be allowed to marry until they complete their training period of NDA.
- The age of the applicant should be between 16.5 to 19.5 years.
- For NDA I, the candidate should have been born between 2nd July 2005 to 1st July 2008.
- For NDA II, the candidate should have been born between January 2nd, 2006 to January 1st, 2009.
Academic Qualification:
- Air Force & Naval Wings (cadet entry scheme): Candidates should have successfully cleared 10th and 12th level examinations with Physics and Mathematics as compulsory subjects.
- Army Wing: Candidates should have passed 10th and 12th level exams from a recognized board.
- Appearing: Students who are going to take the 12th level examination are also eligible to apply.
Fitness:
- Applicants should be physically fit as per the physical standards laid by the commission of NDA admissions.
- Those applicants who have withdrawn or resigned from any training academies of the Armed forces on disciplinary grounds are not eligible to apply for NDA Exam.
NDA 2024 Application Form
Before applying for the NDA Exam 2024 Application Forms, candidates are advised to collect the whole information regarding the same from the official web portal of the Union Public Service Commission- www.upsconline.nic.in online. Candidates have to complete both the parts of the registration process i.e. Part 1 and Part 2. In part 1 you have to enter your complete personal, communicational, and qualification details. Whereas, Part 2 consists of uploading photos and signatures, choosing the exam center, and making the payment of the application fee. Also, candidates must confirm to take a hard copy of the application form to keep as a reference.
Application Fee:
You can make the payment of the application fee via debit card/ credit card/ net banking/ SBI Challan.
| Category | Application fee |
| Unreserved candidates | INR 100/- |
| Reserved candidates | Exempted |
Exam Pattern
- Mode of Exam: The NDA paper will be held in offline (pen and paper) mode.
- Number of Sections: In the question paper, there will be two sections- General Ability and Mathematics.
- Exam Duration: Candidates will be given a total of 5 hours to solve the question paper (2 hours 30 minutes each for the GA and Mathematics section).
- Questions type: There will be objective types (Multiple Choice Questions) in the paper.
- Paper Language: The question paper will be bilingual i.e. in English as well as the Hindi language.
- Marking pattern: For each wrong answer, 33% of the marks allocated to a question will be subtracted.
- SSB Interview: It will carry 900 marks.
| Subject | Duration | Maximum Marks |
| Mathematics | 2 hours 30 minutes | 600 marks |
| General Ability | 2 hours 30 minutes | 300 marks |
SSB Interview
After the successful conduction of the written test, candidates who will be qualified in the merit list can report for the SSB interview process. The SSB interview process will be done in two stages – Stage I and Stage II.
Stage I comprises perception and description test (PP & DT) and Officer Intelligence Rating (OIR) tests. Stage II comprises of conference, psychology test, interview, and group testing officer tasks. These tests will be organized for 4 days.
NDA 2024 Result/ Merit List
For NDA I, candidates will be able to check their results of the NDA entrance examination in the month of May 2024. For the NDA II session, participants can collect their results in the month of November 2024. It will be available in the form of PDF via online means. The result/ merit list will display the names of nominated/ qualified candidates who will further have to appear for the SSB interview round and medical test.