UPSC Prelims 2026: what we know
UPSC held the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 on Sunday, 24 May 2026, in two sessions across India. Entry closed at 9:00 AM for the forenoon session and 2:00 PM for the afternoon session. The result came out on 15 June 2026, with 13,343 candidates qualifying for the Mains. UPSC does not publish difficulty ratings or good-attempt figures, and it releases Prelims marks, cut-offs and answer keys only after the final result of CSE 2026, which had not been declared as of 12 October 2026.
What this page covers
Paper-wise review
Marks and time come from the notice, and the question counts from the covers of the 2026 question papers. Both papers are objective (multiple choice, four options per question) and both are compulsory. The areas below are the official syllabus headings. UPSC publishes no topic-wise weightage, so we don’t show any.
GS Paper I
100 Q · 200 marks · 2 hours · Hindi & English. Official syllabus: current events of national and international importance; History of India and Indian National Movement; Indian and World Geography; Indian Polity and Governance; Economic and Social Development; general issues on environmental ecology, bio-diversity and climate change; General Science.
GS Paper II (CSAT)
80 Q · 200 marks · 2 hours · Hindi & English · qualifying at 33%. Official syllabus: comprehension; interpersonal skills including communication skills; logical reasoning and analytical ability; decision making and problem solving; general mental ability; basic numeracy (Class X level); data interpretation (Class X level).
Booklet & answer sheet
Each paper comes as a test booklet in Hindi and English, in series A, B, C and D. Answers are marked on an OMR answer sheet, which (like the attendance list) must be filled with a black ball point pen only. Calculators are not allowed in the objective papers.
Exam-day rules
A printout of the e-admit card and the photo ID whose number is on it, for each session. Face authentication and frisking at the venue; entry closes 30 minutes before each session. Mobile phones, smart watches and bags are not allowed, and there is no safe-keeping at the venue.
What a wrong answer costs
Every question has four alternatives. For each wrong answer, one-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question is deducted. Marking more than one answer counts as a wrong answer, even if one of them is correct, and gets the same penalty. A question left blank costs nothing. The rule is the same in both papers:
| Paper | Questions · marks | Penalty per wrong answer |
|---|---|---|
| GS Paper I | 100 · 200 | One-third of that question’s marks |
| GS Paper II (CSAT) | 80 · 200 | One-third of that question’s marks |
| More than one answer marked | — | Treated as wrong; same penalty |
| Question left blank | — | No penalty |
The notice gives each paper’s total marks and the one-third rule, but not a marks-per-question figure, so we don’t quote one. UPSC does not publish good-attempt numbers either, so we don’t show any. Candidates can raise objections to questions or the answer key through the Question Paper Representation Portal (QPReP), from the third day after the exam to 6 PM on the seventh day.
Shortlisting & cut-offs
GS Paper II (CSAT) is qualifying, and you need at least 33% in it. Among those who clear it, UPSC draws the Mains list on GS Paper I marks, at a qualifying total it decides. About 12–13 times the vacancies are admitted to the Mains: 13,343 candidates against 1,016 vacancies for CSE 2026, compared with 14,161 against 1,087 for CSE 2025. UPSC publishes the result as a list of roll numbers. Marks, cut-offs and answer keys for the 2026 Prelims come out only after the CSE 2026 final result. For reference, UPSC’s official CSE 2025 Prelims cut-off (GS Paper I, out of 200) was 92.66 for General, 89.34 for EWS, 92.00 for OBC, 84.00 for SC and 82.66 for ST.
Prepare for UPSC Prelims with your own daily plan
Daily targets, practice mocks & PYQ practice sets — mapped to the GS Paper I and CSAT syllabus.
Turn the paper structure into your next mock
Knowing where the marks and penalties sit only helps if you practise with it in mind. JobSafal turns the Prelims syllabus into daily targets and timed practice, so accuracy becomes a habit before the exam.
Syllabus-wise plan
Daily targets across GS Paper I areas and CSAT.
Practice mocks
Timed practice mocks from the app’s mock catalogue.
Weak-area focus
Work on the areas your practice flags as weak.
PYQ practice sets
Practice sets in the app’s PYQ section.
