The General Knowledge paper for CDS I, 2020 can be categorized as easy to moderate level when it comes to the difficulty scale. General Sciences had 30 questions with most of them falling in the easy category. 12 questions were asked from Chemistry whereas 9 questions were asked from Biology and Physics each. The questions from General Sciences required very basic knowledge of the subject. Coming to General Studies, history was on the moderate side. Considerable number of questions were from Modern History as expected, but medieval history had a good share in this installment.
A few questions were also asked from ancient history. Although most of the General studies was easy to moderate but the same was not true for Geography. The questions from Geography was high on the difficulty scale. Most of the questions were from Indian and Physical geography. The questions from Economy were of moderate level with a few direct questions. The polity section had question of moderate difficulty. It needed in-depth understanding of concepts and knowledge of relevant facts. The current affairs were direct, and knowledge of past one-year current affair would have sufficed.
| Subject | Questions | Level |
| Physics | 9 | Easy to Moderate |
| Chemistry | 12 | Easy to Moderate |
| Biology | 9 | Easy to Moderate |
| History | 19 | Moderate |
| Geography | 17 | Moderate to difficult |
| Economy | 8 | Easy to Moderate |
| Polity | 16 | Moderate |
| Current Affairs | 30 | Easy to Moderate |
