NDA or National Defence Academy is the training academy for the young defence aspirants who got selected to be an officer after there 12th class. The test is conducted in 2 parts as shown below in the picture:
This article is purely concentrated over the 1st part i.e. the WRITTEN EXAM. The numbers stated in the above image are marks distribution of both the tests. Now, before explaining the written exam any further, let’s have a look at another picture.
Written Exam
Now you can see that the written exam is further divided into two parts i.e. Paper 1(Mathematics) and Paper 2(General Studies). Both of them are conducted on the same day at the same place but they have a break of 1 hour and 30 minutes between them for refreshment. You are given 2 hours and 30 minutes for each paper. But as you can see in the picture above, the number of questions are different in both papers. In Paper 1, you will get a total of 120 questions to solve in 150 minutes, and in Paper 2, you will get 150 questions to give answers of, in the same time i.e. 150 minutes. We will discuss the marks and the negative marking in the exam after some time.
Now comes a very important question that a lot of NDA Aspirants ask me on QUORA.
Let’s discuss the MARKING SCHEME now. Again, I will show you an image, because it’s easier to understand it that way.
Here, M/Q represents Marks per Question.
As you can see that marks per question are not the same for Mathematics and General Studies, so don’t get confused with it.
By now, I have told you almost every basic information about the exam except the cut-off. So, let’s discuss little bit about it.
As you can see, there are two types of cut-off in the written exam of NDA. 1st is Paper wise cutoff and 2nd is overall cutoff. You can read about them in detail in the picture above.
You can see the syllabus is very vast and if you go to some academy, they will teach you the whole syllabus and waste a lot of time as well as efforts of yours. But I will tell you the exact topics which you need to learn/understand to clear the written exam. The written exam is just to clear the cutoff so that you can appear in the SSB interview. If you want to be an Officer in the INDIAN ARMED FORCES, then you should concentrate on the preparation for the SSB interview.
Now here comes the blueprint of my strategy. Look at the image below.
Marks shown in the above picture should be your 1st target to achieve. Below is the syllabus for Mathematics Paper 1.
Paper 1 (Mathematics)
You see some text is highlighted with RED color and some in yellow color. The topics in RED are the most important as well as the easiest ones. You should know each and every bit about these topics and you must have practiced a lot of questions on these topics before going to the exam. The topics in YELLOW are important topics (less than the one in RED). You must know each and every formula of these topics and you must have practiced a few questions of these topics.
Now, if you see my strategy for Mathematics, you will find that I have reduced your syllabus by at least 50%( if you count the number of topics), but if you give a closer look to it, you will find that all the topics that I have highlighted are too easy as compared to others. So, quantitatively I have reduced your Mathematics syllabus by 70%.
Now, lets talk about Paper 2.
Paper 2 (General Studies)
In the picture above, you can see the types of English questions asked in the exam. In paper 2, English is the most scoring subject and you must take it seriously. My suggestion for the preparation of English is that- join some reputed English speaking class where you can practice speaking English along with learning grammar. This will help you not only in the Written exam but also in the SSB Interview. Your preparations for English must be up to that mark where you can give 45 correct answers out of 50 in the exam of English.
Next comes the general studies.
In the above image, you can see subjects marked with RED and YELLOW color. As you are going to appear in NDA written exam, you must be pursuing or have passed the 12th class in the Non-Medical stream. So, you must be having sound knowledge of Physics and Chemistry. To prepare for Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, I suggest you solve previous year question papers of these subjects. For Biology, specifically, refer to previous year question papers only(at least 10 papers of last 5 years). For Physics and Chemistry, solve the last 5-year question paper and also revise NCERT’s. For current affairs, read an English newspaper daily (I prefer THE TRIBUNE). That’s all for G.S.
LEAVE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS. You can pass NDA without them. I personally never even looked at these subjects. While in the exam, you may feel bad for leaving almost 35-40 question unattended but trust me, preparing for them waste a lot of time and efforts.
As I told you in the start, one of my friend took coaching for NDA WRITTEN EXAM from a very reputed coaching institutes of DEHRADUN for 6 months but was not able to crack it because they taught him a lot of unnecessary things like history and geography, and before exam he was consumed in revising that stuff while I revised only the formulas of Mathematics
Here I END this Article with my GOLDEN RULES. Read them to know “how to crack NDA WRITTEN EXAM in 1st attempt?”
Golden Rules
- Paper 1 (Mathematics) is more about leaving the easy but lengthy questions than attempting all questions in a sequence. Here they check your time management.
- Paper 2 is more about attempting the right question. In this paper, you will get enough time to sleep after completing the exam so don’t worry about time. Just keep on moving with the plan i.e. attempt only those questions for which you are confident.
- First attempt only easy and less time-consuming question for which you are confident that you will get the correct answer and fill the circles in OMR sheet when half-hour is remaining and count how many have you done and calculate, if 80% of them are correct then will you be able to clear the cutoff? If yes or if you are on the margin line, go for the lengthy questions and attempt only those where you feel confident. If you a lot behind the margin line and time left is less than an hour, close your question paper and fill the OMR sheet without seeing questions in a set of 4 consecutive same answers ( I prefer option C the most) lol… it sometimes works….
- HOW TO PREPARE FOR NDA IN 2 DAYS? I told you earlier that I study for 2 to 3 days only before the exam, so the question is what do I study? I revise formulas of important chapters of mathematics, I revise previous year question papers of English, physics, chemistry, biology. I don’t solve any maths question and I don’t study anything new in these days. That’s all what I prepare.
- And remember, don’t study in journey to the exam centre or while waiting outside, although your parents will force you to study, but last moment study only messes up things and won’t help at all. I have seen candidates utilising every second before the exam to study a bit more, I have seen candidates completing their mathematics paper before time and attempting all questions with full confidence but when the result is announced, I sometimes see myself as the only candidate passing the exam on my center. So, attempting more is not that important, what is really important is to control your nerves during the exam.
- Don’t buy Arihant’s PATHFINDER if you don’t want to blow up your mind. Instead, buy Arihant’s Previous year solved papers book.
- And the most IMPORTANT, if a lot of students followed my strategy than the cutoff may go high (by around 50 marks), so be prepared for that. It means you must prepare well (selected topics).
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