UPSC CSE Prelims 2026

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has not yet conducted the Preliminary Examination for the recruitment of officers into the Indian Civil Services for FY 2026-27.

Key Highlights

Recruitment Name	UPSC CSE 2026
Exam Name	Prelims
Conducting Body	Union Public Service Commission
Exam Status	Not Conducted
Exam Date	24 May, 2026

Prelims Exam Pattern

The Preliminary Examination consists of two objective-type papers (MCQs), each carrying 200 marks.

Name of the Paper	No. of Qs.	Max. Marks	Duration
General Studies Paper I	100	200	2 hours
CSAT (General Studies Paper II)	80	200	2 hours
Total	180	400	4 hours

Note: CSAT is qualifying in nature (minimum 33%).

Preliminary Examination Centres

The Preliminary Examination will be conducted at the following centres as per the official notification:

Sl. No.	Centre
1	Agartala
2	Agra
3	Ahmedabad
4	Aizawl
5	Ajmer
6	Aligarh
7	Almora (Uttarakhand)
8	Ananthapuru
9	Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad)
10	Bareilly
11	Bengaluru
12	Bhopal
13	Bhubaneswar
14	Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh)
15	Chandigarh
16	Chennai
17	Coimbatore
18	Cuttack
19	Dehradun
20	Delhi
21	Dharamshala
22	Dharwar
23	Dispur
24	Faridabad
25	Gangtok
26	Gautam Buddh Nagar
27	Gaya
28	Ghaziabad
29	Gorakhpur
30	Gurugram
31	Gwalior
32	Hyderabad
33	Imphal
34	Indore
35	Itanagar
36	Jabalpur
37	Jaipur
38	Jammu
39	Jodhpur
40	Jorhat
41	Kanpur
42	Kargil
43	Kochi
44	Kohima
45	Kolkata
46	Kozhikode (Calicut)
47	Leh
48	Lucknow
49	Ludhiana
50	Madurai
51	Mandi
52	Meerut
53	Mumbai
54	Mysuru
55	Nagpur
56	Nasik
57	Navi Mumbai
58	Panaji (Goa)
59	Patna
60	Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair)
61	Prayagraj (Allahabad)
62	Puducherry
63	Pune
64	Raipur
65	Rajkot
66	Ranchi
67	Sambalpur
68	Shillong
69	Shimla
70	Siliguri
71	Srinagar
72	Srinagar (Uttarakhand)
73	Surat
74	Thane
75	Thiruvananthapuram
76	Tiruchirapalli
77	Tirupati
78	Udaipur
79	Varanasi
80	Vellore
81	Vijayawada
82	Visakhapatnam
83	Hanumakonda (Warangal Urban)

Shifts

The examination will be conducted in two sessions:

Paper	Timing
General Studies Paper I	9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
CSAT (Paper II)	2:30 PM – 4:30 PM

Documents to Carry to Exam Centre

Printed Admit Card
Valid Photo ID Proof
Passport-size photograph (if required)