3 min readNew DelhiMay 13, 2026 03:36 PM IST
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on May 13 released the Civil Services Examination (CSE) preliminary exam answer keys for the 2025 exams. Candidates who appeared for the UPSC CSE 2025 prelims will be able to download the answer keys from upsc.gov.in and upsconline.gov.in. This would be the last time that the Commission has released the answer keys after the completion of the complete exam cycle. From the 2026 session, UPSC will begin releasing provisional answer keys on its official website after conducting the CSE Preliminary exams.
While the UPSC CSE 2025 prelims exam was conducted on May 25 last year, the CSE mains UPSC exam was held from August 22 to August 31. Candidates cleared the mains were called for an interview and personality test round. The UPSC CSE 2025 interviews or the personality tests were held from January to April, 2026. The UPSC CSE 2025 result was declared on March 6, 2026.
According to UPSC data, 9,37,876 candidates applied for the 2025 Civil Services Examination. Of those, 5,76,793 appeared for the prelims. A total of 14,161 cleared the prelims and qualified for the Main exam. From there, 2,736 candidates made it to the Personality Test stage.In the final list, the Commission recommended 958 candidates – 659 men and 299 women – for appointment to the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service, and Central Services – Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’.
The UPSC CSE 2026 prelims exam will be held on May 24. This year, over 900 posts are on offer. Candidates scoring above the cut-off marks in CSE prelims will become eligible to register for the UPSC main examination. The mains will be descriptive and will be conducted in August.
The Commission will be releasing the UPSC CSE hall tickets for the 2026 CSE prelims exams. In case of any discrepancies in the UPSC CSE 2026 prelims hall ticket, aspirants must inform the UPSC immediately via mail on email- ID – uscsp-upsc@nic.in. To raise grievances, the candidates will have to mention their names, roll number, registration ID, name and year of the examination in all the communication or correspondence with the UPSC.
A candidate, whose photograph on the e-admit card is not clear or the photograph is without the name and date of photograph, they will have to bring a photo identity card alongwith two passport size photographs (with their names and date of photograph), one for each session for appearing in the UPSC CSE prelims examination with an undertaking.
The UPSC CSE exam is conducted in three stages — prelims, mains and interview. A final merit list is prepared for candidates qualifying the exam and the interview with the highest marks.
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