Chandigarh: Over 6,000 students appear for NDA exam at 65 centres

CHANDIGARH: More than 6,000 candidates brainstormed for the National Defence Academy (NDA) examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission in Chandigarh on Sunday. The exam was conducted in two slots. Paper I consisted of 120 mathematics questions, Paper II had 150 questions on general studies, including 50 questions on English section. The exam was offline and there were more than 65 centres in the city, most being government and private schools. According to the students, the exam was basic and was not very lengthy.
Pranjal Sharma from Dharamshala in Kangra said, “The exam was easy and nothing was out of the syllabus.”
Another candidate, Prashant Kumar, who had driven from Ambala, said, “To stay safe in Covid-19 times, I drove from Ambala. I found the exam to be basic and it was not lengthy.”
Some students said the paper was easier in comparison to the last two years. However, some students, however, found problem in trigonometry questions in mathematics and found the paper lengthy.
Abhay Rana, who came from Himachal, said, “Travelling hampered my performance, but arrangement was good and Covid-19 guidelines were followed inside the exam hall. I attempted around 47 questions in mathematics, which were lengthy. Social science questions gave me tough time.”
Aditya Sohail, who appeared at the Sector 21 centre, said, “Maths paper was easy in comparison to the JEE exam. Attempting paper with mask definitely affected the speed. I attempted around 78 questions in mathematics and 89 in GAT paper. I expect 400 plus score.”
Kunal Singh, UPSC NDA exam mentor, said, “The UPSC always surprises aspirants with trend shift and that was observed today as well. In general studies paper, geography section was the toughest with surprising shift in question trends followed by history & political questions. Physics and chemistry were highly scoring. Reading comprehension, cloze test and idiom phrases were missing this time in the English section. Around 80% mathematics questions were simple and formula-based apart from 20% lengthy and calculative questions. While 17 questions in maths and 22 in GS paper were repeated ones from the previous exams. Overall the NDA 2020 exam was on a slightly tougher tone than the NDA 2019 exam. I think cutoff will be definitely 349 plus out of 900.”
The exam was conducted for admission to the officer entry to Indian Army, Navy and Air Force wings of the NDA for the 145th course, and for the 107th Indian Naval Academy course.