UPSC ESE 2026 Interview Schedule – Personality Test Dates
UPSC has scheduled ESE 2026 Personality Tests for 1,336 Main-qualified candidates from 21 September to 30 October 2026.
Check Result Now ↗Complete Details
| Event | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Application Closed | 16 October 2025 | Done |
| ESE Preliminary Examination | 08 February 2026 | Done |
| ESE Main Examination | 21 June 2026 | Done |
| Main Written Result | 24 July 2026 | Done |
| Personality Test Schedule | 07 September 2026 | Done |
| Personality Test / Interview | 21 September-30 October 2026 | Ongoing |
| Final Result | To be announced | Tba |
Who Is at the Current Interview Stage?
The current update applies to candidates whose roll numbers appear in the UPSC ESE Main written-result list dated 24 July 2026. Their candidature remains provisional until UPSC verifies eligibility and original documents.
Original ESE 2026 Eligibility Snapshot
UPSC prescribed the ESE 2026 age limit as 21 to below 30 years on 1 January 2026, with applicable relaxations under the notification. Candidates were required to hold the prescribed engineering degree or an accepted equivalent qualification for the relevant engineering category.
Documents to Keep Ready
- Original proof of date of birth/age.
- Original educational qualification certificates.
- SC/ST/OBC/EWS certificates, where claimed.
- PwBD certificate in the prescribed format, where applicable.
- Government photo ID and any documents specifically required in the e-Summon instructions.
UPSC's written-result notice requires qualified candidates to produce original documents supporting age, education, community/reservation and benchmark-disability claims where applicable.
UPSC ESE 2026 Vacancy Position
The original 2026 notification stated that approximately 474 vacancies were expected, including 26 vacancies reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, and explicitly said the number was liable to alteration. For that reason, this page should not present 474 as a fixed final vacancy total.
The examination covers four engineering categories: Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Electronics & Telecommunication. Participating services/posts span multiple central engineering and technical cadres.
Career Growth & Work Profile
ESE is not one single job title. Final appointees are allocated to participating engineering services/posts according to final rank, service preferences, available vacancies and applicable medical fitness requirements. Depending on allocation, work can involve infrastructure design and supervision, public works, rail systems, water resources, telecommunications, defence engineering, technical regulation or quality assurance.
Promotion structures differ by service/cadre, so a single generic promotion ladder should not be presented as universal for every ESE appointee.
Current Verified Status
Current stage: Personality Test / Interview. UPSC declared the ESE Main written result on 24 July 2026 and released the roll-number-wise Personality Test schedule on 7 September 2026. Interviews are scheduled from 21 September to 30 October 2026 for 1,336 candidates.
Previous stage: Main Written Result Released. Next expected stage: Final Result. Last verified: 20 September 2026.
Personality Test Weightage
The ESE 2026 Personality Test carries 200 marks and has no separate minimum qualifying marks. Final ranking uses the combined marks from Stage I (500 marks), Stage II (600 marks) and Stage III (200 marks), for a maximum of 1,300 marks.
UPSC states that the Personality Test assesses qualities such as leadership, initiative, intellectual curiosity, tact and other social qualities, mental and physical energy, practical application and integrity of character.
Post-Specific Selection Nuances
Final service/post allocation is not based on interview marks alone. UPSC combines the marks from all three stages and considers final rank, the candidate's service/post preferences, vacancies and applicable medical fitness requirements.
For ESE 2026 tie-breaking, if final aggregate marks are equal, preference first goes to the candidate with higher combined marks in the three engineering-discipline papers plus the Personality Test. If the tie remains, higher marks in the three technical papers are considered; after that, the older candidate ranks higher. Any remaining tie is resolved at the Commission's discretion.
Historical Cut-Off Trends
Official UPSC final-stage General-category cut-offs provide context but should not be treated as a 2026 prediction. Civil Engineering moved from 691/1300 in ESE 2024 to 719/1300 in ESE 2025. Mechanical Engineering moved from 725/1300 in ESE 2024 to 758/1300 in ESE 2025.
