UPSC ESE 2026 prelims exam on February 8 in two shifts; paper 1, 2 timings, subject codes

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has issued the time table for the Engineering Services Examination, 2026 preliminary (Stage-I). The UPSC ESE preliminary exam will be conducted on February 8, 2026, across various centres in India.

The UPSC ESE exam will be held in two sessions. The General Studies and Engineering Aptitude Paper (Paper 1), common for all branches, will be conducted from 9:30 am to 11:30 am and will carry 200 marks. The discipline-specific paper (Paper 2) will be held from 2 pm to 5 pm and will carry 300 marks.

UPSC will conduct the Engineering Services Paper 2 separately for four engineering disciplines — Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering.

The subject codes are as follows: Civil Engineering (11), Mechanical Engineering (21), Electrical Engineering (31), and Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering (41). The General Studies and Engineering Aptitude Paper carries the common subject code 01 across all disciplines.

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UPSC ESE Prelims 2026 time table

The UPSC Engineering Services prelims exam time table 2026 is given below.

The UPSC ESE 2026 will be conducted for a total of 474 posts across various engineering disciplines under different central government departments. The exam will be held in three stages — Preliminary, Main, and Personality Test. Candidates who qualify the preliminary stage, will be eligible to appear for the main examination.