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What is UPSC CSEUPSC is the Union Public Service Commission; the CSE is its Civil Services Examination. Here is what the Commission is, how the exam works and the 23 services it fills.
About UPSC · 18 guides
The Exam
Pattern, eligibility, dates and the rules of the exam.
Can you apply?
Eligibility criteriaWho can sit the Civil Services Exam: the degree you need, final-year and medical-degree rules, nationality by service, age and attempts, and the physical standards, from the CSE 2026 notice.
Applying and exam day
Notification and application formHow to apply for the Civil Services Exam, step by step as the CSE 2026 notice sets it out: registration, the Common Application Form, documents, the fee and what you can't change later.
Marks and vacancies
Negative markingHow the one-third penalty works in both prelims papers, what counts as a wrong answer, and four worked examples using the marks per question in UPSC's CSE 2026 papers.
The Commission
History of UPSCUPSC began as the Public Service Commission on 1 October 1926 and took its present name when the Constitution came into force. Here is its story, and that of the services it recruits for, from UPSC's own records.
