Overview
- The Civil Services Preliminary Examination will be held on Sunday, May 24 in two shifts with General Studies Paper I from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and the CSAT from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., using the offline OMR format.
- About 8,19,372 candidates have registered this year to compete for roughly 933 vacancies in the first screening stage for services such as the IAS, IPS and IFS.
- The Commission added three exam centres—Kanpur, Meerut and Bhubaneswar—raising the total from 80 to 83, and nearly 23,000 candidates have chosen the new centres to reduce crowding at existing venues.
- For the first time UPSC will publish the Prelims answer key shortly after the exam so candidates can check their performance early, and the Commission expects to declare final results in roughly 30 to 40 days.
- Candidates must carry a printed admit card and valid photo ID while leaving electronic devices, calculators and study material outside the hall, and exam veterans urged aspirants to stay calm and treat the CSAT as a must-pass qualifying paper with a 33% minimum.