The highly anticipated CDS-2 2025 exam held by UPSC on 14th September 2025 is finally over, and candidates are curious to find out how it went and what the predicted cut-offs would be. Defence Guru has made an intensive analysis of the exam to provide you with a brief yet precise breakdown.
CDS-2 2025 ANALYSIS OF ALL THREE PAPERS:
There were three papers in the exam: English, General Knowledge (GK), and Elementary Mathematics. A similar description of the difficulty and good attempt ranges of the papers is given below:
|
Paper |
Total Questions |
Difficult Questions |
Secured Attempt |
|
ENGLISH |
120 |
Moderate |
70-80 Questions |
|
GK |
120 |
Moderate |
70-80 Questions |
|
ELEMENTARY MATHS |
100 |
Moderate |
45-52 Questions |
CDS-2 2025 ENGLISH PAPER ANALYSIS:
According to the CDS syllabus, the English section had a total of 120 questions. Here is a summary of the kinds of questions asked and their levels of difficulty:
|
Topics in the English Section |
Number of Questions |
Difficulty Level |
Easy Questions |
Moderate Questions |
Brain Busters (Difficult) |
|
Fill in the Blanks |
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Spotting Errors |
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Usage of Paired Words |
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Antonyms |
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Synonyms |
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Idioms & Phrase |
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Sentence Rearrangement |
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Word Matching |
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Cloze Test |
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Most aspirants found that the paper was easy to tackle, with a good mix of easy and challenging questions.
CDS-2 2025 GK PAPER ANALYSIS:
The GK paper had a total of 120 questions covering a wide range of topics. Here’s a simple breakdown:
|
Subjects |
Sub-Section |
Number of Questions |
Difficulty Level |
Easy Questions |
Moderate Questions |
|
History |
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Geography |
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Indian Geography |
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Polity & Governance |
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Economics |
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Physics |
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Chemistry |
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Biology |
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Current Affairs |
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Static GK |
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Overall, the GK paper was well-balanced, though Current Affairs required thorough preparation.
CDS-2 2025 ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS ANALYSIS:
The Mathematics paper was of a moderate difficulty level and compulsory for IMA, INA, and AFA candidates. Here's a topic-wise summary:
|
Topics |
No of Questions |
Difficulty Level |
Easy Questions |
Moderate Questions |
Brain Busters (Difficult) |
|
Arithmetic |
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Algebra |
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Geometry |
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Trigonometry |
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Mensuration |
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Statistics |
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Number System |
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CDS-2 2025 WRITTEN EXAM EXPECTED CUT-OFF MARKS:
CDS aspirants are asked to kindly note that the UPSC will declare the CDS-2 2025 cut-off score of the written test after the declaration of the final result.
However, as per the analysis of all three papers and the difficulty level of questions, the cut-off marks for the CDS-2 2025 written test are approximately mentioned below:
|
ACADEMIES |
CUT-OFF SCORE |
|
IMA [INDIAN MILITARY ACADEMY] |
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|
INA [INDIAN NAVAL ACADEMY] |
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AFA [AIR FORCE ACADEMY] |
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OTA MEN |
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OTA WOMEN |
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CDS WRITTEN EXAM PREVIOUS YEARS’ CUT-OFF MARKS:
Through previous years' cut-off marks of CDS written exams, you can have an idea about the expected cut-off mark for the CDS-2 2025 exam. It will also make you understand the current trends of the CDS exam.
|
EXAM CYCLE |
IMA |
INA |
AFA |
OTA MEN |
OTA WOMEN |
|
CDS 1 2024 |
120 |
100 |
128 |
87 |
87 |
|
CDS 2 2023 |
127 |
110 |
136 |
104 |
104 |
|
CDS 1 2023 |
132 |
122 |
142 |
101 |
101 |
|
CDS 2 2022 |
126 |
118 |
136 |
98 |
98 |
|
CDS 1 2022 |
136 |
128 |
147 |
100 |
100 |
|
CDS 2 2021 |
138 |
132 |
148 |
102 |
102 |
|
CDS 1 2021 |
145 |
136 |
158 |
107 |
107 |
|
CDS 2 2020 |
139 |
134 |
152 |
97 |
97 |
|
CDS 1 2020 |
130 |
118 |
143 |
93 |
93 |
|
CDS 2 2019 |
134 |
122 |
148 |
95 |
95 |
|
CDS 1 2019 |
116 |
105 |
129 |
78 |
78 |
|
CDS 2 2018 |
116 |
102 |
131 |
80 |
80 |
|
CDS 1 2018 |
118 |
98 |
138 |
69 |
69 |
