The National Defense Academy (NDA) is the training institution in India that trains the three armed service cadets, including the Indian Military Service, the Indian Naval Service, and the Indian Air Force Service. You must pass an entrance examination before you are able to attend the academy, and you will complete your fundamental training there before going to your respective service academy for more extensive and specific training. In order to pass the NDA entrance exam, you need to have a wide scope of knowledge on subjects like history, the sciences, English, and geography.
The courses on the list below have been chosen using our exclusive methodology, and will all prepare you for the NDA exam and help ensure you’re able to gain entrance to the academy. While many of these courses are not directly aimed at preparing you for this exam, they will provide you with the skills and tools you need to pass the exam with ease. If you struggle with some subjects specifically, the courses on this list will give you the opportunity to focus on the skills you need help with. If you plan on taking the NDA entrance exam, check out the courses below to help prepare you to enter the academy.
1. NDA Exam Preparation & Study Guide Course
Hosted by Study.com
This course from Study.com is specifically designed to help you prepare for the NDA exam and includes a variety of subjects that you’ll be tested on during your test. Study.com helps students and parents learn complex subjects both at home and in the classroom, connecting them with prep courses and study materials designed to meet their personal needs. There are more than 83,000 lessons on the site, which typically requires you to pay for course materials. Luckily for you, however, Study.com offers a risk-free 30-day trial for new users, which is an ideal amount of time for you to complete this prep course.
During this class, you will review 41 different chapters that cover a variety of important topics including algebra concepts, integral calculus, grammar and usage, reading comprehension, sound waves, magnets, health science basics, and Indian history. All of these units are things that will be covered on the test, so it’s important that you take every subject seriously in order to have a well-rounded understanding of the material. By the end of the course, you will feel prepared to tackle the NDA exam with ease and take on your studies at the academy.
Cost: Free (With Study.com free trial)
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: As long as necessary
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Covers all of the topics on the NDA exam
- Gives you a wide scope of knowledge
Cons:
- No certificate of achievement
- Content cannot be accessed after free trial period ends
2. NDA 2021 Fast-Track Exam
Hosted by Gradeup
This course, which is also designed specifically to help you with the NDA exam, has more than 200 hours of live classes and more than 4500 practice questions to help you nail down every possible topic you could be tested on during the exam. Gradeup is India’s largest website for competitive exam preparation, and it is sure to help you achieve a higher score on any exam you want to ace. Normally, courses on Gradeup would require a payment to access the content, but new users have the ability to access a free trial where they can review the course material for free for a short period before deciding if they want to pay for the full course. This trial gives you a decent amount of time to learn some of the material and decide if you want to move forward.
During the course, you will cover topics like Indian polity and history, mathematics, science, and English, and you will also complete a weekly assessment to help supplement your learning. By the end of the class, you will have had the opportunity to complete 20 different mock NDA exams and 4500 practice questions. The course is taught bilingually, so you have the opportunity to learn in whichever language you feel most comfortable with.
Cost: Free (With Gradeup free trial)
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: 200+ hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Covers all of the topics on the NDA exam
- Taught bilingually
Cons:
- Content is locked behind paywall after free trial period
3. Precalculus: the Mathematics of Numbers, Functions and Equations
Hosted by Future Learn
Precalculus and calculus knowledge is something that you will absolutely have to know about going into your NDA exam. If you haven’t already taken a calculus course, it is vital for you to take precalculus in order to understand what you’re learning. Future Learn is an online educational platform designed to connect you to the education of the future by partnering with preeminent institutions and universities. Rather than attend an expensive university and attend courses in-person, you can take a college-level course for free on the site by joining as a member. Extra benefits, such as a certificate of achievement, can be added to the course for a $64 fee.
This course takes five weeks to complete if you work at a pace of about 6 hours a week and is designed to give you the fundamental tools you will need to complete your first calculus course. These skills are ones you will need for college-level undergraduate calculus studies, which is about the level you’ll need to ace your NDA exam. During the class, you will cover numerical and algebraic topics like integers, absolute value, polynomials, finding roots, binomial coefficients, inequalities, and more.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes (With $64 fee)
Time to Complete: Approximately 5 weeks
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Prepares you for undergraduate calculus study
- Covers a variety of fundamental math topics
Cons:
- Certificate of achievement costs $64
4. The Modern World, Part One: Global History from 1760 to 1910
Hosted by University of Virginia via Coursera
More than 150,000 students have already enrolled in this world history course, and it has a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars on the Coursera website. Nearly 70-percent of the students who have taken this course began a new career after doing so, and about a quarter got some kind of pay increase or promotion. Coursera is often highly regarded as one of the best MOOC providers as it connects students to universities to achieve full degree programs online. Coursera often partners with prestigious universities like MIT or Harvard to allow students to access exciting courses without having to be admitted to a program.
