UPSC Civil Services Exam 2026: Notification, Prelims and Mains Pattern, Syllabus, Cut-off and Free Mock Tests

What each stage actually rewards

• Prelims — breadth of factual coverage and elimination skill under a one-third deduction, plus a qualifying aptitude paper that must not be neglected.
• Mains general studies — the ability to write a structured, balanced answer on an unfamiliar question in about seven or eight minutes.
• The essay paper — sustained argument over two essays, assessed on coherence and perspective rather than on information density.
• The optional subject — genuine subject depth, at roughly postgraduate level, across two papers.
• The personality test — judgement, balance and the ability to hold a considered view under questioning — not recall.

Qualification

• Degree — A degree of a university incorporated by an Act of Parliament or a state legislature, or a deemed university, or an equivalent qualification. Candidates who have appeared in the final degree examination and are awaiting the result may sit the prelims, but must produce proof of passing with the detailed application form for the mains.
• Professional qualifications — Chartered accountants, cost accountants, company secretaries, MBBS graduates awaiting internship and holders of equivalent professional or technical qualifications recognised by the Government are eligible.

Other conditions

• Nationality — Indian citizens for the IAS, IFS and IPS; subjects of Nepal and Bhutan, Tibetan refugees who came before 1962 and persons of Indian origin migrated from the listed countries are eligible for the other services with a certificate of eligibility.
• Fee — ₹100 for the preliminary examination and a further ₹200 on admission to the main examination, paid online; women, SC, ST and PwBD candidates pay nothing at either stage.
• Medium — The mains can be written in English or any language of the Eighth Schedule; the Indian language qualifying paper is exempted for candidates from Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.

The UPSC CSE process, from registration to recommendation

1. Create the account and the Universal Registration Number profile on upsconline.nic.in The Commission’s portal has four modules: account creation, universal registration (the URN profile with your identity, photograph, signature, photo-ID and educational particulars), a common application form, and an examination-specific form. The first three are filled once and reused for every UPSC examination; the URN profile must be locked before an examination form can be submitted, and the photo-ID entered there is the one carried to every stage.
2. Fill the examination-specific form in the notified window Choose the centre, the medium and language options, the optional subject or service preferences where the notification asks for them, claim any category, PwBD or fee-remission benefit with the certificate details, and submit before 6 p.m. on the last date. A withdrawal window of about a week usually follows the closing date for candidates who no longer wish to appear.
3. Pay the fee ₹100 for the preliminary examination, paid online by net banking, card or UPI within the application window; nil for women, SC, ST and PwBD candidates. Candidates admitted to the main examination pay a further ₹200 in the ten-day window after the prelims result.
4. e-Admit card Issued on the portal about a week to ten days before the examination; it is not posted. Print it, check the photograph and the centre, and carry it with the photo-ID named in the URN profile. Centres are allotted first-come, and a candidate who does not get a preferred centre is allotted another in the same region.
5. The written examination Objective papers are answered on an OMR sheet in black ballpoint pen, with the question paper series and roll number coded by hand — the Commission publishes a note on the common OMR mistakes that lead to rejection. Conventional papers are handwritten in the question-cum-answer booklet. Provisional answer keys are opened for representations on the portal within a week of an objective paper.
6. Result and the next stage Results are published as roll-number lists on upsc.gov.in with a press note; marks and cut-offs are released only after the final result. Qualified candidates get a window on the portal to pay the next-stage fee, update details and submit the detailed application form where the examination has one.
7. After the prelims result: fee, scribe details and cadre preferences Qualified candidates log in during the notified window to pay the mains fee, update scribe and assistive-device details, and fill the cadre preference for the All India Services — the 2026 press note makes all three mandatory in that window. The detailed application form for the mains, with service preferences, educational particulars and the optional subject confirmed, follows.
8. The main examination Five days of three-hour papers: the two language qualifying papers, Essay, General Studies I–IV and the two optional papers, handwritten in the question-cum-answer booklets in the medium chosen. Candidates must score the minimum in each qualifying paper for the merit papers to be evaluated, and 10 per cent in each of the seven merit papers.
9. The personality test Candidates about twice the vacancies are called to Dholpur House with originals of every certificate claimed; the interview carries 275 marks and the board is briefed on the detailed application form. Marks are published for all candidates after the final result.
10. Final result, marks and allotment The final merit list is mains plus interview out of 2,025; services are allotted by rank, category and preference, and the cadre for the IAS, IPS and IFoS by the zonal preference system. A reserve list is maintained. Marks of recommended and non-recommended candidates are published, and the Commission’s PRATIBHA Setu portal shares non-recommended candidates’ details with employers with their consent.

A twelve-month plan for the 2027 cycle

1. Months 1–3: foundations and the optional NCERT-level history, geography, polity, economy, environment and science; a daily newspaper habit with monthly compilation; choose the optional subject by the end of month one and begin its paper 1 syllabus.
2. Months 4–7: the mains syllabus paper by paper GS I–IV from standard sources with answer writing from month four — one GS question a day, one essay a fortnight; the optional’s paper 2; ethics case studies. Keep the current affairs file to the mains date.
3. Months 8–10: prelims mode Revise the static syllabus for objective recall, take a full prelims mock every week with the one-third deduction, and practise CSAT comprehension and numeracy under the two-hour clock until 33 per cent is safe with a margin.
4. Months 11–12: prelims, then straight into mains Taper mocks before the prelims; from the day after, return to answer writing and the optional, because the mains follows within three months of the result.

What decides the result

• The optional: 500 marks — The single largest block a candidate controls; a subject with scoring depth and available material matters more than interest alone.
• GS answer writing — A thousand marks for structured, evidence-led answers written at speed — 20 questions in three hours per paper.
• The prelims cut-off — About 90 of 200 in GS Paper I for general candidates in recent cycles; accuracy and elimination, not attempts.
• The interview: 275 — Enough to move a candidate 100 ranks; the detailed application form is its brief.

Official documents

Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 — revised notification (6 February 2026) Prelims 2026 result — roll numbers admitted to the mains (15 June 2026) CSE 2025 final result (6 March 2026) CSE 2025 minimum qualifying marks and cut-offs (9 March 2026) UPSC annual calendar 2026 UPSC annual calendar 2027 UPSC online application portal UPSC — examination notifications, results and cut-off marks