The standard of the Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai, is on a par with the Indian Military Academy (IMA) and the National Defence Academy (NDA). The coveted Presidential colours were presented to the Academy in 1990. In 1992, when it was decided that women would be inducted into the officer cadre, the task of training them was given to OTA. Around 450 male cadets and 150 lady cadets are commissioned each year to the Army from the OTA.

The advertisement for the Short Service Commission (SSC) of the UPSC comes out in all newspapers and the Employment News in April and September. For the NCC Special Entry Scheme, the advertisement is published in October or November and for the Women’s Special Entry Scheme the advertisement is published in June and December. The forms are available from any one of the designated head post offices throughout the country. You can send your application to the Secretary, UPSC, Dholpur House, New Delhi 110011. For more information, log on to www.upsc.gov.in.

Eligibility

For admission to the SSC (non-technical) course, the minimum academic qualification is a graduation degree or equivalent. For admission to the SSC (technical) course, the minimum qualification is an engineering degree in a notified discipline. For admission to the SSC (NCC Special Entry Scheme), the candidate should be a graduate with 50 per cent aggregate marks, with two years in service in NCC Senior Division Army and a minimum ‘B’ grade in the C-certificate exam. For admission to the Women’s Special Entry Scheme (officers), the candidate should be a graduate or a postgraduate.

Entrance Exam

For the SSC (non-technical) course, there is a CDSE entrance exam conducted by the UPSC in February and September every year followed by an SSB interview.

For the SSC (technical), NCC Special Entry Scheme and Women Special Entry Scheme there is only the SSB interview. There is also a medical examination for all the courses.

Pattern of Exam

The CDSE examination consists of two papers. Paper I is on graduation-level English and Paper II has questions on general knowledge, both of two hours’ duration.

The SSB interview assesses your suitability for the armed forces and the exercises, tests and interviews stretch over a number of days. Psychological tests are further divided into the WAT (Word Association Test), the TAT (Thematic Appreciation Test) and the SRT (Situation Reaction Test).

The selected candidates receive training for nine months. They are granted the SSC and inducted in the Army as Lieutenants. The SSC in the Regular Army is granted for 10 years, extendable by four years.

How to Prepare

Revise all the key points of history, economics, geography, the constitution, etc, from a GK compendium like the ones by O.P. Khanna, Maniram Agarwal and CSR Year Book, etc. Read newspapers and magazines regularly. Brush up your English vocabulary from Norman Lewis and Objective English by Tata McGraw Hill publishers.

There are also various guides for the CDSE exam by Natraj publishers, Upkar and Bookhives. Practise questions from the previous year’s papers as well.