The UPSC NDA & NA Examination (II) 2026 is one of the most coveted gateways into the Indian armed forces. With the official notification due on 20 May 2026, aspirants have a tight, predictable window to convert intent into preparation. If you are reading this in the second week of May, you are exactly at the right point on the curve: the syllabus is fixed, the dates are visible, and a disciplined 90-day plan still beats the timeline cleanly.
Key Dates You Must Lock In
- Notification release: 20 May 2026
- Application window: 20 May 2026 to 9 June 2026
- Correction window: Typically 7 days after the application close (watch UPSC site)
- Written exam date: 13 September 2026 (Sunday)
- SSB Interview: Roughly December 2026 to March 2027 for shortlisted candidates
Vacancies will be announced with the notification PDF. Going by the NDA-I 2026 cycle, which carried 394 posts, the NDA-II is expected to land in a similar band with a separate breakup for male and female candidates across Army, Navy, Air Force and the Naval Academy 10+2 Cadet Entry.
Eligibility — Read This Before You Fill the Form
Age
Candidates must be born not earlier than 2 January 2008 and not later than 1 January 2011. Only unmarried candidates are eligible.
Education
- Army Wing: Class 12 pass from a recognised board (or appearing).
- Air Force, Navy & Naval Academy: Class 12 with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
Female Candidates
Since NDA-II 2021, women candidates are eligible across all three services. The induction is now structurally embedded — separate physical standards apply, but the written exam, SSB and academic syllabus are identical. Treat this as a fully open door, not a concession.
Physical Standards
Minimum height of 157 cm (relaxations for specific regions and Air Force pilot stream which has a separate 162.5 cm leg-length floor). Vision standards differ sharply between Army, Navy and Air Force — read Appendix-IV of the notification carefully before applying for a specific service preference.
Exam Pattern — Marks, Time, Negative Marking
| Paper | Subject | Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper-I | Mathematics | 300 | 2.5 hours |
| Paper-II | General Ability Test (GAT) | 600 | 2.5 hours |
| Written Total | — | 900 | 5 hours |
| SSB Interview | Psychology, GTO, Personal Interview | 900 | 5 days |
| Grand Total | — | 1800 | — |
Negative marking is one-third of the marks allotted per question. You must clear a sectional minimum of 25% in each paper to qualify for SSB — that line trips more candidates than the aggregate cutoff itself.
Cutoff Trend — Last Three Cycles
- NDA-I 2024: Written 360/900 · Final 720/1800
- NDA-II 2024: Written 355/900 · Final 709/1800
- NDA-I 2025: Written ~375/900 · Final ~715/1800 (expected band)
The written cutoff has hovered between 350 and 380 for the past four cycles; the final selection mark sits between 700 and 730. Your written target should therefore be 450+, not the bare cutoff — that buffer is what insulates you from a weak SSB day.
The 90-Day Prep Plan
From 15 May to 13 September is roughly 121 days. We carve that into three operational phases.
Phase 1 (Days 1–35): Mathematics Foundations
Mathematics is the highest-leverage paper because it is the most coachable. Cover in this order:
- Algebra: Sets, relations, complex numbers, quadratic equations, sequences and series, binomial theorem, matrices and determinants.
- Trigonometry: Identities, inverse functions, properties of triangles, heights and distances.
- Calculus basics: Limits, continuity, differentiation rules, application of derivatives, basic integration, differential equations.
- Vectors and 3D Geometry: Dot/cross product, lines and planes in space.
- Statistics & Probability: Mean, median, variance, conditional probability, Bayes’ theorem.
Target: 4 hours of Maths daily, with one full topic test every fifth day. Use NCERT Class 11 and 12 as your spine; do not graduate to advanced books until NCERT exercises are 90% solved.
Phase 2 (Days 36–75): GAT — English & General Knowledge
GAT carries double the marks of Maths. Split it like this:
- English (200 marks): Daily vocabulary (15 new words), one comprehension passage, spotting errors, sentence improvement, antonyms and synonyms. Lucent’s GK book and Wren & Martin handle this comfortably.
- Physics (100 marks): Mechanics, heat, light, sound, electricity — Class 9 and 10 NCERT plus selected Class 11 chapters.
- Chemistry (60 marks): Atomic structure, chemical bonding, acids/bases/salts, carbon compounds.
- General Science (40 marks): Biology basics — cell, human body, nutrition, diseases.
- History & Freedom Movement (80 marks): Ancient, medieval and modern India with focus on 1857–1947.
- Geography (80 marks): Physical, Indian and world geography with map work.
- Polity (40 marks): Indian Constitution, Fundamental Rights, Parliament, judiciary.
- Economics (20 marks): Five-year plans, banking, budget basics.
- Current Affairs (80 marks): Last 12 months — defence acquisitions, awards, summits, sports, books.
Read one national daily for 30 minutes and visit govtexamgurukul.com every morning for the consolidated current affairs brief.
Phase 3 (Days 76–121): Revision, Mocks & SSB Groundwork
Take one full-length mock every alternate day. Analyse it for 90 minutes — wrong answers are more valuable than right ones. Maintain an error log; revise it twice a week.
Simultaneously open the SSB front:
- Self-description (parents, teachers, friends, self) — write fresh every Sunday.
- OIR practice: reasoning sets, 30 minutes daily.
- Picture Perception & Description Test (PPDT): two stories daily.
- Group Discussion topics: current affairs and defence policy.
- Physical fitness: 2.4 km run under 12 minutes, 20 push-ups, 8 chin-ups by Day 90.
Recommended Books
- Mathematics: NCERT Class 11 & 12, R.S. Aggarwal “Mathematics for NDA & NA”
- English: Wren & Martin, Word Power Made Easy
- GK Compendium: Lucent’s General Knowledge, Manorama Yearbook 2026
- Science & Polity: NCERT Class 9–10 Science, M. Laxmikanth (selective chapters)
- Previous Year Papers: Arihant NDA/NA 11-Year Solved Papers
- SSB: “Let’s Crack SSB Interview” by SSBCrack, “Breaking the Code of SSB Psych Tests”
SSB — The 5-Day Breakdown
- Day 1 — Screening: OIR test, PPDT, narration and discussion. Roughly 50% are screened out here.
- Day 2 — Psychology: TAT (12 pictures), WAT (60 words), SRT (60 situations), Self-Description.
- Day 3 — GTO Series 1: Group Discussion, Group Planning Exercise, Progressive Group Task, Half Group Task, Lecturette.
- Day 4 — GTO Series 2: Individual Obstacles, Command Task, Final Group Task. Personal Interview runs in parallel.
- Day 5 — Conference: Board reviews you for 5–15 minutes; results announced same evening.
Exam-Day SOP
- Reach the centre 75 minutes early. Carry admit card, original photo ID and two passport photos.
- Read every Maths question fully before attempting — first-pass attempt only confident questions, second pass for likely ones, skip the rest. Negative marking will eat aggressive guesses.
- In GAT, English first (it is fastest), then GK in the order you are strongest. Do not spend more than 45 seconds on any single GK question.
- Eat light, hydrate, no caffeine experiments on exam day.
Final Word
NDA-II 2026 is winnable on a 90-day runway if you protect your daily Maths block, do not let GAT drift into passive reading, and start SSB groundwork before the written results arrive. The candidates who clear are not the ones who studied longest — they are the ones who treated this as an operations problem with a fixed deadline.
Visit govtexamgurukul.com for daily current affairs and section drills. The notification drops in five days. Be ready before it does.
