By The second-to-last day of the UPSC Civil Services Mains Examination 2026 was held on August 29, with candidates vying for 933 vacancies this year.
The exam began on August 21 and spans five exam days across a nine-day window, wrapping up on August 30 with the final papers.
Sessions run in two slots each day, forenoon from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon and afternoon from 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM, covering the Essay, General Studies papers and two optional subject papers.
Thirty-three of the 933 total vacancies are reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, part of UPSC’s standard reservation structure for the exam.
Nearly 10 lakh candidates apply for the Civil Services Examination in a typical year, with only around 900 to 1,000 clearing all three stages of selection.
Roughly 10 lakh candidates apply for the Civil Services Examination each year, with only around 900 to 1,000 ultimately selected across the IAS, IPS, IFS and other allied services.
The 933 vacancies for this year’s cycle include 33 posts reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, part of UPSC’s broader reservation framework for the exam.
Candidates who clear the Mains stage will proceed to the Personality Test, commonly known as the interview round, the final stage of the three-tier Civil Services Examination process.
The Civil Services Examination remains one of the most competitive recruitment processes in India, with a selection ratio of roughly one in a thousand applicants in a typical year.
UPSC typically releases the Mains result, along with the list of candidates called for the interview stage, several months after the written exam concludes.
Aspirants have flagged the exam’s demanding nine-day format, spanning nearly two full weeks including a mid-exam gap, as one of the toughest stretches of the entire selection process.
The Mains exam covers the Essay paper, four General Studies papers, two qualifying language papers and two optional subject papers spread across the nine-day window.
Photo via Unsplash, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (representative exam-writing image)