These historical figures are context only. Final cut-offs can change with paper difficulty, vacancies, engineering discipline, category and candidate performance.
What Qualified Candidates Should Do Now
- Open the official roll-number-wise Personality Test schedule and confirm your allotted date and session.
- Check UPSC's official online/e-Summon portal and follow the instructions issued for your candidature.
- Recheck all original eligibility and reservation certificates before travel.
- Report according to the allotted session. UPSC states that requests to change the interview date or time will not be entertained.
- Keep original travel proof if you intend to claim reimbursement under UPSC's admissible interview travel rules.
What UPSC Assesses in the Personality Test
The written-examination syllabus is no longer the immediate task for candidates who have reached Stage III. UPSC states that the Personality Test assesses leadership, initiative, intellectual curiosity, tact and other social qualities, mental and physical energy, practical application and integrity of character.
Editorial Preparation Guidance
Revise the engineering fundamentals behind your own discipline, your submitted application/profile details, current technical issues connected to your field, and the services/posts you have placed in preference order. Keep answers precise and evidence-based rather than treating the interview like another written paper.
How to Check Your ESE 2026 Interview Schedule
- Open the official UPSC ESE 2026 examination page.
- Open the Interview Schedule PDF dated 7 September 2026.
- Search your roll number in the PDF.
- Note the exact interview date and session. UPSC lists 9:00 AM reporting for the forenoon session and 1:00 PM for the afternoon session.
- Use the official UPSC online/e-Summon portal and follow the e-Summon instructions issued for your candidature.
The ESE 2026 application window closed on 16 October 2025. This page must not show an active Apply button.
Full Details
Current Status: UPSC ESE 2026 Mains Result Released — Personality Test Scheduled
| Item | Position |
|---|---|
| Last Verified | 16 September 2026 |
| Official Authority | Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) |
| Latest Update | UPSC published the Personality Test schedule on 7 September 2026 for 1,336 candidates. Interviews will be held from 21 September to 30 October 2026. |
| Next Step | Qualified candidates should check their roll number, interview date and session in the official schedule and monitor the UPSC online portal for the e-Summon letter. |
| Previous Stage | Mains written result pending (before 24 July 2026) |
| Next Expected Event | Final Result after completion of Personality Tests |
UPSC ESE 2026 Mains result was declared on 24 July 2026. UPSC published the Personality Test schedule on 7 September for 1,336 candidates, with interviews from 21 September to 30 October 2026.
What Changed
The page has moved two lifecycle stages forward: Mains result pending → Written Result Declared → Personality Test Scheduled. Mains written result declared 24 July 2026; AF update window ran 7–21 August 2026; Personality Test schedule published 7 September 2026; interviews run 21 September–30 October 2026.
Candidate Action: Check roll number in the official PT schedule, note the exact interview date/session, monitor upsconline.nic.in for e-Summon availability, keep supporting/original documents ready as required, and report at the official session time.
Career Growth & Work Profile
What this stage means for a candidate: UPSC ESE is not a single-post recruitment. The 2026 examination feeds multiple engineering services and posts across Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Electronics & Telecommunication disciplines. The official notification includes services such as the Central Engineering Service, Central Engineering Service (Roads), Survey of India Group A, Central Water Engineering Service, Indian Railway Management Service streams, Indian Telecommunications Service, Central Power Engineering Service and other technical cadres. Final allocation is not decided by the interview schedule alone; it depends on the candidate’s final merit position, service preferences, vacancies and applicable fitness/eligibility conditions. For interview-qualified candidates, this is therefore the stage where technical knowledge and service-awareness should be connected to the kind of public engineering work they may eventually perform.
Historical Cut-Off Trends (Official UPSC Data)
Use historical cut-offs as context, not as a 2026 prediction. UPSC’s official 2024 and 2025 cut-off PDFs show that written-stage and final-stage thresholds can move materially by engineering discipline. Candidates should not use a single “safe score” across all branches.
| Discipline | 2024 Gen Written /1100 | 2025 Gen Written /1100 | Change | 2024 Gen Final /1300 | 2025 Gen Final /1300 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civil | 510 | 498 | -12 | 691 | 719 |
| Mechanical | 537 | 570 | +33 | 725 | 758 |
| Electrical | 489 | 484 | -5 | 655 | 686 |
| Electronics & Telecom | 343 | 447 | +104 | 546 | 661 |
Historical — source: UPSC “Recommendation Details and Cut-off Marks” for ESE 2024 and ESE 2025, General category.
