UPSC Calendar 2027: CSE Prelims 23 May and the Full Date List

The UPSC Calendar 2027 is the Union Public Service Commission’s own timetable for the year, not a coaching infographic. Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2027 is on 23 May 2027 (Sunday). The notification is dated 13 January 2027, the last date for applications is 2 February 2027 and Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2027 starts on 20 August 2027 for five days.

Most downloaded tables split NDA and CDS onto separate Sundays and treat those dates as frozen. The Commission’s sheet puts NDA I with CDS I on one row and NDA II with CDS II on one row. It also prints no vacancy numbers. The footnote is the part people skip: dates of notification, commencement and duration are liable to alteration if circumstances so warrant.

Age limits, papers and interview drill sit on neighbour pages, not in this calendar. For NDA, start with the NDA age limit. For CDS, use the CDS syllabus. CAPF sits on the CAPF syllabus. CSE papers are mapped on the UPSC syllabus page, and the personality test is covered in the UPSC interview guide.

UPSC Calendar 2027 at a Glance

This snapshot is the CSE track plus the two defence Sundays. The full official sheet, including reserved recruitment-test slots, is the next table.

The cse prelims 2027 date that search boxes want is 23 May 2027. IFoS Prelims is not a second Sunday. It is the same paper, listed as “through CS(P) Examination 2027”.

Full Official Table of 2027 Exam Dates

The upsc exam calendar 2027 below follows the Commission’s PDF. NDA I and CDS I share one row. NDA II and CDS II share one row. CSE Prelims and IFoS Prelims share one row because IFoS Prelims is held through CSE Prelims. Blank notification cells are blank on the PDF too; they are written here as a hyphen, not as a date we guessed. Download the official UPSC Calendar 2027 PDF and keep it next to this table.

A hyphen in the notification or last-date column means the PDF left that cell empty. For Mains papers that follow a Prelims already notified, that is expected. For reserved RT rows, the Commission has parked a weekend and has not named the test yet.

CSE Prelims 2027 Date, Notification and Mains

CSE Prelims 2027 is 23 May 2027, a Sunday, for one day. The notification date on the calendar is 13 January 2027. The last date for receipt of applications is 2 February 2027. Mains starts on 20 August 2027, a Friday, and is listed for five days.

IFoS Prelims uses that same Sunday. The calendar’s wording is “Indian Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination, 2027 through CS(P) Examination 2027”. IFoS Mains is a different sitting: 21 November 2027, a Sunday, listed for seven days. CSE Mains in August and IFoS Mains in November are not interchangeable.

The calendar stops at written dates. It does not print:

• Prelims result day;
• DAF windows;
• the personality-test window;
• the final result.

Those come later, in notices and press notes, not in this PDF. Result day and the personality-test window are not on the 2027 sheet.

From notification to Prelims is roughly four months. From Prelims to Mains is roughly three months. That gap is where people waste a cycle by waiting for “the official date” they already have. You already have the Sunday.

Why NDA and CDS Share One Row

NDA exam date 2027 and CDS exam date 2027 look like four exams on coaching blogs. On the Commission’s sheet they are two Sundays.

NDA & NA (I) 2027 and CDS (I) 2027 share:

• notification 02.12.2026;
• last date 22.12.2026;
• exam 11.04.2027 Sunday, one day.

NDA & NA (II) 2027 and CDS (II) 2027 share:

• notification 12.05.2027;
• last date 01.06.2027;
• exam 19.09.2027 Sunday, one day.

A shared row is a shared sitting date, not a shared exam. NDA is the academy entry with a tight school-leaving age window. CDS is the Combined Defence Services route after graduation. Eligibility, papers and SSB are different. Age windows are not on this PDF; the CDS age limit page is the CDS cut-off, and NDA is a narrower school-leaving window. CDS papers are not NDA papers.

If you are sitting NDA I, 11 April 2027 is the date to protect. If you are sitting CDS II, 19 September 2027 is the date to protect. Do not mark both Sundays as if they were one attempt.

ESE, CAPF, Geo-Scientist and Other 2027 Dates

Two 2027 notices are already live on the Commission’s examination notifications page. That is the part of this calendar that is no longer “next year”.

Engineering Services (Prelims) 2027 is notified for 16 September 2026. Applications close 6 October 2026 at 6:00 pm. The paper is 31 January 2027 (Sunday). ESE Mains is 18 June 2027 (Friday), one day. The live notice is Examination Notice No. 02/2027-ENGG.

