Age Calculator of NDA

This age calculator of NDA checks your date of birth against UPSC’s age rule and lists every NDA exam you can sit, from 2026 to 2031. You need to be 16½ to 19½ on the day the NDA course starts. Enter the date on your Class 10 certificate and the Age Calculator of NDA gives your exact age on each course date, the exams already held, and how many attempts you have left.

About the Age Calculator of NDA

Most NDA age checkers do one thing: they say eligible or not for one exam. That leaves the questions candidates actually ask. How many more tries do I get? When is my last one? Am I a day too old for the next one?

• Every exam, not one. NDA I and NDA II for each year from 2026 to 2031, side by side.
• Official windows marked as official. The 2026 exams carry their UPSC notice numbers. Later years are worked out from the same rule and clearly marked as projected, so you never mistake an estimate for a notice.
• Your age on the course date. In years, months and days, for every exam. That is the date UPSC measures you on, not the exam date.
• Attempts left. Exams already held are marked, so the count is what you can still sit.
• The two dates that matter. The day you turn 16½ and the day you turn 19½. Any course that starts between them is open to you.

The Age Calculator of NDA runs in your browser. Your date of birth isn’t sent anywhere or saved.

How to use the Age Calculator of NDA

1. Enter your date of birth. Use the date on your Matriculation or Secondary School Leaving Certificate, because that is the only proof of age UPSC accepts.
2. Read the headline. It says how many NDA exams you can still sit, and the summary names your next and your last.
3. Check the table. Each row is one exam: the birth window UPSC uses, the day that course starts, your age on that day, and whether you qualify.
4. Look at the source column. “UPSC notice” means the window is from a published notice. “Projected” means it follows the same rule but UPSC hasn’t published it yet.

The NDA age rule, from UPSC’s own notices

UPSC doesn’t write the age limit as “16½ to 19½”. It writes a range of birth dates in each exam notice. Here are the two it has published for 2026, read from the notices themselves:

The wording in both is the same: “Only unmarried male/female candidates born not earlier than” the first date “and not later than” the second “are eligible”. Work it through and the rule appears. Someone born on 1 July 2007 is exactly 19 years 6 months old on 1 January 2027. Someone born on 1 July 2010 is exactly 16 years 6 months old on that day. So the window is simply 16½ to 19½ on the day the course starts, with both ends counted.

That is the rule the Age Calculator of NDA applies to every exam it lists.

Projected windows for 2027 and 2028

Exam I of each year has fed the January course of the next year, and exam II the July course. Applying the 2026 rule to the next exams gives these windows. UPSC has not published them yet; the NDA I 2027 notice is expected in December 2026.

You’ll find other sites listing some of these windows as starting on the 2nd of the month rather than the 1st. The two notices UPSC has actually published use the 1st at both ends. If a notice ever changes the rule, the notice wins, so read it before you apply.

A worked example

Say you were born on 15 March 2009, and today is 14 October 2026.

1. Your two dates. You turned 16½ on 15 September 2025, and you turn 19½ on 15 September 2028.
2. Courses in between. Courses start on 1 January and 1 July. Four of them fall between your two dates: January 2027, July 2027, January 2028 and July 2028.
3. The exams behind them. NDA I 2026, NDA II 2026, NDA I 2027 and NDA II 2027.
4. Already held. The April and September 2026 exams have taken place, so two attempts are left: NDA I 2027 and NDA II 2027.
5. Your age on those days. On 1 January 2028 you will be 18 years, 9 months, 17 days. On 1 July 2028, 19 years, 3 months, 16 days.

The Age Calculator of NDA shows all of that from one date. It also shows why NDA I 2028 is closed to you: that course starts on 1 January 2029, when you’d be past 19½.

How many NDA attempts do you get?

Six, for most people. The window is three years wide, and there are two exams a year.

There’s one exception worth knowing. If you were born on 1 January or 1 July, you get seven. Because UPSC includes both ends of each window, your birthday lands exactly on the edge of two windows at once: the last day of one cycle’s range and the first day of another’s. Someone born on 1 July 2010 qualified for NDA I 2026 (born “not later than 1 July 2010”) and will qualify for NDA I 2029 as well (born “not earlier than 1 July 2010”).