It will be incredibly important for you to understand Indian history when taking your NDA exam, but it will also be vital for you to have a well-rounded understanding of global history before taking the test. This course covers modern history from a global perspective, including the revolutions and transformations that took over the world over the 1700s and 1800s. The course also urges us to ask why these historical events happened and what makes them important.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 15 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Tackles history from a global perspective
- Urges students to ponder the significance of historical events
Cons:
- Does not cover history after 1910
5. Geoscience: the Earth And its Resources
Hosted by TU Delft via edX
edX, similar to the other sites on this list, is a platform where you can team up with prestigious universities to obtain college credit or a full degree program. Understanding things like life sciences, the sciences of organisms, and the science of the earth is something that’s absolutely essential to acing your NDA exam. edX, like the other platforms on the list, allows users to access free or paid classes or degree programs offered by universities that would normally be expensive or hard to get into. This course takes about six weeks to complete if you work for about eight to ten hours a week, and you can add a verified certificate for $50.
This course takes you on a voyage through the earth, exploring both the interior and exterior processes that make the earth what we know it as now. You will also understand how things like mountains and basins form, as well as learning how sediment is created, moved, and deposited around the earth. By the end of the course, you will be able to take the knowledge you’ve learned and use it to predict the patterns and behaviors of the earth.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes (With $50 fee)
Time to Complete: Approximately 6 weeks
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Learn about the interior and exterior parts of the earth
- Predict earth’s behaviors and patterns
Cons:
- Certificate of achievement costs $50
6. The Art and Science of Reading Comprehension
Hosted by Udemy
Reading comprehension and analyzing readings comprise a large chunk of the NDA exam, and you’ll definitely need to brush up on your English skills before taking the test, even if you’re an avid reader. Udemy is a different kind of MOOC provider in the way that the site allows instructors to create and price their own courses according to their needs and the course level. Udemy has thousands of courses to choose from and they don’t focus solely on professional skills. On Udemy, you can find courses on creative skills as well like painting, drawing, public speaking, and more.
This course is designed to help you read faster, more efficiently, and help you remember more. These skills will certainly help you on your timed NDA exam, where you’re only given a certain number of minutes to read and interpret a text. The course is also aimed to show you that with better reading comprehension, you will also become a better observer and notice more things about the reading that you wouldn’t have before. This course only takes 39 minutes to complete and is perfect if you want to do a quick crash course before your NDA exam.
Cost: Free
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: Approximately 39 minutes
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Learn how to become a better and faster reader
- Improve what you observe while reading
Cons:
- No certificate of achievement
7. Physics – Motion, Speed, and Time
Hosted by Alison
Physics is one of the core sciences and is something you will absolutely need to know if you want a good score on the NDA entrance exam. This course takes between 1.5 hours and 3 hours to complete on Alison, which is an online educational site that focuses solely on professional skills. Alison aims to push students forward in their careers, giving them skills to jumpstart a new career or advance in your current one. It is free to become a member of Alison and it’s completely free to take any of their courses, which you can earn a certification for once you complete.
Over 4,000 students have enrolled in this course so far, and it’s been given a 3.7 out of 5 star rating on the site. During the course, you will analyze Newton’s three laws of motion and other fundamental topics of physics such as distance, speed, time, mass, and acceleration. This course will give you the building blocks to understand more advanced topics in physics, which is something you will need to review if you want to do well on your NDA exam.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 1.5-3 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Learn the fundamental building blocks of physics
- Review Newton’s laws of motion
Cons:
- Short course, only a fundamental overview
8. Physiology: The Science of Life
Hosted by Future Learn
As mentioned above, Future Learn aims to connect students with the learning of the future. The site offers a rotating list of courses, so it’s always good to hop onto a course when it’s available, because it might not be offered for very long. The site is free to join and virtually all of the courses are free to access, and you have the option of adding a certificate of achievement and other extra benefits for an added fee. This course is offered by the University of Liverpool, a preeminent public university in England.
During this course, you will learn about the human body and other aspects of life science, understanding our systems and how they keep us alive. Instructor Terry Gleave will help you to understand things like cells, the cardiac cycle, ventilation, nerve impulses, breathing, and the effect of exercise on our bodies.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes (with added fee)
Time to Complete: Approximately 3 weeks
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Understand the systems of the human body
- Explore the practical applications for physiology
Cons:
- Certificate of achievement requires additional fee
9. Exploring Everyday Chemistry
Hosted by Future Learn
Chemistry is another one of the core sciences, and it’s vital to understand important subjects like the elements and the periodic table in order to do well on your NDA exam. This course is partnered with the University of York, which is a collegiate research university in England. As mentioned before, it’s always good to hop on and try a course as soon as you see it available on Future Learn, because it can’t be promised that it will stay there permanently.
