21Sep 2026
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Exam Updates
Exam Calendar
A competitive exam year has a rhythm: notifications appear, application windows open and close, admit cards are released, papers are held, results follow, and later stages run for months afterwards. Planning around that rhythm is a genuine advantage, and missing a window is one of the more painful ways to lose a cycle.
What a calendar cannot do is tell you when things will actually happen. Dates shift, notifications are deferred, and exams are occasionally rescheduled at short notice. So the useful discipline is not memorising dates but building a habit of checking, and understanding what to do when each stage arrives.
Exam updates · checked 19 September 2026
Application forms closing soon, from the official notices
Every deadline below was read on the conducting body’s own portal. Apply days before the close — the last day is when portals slow down and no commission grants an extension for it.
Exam calendar — checked 19 September 2026
Exam calendar 2026-27: the dates fixed by notice, and the ones proposed by calendar
Two kinds of date appear below and the distinction matters: a date fixed by the conducting body’s own notice (SSC’s Tier 1 schedule, CBSE’s CTET notice, the IIMs’ CAT release) and a date proposed in a calendar (NTA’s December–March calendar, the IBPS tentative calendar, the TNPSC annual planner), which the bulletin later confirms or moves.
| Date | Exam | What was published | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 September | MPSC Rajyaseva 2026 mains | MPSC Rajyaseva 2026 mains from 3 October to 1 November. The State Services main examination papers are on 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 17, 18 and 31 October and 1 November 2026, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., following the prelims of 31 May 2026. | mpsc.gov.in |
| 18 September | TNPSC Group 2 and 2A 2026 | TNPSC Group 2/2A prelims on 1 November; Group 4 on 20 December. Notification 07/2026 (43 Group II posts alongside the Group IIA posts) closed applications on 9 September 2026 with corrections to 15 September; the preliminary examination is on Sunday 1 November 2026, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The annual planner places Group 4 on 20 December 2026. | tnpsc.gov.in |
| 16 September | RRB JE CEN 04/2026 CBT 1 | RRB JE 2026 CBT 1 on 27, 28 and 30 October (tentative). The RRBs’ notice of 16 September 2026 fixes the tentative schedule of the first-stage CBT for CEN 04/2026 — Junior Engineer, Depot Material Superintendent and Chemical and Metallurgical Assistant — for 27, 28 and 30 October 2026. The exam city and date link opens about ten days before and e-call letters about four days before; Aadhaar-linked biometric authentication at the centre. | RRB portal, notice of 16 September 2026 |
| 16 September | UPSSSC Junior Assistant 2024 typing test | UPSSSC Junior Assistant (12-Exam/2024) typing test from 30 October. The commission’s notice of 16 September 2026 fixes the typing test for the 46,282 candidates shortlisted on the written score of 1 February from 30 October 2026, ahead of the December its calendar had proposed; admit cards will be announced on the site. | upsssc.gov.in notice of 16 September 2026 |
| 16 September | UGC NET and CSIR NET December 2026 | NTA calendar: UGC NET December 14–19 December, CSIR NET 20–21 December. NTA’s examination calendar of 16 September 2026 proposes UGC NET December 2026 for 14–19 December (20–21 in reserve) and the Joint CSIR-UGC NET for 20–21 December; the bulletins and application windows are expected in October. The same calendar proposes JEE Main 2027 Session 1 for 22–24 and 28–30 January, CMAT 2027 for 7 February and CUET PG 2027 for 1–25 March. | nta.ac.in, 16 September 2026 |
| 14 September | CTET December 2026 | CTET 2026 (22nd edition) on 12 and 13 December. CBSE’s public notice of 14 September 2026 fixed the 22nd CTET, first notified as “CTET September 2026”, for 12 and 13 December 2026 in computer-based mode; the exam city is shown about 15 days before and the admit card two days before the examination. | ctet.nic.in public notice, 14 September 2026 |
| 14 September | NEET 2027 | NEET 2027 will be a computer-based test — NTA confirms. The NTA Director General confirmed on 14 September 2026 that NEET UG moves to computer-based testing from the 2027 cycle, after the Education Minister’s announcement of 15 May and NTA’s 4 September letter asking AICTE to map centres. The date is not yet announced; NEET UG is not in NTA’s December–March calendar, so the notice is expected in February 2027. | NTA, 14 September 2026 |
| 12 September | SSC CGL 2026 Tier 1 | SSC CGL 2026 Tier 1 fixed for 30 September – 30 October. The Commission’s schedule notice of 12 September 2026 fixed the Tier 1 computer-based examination for 30 September to 30 October 2026; exam-city intimation and admit cards follow through the candidate login. Tier 2 remains tentatively December. | ssc.gov.in important notice, 12 September 2026 |
| 10–11 September | RRB Technician and Section Controller CBTs | RRB Technician (CEN 02/2026) CBT 6–9 October; Section Controller (CEN 03/2026) CBT 12–13 October. Notices of 10 and 11 September 2026 fix the tentative CBT for Technician Grade I and Grade III under CEN 02/2026 for 6–9 October 2026 and for Section Controller under CEN 03/2026 for 12–13 October 2026, with city intimation ten days and e-call letters four days before. | RRB portal, notices of 10 and 11 September 2026 |
| 9 September | UPSSSC PET 2026 | UPSSSC PET 2026 on 23, 24 and 25 October. The Commission announced on 9 September 2026 that the Preliminary Eligibility Test will be held on 23–25 October 2026 in two shifts a day (10 a.m. – 12 noon and 3–5 p.m.); applications had closed on 7 September. The score is valid for three years. | upsssc.gov.in |