And one day can cost a whole attempt. Born on 1 July 2008, you can still sit NDA I 2027. Born a day earlier, on 30 June 2008, your last exam was NDA II 2026. The Age Calculator of NDA checks every window to the day, so it catches cases like these.

Your last NDA exam, by year of birth

A quick view of where each birth year stands, as of October 2026. “First half” means born 2 January to 30 June, “second half” 2 July to 31 December. Born on 1 January or 1 July exactly? Use the Age Calculator of NDA, because you get one extra attempt.

Everything after 2027 here is projected from the 2026 rule. Those born in 2011 or later have all six attempts still ahead of them; their first exam is between NDA I 2027 and NDA II 2028, depending on the month.

The full table, explained

Each row in the results is one exam. Here’s what the columns tell you.

• Exam. NDA I or II and the year it is held. “(held)” means that exam date has passed.
• Born between. The date-of-birth window for that exam, both ends included.
• Course starts. The day UPSC measures your age on. NDA courses begin on 1 January and 1 July.
• Your age then. Exact years, months and days on that day.
• You. Eligible, too young, or too old for that exam.
• Source. “UPSC notice” for the published 2026 windows, “Projected” for the rest.

The Age Calculator of NDA lists exams up to 2031, so a student in Class 8 today can see their first chance too.

Which date of birth counts

The notices are blunt about this. UPSC accepts the date of birth entered in your Matriculation or Secondary School Leaving Certificate, or an equivalent certificate from an Indian university or examination board. Horoscopes, affidavits, municipal birth extracts and service records are not accepted.

So if your birth certificate and your Class 10 certificate disagree, it is the Class 10 date that decides, and the date to enter in the Age Calculator of NDA. Once it has been recorded with UPSC, the notices say no change will be allowed later.

Other eligibility rules (not checked here)

Age is only one of the conditions in the notice. The Age Calculator of NDA checks age and nothing else, so read these yourself.

• Marital status. Only unmarried candidates are eligible, and candidates must not marry until training ends. A cadet who marries during training is discharged.
• Education. Class 12 pass (or appearing) for the Army wing. For the Air Force and Naval wings, and the 10+2 Cadet Entry Scheme at the Indian Naval Academy, Class 12 with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
• Nationality. A citizen of India, or one of the other categories set out in the notice.
• Physical and medical standards. Checked at the medical board after the SSB interview.
• Women candidates. Eligible, with the same age window.

No age relaxation for any category

Many government exams relax the upper age limit for SC, ST, OBC or ex-servicemen candidates. NDA doesn’t. Each notice sets one date-of-birth window for every candidate and contains no relaxation clause. That’s why the Age Calculator of NDA asks for nothing but your date of birth: no category field could change the answer.

Common mistakes

• Measuring age on the exam date. UPSC measures it on the day the course starts, months later.
• Measuring age on 1 August or 1 January of the exam year. Some calculators online do this. It’s a different rule from the one in the NDA notices and can give the wrong answer near the edges.
• Counting attempts from age 16. Attempts follow course start dates, not birthdays. Two candidates of the same age can have a different number left.
• Using the wrong document. Only the Class 10 date counts.
• Treating projections as notices. The 2027 windows will only be official when UPSC publishes them.

How the Age Calculator of NDA works

1. It takes your date of birth and today’s date from your device.
2. For each exam from NDA I 2026 to NDA II 2031, it finds the course start date: 1 January of the next year for exam I, 1 July of the next year for exam II.
3. It sets the window as the dates 19 years 6 months and 16 years 6 months before that course date, and checks that the two 2026 windows match UPSC’s notices exactly.
4. It compares your date of birth with each window, both ends included, and works out your exact age on the course date.
5. It marks exams already held: the two 2026 exams by their real dates, later ones once April (exam I) or September (exam II) of their year has passed.

If you only want an exact age between two dates, use the general age calculator. To count the days until an exam or a course start, try the date duration calculator. Training for the physical side? The PFT calculator scores the US Marine Corps fitness test, a useful benchmark for running and pull-ups.

This tool is not affiliated with UPSC or the Ministry of Defence. It checks age only, and the notice for your exam is the final word.