CDS 2 Result 2026 Out: 8,956 Qualify for SSB Interview

The written result is out — 8,956 candidates move to the SSB stage

The Union Public Service Commission has declared the written result of the Combined Defence Services Examination (II), 2026, on 19 October 2026, and 8,956 candidates have qualified for the next stage — the interview by the Services Selection Board (SSB) of the Ministry of Defence. The Press Information Bureau carried the same result notice on 19 October. The examination was held on 13 September 2026, under Advertisement No. 11/2026-CDS-II.

The result is published the way UPSC publishes written results: as a roll-number PDF, open to anyone, with no login and no marks at this stage. If your roll number is in that PDF, your candidature for the SSB stage is live. If it is not, the written stage is where this cycle ends for you — UPSC does not issue individual scorecards with the written result, and there is no representation or re-evaluation route against it.

What the 8,956 are competing for: 451 vacancies, four courses

CDS (II) 2026 fills 451 vacancies across the academies, distributed as:

• Indian Military Academy (IMA): 100
• Indian Naval Academy (INA): 26
• Air Force Academy (AFA): 32
• Officers' Training Academy (OTA), Men: 275
• Officers' Training Academy (OTA), Women: 18

The courses these vacancies feed are the 163rd (DE) Course at IMA and the 222 F(P) Course at the Air Force Academy, both commencing in July 2027, and the 126th SSC Courses for Men and Women at OTA, commencing in October 2027. Roughly twenty written-qualified candidates per vacancy now go forward to a selection stage that is deliberately designed to thin the field again: the SSB is a multi-day assessment, not a formality, and the final merit rests on the written and SSB stages together under UPSC's rules for the examination.

The next step is registration — and it is service-specific

Qualifying the written examination does not automatically place you before an SSB board. You must register for the SSB process, and where you register depends on your service preference:

• Candidates whose first choice is the Army register on the Indian Army's recruiting website, joinindianarmy.nic.in. This is the step the result notice directs Army-first-choice candidates to complete so that SSB dates and centres can be allotted.
• Candidates oriented to the other services follow the registration and allotment instructions issued for those services through their respective channels and the UPSC notice.

Treat registration as time-critical even where this article does not print a closing date: SSB allotment runs in batches against capacity, and candidates who register late routinely draw later dates and whatever centres remain. Complete the registration as soon as your roll number is confirmed, and keep the registration details — they become the reference for your SSB call-up.

The certificate rule candidates get wrong

One instruction in UPSC's result notices is repeated every cycle because candidates keep tripping on it: original certificates are submitted to the SSB and the service headquarters — never to UPSC. Your original age and educational qualification certificates, and the supporting documents the notice prescribes, are produced at the SSB stage and to the services' authorities as directed. Do not post originals to the UPSC office in New Delhi; the Commission does not ask for them at this stage and is not the custodian of your selection documents.

The companion rules are just as plain. Candidature at this stage is provisional: qualification in the written result is subject to verification of eligibility, and the documents you produce at the SSB must match the claims in your application. A discrepancy discovered at verification ends the candidature regardless of written marks or SSB performance. Candidates who claimed reservation or any eligibility relaxation should hold the supporting certificate in the prescribed form, ready for the SSB — not begin looking for it after the call-up letter arrives.

What the SSB stage involves

The SSB interview is a two-stage selection process conducted over several days. Stage I is a screening stage conducted on the first day; candidates who clear it stay on for Stage II, the detailed psychological assessments, group testing officer tasks and the personal interview spread over the following days, concluding with the conference. Only candidates recommended by the SSB go forward to medical examination and, eventually, the final merit list that UPSC prepares from written and SSB marks for each course.

Practical preparation for the SSB is a different discipline from written preparation, and the interval between this result and your reporting date is the time to learn it: the structure of each day's testing, the documentation you must carry, the physical readiness the process assumes, and the simple logistics of reporting at the allotted centre on the date given. Candidates called to an SSB centre in another city should treat the call-up instructions as binding orders — reporting time, documents and prohibited items are all specified, and centres do not entertain deviations.

Marks, marksheets and what remains unpublished

At this stage UPSC publishes roll numbers only. No marks accompany the written result — not your total, not subject-wise scores, and not the cut-off. Under the result notice, the marksheets of candidates will be uploaded on upsconline.nic.in within 15 days of the declaration of the final result — that is, after the OTA course result completes the cycle — and will remain available for 30 days. Candidates who want their marks should calendar that window when the final results arrive; UPSC does not keep marksheets open indefinitely, and requests after the window closes are not the routine route to your scores.

Cut-off marks for CDS (II) 2026 likewise belong to the end of the process, not to result day. Any cut-off figure circulating today is a prediction from coaching sources, not a UPSC number, and this article does not repeat one.

Your action list for this week

1. Find your roll numberin the written result PDF on upsc.gov.in. Save the PDF; do not rely on a screenshot from a coaching site.
2. Register for the SSB— on joinindianarmy.nic.in if the Army is your first choice — without waiting for any further notice.
3. Assemble your originalsage proof, educational certificates and any category or claim-supporting documents, in the form the notice prescribes. They go to the SSB/service headquarters, never to UPSC.
4. Begin SSB preparation now— the two-stage structure rewards familiarity and punishes improvisation.
5. Note the marksheets rulefor later: on upsconline.nic.in, within 15 days of the final (OTA) result, available for 30 days.

The written stage of CDS (II) 2026 is closed and the list of 8,956 is fixed. What each of those candidates does in the next fortnight — register promptly, documents in order, SSB preparation begun — is the part of this selection still in their hands.

Official links

• UPSC (CDS (II) 2026 written result PDF and notices): https://www.upsc.gov.in/
• SSB registration for Army-first-choice candidates: https://joinindianarmy.nic.in/
• UPSC marksheets (after the final result): https://upsconline.nic.in/

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