NDA 1 and 2 exam dates for 2025 sessions are out and the application form for NDA 1 is available till 31st December, 2024. The admit card is likely to be available by the fourth week of March 2025. Candidates will be able to download the admit card from the official website of UPSC. The NDA 1 exam for the 2025 session will take place on April 13, 2025. The application form for the NDA 2 session will be available from May 28, 2025, till June 17, 2025. The NDA 2 exam is scheduled to take place on September 14, 2025.
NDA 2025 Application form: How to apply?
- Go to the official UPSC website – upsc.gov.in
- Create the one-time registration (OTR) ID using the required details
- Fill the NDA application form with the application fee of Rs 100
- Make online or offline payment
- Get login credentials for future reference
NDA 2025 Exam Pattern and Marking Scheme
The first step to acing any competitive exam is to become well-versed with the pattern and marking scheme of the exam. The NDA exam is divided into parts – Written Test and SSB Interview. It is conducted in offline mode. The written test is further divided into Mathematics Paper and General Ability Test (GAT). The General Ability Test is further divided into English and General Knowledge. The written test is categorized into two parts. Part 1 comprising a Mathematics paper has a weightage of 300 marks with 120 questions. Part 2 comprising English (200 marks) and General Knowledge (400 marks) has a combined weightage of 600 marks. The final cutoff list is prepared on the basis of marks obtained out of 1800 marks – 900 marks for the written test and 900 marks for the SSB Interview.
NDA Marking Scheme
| Subject | NDA Negative Marking |
| GAT | -1.33 |
| Mathematics | -0.83 |
Part 1 – Mathematics (120 questions of 300 marks)
Part 2 – General Ability Test (GAT) – 150 questions of 600 marks
Part 2A – English of 200 marks
Part 2B – General Knowledge – 400
- Physics – 100 marks
- Chemistry – 60
- General Science – 40
- History, Freedom Movement – 80
- Geography – 80
- Current Events – 40
NDA Exam Duration
NDA written test duration is 5 hours – 2.5 hours each for GAT and Mathematics. Go through the shift timings given below.
| Shift | Exam Timing |
| Morning | 10 am to 12:30 pm |
| Afternoon | 2 pm to 4:30 pm |
NDA 2025 Syllabus
NDA candidates can check the syllabus here for effective preparation.
Mathematics: Algebra, Calculus, Matrices and Determinants, Integral Calculus and Differential Equations, Trigonometry, Vector Algebra, Analytical Geometry of Two and Three Dimension and Statistics and Probability.
General Ability Test (GAT): The GAT syllabus of NDA is further categorised into two parts. Part A consists of questions in English. On the other hand, Part B comprises questions from General Knowledge. Questions in English part come from Grammar and Usage, Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Cohesion. Questions in General Knowledge are asked from Physics, Chemistry, Social Studies, General Science, Geography, and Current Events.
NDA Preparation Tips
As there are only a few months left for session 1 of NDA 2025, candidates need to plan and strategize their preparation for the exam. Candidates need to keep in mind that their motive should be to clear the cut-off marks rather than finishing the syllabus like Board exams. Know where you stand in terms of preparation with the help of previous years’ papers. Also, candidates should not overwhelm their preparation with tons of study materials. Instead, they should prepare with a limited number of books having credibility in the market. Below are a couple of books that NDA aspirants can refer to ace their upcoming written exams.
| MTG’s 100 Percent NDA-NA Previous 5 Years’ Chapterwise Topicwise Solved Papers
This book helps candidates cover 11,000+ MCQs from all subjects such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, General Science, English, Social Science, and Current Affairs in a chapter-wise format. Also, it offers topic-wise analysis of the previous five years’ question papers of the NDA/NA exam. Moreover, it has three practice papers based on the latest exam pattern and consists of solved papers from the NDA/NA 2024 exams. |
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NDA-NA 10 Previous Years Chapterwise Solved Papers (2015-2024)
It is the ideal book for NDA candidates who want familiarization with the NDA exam questions and their difficulty level. This book helps them become well-versed in the marking scheme and pattern of the NDA exam. It offers chapterwise previous 10 years’ questions to help candidates identify trends and emphasise their efforts on frequently asked topics. Moreover, this book comes with 3 model test papers having comprehensive solutions to simulate exam-like conditions. Also, to nurture conceptual understanding, it comes with hints and explanations for all questions. |
Conclusion
NDA can be conquered if prepared well with the right study materials. So, stop wasting time and give it your everything and emerge victorious in NDA 2025.
