UPSC ISS Exam Answer Key 2026

UPSC ISS Exam Answer Key 2026 is a certificate verification schedule covered on this page. The key figures are an application window closing 03 March 2026 and a fee of ₹200 for unreserved candidates. Everything below — dates, eligibility, fee and the official links — is set out in the order you will need it.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts central civil services and specialist recruitment. UPSC timelines and criteria are rarely relaxed, and only upsc.gov.in should be treated as authoritative for the application, admit card and result.

Applications open on 11 February 2026 and close on 03 March 2026, giving candidates 21 days to complete the process. At 21 days this is a normal-length window, but the fee and upload steps are the ones that fail late, so leave a few days of margin. Fee payment closes on 03/03/2026 — note that this can fall on a different day from the form deadline, and an unpaid form is not a submitted form. A correction window is listed (As per Schedule), so errors in the submitted form can be fixed within that period rather than by re-applying. The exam is currently shown for 19/06/2026; treat this as provisional until the admit card confirms it.

The age limit runs from 21 to 30 years for unreserved candidates. That is a 9-year band, so candidates near either edge should confirm the exact cut-off date the notification measures age against — it is usually a fixed reference date, not the date you apply. On qualifications, the notification states: Passed / Appearing Bachelors Degree with Statistics/Mathematical Statistics/Applied Statistics as one of the subject or a Master’s degree in Statistics/Mathematical Statistics/ Applied Statistics. If your degree is an equivalent under a different name, look for the equivalence clause in the official PDF before paying the fee — a form rejected for a qualification mismatch is not usually refundable.

SC / ST / PH and All Category Female are exempt from the application fee under this notification. All fee-paying categories are charged the same ₹200. Payment is accepted via debit card, credit card, net banking, and offline bank challan. Pay only through the official portal linked on this page; the fee is normally non-refundable once the form is submitted.

Document verification is where otherwise-successful candidates most often fall out, usually over a missing category certificate or a name mismatch across documents. Assemble originals plus self-attested photocopies well before the date, and get any discrepancy in spelling or date of birth corrected in advance — it cannot be resolved on the day.