UPSC Notification

UPSC 2026: The UPSC has notified the tentative dates for various exams conducted by the UPSC in the FY 2025-26. It has released the exam calendar 2026 for the upcoming exams in the year 2025 and 2026. The UPSC Exam Calendar consists of the tentative dates like the notification release date, and exam dates for the upcoming UPSC exams. The UPSC conducts these exams on an annual and biannual basis. The UPSC CSE and CAPF exams are conducted once in a year, while the UPSC NDA and CDS exams are conducted twice in a year. The eligiblity for various UPSC exams varies according to the requirement of the posts available through each exam. Candidates must check the official notifications of these exams to have clarity about the eleigibility criteria and carefully go through it before applying to avoid the cancellation of their candidature in case of some misinformation.

UPSC 2026 Exam Calendar

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) annually releases the UPSC Exam Calendar for various exams being conducted by the UPSC. The UPSC exam calendar is an official document of the UPSC that contains dates from notification releases to the exam dates. These dates are subject to change as per the UPSC terms and conditions. The UPSC 2026 Exam Calendar contains the dates for various exams like UPSC CSE, CAPF, NDA, CDS, etc. Candidates who are aspiring for the various UPSC exams can check the UPSC 2026 exam calendar.

Civil Services Exam (IAS, IPS, IFS)

The UPSC conducts the Civil Services Exam (CSE) for posts in Indian Administrative Services, Indian Police Services, Indian Foreign Services, and various other Group B services. The civil services exam is a three stage selection process consisting of Prelims, Mains, and Personality Test. The UPSC CSE Prelims consists of the topics from General Studies like history, geography, polity, economics, environment, current affairs, etc. Another paper in the Prelims is CSAT (Civil Services Aptitude Test).

Similarly, the Mains exam consists of descriptive paper from the Language paper being qualifying in nature to the General Studies paper, and optional subject papers which decide the merit. Those who qualify the Mains stage will be asked to appear for the Personality Test/ Interview. 

The final merit is based on the combined marks obtained in the Mains and Interview stage. The Prelims marks are not counted in the final merit preparation.

UPSC NDA 2026

The UPSC conducts the National Defence Academy (NDA) and Naval Academy (NA) exam twice a year to recruit candidates for admissions into National Defence Academy and Indian Naval Academy. The candidates selected in the exam are recruited for Indian Armed Forces. The candidates join as Cadets. The candidates after their selection, go for joint training in the National Defence Academy and after the completion of their training, they further join their respective forces academies for training like the Indian Military Academy, the Indian Air Force Academy, and the Indian Naval Academy.

UPSC NDA Selection Process: The selection process of the NDA exam includes two stages: Written exam, and Services Selection Board (SSB) Interview.

Eligibility Criteria: There are certain eligibility criteria which are required to be met by the candidates seeking a future in the Indian Armed Forces. The eligibility criteria includes the educational qualifications, age limit,etc.

• Educational Qualification: Candidates must have completed their 10+2 from a recognized board in India.

• Age Limit: Applicants must be between 16.5 years and 19.5 years of age.

• Nationality: Candidate must be a citizen of India.

UPSC CDS 2026

The UPSC conducts the Combined Defence Services (CDS) exam biannually to recruit candidates as officers in the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Indian Naval Academy (INA), Air Force Academy (AFA), and Officers Training Academy (OTA). UPSC CDS is a nationwide exam to recruit candidates for Officer posts. 

UPSC CDS Selection Process: The selection process of the CDS exam includes three stages: Written test, SSB Interview, and Medical Test.

Eligibility Criteria: Those candidates who are seeking to apply for the CDS examination must possess the following eligibility criteria:

• Educational Qualification: A candidate must have passed Graduation from a recognized University in India.

• Age Limit: The age limit varies from candidates applying for the IMA, INA, AFA, and OTA.

• Nationality: A candidate must be a citizen of India, a subject of Bhutan, a subject of Nepal, and various others as per the official notification.

UPSC CAPF 2026

The UPSC CAPF exam is being conducted annually by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to recruit candidates in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). The exam is being conducted to appoint candidates as Assistant Commandant (AC) in various CAPF forces like BSF, ITBP, CRPF, CISF, and SSB. The exam is being held in the offline mode (pen and paper). The CAPF exam consists of two papers: General Ability and Intelligence (Objective type), and General Studies, Essay & Comprehension (Descriptive type). The time duration allotted for each paper is 2 hours and 3 hours respectively.

UPSC CAPF Selection Process: The UPSC CAPF selection process includes three stages:

• Written examination

• Physical Efficiency Test (PET)

• Interview/ Personality Test

Eligibility Criteria: Candidates aspiring for the UPSC CAPF exam must meet the eligibility criteria like nationality, age limit, educational qualification, and physical standards.

• Nationality: The candidate must be a citizen of India.

• Age Limit: The candidate must be between the age of 20-25 years and certain age relaxations are provided category-wise.

• Educational Qualification: Candidates applying for the CAPF exam must be a graduate from a recognized university in India.

• Physical Standards: Candidates must meet the physical and medical standards as per the official notification.

Eligibility for UPSC Exams

Candidates who are keen on applying for various exams conducted by the UPSC must check the eligibility criteria mentioned in the official notifications of each exam. The eligibility criteria for UPSC exams vary for each exam. Some exams just need the basic criteria to be fulfilled like the education, age limit, etc, while other exams require some expertise like the UPSC Engineering Services Exam (ESE) and some require physical standards to be met like the UPSC NDA, CDS, and CAPF exams. To get detailed knowledge about the eligibility criteria, the candidates must go through the official notifications before applying. Here are some of the basic eligibility criteria mentioned for the UPSC exams.

UPSC Exam Pattern & Syllabus

For those preparing for the UPSC exams, knowledge of the exam pattern and the syllabus is a prerequisite. Candidates are required to understand the exam pattern to prepare a better strategy for acing the exam with ease. Having the knowledge of the syllabus of the exam is the most important part in starting preparing for any exam. Candidates are advised to go through the syllabus holistically and download the syllabus to revisit it again and again. The syllabus is considered to be an important resource in preparing a better strategy to approach the exam in a better way. Download the UPSC Exam Pattern and Syllabus PDF for various UPSC exams below: