We have thoroughly updated our recommendation list of Books For NDA Exam.

UPSC has released notification for NDA exam 2016 for admissions in the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and Naval Academy.

Since you still have a good amount of time for preparations, you SHOULD utilise this time judiciously. An early start will help you crack this exam. Follow this link to see the syllabus for the NDA exam.

As you already know from the NDA exam pattern, the written exam will be your first hurdle to move forward. However this should not trouble you much, as the exam is not so difficult and all you need is speed. Remember — Speed comes from confidence. And confidence from PRACTICE.

The score in the written exam is also taken into account while preparing the final merit list. So give your best to the written exam as it will not only open the door for SSB interview, but also help you get a good ranking in the merit list.

NDA Exam Pattern

The NDA exam pattern is quite simple. Your knowledge is tested in two areas:

1. Mathematics
2. General Ability

For both these papers you will get 2 hours 30 minutes each. The exam will be conducted in two sittings with a break in between.

Mathematics section is of 300 marks while General Ability is for 600 marks.

The paper on General Ability is further divided into two parts. Part A covers English – 200 marks, and Part B covers general knowledge for 400 marks.

General knowledge covers following sub-sections — Physics 100 marks, Chemistry 60 marks, General Science 40 marks, History & Freedom Movement (Social Studies) 80 marks, Geography 80 marks, and Current Events 40 marks.

Best Books For NDA exam

The first step to start preparing for any competitive exams requires one to go through the syllabus, judge your strengths and weakness. Accordingly you will need to arm yourself with good books and start practicing NDA exam pattern problems.

Please don’t fall into the trap of collecting hundreds of “free material” available on internet. You time should be spent studying, not downloading. When you pay money for a book, you are paying for the effort the author has taken to provide you organized study material.

A few hundred rupees will not matter when you become a proud officer with the armed forces!

However we understand that there are thousands (OK maybe not thousands, but still hundreds) of books available in the market for NDA. It is impossible to study them all, let alone buy them 😀

So for your benefit, here we are enlisting few good NDA preparation books from which you can choose.

NOTE: In case you choose to buy online, we have provided links for both Amazon and Flipkart. Check both the sites to ensure that you are getting the best price! If you are a first time buyer with Amazon, you may like to use this offer.

Books For Mathematics

Unlike other exams, the syllabus for NDA exam includes mathematics up to Class 12th. But that does not make the paper difficult. NDA exam does NOT include very tricky math questions. You should only have the basic understanding of the subject, and a good speed of solving problems.

So the best books to start with, are your good old NCERT textbooks.

In fact, if Maths is your strong area, you can completely rely on NCERT and don’t need to buy anything else. Otherwise it is a good idea to choose one of the following books as they are specially designed for NDA Exams.

1. Mathematics for NDA and NA: National Defence Academy and Naval Academy (English) by R S Aggarwal – Buy on Amazon or Buy on Flipkart
2. The Pearson Guide to Mathematics for NDA Entrance Examination (English) by Pearson India – Buy on Amazon or Buy on Flipkart
3. NDA & NA – Entrance Examination for Mathematics Study Package (English) by Arihant – Buy on Amazon or Buy on Flipkart

Books For General Ability

If you see the syllabus and marks breakup for the General Ability section, one third of the weightage is given to English section, while the remaining consists of Physics, Chemistry, History, Geography and Current Events.

If you have been a good student, and don’t have a problem with English, then we suggest you move to the next section where we look into previous years solved papers for NDA exam. Otherwise keep reading.

Similar to Maths, English questions are not of very high level. If you think you can manage English through the solved papers, then you don’t need anything else. Otherwise you may consider using Quick learning Objective General English by RS Aggarwal &  Vikas Aggarwal – Buy on Flipkart or or Buy on Amazon.

For the other sections, apart from keeping yourself updated with the recent happening, buy Manorama Yearbook 2015 (English), and read it cover to cover — Buy on Flipkart or Buy on Amazon. Manorama is also available in other languages, check our detailed review here.

Books For Previous Year Solved Papers And Practice

If you have been a good student, you can use NCERT textbooks and others to revise. However, we strongly suggest that you buy one of the books below as they have been specially designed for NDA exam and cover previous years solved questions and practice papers.

Just to caution you, several of these books do not contain any study material as such, and for that you have to either use your NCERT books or choose from what we suggested above.

1. Pathfinder for NDA & NA Entrance Examination (English) by Arihant Publications (Most Popular NDA Book, If you are only buying one book, buy this one)- Buy on Flipkart or Buy on Amazon
2. Chapterwise – Sectionwise Solved Papers NDA & NA (Mathematics/English/General Ability) by Arihant Publications – Buy on Flipkart or Buy on Amazon
3. NDA Examination (Solved papers up-to-date) (English) by Upkar Publications – Buy on Flipkart
4. NDA/NA Previous Solved Papers (English) by RPH Editorial Board – Buy on Flipkart or Buy on Amazon

Make the best use of limited time available to you. As we said earlier, buy a few good NDA books and practice them thoroughly. Your competitors are already working hard! 😛

If you have any questions/comments let us know.

Photo credit: Transformer18 / iWoman / CC BY