New Delhi: For UPSC aspirants like 29-year-old Raghav Singh, the hardest part of failing the civil services preliminary exam was not knowing where he went wrong. The official answer key would come nearly a year later, long after another attempt had already begun.
That will change from this year, with the Union Public Service Commission set to release provisional answer keys soon after the preliminary examination, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
“I had to wait for the whole year to get to know my mistakes as the UPSC releases the marks with the final result,” said Singh, who has appeared for the civil services prelims examination thrice, clearing it in his first two attempts.
“In compliance with the judgment of the Supreme Court… UPSC has formulated guidelines to release the Provisional Answer Key on its official website after the Preliminary Examination is conducted. This will be implemented from the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 onwards,” the government said on Monday in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
For aspirants like Singh, the move has come as a relief.
“If I had the answer key earlier, I could have been course-corrected in time. Till now, we just prepared in the dark depending on the coaching answer key,” Singh said. “At least now we’ll know where we stand before investing another year.”
The announcement ends the long-standing practice of releasing the answer keys only after the entire examination process is complete, which takes a whole year.
“This is a welcome and long-overdue reform for aspirants. Following the directive of the Supreme Court of India, the decision to release official answer keys immediately after the Prelims will bring much-needed transparency and certainty to the process,” said Ketan, a UPSC teacher and former aspirant.
“Every year, coaching institutes publish unofficial answer keys that often contain inconsistencies, which creates confusion and anxiety among aspirants. Candidates wait nearly a full year for the official answer key, and this delay often stalls crucial decision-making, such as whether to prepare for the next stage or plan future attempts. This reform will make that process considerably smoother and more informed,” he added.
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‘Incomplete transparency’
While the answer key will be published after the prelims, the marks will still be released with the final result, after a whole year.
“Marks of the Preliminary Examination shall be released only after the declaration of final result of the Examination,” said UPSC.
Apart from this, UPSC also said that it will introduce a dedicated Question Paper Representation Portal to help candidates raise objections related to questions and provisional answer keys.
“Candidates can submit representations regarding discrepancies in question paper and provisional answer keys (with effect from Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 onwards) through the portal. UPSC also deals with grievances submitted by candidates on Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) and emails,” UPSC said in a statement.
While aspirants welcome the UPSC’s decision, they also demand that the commission release the scores too immediately after the exam.
“The answers key will surely help but it would be better if the commission could release the marks as well. Because without marks its incomplete transparency,” said Mohit Yadav, a Delhi-based UPSC aspirant.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)