- By Anshika Verma
- Sat, 04 Oct 2025 01:06 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has agreed to the decision of releasing the provisional answer keys after the civil services preliminary examination. The UPSC has conveyed to the Supreme Court that they will release the provisional answer key immediately after the prelims, rather than waiting till the end of the entire examination cycle. The announcement of the answer key will allow the students to file objections before results.
In an affidavit that was filed on May 13, 2025 the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has mentioned that the suggestion, that the answer keys must be published immediately after the examination to ensure transparency for the candidates as delay in the answer key lead to uncertainty in the finalisation of the exam. This decision is a significant policy shift after years.
The decision of publishing the answer key, conveyed to the apex court in an affidavit, a move away from the earlier practice of releasing the answer keys after the year-long recruitment cycle not after the examination.
The Supreme Court had earlier appointed senior advocate Jaideep Gupta in the case and advocate Pranjal Kishore to assist him. Both the advocates had suggested that ‘a provisional answer key to the preliminary exam should be released a day after the examination commenced.’
What does the circulating affidavit say?
1.The UPSC must release the provisional answer key after the Preliminary Examination.
2. The commission must seek objections against the answer key from the candidates, these objections must be supported by three authoritative sources otherwise they will be rejected.
3. Before the announcement of the final results, experts must go through all the objections raised by the candidates.
4. The final answer key will be published after reviewing objections and results will be announced after that.
The affidavit further mentioned that the Union Public Service Commission must implement these measures as soon as possible to ensure transparency for students and address grievances.
Steps to check UPSC Prelims Answer key 2025:
Step 1: Student must visit the official UPSC website at upsc.gov.in
Step 2: There will be an ‘Examinations’ tab available on the homepage.
Step 3: Students must click on the ‘UPSC Answer Key 2025’ from the dropdown menu.
Step 4: Find and click on the link for ‘UPSC Prelims Answer Key 2025’ on the homepage.
Step 5: Check the answer key and download it for the purpose of raising objections.