The TNPSC Group 1 Preliminary Examination (CCSE – I) was held on Saturday, 27 September 2026. The full question paper — booklet code CCSEI-P26, all 200 questions in English and Tamil — is available below as a free PDF download.
தமிழ்நாடு அரசுப் பணியாளர் தேர்வாணையத்தின் குரூப் 1 முதல்நிலைத் தேர்வு 2026 செப்டம்பர் 27ஆம் தேதி நடைபெற்றது. முழு வினாத்தாளையும் (200 வினாக்கள், ஆங்கிலம் மற்றும் தமிழ்) கீழே இலவசமாகப் பதிவிறக்கம் செய்யலாம்.
Free PDF Download · இலவச பதிவிறக்கம்
TNPSC Group 1 Prelims 2026 — Original Question Paper
Booklet Code CCSEI-P26 · 200 questions · 90 pages · English + Tamil · 916 KB
⬇ Download Question Paper PDF Get the Answer Key on WhatsApp
Exam at a glance · தேர்வு விவரம்
| Detail | Group 1 Prelims 2026 |
|---|---|
| Examination | Combined Civil Services Examination – I (Group I Services) |
| Date of exam | 27 September 2026 |
| Booklet code | CCSEI-P26 |
| Total questions | 200 objective questions |
| Total marks | 300 marks |
| Duration | 3 hours |
| Composition | General Studies (Degree standard) — 175 questions Aptitude & Mental Ability (SSLC standard) — 25 questions |
| Medium | Bilingual — every question printed in English and Tamil |
| Options | Five — (A) to (D) plus (E) Answer not known |
| Minimum qualifying marks | 90 — SC, SC(A), ST, MBC/DC, BC(OBCM), BCM 120 — Others |
| Counts towards rank? | No — prelims is a qualifying round only. The Mains decides the rank. |
Answer key · விடைக்குறிப்பு
The question booklet carries no answers, and the Commission’s provisional key has not been released yet. Our subject-wise answer key for all 200 questions is being prepared and will be published on this page.
வினாத்தாளில் விடைகள் இல்லை. தேர்வாணையத்தின் தற்காலிக விடைக்குறிப்பு இதுவரை வெளியிடப்படவில்லை. 200 வினாக்களுக்கான எங்களுடைய விடைக்குறிப்பு தயாரிக்கப்பட்டு வருகிறது; இதே பக்கத்தில் வெளியிடப்படும்.
Message us on WhatsApp — we will send the key the moment it is ready
How much of this paper had our students already seen?
We read all 200 questions and checked each one by hand against the three sets we actually teach from — past TNPSC papers, our own Home Test Batch, and our Maths Book.
40 of 200
questions a student working through our material would already have met — 7 word for word and 33 as the same question re-worded, or the same sum with new numbers. That is 20% of the paper.
A further 96 questions sat on ground we had covered with a different fact tested, leaving 64 with nothing comparable in any of the three sets.
| Verdict | Questions | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Word for word | 7 | Same question, same data |
| Same question | 33 | Re-worded, or the same sum re-numbered |
| Same ground | 96 | Area we had covered, a different fact tested |
| Not seen | 64 | Nothing comparable in our material |
What we checked against
| Source set | Questions in it | Strong matches |
|---|---|---|
| 83 past TNPSC papers | 7,783 | 24 |
| 25 Home Test Batch papers | 2,536 | 20 |
| 37 Maths Book chapters | 2,909 | 11 |
These add up to more than 40 because several questions turned up in two of the sets, and one turned up in all three.
The seven that came back word for word
Same question, same data. A student who had worked these would have read the exam question and recognised it on sight.
| Q | What it asked | Where it had already appeared |
|---|---|---|
| 45 | Which is not a fiscal instrument | Asst. Director of Co-operative Audit 2022, Q193 |
| 62 | Age group covered by the RTE Act | Asst. Director of Industries & Commerce 2021, Q67 |
| 66 | Year the CM’s Girl Child Protection Scheme began | CTSE Interview Posts 2024, Q154 · Home Test 12 GS, Q58 |
| 90 | Bricks needed to build a wall (24×12×8 cm) | Maths Book · Mensuration 3D, Q29 · Home Test 7, Q14 |
| 91 | CI minus SI on ₹8,000 at 5% for 3 years | Asst. Agri./Horti. Officer 2024, Q189 · Home Test 9 GS, Q88 · Maths Book · Compound Interest, Q25 |
| 173 | General who suppressed the Vellore Mutiny | Combined Engineering Services 2022, Q177 |
| 188 | 10 persons work, 4 leave, 40 days becomes 50 | Home Test 10 GS, Q76 |
Question 91 is the one to point at. The identical compound-interest-minus-simple-interest sum on ₹8,000 at 5% for 3 years appears in all three of our sets at once — a past paper, a Home Test Batch paper and the Maths Book. Three separate chances to have already solved it before walking into the hall.
