NDA SSB Marks and Selection: From Written Result to the Merit List

Passing the NDA written exam is roughly a one-in-twenty ticket: in (I) 2026, 7,879 candidates qualified for about 394 vacancies. What decides the rest is the Services Selection Board (SSB) — worth as much as the written exam, 900 marks — followed by a medical examination and a merit list built on the two totals. This guide walks through the process from the written result to the joining letter, and shows from UPSC’s own marks files what recommended candidates actually scored at the SSB.

Notification (II) 2026; (I) 2026 written result; our analysis of UPSC marks-of-recommended PDFs.

The SSB windows in the 2026 notifications were June–July 2026 for the (I) cycle and December 2026–January 2027 for the (II) cycle. The Stage II assessment uses three assessors — Interviewing Officer, Group Testing Officer and Psychologist — plus the conference, which the notification says carry “equal weightage”. Candidates bring original certificates, and travel for a first SSB for that type of commission is reimbursed at AC III-tier rail fare.

The lowest SSB score among recommended candidates was exactly 360 out of 900 — 40% — in every cycle we tabulated. That strongly suggests a 360 floor, but no official document states an SSB pass mark: the notification says only that the qualifying mark is “as fixed by the Services Selection Board at their discretion”. The median has risen from about 390 in 2023–24 to 423–429 in 2025, so the SSB has become a larger part of what separates recommended candidates.

The notification is explicit: qualified candidates are placed “in a single combined list on the basis of total marks secured by them in the Written Examination and the Services Selection Board Tests” — with written results and merit lists prepared separately for men and women against their own vacancies. The minimum qualifying marks apply separately to the written exam and to the SSB — a strong written score cannot rescue a failed SSB, and vice versa. Allocation to the Army, Navy, Air Force or Naval Academy then follows “eligibility, medical fitness and merit-cum-preference”, using the service order you ranked in your application, which cannot be changed later.

The medical examination is conducted by a Special Medical Board at a service hospital near the SSB, with an Appeal Medical Board and then a Review Medical Board open to a candidate found unfit. The final result is prepared without the medical results, which is why UPSC recommends 628–792 candidates for 395–406 vacancies. Recommendation is therefore not the same as a seat: medical fitness and merit-cum-preference decide who is actually called. Our guide to physical and medical standards covers the headline rules.

The written result has come 15–26 days after the exam in recent cycles, and registration on joinindianarmy.nic.in must follow within two weeks of it, so there is little time between a result and an SSB date. Candidates who expect to clear the written exam usually start SSB preparation straight after the paper rather than waiting. The notification describes the stages but publishes no marking scheme within the SSB, so be sceptical of any site that claims to know how many marks each task carries. What the data does show is the range of outcomes: every recommended candidate in 2023–2025 scored at least 360 of 900 at the SSB, the median rose to about 423 in 2025, and the highest SSB scores were in the 530s to 580s.

Keep the documents ready too: original certificates are required at the SSB, and the date of birth must match your Class 10 certificate. Air Force first-choice candidates should expect the CPSS at the Air Force Selection Board, which can be taken only once in a lifetime.