Combined Geo-Scientist (Prelims) 2027 was notified on 2 September 2026. Applications close 22 September 2026 at 6:00 pm. Prelims is 10 January 2027 (Sunday). The live notice (No. 01/2027-GEOL) also names Mains as 19 and 20 June 2027, which matches the calendar’s two-day start on 19 June 2027 (Saturday).

CAPF (ACs) 2027 is an open written exam on 4 July 2027 (Sunday). Notification 17 February 2027, last date 9 March 2027. The paper map is the CAPF syllabus note. The forces themselves are grouped on Central Armed Police Forces. This calendar row is the 2027 cycle. It is not a vacancy list.

Other named rows, in the order the PDF prints them:

• CBI (DSP) LDCE, 27 February 2027, two days: a limited departmental exam, not an open CSE-style paper.
• CISF AC(EXE) LDCE-2027, 14 March 2027: again departmental.
• IES/ISS 2027 (Indian Economic Service / Indian Statistical Service), notification 10 February 2027, last date 2 March 2027, exam from 18 June 2027 for three days. It shares the Friday with ESE Mains. Different candidates, same date on the wall.
• Combined Medical Services 2027, notification 3 March 2027, last date 23 March 2027, exam 18 July 2027.
• SO/Steno (GD-B/GD-I) LDCE, notification 15 September 2027, last date 5 October 2027, exam 18 December 2027.

Nine weekends are marked only as Reserved or Reserved RT. Those are parking slots for recruitment tests the Commission has not named on this PDF. Do not invent a paper for them.

How to Apply on upsconline.nic.in

Apply only on upsconline.nic.in. The older upsconline.gov.in screen now says it is a preview of forms filled on or before 25 March 2025. New registration for NDA, CDS and later exams, including the 2027 cycle, is on the nic.in portal.

The live ESE 2027 and Geo-Scientist 2027 notices describe the same four-module portal for every Commission exam:

1. Account creation. You can do this any day.
2. Universal Registration. This generates a URN (Universal Registration Number), once in a lifetime, common to all UPSC exams.
3. Common Application Form (CAF). Upload a photograph, capture a live photograph and upload a signature (three signatures, one below the other, black ink on white paper, as the ESE notice specifies).
4. Examination-specific module. Fee, centre and exam claims. This card opens only inside that exam’s notification window.

After the fourth module, the portal gives an Application Number. Keep the URN and that application number. The URN stays. The application number changes from exam to exam.

The same notices add three hard edges:

• You cannot withdraw an application after you submit it.
• You cannot edit fields on a submitted form.
• The URN has a one-time edit, but a change there does not rewrite applications you already sent. It applies only after you re-lock the profile.

Last-date times are not printed on the calendar PDF. They are printed on notices. Both live 2027 notices close at 6:00 pm on the calendar’s last-date day. Treat 2 February 2027 the same way when the CSE notice arrives: the day is on this sheet, the clock is on the notice.

The calendar does not list fees. The ESE 2027 notice, as an example, asks for Rs. 200 with the exemptions it names. Do not copy that figure onto CSE, NDA or CAPF. Wait for that exam’s notice.

Aadhaar is strongly advised as the ID document on both live 2027 notices. Carry the same photo ID you entered in the URN profile to the hall.

Dates Can Change, and Vacancies Are Not Here

The PDF’s own footnote is the rule: dates of notification, commencement and duration of examinations and RTs are liable to alteration if circumstances so warrant. A Sunday on this page is the current official Sunday. It is not a promise the Commission cannot move.

The UPSC Calendar 2027 also does not publish:

• vacancy counts;
• category-wise posts;
• application fees;
• age limits;
• detailed syllabi;
• result days.

Vacancy figures, when they exist, sit in the examination notice, and even those are often marked liable to alteration. This page will not invent a CSE 2027 vacancy number. If someone quotes one before the CSE notice, they did not get it from this calendar.

What you can do with the sheet, without waiting for a blog to “decode” it:

• lock 23 May 2027 as Prelims Sunday and work backwards from there;
• lock 20 August 2027 as Mains week;
• if NDA or CDS is the attempt, lock 11 April 2027 or 19 September 2027, not both as one exam;
• if ESE 2027 is live for you, the window is already open until 6 October 2026, 6:00 pm;
• keep current affairs running against those dates with the monthly current affairs stack, not against a date you hope the Commission will print later.

It is wise to treat the PDF as a plan, not a contract. The plan is still the only official one.

Frequently Asked Questions

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