DGCA exam calendar
The shape of the exam year, how short the booking window is, what a paper costs, and where the live dates are published.
This page describes the shape of the DGCA exam year rather than a set of dates, because the dates are reissued every year and the portal is the only current copy of them. The live calendar is on the notice board at pariksha.dgca.gov.in.
Regular sessions, and the on demand sittings between them.
DGCA runs four regular sessions a year, spread roughly a quarter apart. Between them it runs on demand sittings, which have been close to monthly, mainly for candidates re-sitting a paper. Counting both, there are far more than four chances a year to sit a given paper, which is the thing most people get wrong when they plan around a single missed session.
The months move. We are not printing them here, because a page that named them would keep saying so long after DGCA changed them. Watch the notice board.
Same paper, different sitting, different price.
| What differs | Regular session | On demand sitting |
|---|---|---|
| How often | Four a year, roughly quarterly | Between the regular ones, close to monthly |
| Fee per paper | 2,500Published | 5,000Published |
| Mostly used for | First attempts, and anyone sitting several papers together | Re-sitting a paper without waiting a quarter |
Both fees are non refundable and are paid through Bharatkosh from inside the portal. There is also a 500 rupee fee that applies to a second or third oral attempt. Government fees are revised by notice, so confirm the current amount on the portal before you pay.
It is days, not weeks.
Booking opens for roughly four to seven days per session and closes well before the exam. Centres are picked at booking and the popular ones fill. Nothing about that is announced far in advance: it goes up on the Pariksha notice board, and if you are not watching it you find out from someone else after it has closed.
Two things to have settled before a window opens, because neither is instant. Your Computer Number, without which the booking form has nowhere to put you. And which papers you are actually sitting, because you are choosing under time pressure once the window is open.
The constraint that actually shapes your plan.
A passed paper is reported to stay valid for five years, and every paper has to be cleared within five years of your first pass or the early ones lapse. There is no published hard cap on attempts, so it is that five year window, rather than a number of tries, that decides how you should sequence the papers.
The pass mark is reported as 70 percent in each paper, cleared independently rather than on an average across papers, and no negative marking is reported. Duration per paper is not published as one evergreen number: it is set in the per-session candidate instructions, so read it on your own admit card.
In order, and quickly.
The notice carries the papers on offer, the booking dates and the centres. Read the notice rather than a summary of it on a coaching page.
Centres are chosen at booking and the convenient ones go first. Nothing is gained by waiting.
The fee goes through Bharatkosh and is non refundable. Keep the transaction reference until the admit card is in your hand.
It is released on the portal a few days before the exam and emailed as well. The portal slows down at release, so do it the day it appears rather than the night before. Carry it with a valid government photo ID.
Results are published on the Pariksha pilot notice board as PDF files, commonly within about a week.
Fees are published by DGCA; the number of sessions, the length of the booking window and the result timing are well corroborated but not published as evergreen figures. Confirm anything you are planning around at pariksha.dgca.gov.in.
Five, with the same answers the structured data carries.
How many DGCA exam sessions are there in a year?
Four regular sessions, spread roughly a quarter apart, plus a run of on demand sittings between them that DGCA has been holding at close to monthly. So there are far more than four chances a year to sit a paper.
What does a DGCA theory paper cost?
A paper in a regular session is 2,500 rupees and a paper in an on demand sitting is 5,000 rupees, both published by DGCA and both non refundable. There is also a 500 rupee fee that applies to a second or third oral attempt. Government fees are revised by notice, so confirm the current amount on the portal before paying.
How long is the booking window open?
Reports put it at roughly four to seven days per session, and it closes well before the exam itself. It is announced on the Pariksha notice board, which is why watching the notice board rather than a calendar is the thing that actually works.
How long is a passed DGCA paper valid?
A passed paper is reported to stay valid for five years, and all your papers have to be cleared within five years of the first pass or the early ones lapse. That validity, rather than any cap on attempts, is the constraint that shapes how you plan the sessions.
Where is the live DGCA exam calendar published?
On the Pariksha portal at pariksha.dgca.gov.in, on the notice board. That is the only current copy. Any calendar on a coaching site is a copy of a notice and may already be out of date.
The portal itself, and what to do with the time between sessions.