The UPSC Prelims Exam for 2026 is set to take place on May 24th, 2026 (Sunday). Given that the official answer key is only published by UPSC after the final results are announced, aspirants are in need of a trustworthy and accurate source to evaluate their performance in the IAS Prelims exam.
UPSC IAS Question Paper Pattern 2026
The UPSC Question Paper is conducted in offline mode. The paper carries a maximum of 400 marks, with each worth 200 marks. It is an objective test containing 180 multiple-choice questions. The medium of the paper is English and Hindi. The CSAT paper will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.
Those who qualify in the prelims exam will be called for the Civil Services (Main) Examination. The marks obtained in the prelim exam will not be counted for final selection. Check the table below for the UPSC question paper pattern.
Subject | Nature Of Paper | No. of Questions | Exam Duration | Marks |
Paper I – General Studies | Merit Ranking (Marks will be counted in Final merit) | 100 | 2 Hours | 200 |
Paper II – General Studies (CSAT) | Qualifying in nature | 80 | 2 Hours | 200 |
UPSC Question Paper 2026: Key Highlights
The UPSC Prelims Exam 2026 is conducted in two shifts, i.e., GS Paper 1 in the morning shift and GS Paper 2 in the afternoon shift. Candidates will be able to download the UPSC Question Papers 2026 for GS and CSAT from here. Check the table below for UPSC Question Paper 2025 key highlights
Exam Conducting Body | Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) |
Exam Name | Civil Service Preliminary Exam 2026 |
Exam Date | May 24, 2024 |
UPSC Prelims Papers | General Studies Paper I – 9:30 to 11:30 General Studies Paper II – 2:30 to 4:30 |
Mode of Exam | Offline |
Total Marks | 400 (200 Each Paper) |
Negative Marking | 1/3rd for Incorrect Answers |
Language | English and Hindi |
Official Website |
UPSC GS Question Paper 2026: PDF Download
The UPSC GS Question Paper 2026 has 100 questions for 200 marks. The duration of the exam is 2 hours. The questions were asked from different subjects such as polity, geography, history, economy, science and technology, current affairs, etc. Candidates can click on the direct link below to download the UPSC GS Question Paper 2025.
UPSC Question Paper 2026 (Set A) | PDF Download |
UPSC Question Paper 2026 (Set B) | PDF Download |
UPSC Question Paper 2026 (Set C) | PDF Download |
UPSC Question Paper 2026 (Set D) | PDF Download |
UPSC 2026 Expected Cutoff
The UPSC Prelims 2026 cutoff will depend on the following factors:
- Difficulty level of the question paper
- Number of vacancies
Since the number of vacancies is similar to previous years (around 1000), the cutoff will primarily depend on the difficulty level of the question paper. The UPSC expected cutoff will be released in the following format:
Category | Expected UPSC Prelims Cut off 2026 |
|---|---|
General | 85 +/- 2 |
EWS | 83 +/-2 |
OBC | 84 +/-2 |
SC | 76 +/-2 |
ST | 71+/-2 |
Given tougher GS + tougher CSAT, the 2025 General cutoff is most likely 85 marks — a drop of 3 points from 2025.
Anyone scoring 80 or above should start preparing seriously for Mains 2026 without waiting for the official result.
How to Download UPSC Prelims Question Paper?
Candidates preparing for the UPSC CSE Exam 2026 can easily download previous years’ UPSC Prelims Question Papers 2026 (GS 1 and CSAT) from the official UPSC website or follow the Steps to Download UPSC Prelims Question Paper below:
- Step 1: Go to upsc.gov.in, the official website of the Union Public Service Commission.
- Step 2: On the homepage, locate and click on the “Examinations” tab in the main menu.
- Step 3: Under the “Examinations” section, find and click on the “Previous Question Papers” link.
- Step 4: From the list of examinations, select “Civil Services (Preliminary)” to access the relevant papers.
- Step 5: Choose the examination year (e.g., 2026) for which you want to download the question paper.
- Step 6: Click on the links for General Studies Paper 1 (GS 1) and CSAT (Paper 2). The question papers will open in PDF format.
- Step 7: Save the PDFs for digital use or print them out for offline practice.
UPSC Prelims Answer keys will also be available on the following Instagram, Twitter and Telegram channels. For a detailed explanation of Prelims GS Paper 1, follow our YouTube channel.
The “UPSC IAS Answer Key” can be used by candidates to calculate their estimated score. The marking criteria for the UPSC CSE 2026 Prelims are as follows: 2 Marks are awarded for each correct answer in Paper I, and 2.5 Marks are allotted in Paper II for each correct answer. However, for each incorrect answer, 1/3rd of the mark assigned to a question is deducted.
The “UPSC IAS Prelims Answer Key 2026” with explanations will assist students in identifying their correct and incorrect responses, and they can calculate the marks they are likely to score in the Prelims exam.
The final selection of candidates for the IAS post is based on the marks obtained in the UPSC Mains exam and Interview. While the UPSC Prelims Exam is the first step of the selection process, the marks are not considered when preparing the Final Merit List.
