UPSC One
Combined Defence Services

CDS Syllabus

Explore complete syllabus, subjects, topics and micro-topics for the Combined Defence Services examination.

Start PracticeView PYQs
3Subjects42Main topics163Micro-topics17Years of PYQs
Courage, honour, duty — the making of an officer begins here.

PYQ intelligence

Syllabus focus analysis

Use frequency and recurrence to decide what to revise first. This is based on 11439 tagged PYQs across 17 years.

Browse all PYQs

11439

Tagged PYQs

63

Topics tested

17

Years covered

Subject distribution

share of PYQs
General Knowledge36%
English35%
Elementary Mathematics30%

Topic share leaderboard

relative weight
General Knowledge4080 (36%)
2026
English3960 (35%)
2026
Elementary Mathematics3399 (30%)
2026

Most repeated topics

count of PYQs

Year-wise PYQ trend

679
09
680
10
680
12
560
13
680
14
680
15
680
16
680
17
680
18
680
19
680
20
680
21
680
22
680
23
680
24
680
25
680
26

Topic-wise focus list

Click a topic to see its repeat pattern and focus priority.

Topic recurrence heatmap

Darker cells mean more questions appeared in that year.

last 8 years
Topic20192020202120222023202420252026
History of India
Geography
Algebra
Current Affairs
Spotting Errors
Fill in the Blanks
Reading Comprehension
Trigonometry

Subjects

Combined Defence Services

English

Objective English: grammar, vocabulary and comprehension (120 questions, 100 marks).

0%

0 / 16 topics

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  • Spotting Errors6 micro-topics
  • Synonyms3 micro-topics
  • Antonyms3 micro-topics
  • Idioms and Phrases3 micro-topics
  • One Word Substitution3 micro-topics
  • Fill in the Blanks3 micro-topics
  • Use of Phrasal Verbs3 micro-topics
  • Adaptation of Borrowed Words2 micro-topics
  • Usage of Paired Words3 micro-topics
  • Word Classes2 micro-topics
  • Prepositions and Determiners3 micro-topics
  • Ordering of Words in a Sentence2 micro-topics
  • Ordering of Sentences2 micro-topics
  • Correlating Sentences3 micro-topics
  • Matching List2 micro-topics
  • Reading Comprehension4 micro-topics