The Combined Defence Services Examination (I), 2025 English Question Paper is now available for download for candidates who appeared in the exam or are preparing for the next cycle. This paper is extremely useful for understanding the latest exam pattern, question trends and difficulty level. If you are serious about clearing CDS, downloading and analysing the English question paper should be one of your first steps in preparation.
I am writing this because many aspirants focus only on coaching material and ignore the actual previous year question papers. In my experience, solving the real exam paper gives a clear idea of how questions are framed and how time should be managed. Whether you are targeting the next CDS exam or just analysing your performance in CDS (I) 2025, this English paper will help you prepare in a more focused and practical way.
About the Combined Defence Services Examination
The Union Public Service Commission conducts the Combined Defence Services Examination twice a year to recruit officers for prestigious defence academies such as:
- Indian Military Academy (IMA)
- Indian Naval Academy (INA)
- Air Force Academy (AFA)
- Officers Training Academy (OTA)
The CDS (I) 2025 exam included separate papers for English, General Knowledge and Mathematics (for IMA, INA and AFA). For OTA, only English and General Knowledge are conducted.
The English paper plays a crucial role because it carries 100 marks and tests candidates on grammar, vocabulary and comprehension.
Why the CDS (I) 2025 English Question Paper Is Important
Downloading and solving the latest English question paper helps in several ways:
- You understand the current exam pattern
- You get clarity on the level of grammar questions
- You can check the type of comprehension passages asked
- You learn how vocabulary-based questions are framed
- You improve speed and accuracy
From what I have seen over the years, UPSC slightly changes the focus areas every few exams. That is why analysing the most recent paper is more important than solving very old papers alone.
Exam Pattern of CDS English Paper
Here is a quick overview of the CDS English paper pattern:
- Total Marks: 100
- Duration: 2 Hours
- Type of Questions: Objective (Multiple Choice Questions)
- Negative Marking: Yes, one-third marks deducted for each wrong answer
The paper generally includes:
- Spotting errors
- Sentence improvement
- Synonyms and antonyms
- Ordering of words in a sentence
- Ordering of sentences in a paragraph
- Comprehension passages
- Fill in the blanks
Time management is very important because the paper is lengthy and requires strong basics in grammar.
How to Download CDS (I) 2025 English Question Paper
Aspirants can easily download the CDS (I) 2025 English Question Paper from the official website. Here’s how to do it:
- Visit the official website of the Union Public Service Commission
- Go to the “Examinations” section
- Click on “Previous Question Papers”
- Select “Combined Defence Services Examination (I), 2025”
- Click on the English paper link
- Download the PDF and save it for practice
N.B: If you want to download the question paper without any difficulty, you can easily download it by Click Here.
After downloading, I recommend taking a printout and solving it in a time-bound manner to simulate real exam conditions.


















