Overview
What UPPSC PCS is, and who it suits
The commission advertises a rounded vacancy figure and revises it as departments send requisitions. The 2026 advertisement says the number of vacancies is presently about 500 and may increase or decrease, and lists the cadres covered without a breakup — deputy collector, deputy superintendent of police, block development officer, assistant regional transport officer, assistant commissioner of commercial tax, district commandant of home guards, treasury and accounts officer, cane inspector and assistant sugar commissioner, jail superintendent, naib tehsildar, excise inspector, child development project officer, food safety officer, deputy jailor, law officer and, new this year, principal of government intermediate college. The 2025 advertisement’s about 200 became 814 PCS and 106 forest service posts by the preliminary result; the 2024 advertisement’s about 220 became 947.
The scheme has been stable across the 2024, 2025 and 2026 advertisements. The preliminary’s Paper I, general studies, has 150 questions and Paper II, the aptitude test, 100, each of 200 marks and two hours, with Paper II qualifying at 33 per cent and merit on Paper I alone; one-third of the question’s marks is deducted for a wrong answer, a question with more than one answer is wrong, and a blank costs nothing. The mains is eight conventional papers of three hours — general Hindi 150, an essay paper of three 700-word essays for 150, and general studies papers I to VI of 200 each — with answers in Hindi, English or Urdu. Fifteen candidates per post go to the mains and three per post to the 100-mark interview, and the final merit is the 1,600. A minimum efficiency standard applies: 40 per cent at each stage, 35 for SC and ST.
What defines the examination
- One day, since 2024 — the commission notified a two-shift, two-day preliminary with normalisation on 5 November 2024; after protests at its headquarters from 11 November it agreed on 14 November to hold the paper in one day on the old pattern, and the 2024 preliminary was held on 22 December in two sessions of one day.
- No optional subject — six general studies papers replace the old optionals; the 2025 mains papers on the commission’s site show the format — twenty questions a paper, ten at 125 words and ten at 200.
- Reservation follows domicile — candidates not permanently resident in Uttar Pradesh get no reservation or age relaxation in any category; the reserved-to-unreserved adjustment clause is under a High Court stay of 13 May 2026.
- A fellowship weightage from 2026 — under rules of 2026, research scholars of the Chief Minister’s fellowship get up to three years of age relaxation and a weightage in the mains — 2.5, 5 or 7.5 marks for one, two or three completed years in an examination of more than 1,000 marks.
The 2024 cycle, start to finish
Advertised on 1 January 2024 for about 220 posts, revised to 947. Preliminary on 22 December 2024 at 1,331 centres after the November protests, with 2,41,212 of 5,76,154 registered candidates appearing; result 28 February 2025 with 15,066 through; mains from 29 June to 2 July 2025 at 34 centres with 14,857 registered; mains result 4 February 2026 with 2,719 called; interviews from 26 February to 23 March 2026, with two more candidates admitted on the High Court’s direction; final result 29 March 2026 — 932 recommended, 15 posts unfilled. Fifteen months from advertisement to result, as the press reported it; the result document has rotated off the commission’s home page.
