UPSC CGS Answer Key 2027: Prelims Provisional Key Challenge

For CGS 2027, UPSC's notice lets candidates make representations on the Prelims questions and on the Provisional Answer Keys of the objective papers for five days, from the 3rd day of the examination date to 06:00 P.M. of the 7th day. The Prelims is on 10 January 2027, so no key exists yet. In CGS 2026, representations were accepted on the questions only, from 9 February 2026 to 15 February 2026, after the 8 February 2026 Prelims.

How to make a representation in CGS 2027

• Portal: log in to https://upsconline.nic.in and go to 'Examinations > Representations on Question Paper & Provisional Answer Keys', as section 8 of Examination Notice No. 01/2027-GEOL says.
• Scope: the questions in the papers and the provisional keys of the objective papers, which are both Stage-I papers. The Stage-II Main papers are descriptive.
• Rules: no representation by email, post or hand; nothing after the five days; no correspondence. The notice mentions no fee.
• Counting: UPSC's time-frame notice illustrates a single-day exam on 1st March with representations from 4 March to 8 March (till 6:00 p.m.).

CGS Prelims marking scheme and how to score yourself

Stage-I is worth 400 marks: Paper-I General Studies, 2 hours, 100 marks, common to every stream, and Paper-II in your stream (Geology/Hydrogeology, Geophysics or Chemistry), 2 hours, 300 marks. The 2026 booklets each had 120 items, with all items carrying equal marks. That works out to about 0.83 marks a question in Paper-I and 2.5 marks a question in Paper-II.

• A wrong answer loses one-third of the question's marks: about 0.28 in Paper-I and about 0.83 in Paper-II.
• A blank answer carries no penalty.
• No calculators are allowed in the objective papers.
• Marks are rounded off to two decimal digits.

Paper-II carries three times the marks of Paper-I, so the stream paper weighs most in your total. UPSC shortlists for the Main on minimum qualifying marks in both papers, at about six to seven times the vacancies; the post-wise tentative vacancies in the CGS 2027 notice add up to 127 (111 in GSI and 16 in CGWB). In CGS 2026, those minimums were subject to at least 20% in each of the two Stage-I papers for non-PwBD candidates and 5% for PwBD candidates. Prelims marks of those who qualify also count in the final merit.

What happens after the representations?

The 2027 notice gives no date for a final key. In 2026, the Prelims result note of 2 March 2026 said Prelims marks and cut-off marks would be uploaded after the final result. That final result came on 16 October 2026 and cut-off marks followed on 21 October 2026. The final result note says marks are likely within fifteen days of the result.

UPSC posts the question papers on the exam page. The 2026 Prelims papers went up on 9 February 2026 and the Main papers on 22 June 2026.

CGS answer keys and representations in recent cycles