| 4 October | IBPS PO 2026 mains | IBPS PO 2026 mains on 4 October; prelims result due this month. CRP PO/MT-XVI held its preliminary examination on 22–23 August 2026; the notification places the prelims result in September and the main examination on 4 October 2026, with interviews in November–December and provisional allotment in January 2027. | ibps.in |
| 21 August – 22 November | UPSC CSE and IFoS mains 2026 | Civil Services mains from 21 August; IFoS main examination from 22 November. The Civil Services (Main) Examination 2026 began on 21 August 2026 for the candidates admitted on 15 June; the Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination runs from 22 November 2026 for seven days, and its time table is now posted on upsc.gov.in. | upsc.gov.in |
| Exam | Examination | Registration | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAT 2026 | 29 November 2026 | Closes 22 September, 5 p.m. | Early January 2027 |
| GATE 2027 | 6–7, 13–14, 20–21 February 2027 | Closes 27 September (5 October late) | 19 March 2027 |
| IIT JAM 2027 | 14 February 2027 | Closes 12 October | 18 March 2027 |
| INI-CET January 2027 | 1 November 2026 | Closes 13 October | 7 November 2026 |
| NMAT 2026 | 2 November – 20 December window | Closes 10 October | Within the window |
| CLAT 2027 | 6 December 2026 | Closes 31 October | To be notified |
| AILET 2027 | 13 December 2026 | Closes 10 November | To be notified |
| SNAP 2026 | 13, 19, 26 December 2026 | Closes 25 November | 12 January 2027 |
| XAT 2027 | 5 January 2027 | Closes 10 December | To be notified |
| UGC NET December 2026 | 14–19 December (proposed) | Expected October | — |
| CSIR NET December 2026 | 20–21 December (proposed) | Expected October | — |
| JEE Main 2027 Session 1 | 22–24, 28–30 January 2027 (proposed) | Expected late October–November | — |
| CMAT 2027 | 7 February 2027 (proposed) | Expected October–November | — |
| CUET PG 2027 | 1–25 March 2027 (proposed) | Expected December | — |
| NEET 2027 | May 2027 (expected), first CBT | Expected February 2027 | — |
The cycle
The stages of an exam year, and what each needs from you
- Notification
- The document that defines everything — eligibility, age limits and relaxations, the exact pattern, negative marking, vacancy details and the stage structure. Read it end to end when it appears, not later. Details change between cycles more often than candidates expect.
- Application window
- Usually a few weeks. Have your documents, photographs, signature and category certificates ready before it opens, because a technical problem on the final day is a lost year. Apply early rather than on the last date.
- Correction window
- Where one is provided, it is the only chance to fix an error in your application. Check your submitted form carefully during it rather than assuming it went through correctly.
- Admit card
- Released shortly before the exam. Check the centre, the reporting time and the permitted items, and plan the journey — candidates lose exams to travel every cycle.
- Result and later stages
- Mains examinations, physical tests, interviews and document verification can run for months. Preparation should not stop at the first result, because the gap between stages is frequently shorter than it looks.
Planning
How to use a calendar productively
- Work backwards from your primary exam. The date fixes when your preparation phases have to end, not the other way round.
- Check whether your secondary exams clash. Two papers a week apart is manageable; two on the same weekend is not.
- Set your own reminders for application windows. A missed window costs a full cycle, and it is entirely avoidable.
- Plan for the gaps between stages. The interval between a prelims result and a mains is usually short. Mains preparation should not begin there.
- Verify dates from the official source. Aggregated calendars are useful for planning and unreliable for deadlines.
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Questions
Exam Calendar — FAQs
Is there an SSC, railway, IBPS or UPSC exam calendar for 2026-27?
Each body publishes its own: SSC’s annual calendar (its 2026 dates have slipped — CGL Tier 1 is now 30 September – 30 October and the MTS notice is overdue), the IBPS tentative calendar of 16 January 2026 (PO mains 4 October, Clerk prelims 10–11 October, mains 27 December), the RRBs’ CEN-wise notices (no annual calendar), UPSC’s annual calendars for 2026 and 2027 (ESE 2027 prelims 31 January, CSE 2027 prelims on the 2027 calendar) and NTA’s calendar of 16 September 2026 for December–March. The table above merges them with the fixed-or-proposed status of each date.
How do I plan a year around competitive exam dates?
Work backwards from your primary exam. Its date fixes when each phase of your preparation must end — foundation building, depth, then mocks and revision — rather than the other way round. Then check whether your secondary exams clash with it or with each other, and set your own reminders for application windows, since a missed window costs a full cycle and is entirely avoidable. Plan explicitly for the gaps between stages, which are usually shorter than candidates expect.
Are published exam calendars reliable?
Useful for planning and unreliable for deadlines. Notification dates shift, application windows move, and examinations are occasionally rescheduled at short notice. An aggregated calendar is a good way to see the shape of a year and to notice clashes, but any date you are going to act on — an application deadline in particular — should be verified against the conducting body’s own announcement.
When should I start preparing for the next stage?
Before the current one’s result. The interval between a preliminary result and a main examination is frequently just a few weeks, which is enough to sharpen speed and nowhere near enough to build the depth a mains paper needs — banking awareness, data interpretation, descriptive writing and technical depth all take months. Candidates who prepare only for the screening stage and wait for its result routinely find themselves under-prepared for the stage that actually decides the outcome.
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