UPSC press release · 18 May 2026 · pibtracker filter

UPSC To Release Provisional Answer Key for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination – 2026, soon after the Conduct of Examination

PRID2262441 MinistryUPSC Released18 May 2026 Reading8 min

UPSC Chairman, Dr. Ajay Kumar, Terms Early Release of Provisional Answer Key, a ‘New Beginning’ Towards Greater Transparency Posted On: 18 MAY 2026 6:17PM by PIB Delhi The Union Public Service Commission, for the first time, will release the Provisional Answer Key for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026, soon after the Exam, to enhance transparency and uphold the highest standards of conduct of examination. Terming it as “a new beginning”, the UPSC Chairman, Dr. Ajay Kumar, said, “For the first time, the Union Public Service Commission will release the Provisional Answer Key for the Civil Services Examination. This initiative reflects the Commission’s ongoing endeavour to bring greater transparency, responsiveness, and timely communication with candidates”. He further added, “The policy aims to make the examination process more participative while upholding its sanctity, integrity, and merit-based framework.” After the release of provisional answer key, candidates of the Civil services examination, can submit their representations, if any, till May 31, 2026, 6PM, through a dedicated online portal i.e. “Online Question Paper Representation Portal (QPRep)” available at https://upsconline.nic.in/login . Candidates will be able to submit their representations by indicating the correct key as per their understanding, along with a brief description and supporting documents from three authentic sources. This will not only enable candidates to make an early and informed assessment of their performance in the examination but also provide them adequate time and opportunity to submit their representations. All representations received from candidates will be placed before the team(s) of subject expert(s) for a comprehensive and meticulous review. These experts possess domain knowledge and subject expertise. They will carefully examine each representation, assess the supporting documents, and record their considered views regarding the correctness of the Answer Key for the concerned questions. The Answer Key will thereafter be finalized only after due consideration of all representations received. This new reform has been introduced to address, the long-standing demand from candidates for publication of Provisional Answer Keys. This was also, in furtherance of the Commission’s commitment towards transparency, accountability, and strengthening the confidence of candidates in the examination system, the Commission has implemented the policy of publishing the Provisional Answer Keys. **** NKR/AK (Release ID: 2262441) Visitor Counter : 13818 Read this release in: Malayalam , Gujarati , Urdu , हिन्दी , Punjabi , Tamil , Telugu UPSC UPSC To Release Provisional Answer Key for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination – 2026, soon after the Conduct of Examination UPSC Chairman, Dr. Ajay Kumar, Terms Early Release of Provisional Answer Key, a ‘New Beginning’ Towards Greater Transparency Posted On: 18 MAY 2026 6:17PM by PIB Delhi The Union Public Service Commission, for the first time, will release the Provisional Answer Key for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026, soon after the Exam, to enhance transparency and uphold the highest standards of conduct of examination. Terming it as “a new beginning”, the UPSC Chairman, Dr. Ajay Kumar, said, “For the first time, the Union Public Service Commission will release the Provisional Answer Key for the Civil Services Examination. This initiative reflects the Commission’s ongoing endeavour to bring greater transparency, responsiveness, and timely communication with candidates”. He further added, “The policy aims to make the examination process more participative while upholding its sanctity, integrity, and merit-based framework.” After the release of provisional answer key, candidates of the Civil services examination, can submit their representations, if any, till May 31, 2026, 6PM, through a dedicated online portal i.e. “Online Question Paper Representation Portal (QPRep)” available at https://upsconline.nic.in/login . Candidates will be able to submit their representations by indicating the correct key as per their understanding, along with a brief description and supporting documents from three authentic sources. This will not only enable candidates to make an early and informed assessment of their performance in the examination but also provide them adequate time and opportunity to submit their representations. All representations received from candidates will be placed before the team(s) of subject expert(s) for a comprehensive and meticulous review. These experts possess domain knowledge and subject expertise. They will carefully examine each representation, assess the supporting documents, and record their considered views regarding the correctness of the Answer Key for the concerned questions. The Answer Key will thereafter be finalized only after due consideration of all representations received. This new reform has been introduced to address, the long-standing demand from candidates for publication of Provisional Answer Keys. This was also, in furtherance of the Commission’s commitment towards transparency, accountability, and strengthening the confidence of candidates in the examination system, the Commission has implemented the policy of publishing the Provisional Answer Keys. **** NKR/AK (Release ID: 2262441) UPSC Chairman, Dr. Ajay Kumar, Terms Early Release of Provisional Answer Key, a ‘New Beginning’ Towards Greater Transparency" /> The Union Public Service Commission, for the first time, will release the Provisional Answer Key for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026, soon after the Exam, to enhance transparency and uphold the highest standards of conduct of examination. Terming it as “a new beginning”, the UPSC Chairman, Dr. Ajay Kumar, said, “For the first time, the Union Public Service Commission will release the Provisional Answer Key for the Civil Services Examination. This initiative reflects the Commission’s ongoing endeavour to bring greater transparency, responsiveness, and timely communication with candidates”. He further added, “The policy aims to make the examination process more participative while upholding