3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 15, 2026 10:47 PM IST
UPSC CSE Prelims Result 2026: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has declared the Civil Services Preliminary Examination (CSE) 2026 results on June 15, on its official website, upsc.gov.in. Candidates who appeared for the examination can now check their qualifying status by downloading the result PDF at the official portal.
The UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2026 was conducted across the country on May 24 for recruitment to approximately 933 vacancies. A total of 8,19,372 candidates had registered for the examination, which was held in 83 cities at 2,072 examination centres.
The Preliminary Examination was conducted in offline mode using an OMR-based format and consisted of two papers. General Studies (GS) Paper I was held in the morning session, beginning at 9:30 am, followed by the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) Paper II in the afternoon. While GS Paper I determines whether a candidate qualifies for the next stage, CSAT is qualifying in nature and requires candidates to secure a minimum of 33 per cent marks.
This year, the Commission introduced a significant change by releasing a provisional answer key on May 28, just four days after the examination. Traditionally, UPSC publishes answer keys only after the entire examination process is completed and final results are declared. The provisional key also showed that one question from the 100-question GS Paper I had been dropped.
Candidates who have qualified in the Preliminary Examination will now be eligible to appear for the Civil Services (Main) Examination 2026. The Commission will soon open a dedicated application window for qualified candidates to update and confirm their details before the issuance of e-admit cards for the next stage.
Looking at previous years, the UPSC CSE Prelims result for the 2025 cycle was announced on June 11 after the examination was conducted on May 25. In the previous recruitment cycle, 14,161 candidates qualified for the Civil Services (Main) Examination 2025 against 1,087 vacancies notified by the UPSC. This year, the Commission has shortlisted 13,343 candidates for the Civil Services (Main) Examination 2026 against 1,016 advertised vacancies.
In 2024, the Preliminary Examination was held on June 16, and the results were declared on July 1.
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Candidates should note that the Preliminary Examination serves only as a screening test. Marks obtained in the Prelims are not considered for the final merit list, which is prepared on the basis of performance in the Main Examination and the Personality Test (Interview).