Which of our material carried the most
Counting only the word-for-word and same-question matches. If a student asks what to work through first, this is the order.
| Material | Set | Questions it carried |
|---|---|---|
| CCSE Group-I & IA Prelims 2025 | Past paper | 5 |
| Full Model 3 | Home Test Batch | 3 |
| Test 12 GS | Home Test Batch | 3 |
| Full Model 2 | Home Test Batch | 2 |
| Test 14 GS | Home Test Batch | 2 |
| Test 9 GS | Home Test Batch | 2 |
| Asst. Director of Co-operative Audit 2022 | Past paper | 2 |
| Asst. Agri./Horti. Officer 2024 | Past paper | 2 |
| Maths Book · Compound Interest | Maths Book | 2 |
What this says about how to prepare. The 96 “same ground” questions matter as much as the 40 repeats. They show TNPSC coming back to the same syllabus territory — Articles of the Constitution, Tamil Nadu welfare schemes, the freedom-struggle chronology, percentage and work-rate sums — while changing the specific fact asked.
Working past papers alone gets you the 24. Working past papers with a test batch and a worked maths book is what takes it to 40 — and the aptitude section is where our own material did the heavy lifting.
கடந்தகால வினாத்தாள்களை மட்டும் பயின்றால் 24 வினாக்கள். வினாத்தாள்கள், தேர்வுத் தொகுதி, கணக்குப் புத்தகம் மூன்றையும் சேர்த்துப் பயின்றால் 40 வினாக்கள். குறிப்பாக திறனறித் தேர்வுப் பகுதியில் எங்களுடைய பயிற்சிப் பொருட்களே அதிகம் உதவின.
Two answers the old papers hand you outright
Two of the word-for-word repeats reproduce their source question so closely, options included, that the earlier paper’s own key carries straight across. The remaining matches were re-worded or re-numbered, so their keys do not transfer — those are being keyed by hand for the full answer key.
Question 45 → (B) Bank Rate
Repeated from Assistant Director of Co-operative Audit 2022, Q193, stem and options unchanged. That paper’s key gives Bank Rate — consistent with the economics, since bank rate is a monetary-policy instrument while taxation, public expenditure and public debt are all fiscal.
Question 173 → (B) Colonel Robert Rollo Gillespie
A word-for-word repeat of Combined Engineering Services 2022, Q177, with the same four names. That paper’s key gives Rollo Gillespie, the general who suppressed the Vellore Mutiny.
What to do next · அடுத்த கட்டம்
Work through the paper with the booklet open beside you, mark the questions you were unsure of, and wait for the key before counting anything. Prelims is only a qualifying round — the Mains is where the rank is decided. And whichever way this one goes, the next two exams are already close — Group 2 prelims on 1 November 2026 and Group 4 in December 2026. New batches for both are open now.
முதல்நிலைத் தேர்வு தகுதித் தேர்வு மட்டுமே. தரவரிசையை முதன்மைத் தேர்வுதான் தீர்மானிக்கிறது. எனவே தயாரிப்பை இங்கே நிறுத்த வேண்டாம். அடுத்த தேர்வுகள் அருகில் உள்ளன — குரூப் 2 முதல்நிலைத் தேர்வு 2026 நவம்பர் 1, குரூப் 4 தேர்வு டிசம்பரில். புதிய தொகுதிகள் தொடங்கியுள்ளன.
TNPSC Book Sets — Shop Group 2 & Group 4 Batch — Enquire
Source: TNPSC Combined Civil Services Examination – I (Group I Services), Preliminary Examination question paper, booklet code CCSEI-P26, 27 September 2026. The PDF is shared for study purposes. The Commission’s own notification and answer key remain the only authority. The match figures above come from our own question-bank audit, read and graded question by question.
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