its sanctity, integrity, and merit-based framework.” After the release of provisional answer key, candidates of the Civil services examination, can submit their representations, if any, till May 31, 2026, 6PM, through a dedicated online portal i.e. “Online Question Paper Representation Portal (QPRep)” available at <a href="https://upsconline.nic.in/login" target="_blank">https://upsconline.nic.in/login</a>. Candidates will be able to submit their representations by indicating the correct key as per their understanding, along with a brief description and supporting documents from three authentic sources. This will not only enable candidates to make an early and informed assessment of their performance in the examination but also provide them adequate time and opportunity to submit their representations. All representations received from candidates will be placed before the team(s) of subject expert(s) for a comprehensive and meticulous review. These experts possess domain knowledge and subject expertise. They will carefully examine each representation, assess the supporting documents, and record their considered views regarding the correctness of the Answer Key for the concerned questions. The Answer Key will thereafter be finalized only after due consideration of all representations received. This new reform has been introduced to address, the long-standing demand from candidates for publication of Provisional Answer Keys. This was also, in furtherance of the Commission’s commitment towards transparency, accountability, and strengthening the confidence of candidates in the examination system, the Commission has implemented the policy of publishing the Provisional Answer Keys. **** NKR/AK " /> var mPlayer = document.getElementById("background_music"); var mPlayAction = document.getElementById("playbutton"); var isPlaying = false; function playAudio() { mPlayer.play(); isPlaying = true; document.getElementById('stopA').style.display = "block"; document.getElementById('playA').style.display = "none"; } function pauseAudio() { mPlayer.pause(); isPlaying = false; document.getElementById('playA').style.display = "block"; document.getElementById('stopA').style.display = "none"; } //function HandleAudio() { // if (isPlaying == true) { // //Playing already Pause it // pauseAudio(); // } else { // //Play the music // playAudio(); // } //} var synth = window.speechSynthesis; function CleanHtml(html) { html = html.replace(/ /gi, ''); return html; } function stripHtml(html) { let tmp = document.createElement("DIV"); tmp.innerHTML = CleanHtml(html); return tmp.textContent || tmp.innerText || ""; } $(document).ready(function () { //for responsive tables $("table").each(function () { if (!$(this).closest(".table-responsive").length) { $(this).wrap(" "); } }); var width = $(window).width(); if (width $(document).ready(function () { var width = $(window).width(); if (width @media print { .sticky-social, .sticky-social_mb, .pull-right, #printPDF { display: none !important; } } .f_vl { padding-right: 30px; font-size: 17px; cursor: pointer; } .log_oo { // width: 20%; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; } .log_oo img { width: 150px; /*width: 100%; height: auto;*/ } .sticky-social_mb { position: fixed; bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; width: 100%; } .social_mb { list-style: none; display: flex; width: 100%; margin-bottom: -8px; } .social_mb a { padding: 8px 0px; font-size: 30px; transition: all 0.8s ease-in-out; 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height: auto !important; } h2 { font-size: 20px !important; font-weight: 600 !important; } h3 { font-size: 18px !important; font-weight: 600 !important; } } /* === Film Roll Badge Styling(IFFI2025 countdown) === */ .film-roll-badge { position: absolute; top:82%; right: 20px; width: 230px; height: 70px; background: repeating-linear-gradient( to right, #9a2375 0px, #9a2375 18px, #6e2b8b 18px, #6e2b8b 36px ); border-top: 8px solid #9a2375; border-bottom: 8px solid #9a2375; border-radius: 8px; overflow: hidden; box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); animation: moveFilm 8s linear infinite; z-index: 10; } /* film sprocket holes */ .film-roll-badge::before, .film-roll-badge::after { content: ""; position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 10px; background: repeating-linear-gradient( to right, #9a2375 0px, #9a2375 10px, #fff 10px, #fff 20px ); left: 0; z-index: 2; } .film-roll-badge::before { top: -4px; } .film-roll-badge::after { bottom: -4px; } .film-roll-inner { position: relative; height: 100%; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; animation: flicker 2s infinite ease-in-out; } .countdown-text { font-size: 1.3rem; font-weight: 700; color: #fff; text-shadow: 0 0 6px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.4), 0 0 10px #000; white-space: nowrap; } /* === Animations === */ @keyframes moveFilm { 0% { background-position: 0 0; } 100% { background-position: 120px 0; } } @keyframes flicker { 0%, 100% { opacity: 1; } 50% { opacity: 0.9; } 25% { opacity: 0.95; } 75% { opacity: 0.85; } } /* === Responsive Adjustments === */ @media (max-width: 1500px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 68%; right: 18px; /* width: 220px; */ height: 65px; font-size: 0.85rem; } .press-section { margin-top: 35px; } } @media (max-width: 992px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 52%; right: 10px; width: 200px; height: 60px; } } @media (max-width: 768px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 56%; right: 10px; width: 124px; height: 55px; } .countdown-text { font-size: 0.9rem; } } @media (max-width: 576px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 59%; right: 5px; /* width: 160px; */ height: 50px; } .countdown-text { font-size: 0.85rem; } } const festivalStart = new Date("2025-11-20T00:00:00").getTime(); const festivalEnd = new Date("2025-11-28T23:59:59").getTime(); const countdownElement = document.getElementById("countdown"); const interval = setInterval(() => { const now = new Date().getTime(); // BEFORE FESTIVAL — show days + hours left if (now = festivalStart && now el.style.width = "350px"); clearInterval(interval); } }, 1000); //

Original PIB release
pib.gov.in · PRID 2262441

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UPSC To Release Provisional Answer Key for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination – 2026, soon after the Conduct of Examination

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