The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has for the first time released the provisional answer key for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2026.

Candidates who have appeared for the examinations can submit their representations, if any, until 6 p.m., May 31 through a dedicated online portal, the ‘Online Question Paper Representation Portal (QPRep)’ at upsconline.nic.in., the UPSC said.

The final answer key, however, would be released only after the declaration of the final result, in accordance with the Commission’s existing practice, it said.

Out of 8.19 lakh candidates who applied, around 5.49 lakh candidates appeared for the exam held on May 24. The exam was held for 933 posts in the Civil Services, and 80 posts in the Indian Forest Service. The exam was held at 2,072 venues in 83 cities, and to prevent impersonation, the Commission for the first time introduced real-time face authentication of candidates. The Civil Services Examination is conducted in three stages — Preliminary, Mains, and Personality Test — over a period of 10-11 months.

Representations are required to be submitted by indicating the correct answer key in the candidate’s understanding, along with a brief explanation and supporting documents from three authentic sources, the Commission said.

“All representations received from candidates will be placed before teams of subject experts for a comprehensive and meticulous review. These experts, possessing domain knowledge and subject expertise, 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 UPSC said.

The question papers for the examinations conducted by the UPSC are prepared by subject matter experts from across the country. These experts design papers in accordance with the objectives and requirements of the examination process, ensuring a fair and level playing field for candidates from diverse academic, social, and regional backgrounds. For the recently conducted Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, the questions were based on authentic and credible sources, and their references and answers may be traced to standard textbooks, journals, government websites and press releases, reputed newspapers, etc.

After initially opposing the move, the UPSC informed the Supreme Court on September 20, 2025 that it would release the provisional answer key after the preliminary examination “in view of the pious role assigned to the UPSC as a constitutional body.” The Commission had earlier said that releasing the key would delay the results. The submission was made before the Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Atul S. Chandurkar, which was hearing a batch of petitions that had challenged the “opaque” policy.