DGCA Exam Guide: Papers, Pass Mark, Fees, Sessions and How to Book

Most students meet the DGCA exams through rumour first. One senior says the papers are easy if you memorise a question bank; another failed Air Navigation twice and lost a session each time; a coaching flyer lists nine subjects. The rules themselves are short and public, and they are stricter in one respect than most people expect: every paper stands alone, and a pass does not last for ever. This DGCA exam guide sets out the papers, the pass mark, the fees, the session calendar and the booking rules, each from the regulation or the portal that sets it, and ends with a plan that keeps your passes alive until your licence application goes in.

Which DGCA papers do you have to pass for a CPL?

A Commercial Pilot Licence needs 5 DGCA written papers: Air Navigation, Aviation Meteorology, Air Regulations, Technical General and Technical Specific. The list is set by Schedule II of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, not by any school or coaching institute, and it is the same wherever you train in India.

1. Air Navigation
2. Aviation Meteorology
3. Air Regulations
4. Technical General
5. Technical Specific

RTR (A) is required for the licence but examined separately, not as a sixth DGCA paper. It sits under the Radio Telephone Operator (Restricted) Certificate and Licence Rules, 2025, and our RTR (A) page explains it. Pages that count “nine DGCA subjects” are adding RTR and topics such as human performance as if they were papers; the rule lists five.

What is the DGCA exam pass mark?

The DGCA exam pass mark is 70% in each written subject. The DGCA examinations CAR puts it this way at para 5.6: “A candidate who secures a minimum of 70% marks in the theoretical knowledge examination of a particular subject is declared PASS.”

The 70% applies to each subject on its own. There is no aggregate, and a strong paper does not carry a weak one. In practice, each paper is a self-contained project. Failing one costs you that paper and a session; clearing four comfortably does nothing for the fifth. That is why a study plan should be built paper by paper rather than as one block of revision.

How long does a DGCA exam pass stay valid?

A DGCA written pass stays usable for five years towards a CPL or ATPL application, and for two and a half years for other licences. The clock runs backwards from the date you apply for the licence, not forwards from the date you passed.

• Theoretical knowledge papers must be completed within two and a half years immediately preceding the date of application.
• For the issue of a CPL or an ATPL, that period is five years. (para 6.7)

Clearing papers years before you finish your flying hours is not free. Count backwards from the licence application, not forwards from the first paper. A student who clears all five papers early and then takes a long time over the flying can find the first pass has lapsed by the time the application goes in. Note the date of your first pass, not just your next attempt. The rule is worked through with examples in the five-year rule for CPL papers.

How much do the DGCA exams cost?

The DGCA exams cost ₹2,500 per paper in a regular session and ₹5,000 per paper in an on-demand session. These are government fees, paid through Bharatkosh, and they are separate from anything a ground school charges.

The oral paper fee applies to the second and third attempt only. The bank may add a nominal service charge or applicable taxes on top of the fee. Once the examination form is submitted successfully, no change is entertained and the fee is neither adjusted nor refunded — including where the application is rejected. If a payment fails at the bank, the refund route is in DGCA exam fee refunds.

When are the DGCA exam sessions?

DGCA runs 4 regular examination sessions a year and a separate series of on-demand sessions. The 2026 dates below are from DGCA’s Programme of Examinations 2026, which DGCA itself marks as tentative.

DGCA publishes these dates as tentative and subject to change for gazetted holidays, festivals and similar reasons. Confirm against the public notice on the Pariksha portal before planning travel. The last regular session of 2026 is Exam 04, 15–19 December 2026. DGCA publishes each year’s programme on the Pariksha portal; the 2027 programme had not been read for this page, so check the portal for it rather than assuming the same pattern. Which session type suits you is weighed in regular vs on-demand sessions.

How do you book a DGCA exam?

A DGCA exam is booked on the Pariksha portal by a candidate who already holds a computer number, by filling the examination form for a session and paying through Bharatkosh before the closing date. The rules in DGCA’s Flight Crew User Manual are strict and worth reading before the first booking:

• A candidate may apply only once in a particular session.
• Two choices of centre are filled as Option 1 and Option 2; the second is used if the first cannot be allotted.
• In a given session a candidate is initially allowed only one specific-aircraft paper.
• Payment is made only through the Government of India NTRP portal Bharatkosh, by net banking, credit card or debit card.
• Complete the payment by 2300 hrs on the closing date. A payment made later, whose success reaches CEO from Bharatkosh after 2359 hrs on the closing date, may not be treated as valid.
• Once the examination form is submitted successfully, no change is entertained and the fee is neither adjusted nor refunded — including where the application is rejected.
• Separate rule: for the examination application, a new candidate’s generated application PDF with the requisite documents must reach the Central Examination Organisation, failing which the candidate cannot appear in that examination.

The computer number comes first and has its own rules; our computer number guide covers the DigiLocker and manual routes, and why applications get rejected lists the mistakes that cost students weeks.

What is the pass mark for the DGCA oral exams?

The DGCA oral pass mark depends on the licence: it is 50% for some and 70% for others, set out at para 5.7 of the same examinations CAR. Students who assume 70% applies everywhere are often surprised by it.

A candidate who fails the first ATPL oral examination may take two further chances, within two years of the date of that result. (para 5.7(d))

Where is the syllabus for each DGCA paper?

DGCA publishes the list of CPL papers and, separately, a list of recommended reference books on the Pariksha portal; the topic-by-topic CPL syllabus sits in a Civil Aviation Requirement that we could not retrieve from a government server, so this guide does not print one.

DGCA publishes the paper list for the CPL, and a detailed examination syllabus in its Civil Aviation Requirements. The CAR carrying the topic-by-topic CPL syllabus could not be retrieved from a government server, so this page does not reproduce one. Pages that print a detailed CPL topic list without naming the document it came from are working from memory. What is published, DGCA’s own list of study material, is set out paper by paper in DGCA recommended books for the CPL exams, and the ATPL syllabus, which is published, is on our syllabus page.

A sensible DGCA exam plan

A sensible DGCA exam plan books papers in the order you can pass them, one or two per session, and times the first pass so that it is still inside its five-year window on the day you apply for the licence. Register for the computer number early, because it needs no medical and no flying school and waiting for it costs a session.

These are our suggestions, not DGCA rules:

1. Get the computer number before you need it.
2. Pair a lighter paper with a heavier one in your first session, rather than attempting all five.
3. Write down the date of every pass, and the date the first one will lapse.
4. Keep RTR (A) on its own timetable; it does not wait for the papers.

Do that, and the examinations become the most predictable part of your training rather than the part that quietly expires behind you.

We teach the DGCA ground subjects and arrange flight training with partner flying schools. We do not own aircraft or simulators, we do not employ pilots, and we do not place students into airline jobs — hiring decisions rest with the operator.