NEW DELHI: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released the provisional answer keys for National Defence Academy (NDA) and Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination (I) 2026.
For a first, the UPSC has made answer keys available shortly after the examination, instead of releasing them only after the final result cycle concludes.
According to the official notices published on the UPSC website, the provisional answer keys for both examinations have been uploaded in PDF format.
For the CDS (I) 2026 exam, answer keys have been released for all three papers—English, General Knowledge, and Elementary Mathematics.
Similarly, for the NDA and Naval Academy (I) 2026 examination, the keys for Mathematics and the General Ability Test (GAT) have been made available.
Both examinations were conducted on April 12, 2026, and the answer keys were released within days of the test, allowing candidates to access official responses well in advance of the declaration of results.
The UPSC has opened its Online Question Paper Representation Portal (QPRep) to allow candidates to raise objections, if any, to the provisional answers.
As per the notice, candidates can submit representations within the specified window by providing supporting documents or justifications.
After examining the objections received, UPSC will issue final answer keys, which will be treated as binding for evaluation purposes.
Similar changes are expected to extend to other major UPSC examinations. The Civil Services Examination (CSE) Prelims 2026, scheduled to be held in May, may see the release of provisional answer keys shortly after the exam.
For direct link to download Provisional Answer Key for NDA and Naval Academy Examination (I), 2026, click here: mathematics, general ability test,
For direct link to download Provisional Answer Key for CDS Examination (I), 2026 ,
click here: English, general knowledge, elementary mathematics