NDA History Guide
How NDA History actually works
A 260-question analysis of the History section of GAT PART A from 2017 to 2026. We mapped the 4 chapter playbooks, the ~95 most-tested timeline anchors + named-pair facts, the year-on-year drift (the paper has NOT consistently hardened — Modern dominated 2017–20, Ancient surged 2022–24), and the distractor traps — so you can prep what the exam actually tests.
- Past-year questions
- 260
- Papers (2017–2026)
- 18
- Chapters
- 4
- Playbooks
- 4
How the 260 questions break down
All 4 chapters tested in NDA PART A History, sized by question count across the 2017–2026 bank. Modern India is uniquely dominant (47% of bank — no other NDA subject has one chapter at this share).
| Chapter | Questions | Share | % HARD | Focus subtopics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modern India | 122 | 46.9% | 34% | Freedom Movement — INC, Gandhi and Independence (56 · 34% HARD — chapter giant; INC sessions, Gandhi's satyagrahas, Home Rule, Swaraj Party, partition), 19th Century Social and Religious Reform (17 · 41% HARD — densest %HARD subtopic; Brahmo, Arya, Theosophical, women's reform, abolition acts), British Administration, Acts and Legislation (16 · 38% HARD — Charter Acts 1813/1833, Regulating Act 1773, GoI Acts 1858/1909/1919/1935), Post-Independence India (14 · 21% HARD), European Trading and Early British Conquest (10 · 20% HARD — Plassey, Buxar, Diwani), British Economic Policy and Industrial India (9 · 44% HARD — drain of wealth, deindustrialization, railways). |
| Medieval India | 53 | 20.4% | 28% | Medieval Travellers, Trade and Crops (11 · 27% HARD — Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, Nikitin, Monserrate, Mundy, Bernier; crop introductions: chilli, potato, tobacco), Mughal Empire and Administration (10 · 30% HARD — Akbar's mansabdari, Aurangzeb's expansion, Shah Jahan's architecture), Vijayanagara Empire (9 · 33% HARD — Krishnadevaraya's campaigns, Hampi, foreign accounts), Bhakti and Sufi Movements (9 · 22% HARD — Kabir, Tulsidas, Surdas, Mirabai, Shankardeva, Chaitanya, Chishti/Suhrawardi orders), Other Medieval Kingdoms — Chola, Rajput, Ahom, Sikh (8 · 38% HARD — Chola maritime, Rajput resistance, Ahom Battle of Saraighat, Sikh Guru lineage), Medieval Literature and Texts (6 · 17% HARD). |
| Ancient India | 44 | 16.9% | 27% | Ancient Indian Literature and Inscriptions (12 · 42% HARD — densest %HARD subtopic in chapter; Vedas, Upanishads, Sangam Tamil, Ashokan inscriptions, Kharosthi/Brahmi scripts, Sushruta Samhita), Harappan and Indus Valley Civilization (9 · 33% HARD — Mohenjo-daro Great Bath, Dholavira water systems, Lothal dockyard, town planning), Mahajanapadas, Magadha and Mauryan Empire (8 · 13% HARD — 16 mahajanapadas, Bimbisara/Ajatashatru, Ashoka's edicts, dhamma-mahamatta administration), Buddhism, Jainism and Religious Architecture (6 · 0% HARD — easy marks pocket; Buddha's life, 4 Noble Truths, Jain tirthankaras, stupas/chaityas), Society, Trade and Foreign Connections (5 · 40% HARD — Greek/Roman accounts, Indo-Greek coins, trade routes), Post-Mauryan, Gupta and Sangam Period (4 · 25% HARD). |
| World History | 41 | 15.8% | 20% | Enlightenment and Political Revolutions (12 · 25% HARD — densest %HARD subtopic; American Revolution, French Revolution, Continental Congress, Magna Carta, Locke/Rousseau/Voltaire), Industrial Revolution (12 · 17% HARD — first use of the term, key inventions: spinning jenny, steam engine, telephone), 20th Century — World Wars, Modernity and Global Institutions (10 · 20% HARD — WWI causes/impact, Treaty of Versailles, League/UN, Cold War origins), Renaissance, Exploration and Scientific Revolution (7 · 14% HARD — Vasco da Gama, Magellan, Columbus, Da Vinci, Galileo, Copernicus, EIC founding dates). Lightest %HARD chapter — date-anchored (39% of chapter), drill the chronology cluster cold. |
What’s inside
Six sections, each answering a different question a candidate walks in with. Read top-to-bottom or jump to what you need.
Strategy
Cornerstone, Foundation Recall, Quick-Win — three chapter-tier strands matched to NDA History's bank weights. Per-chapter must-drill subtopics and a ~25-hour time plan.
Playbooks
4 playbooks — one per chapter. The dominant subtopic shape, the traps, and the worked PYQs you need.
Timeline & pairs
Single-page chronology + named-pair reference NDA actually tests. ~95 entries across 5 themed clusters — Era timeline, Rulers↔dynasty, Reformers↔movement, Viceroys/British Acts↔year, Scholars↔texts.
Trends
How NDA History shifted 2017→2026 — Modern dominated 2017–20 (~55% of paper), Ancient surged 2022–24, paper has NOT consistently hardened. 2021 peak HARD, 2026-1 was the easiest. Drill all 10 years equally.
Traps
Distractor shapes NDA History reuses — king↔dynasty swap, scholar↔text swap, viceroy↔era swap, treaty↔year swap, reformer↔movement swap, chronological-order traps, multi-statement partial-credit.
Why we built this
Most NDA History prep splits two ways: a textbook chapter-list that doesn’t match the exam weights, or a flash-card grind without strategy. We’ve done the third thing: pull every question, tag every subtopic, look at the patterns.
Every claim on this site is verifiable. Click any “Drill these N questions →” link and you’ll see the exact set we’re talking about.
Data snapshot: 19 May 2026. Numbers refresh as new papers land.