UPSC Revised Exam Calendar 2026 > IAS-NDA-CDS and Other Exams Dates

The Union Public Service Commission has officially published UPSC Revised Exam Calendar 2026 which provides a common schedule for all the major exams that will be held during the 2025–2026 examination cycle. For the candidates who are preparing for highly competitive national-level exams like the UPSC’s Civil Services/Defence Services/Engineering Services and Medical Services this calendar is very important. The proposed dates for notification of preliminary exams and main exams and interviews for various recruitment exams: IAS/IFS/NDA/CDS/CAPF/CMS/IES/ISS and geologist exams are listed in the updated calendar. In order to match their preparation strategy keep track of application deadlines and stay informed about admit card releases and exam stages. The candidates who intend to take the UPSC examinations in 2026 should carefully check the calendar.

Points	Details
Conducting Body	Union Public Service Commission
Calendar Name	UPSC Revised Exam Calendar 2026
Mode of Exams	Offline – Pen and Paper/OMR
Official Website	Click Here

Examinations Covered:

Nearly all of the UPSC’s significant recruitment tests for administrative, defence, engineering, and medical services are scheduled in the updated exam calendar and they are: Civil Services Examinations like IAS/IPS/IFS – Indian Forest Service Examination – Combined Defence Services i.e CDS Examination – National Defence Academy i.e NDA Examination – Central Armed Police Forces i.e CAPF Examination – Engineering Services Examination i.e ESE/IES – Indian Economic Service i.e IES – Indian Statistical Service i.e ISS – Combined Medical Services i.e CMS Examination and Geologist Examination. Every exam consists of several phases which include a preliminary exam and a main exam and if necessary an interview or personality test.

Exam Calendar Overview:

Exam Stage	Details
Notification Release	According to individual exam schedule
Preliminary Exam	Conducted first for multistage exams
Main Exam	conducted after qualifying prelims
Interview/Personality Test	The final stage of selected exams
Admit Cards Are Available	Usually 2-3 weeks before an exam.

How Can the PDF Be Downloaded?

The official exam calendar PDF is available for candidates to download from the UPSC website. For this they have to follow the stated process:

Step 1: Go to the UPSC website https://upsc.gov.in/
Step 2: Go to the homepage’s “Examination” or “Calendar” section.
Step 3: Select the link named “UPSC Revised Exam Calendar 2026”. ”.
Step 4: The full exam schedule will open in a PDF file and save it after downloading it.

Updates on Admit Cards and Exams

Each exam and stage of the UPSC exams has its own admit card. The admit cards can only be obtained online and must be downloaded by candidates from the UPSC website. The admit card must be brought to the exam centres. Official UPSC notices will be used to announce any modifications to exam dates or stages.