Interpretation: The two-year movement is not uniform. Mechanical and Electronics & Telecom rose sharply at the General-category written stage in 2025, while Civil and Electrical were slightly lower. For candidates who have already qualified for the 2026 Personality Test, their written marks are fixed; the useful takeaway is to focus on interview performance rather than trying to reverse-engineer a 2026 final cut-off.
Post-Specific Selection Nuances
- The 7 August 2026 AF notice required every written-qualified candidate to update/finally submit the application form during 7–21 August 2026, even if no changes were needed. Failure to submit the required form/documents could affect eligibility for the Personality Test.
- The official 7 September schedule covers 1,336 candidates and gives each roll number a specific date and session. Candidates should verify their own roll number rather than relying on a generic “interview starts 21 September” statement.
- UPSC states that requests to change the allotted Personality Test date/time will not be entertained.
- The schedule notice says e-Summon Letters will be made available through upsconline.nic.in.
- The Personality Test is a 200-mark stage with no minimum qualifying marks under the ESE scheme. Final merit uses marks across the examination stages, so the interview can materially influence final rank and service allocation.
- The official interview notice also provides limited travel reimbursement rules for candidates appearing in the Personality Test. See the official UPSC Personality Test schedule notice for the conditions.
Candidate-Focused Interview Preparation Guidance (Editorial, Not an Official UPSC Requirement)
- Re-read the information submitted in the application/AF, especially academic background, projects, employment experience, achievements and service preferences, because inconsistencies are difficult to explain under interview questioning.
- Revise core engineering fundamentals from your own discipline instead of attempting a last-minute full-syllabus restart. Prioritize concepts you can explain clearly with practical examples.
- Prepare to discuss how your engineering discipline connects with public infrastructure, safety, standards, project execution and service delivery. Keep answers evidence-based rather than memorized.
- Review your preferred services/posts and understand at a high level what those organizations do. This helps candidates explain why a particular service preference is reasonable without sounding rehearsed.
- Keep all documents required by the e-Summon/UPSC instructions organized in advance. The final checklist should come from the official e-Summon letter, not from a coaching-site list.
Official Sources
- UPSC ESE (Main) 2026 official examination page
- Mains Written Result — Roll Number List (24 Jul 2026)
- Mains Written Result — Name List (24 Jul 2026)
- AF Update Notice for Written-Qualified Candidates (7 Aug 2026)
- Personality Test Schedule (7 Sep 2026)
- Original ESE 2026 Notification
- UPSC ESE 2025 Official Cut-Off PDF
- UPSC ESE 2024 Official Cut-Off PDF
Important Links
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. UPSC released the Personality Test schedule on 7 September 2026 for 1,336 candidates. Interviews begin on 21 September 2026.
The Personality Tests are scheduled from 21 September to 30 October 2026. Candidates must check their roll number, date and session in the official schedule PDF.
UPSC lists 9:00 AM for the forenoon session and 1:00 PM for the afternoon session.
Yes. UPSC declared the Engineering Services Main written result on 24 July 2026. Qualified candidates moved to the Personality Test stage.
UPSC's 7 September 2026 schedule lists 1,336 candidates.
No. UPSC states that requests to change the allotted Personality Test date or time will not be entertained.
Qualified candidates must carry the original certificates and documents supporting age, educational qualification, category or reservation claims, and benchmark disability where applicable, as required by UPSC and their e-Summon instructions.
No. The ESE 2026 notification states that the Personality Test carries 200 marks with no minimum qualifying marks.
UPSC will prepare the final ranking using Stage I, Stage II and Personality Test marks. The next expected official event is the final result.
Last verified on 20 September 2026. Sources: UPSC's official ESE 2026 examination page, written-result PDF and interview-schedule PDF.