UPSC Prelims 2027 — How Many Days Left

The UPSC Civil Services Preliminary examination is the first of three stages leading to the IAS, IPS, IFS and the other central services. It is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, and it exists to filter: roughly one in fifty candidates goes through to the Mains.

Two papers, same day, both objective and both two hours:

• General Studies Paper I — 100 questions, 200 marks. This is the paper that ranks you.
• CSAT Paper II — 80 questions, 200 marks, comprehension and reasoning. This paper is qualifying only: you need 33 %, and nothing above it counts for anything.

The marks do not follow you. Prelims scores are used solely to decide who sits the Mains. They play no part in the final ranking, which is built from the Mains and the interview alone. A candidate who scrapes through Prelims and a candidate who tops it start the Mains level.

Negative marking removes one third of the marks allotted to a question for each wrong answer. On a 2-mark question that is −0.66.

One notification, many services. A single application covers the IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS and the rest; preferences are stated later, and the service allotted depends on final rank and vacancies.

The number of attempts and the upper age limit vary by category — the official notification is the only authority on eligibility.