This course, instructed by Andy Parsons, finds ways to teach you about natural compounds and the periodic elements by relating them to everyday items like perfume, medicine, sporting equipment, and beer. Each week of the course will take you through a different real-life example of organic compounds, their structure, and their reactivity. By the end of the course, you will be able to identify and explain a variety of different analytical methods used to describe natural compounds.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes (With $79 fee)
Time to Complete: Approximately 4 weeks
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Uses real-life examples to explain organic compounds
- Offered by a preeminent research university in the UK
Cons:
- Certificate of achievement requires additional fee
10. How Things Work: An Introduction to Physics
Hosted by University of Virginia via Coursera
200,000 students have already enrolled in this course from Coursera, and it has been given a 4.8 out of 5 star rating on the site. The course is supplied by the University of Virginia, which has been considered one of the most selective universities in the country and is often called a “Tier 1” school. Louis A. Bloomfield is the instructor for this course, and he has been a professor of physics at UVA for many years, making him more than qualified to teach this course. 12-percent of students who completed this course began a new career after finishing, and 28-percent got some kind of tangible career benefit.
This course uses real-world examples to demonstrate the properties of physics, including things like skating, ramps, falling balls, wheels, and more. The course takes about 14 hours to complete and you will earn a shareable certificate upon completion that can easily be shown off on your LinkedIn profile.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 14 hours
Curriculum: Intermediate
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Uses real-life examples to explain properties of physics
- Offered by one of the most selective universities in the US
Cons:
- Assumes some prior physics knowledge
Frequently Asked Questions About Free Online Courses for NDA Exam Preparation (National Defense Academy)
The NDA (National Defense Academy) requires that you take a relatively difficult test before being admitted. The skills you will be tested on are absolutely necessary if you want to join the Indian Armed Forces, so it’s important that you have a well-rounded understanding of many fields of knowledge. You might be wondering what kind of material you’ll be tested on for the NDA exam, what exactly you should study, and what you will get out of passing the exam. These are all very normal questions, and ones you should be asking!
The NDA exam consists of two timed sections. The first section, which takes 2.5 hours to complete, is composed fully of mathematics. The mathematics section contains topics like algebraic theorems, integral calculus, differential equations, and more. The second section, which is also 2.5 hours, is split into sections A and B. Section A tackles English and reading comprehension topics, while section B covers knowledge like history, geography, current events, and more.
It’s normal to be nervous for a long, competitive exam like this, so you likely have some other questions. This is why we’ve outlined the next section of this article, which answers some of your most burning questions about online courses that prepare you for the NDA exam. Hopefully, some of these answers will make you feel more confident about starting one of these courses and, eventually, taking your NDA entrance exam.
Are Free Online Courses for NDA Exam Preparation Difficult?
Since the NDA exam covers a wide range of topics, many people might find it difficult to juggle all of these subjects. However, many of the subjects covered on the NDA exam are likely things you already learned or reviewed in your primary or secondary education. If you already learned these things, it’s possible you just need a brief refresher before moving onto reviewing a different subject.
Once you’ve reviewed everything, you can focus directly on the few subjects you need extra help with to pass the exam. You won’t have to relearn everything, so it’s important to review things that you have already studied.
How Long Do NDA Exam Preparation Courses Take?
It’s difficult to give an exact time amount to how long it will take you to complete an NDA exam prep course. Some of these courses, which focus on specific subjects, are designed to be taken at the college-level and therefore typically take a semester or a few months to complete. Courses that are designed specifically to review materials on the NDA exam might be shorter, as they briefly go over the different subjects present on the exam.
What Will I Gain From an Online NDA Exam Preparation Course?
For one, you will gain more confidence going into your exam. After reviewing all possible material that could come up on your test, you will be able to breathe a sigh of relief and know that you’ve done everything you can to prepare for the exam. Hopefully, engaging in some test preparation will calm your nerves and help you feel more focused walking into the exam room, resulting in a better score for you in the end.
Are Free Online Courses for NDA Exam Preparation Worth It?
100-percent yes! Exam preparation courses are one of the best ways to feel confident and relaxed when entering a big test, and the NDA exam is no exception. Ideally, you’ll want to ace your NDA exam first try so that you can move directly into the academy and start your studies. If you take the time to study and prep for your exam the first time around, you won’t have to spend the time taking the exam again.
Since all of the courses on the list above are free, you’ll never need to open your wallet to feel prepared for your test. The only thing you have to lose when taking these courses is your time, and with the quality of these classes, you won’t even waste that.
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