No CSP 2026 answer key yet
The prelims was held on 24 May 2026 and the result came out on 15 June 2026, with 13,343 candidates qualifying for the Mains. The result press note says the marks, cut-off marks and answer keys of the 2026 prelims will be uploaded on upsc.gov.in only after the whole process of CSE 2026 and the Indian Forest Service Examination 2026 is over, that is, after the final result. The Mains was held in August 2026, and as of 12 October 2026 no date has been announced for its result or for the final result.
Be careful with “official answer key” links on other sites. UPSC will post the key on upsc.gov.in. Until then, you can check your attempt against the marking rules below, using the question papers UPSC has already published.
Scoring at a glance
How UPSC turns your answers into a score
- Answers go on an OMR sheetBoth papers are objective, with four options per question. You mark the OMR answer sheet with a black ball point pen only.
- Marks for correct answersEach paper carries 200 marks: GS Paper I has 100 questions and GS Paper II (CSAT) has 80, each in 2 hours.
- Penalty for wrong answersFor every wrong answer, one-third (0.33) of the marks for that question is deducted.
- Multiple answersIf you mark more than one option, it counts as wrong even if one of them is correct, and the same penalty applies.
- Blank answersA question you leave unanswered carries no penalty.
Score rules that matter after the exam
These come straight from Appendix I of the notification and UPSC’s result press note:
How the question paper representation window works
UPSC doesn’t publish a provisional key for objections. Instead, para 6 of the notice gives candidates who sat the exam an online window to make representations on the questions and on the answer key. For the 2026 prelims, that window has closed.
- Five days onlyThe window runs from the third day after the exam date until 6:00 PM on the seventh day.
- Online, through QPRePLog in at
upsconline.nic.inand go to Examinations > Representations on Question Paper. - No other modeRepresentations by email, post or by hand aren’t accepted, and UPSC doesn’t correspond with candidates about them.
- No late entriesNothing is accepted after the five-day window, under any circumstances.
- Mains tooUPSC ran a QPReP window for the 2026 Mains from 31 August to 4 September 2026.
For other questions about the exam, UPSC’s call centre is on 011-40303444 / 011-24041001, from 9 AM to 8 PM.
Estimate your score
UPSC has published both 2026 question papers (GS Paper I, GS Paper II). If you remember your answers, you can estimate each paper separately. Check GS Paper II against 33% first, because CSAT is a gate, not a score.
Net correct = correct − (wrong ÷ 3)
Marks = net correct × (200 ÷ questions in the paper)
The second line assumes every question in a paper carries the same marks. Unanswered questions score zero and carry no penalty, and a question with more than one option marked counts as wrong.
This is a worked example, not real data. UPSC states marks per paper (200), not per question, and it hasn’t released the CSP 2026 answer key, so any score you work out now is an estimate. For comparison only, the official CSE 2025 prelims cut-off for the General category was 92.66 out of 200 in GS Paper I; the 2026 cut-offs aren’t out yet.
See the full marking schemePrepare for UPSC Prelims with your own daily plan
Daily targets, timed practice mocks & mock analysis for GS Paper I and CSAT.
Turn your score check into a plan
An estimated score helps most when it shows you where marks slipped away. Use it to find your weak subject, then practise it with JobSafal, whether you’re waiting on the Mains result or planning for the CSE 2027 prelims.
Subject-wise analysis
See after every practice mock which subject is pulling your net score down.
Cut negative marks
Practise deciding when to skip, since every wrong answer costs one-third of the question’s marks.
Timed practice mocks
Practice mocks against the clock, so you build pace and judgement.
Daily plan
Daily targets that rebuild the subject where your marks slipped.
