NDA 2027: Exam Dates, Eligibility & Selection

Confirmed dates from the UPSC Annual Calendar 2027

• NDA & NA (I) 2027: notification on 2 December 2026; last date for applications 22 December 2026; written examination on 11 April 2027.
• NDA & NA (II) 2027: notification on 12 May 2027; last date for applications 1 June 2027; written examination on 19 September 2027.

UPSC can revise calendar dates, and the detailed notification is the final word, but these are official dates from the Commission — not estimates. If you finish Class 12 in 2027, the (I) examination is your primary target: applications open this December, while you are still in school, and appearing candidates are eligible.

Who can apply

The eligibility framework for NDA is stable from year to year, and the 2027 notifications will restate it with precise birth dates:

• Age: only unmarried candidates in the 16.5 to 19.5 year age band at the time of commencement of the course are eligible. There is no age relaxation for any category — this is the single most common reason applications are wasted, so check the birth-date window printed in the notification against your Class 10 certificate before you pay the fee.
• Both boys and girls can apply for all wings, following the opening of NDA entry to women.
• Education — Army wing: Class 12 (10+2) passed or appearing, in any stream — arts, commerce or science.
• Education — Air Force and Navy wings of NDA, and the Naval Academy 10+2 B.Tech entry: Class 12 passed or appearing with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. A commerce or humanities student can aim only for the Army wing; there is no way around the PCM requirement for the other wings, and discovering this after applying is a common and avoidable disappointment.
• Physical and medical standards: candidates must meet the prescribed physical standards, including vision standards that differ by wing — the Air Force flying branch is the strictest. Read the standards appendix in the notification honestly before investing a year of preparation.

There is no limit on the number of attempts; the age band is the limit.

The written exam and what follows

The written examination is a single day of two objective papers, totalling 900 marks:

• Mathematics — 300 marks, 2.5 hours (120 questions), set broadly at Class 11–12 level.
• General Ability Test — 600 marks, 2.5 hours (150 questions), covering English, physics, chemistry, general science, history, geography, polity and current events.

Wrong answers attract negative marking of one-third of the marks assigned to the question, so blind guessing is expensive. UPSC fixes minimum qualifying marks; candidates who clear the written test are called to the Services Selection Board (SSB) — a five-day process of screening, psychological tests, group tasks and a personal interview, carrying another 900 marks. The final merit list is drawn from the combined 1,800 marks, subject to medical fitness. Written success alone wins nothing; roughly speaking, the SSB is where most written-qualified candidates are filtered out.

Fee and how to apply

Recent NDA notifications have charged an application fee of ₹100, with SC/ST candidates, women candidates, and sons and daughters of JCOs, NCOs and Other Ranks exempted — expect the 2027 notifications to confirm the same structure. Applications are online only, through UPSC's application portal linked from upsc.gov.in, in two parts: Part I for your personal and examination details, and Part II for the fee payment, centre choice, and uploading your photograph, signature and identity proof to specification. For NDA (I) 2027 that window runs from 2 to 22 December 2026 — three weeks, over the Christmas period, when school offices that you may need for documents are closed. Register in the first week.

What to do now

If you are in Class 11 or 12, your preparation divides cleanly: build mathematics to genuine Class 12 depth (it is a full paper, not an aptitude test), read a daily newspaper for the GAT current-events and defence component, and work through previous years' papers under a strict timer to learn the negative-marking discipline. Keep your Class 10 certificate, Class 12 mark sheet (when available), a recent photograph and signature in scanned form ready before December. And when the notification appears on 2 December 2026, read its eligibility pages first — the birth-date window and physical standards, not the headline dates, are what decide whether NDA 2027 is your examination at all.

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