Overview
- The Union Public Service Commission published provisional answer keys for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, and made PDFs for General Studies Paper I and CSAT Paper II available on upsc.gov.in and upsconline.nic.in.
- A dedicated Online Question Paper Representation Portal (QPRep) is open until 6:00 p.m. on May 31, 2026, and candidates must use it to submit formal objections within the five-day window that begins on the third day after the exam.
- Each representation must state the candidate’s chosen answer, include a brief explanation and supply supporting documents from three authoritative sources, and all submissions will be reviewed by teams of subject experts before any change to the final key.
- In the provisional release UPSC dropped one question from the 100-item paper and also published operational data showing about 8.19 lakh registrations, roughly 5.49 lakh attendees across 2,072 venues in 83 cities, and the use of real-time face authentication at centres.
- The early key and objection process lets aspirants estimate scores and begin targeted Mains preparation sooner while preserving UPSC’s practice of issuing the final key and official results only after expert review and completion of the full recruitment cycle.