UPSC releases Civil Services Prelims 2026 answer key, opens objection window

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released the provisional answer key for the Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2026 before the declaration of final results, marking a significant change in its examination process.

The Civil Services Prelims 2026 was conducted on May 24 in two shifts across the country for recruitment to the IAS, IPS, IFS, and other central services.

For the first time, candidates can review the official answer key and submit objections shortly after the examination instead of waiting until the entire recruitment cycle concludes.

Earlier, UPSC used to release answer keys only after the final results were declared, usually several months later.

The commission has opened a dedicated Question Paper Representation Portal for candidates seeking to challenge questions or answer options.

“Representations are required to be submitted by indicating the correct answer key as per the candidate’s understanding, along with a brief explanation and supporting documents from three authentic sources. All representations received from candidates will be placed before teams of subject experts for a comprehensive and meticulous review…The final answer key, however, will be released only after the declaration of the final result, in accordance with the Commission’s existing practice,” the UPSC said.

The objection window will remain open for five days, beginning from the third day after the examination and continuing until 6 pm on the seventh day.

Candidates raising objections have been asked to provide supporting evidence and proper explanations. UPSC said all submissions would be examined by subject experts before the final answer key is prepared.

The commission also stated that one question from the 100-question paper has been dropped in the provisional answer key.

According to official figures, the examination was held at 2,072 centers in 83 cities nationwide. Around 8.19 lakh candidates had registered for the examination, while nearly 67% appeared.

A total of 5.49 lakh candidates took the examination for 933 Civil Services vacancies and 90 Indian Forest Service posts.

This year, UPSC introduced three additional examination centers in Bhubaneswar, Kanpur, and Meerut, taking the total number of exam cities to 83. Nearly 23,000 candidates opted for these newly added venues.

Delhi recorded the highest participation, with 70,885 candidates appearing at 144 centers.

Compared with last year, both registrations and attendance declined. In 2025, around 9.5 lakh candidates had applied for the examination, and nearly 5.8 lakh appeared.

The release of the provisional answer key follows widespread discussions among candidates over the difficulty level of this year’s question papers.

Many aspirants and experts described General Studies Paper I as lengthy, analytical, and focused more on conceptual understanding than factual recall. Candidates also pointed to changing question trends and time-management challenges during the examination.

The decision to publish the answer key early is expected to help candidates assess their performance more accurately, estimate probable scores, and begin preparation for the Civil Services Main Examination without waiting for unofficial answer keys or speculative cut-off predictions.

Candidates can access the provisional answer key and submit representations through the official UPSC website, upsc.gov.in.