UPSSSC has released the Preliminary Eligibility Test (PET) 2026 notification, Advertisement No. 16-Exam/2026, dated 1 August 2026. The online form opened on 3 August and closes on 1 September 2026. Every date and figure in this post has been checked against the official 13 page notification PDF, not copied from other websites. Where the notification is silent, we say so plainly.
PET is not a job vacancy. It is the common screening exam for Group C posts under UPSSSC. You sit PET once, get a score, and that score is what you use later to apply for Lekhpal, Junior Assistant, VDO, Forest Guard and other Group C recruitments when their separate notifications come out.
What has changed this year
Three things matter if you sat PET before.
One Time Registration (OTR) is now compulsory. UPSSSC’s OTR system came into force on 14 July 2026. You cannot fill the PET 2026 form without a completed OTR. If you registered for PET 2025, you can complete your OTR using that registration number, but your name, date of birth and mobile number carry over and cannot be changed. Fresh OTR registrants cannot change their mobile number either. Fix any OTR errors before you generate your PET registration number, because after that point the notification says corrections to those details will not be entertained, online or offline.
Score validity is 3 years. Under Government Order 316/47-Ka-3-2025 dated 28 April 2025, your PET score stays valid for 3 years from the date the result is uploaded. If you end up holding more than one valid PET score when a recruitment opens, the commission will use your highest valid normalised score. Any site telling you PET is valid for one year is publishing pre 2025 information.
Aadhaar authentication is coming. The notification states that Aadhaar based verification of candidates will be used at various stages of future examinations. Keep your Aadhaar details consistent with your High School records.
Eligibility in plain language
Education. High School (Class 10) or equivalent, passed before the last date of application, 1 September 2026. Higher qualifications obviously also qualify. If your Class 10 result is not yet declared, you are not eligible.
Age. You must have completed 18 years and not crossed 40 years as on 1 July 2026. In practice that means born between 2 July 1986 and 1 July 2008.
Age relaxation, as printed in the notification:
- SC, ST, OBC and other reserved categories: as per UP Government rules
- Classified skilled sportspersons: 5 years
- Ex servicemen: 3 years, calculated after deducting the full military service period from actual age, with the remainder not exceeding the limit by more than 3 years
- Divyangjan (persons with disabilities): 15 years
- UP State Government employees: 5 years
Do not add relaxations together on your own. If you claim any extra relaxation under a service rule, government order or court order, the notification requires you to enter the full details of that record in the form itself.
Your date of birth is whatever your High School certificate says. Clause 13.03 is explicit: no other document will be accepted for date of birth. If you enter anything else, expect rejection.
Application fee
| Category | Exam fee | Processing fee | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| General (UR) | Rs 160 | Rs 25 | Rs 185 |
| OBC | Rs 160 | Rs 25 | Rs 185 |
| SC | Rs 70 | Rs 25 | Rs 95 |
| ST | Rs 70 | Rs 25 | Rs 95 |
| Divyangjan | Nil | Rs 25 | Rs 25 |
Women, dependants of freedom fighters, ex servicemen and outstanding sportspersons pay according to their base category. There is no separate fee row for them. Payment is by credit card, debit card, net banking, UPI or SBI e-challan only.
How to apply, step by step
- Complete OTR first on upsssc.gov.in. Check every detail, especially name, date of birth and mobile number, because these lock.
- Log in with your OTR number or OTR registered mobile, get the OTP, and open the PET 2026 form. Your OTR details fill in automatically.
- Fill the remaining fields: Intermediate qualification if any, marital status, EWS, UP government employee status, freedom fighter dependant, ex serviceman, sportsperson, disability category, and any extra age relaxation claim.
- Accept the declaration and submit. A Registration Slip appears with an 11 digit registration number. Save it.
- Pay the fee via the Proceed for Payment button. Do not refresh or press back while payment confirms. If payment succeeds but the form does not appear, use Update Your Transaction ID by Double Verification Mode on the homepage to reconcile it.
- Download and print the application form. The notification says the process is complete only after you download the form. Do this before 8 September at the latest.
You submit one application only. If you somehow submit more than one, only the last finally submitted form counts and the rest are cancelled.
The correction window runs from 10 August to 8 September 2026 through Modify Submitted Application on the homepage. Only the fields listed in step 3, plus email, can be corrected. After 8 September nothing can be changed at any stage, and the commission will not respond to correction requests.
Photo and signature requirements
Here is the honest answer, and it is not what most sites are printing.
The official PET 2026 notification does not specify any photo or signature dimensions or file sizes. Your photo and signature are uploaded during OTR, not in the PET form, and the OTR portal’s own upload screen governs the format. Third party sites currently publish conflicting figures for UPSSSC: some say photo 50 to 100 KB at 3.5 x 4.5 cm, others say up to 50 KB, and at least one major coaching site says 5 to 30 KB. They cannot all be right.
[UNVERIFIED: exact photo and signature dimensions and KB limits, to be confirmed against the live OTR upload screen and UPSSSC notice No. 45/17 dated 14 July 2026]
Until then: prepare a recent colour photo on a plain light background and a clear full signature (not capitals, not initials) in JPG, and match whatever the OTR screen asks for at upload time. Our resizer on the UPSSSC PET page lets you set custom dimensions and KB limits yourself, so you can match the live portal exactly. For any other form, the generic photo resizer does the same.
Exam pattern and syllabus
- Offline OMR exam, 100 objective questions, 100 marks, 2 hours
- Negative marking of one quarter mark per wrong answer
- Question difficulty for academic subjects is NCERT secondary and senior secondary level
- If the exam runs in multiple shifts, scores are normalised
The paper has 15 sections: Indian History (5), Indian National Movement (5), Geography (5), Indian Economy (5), Indian Constitution and Public Administration (5), General Science (5), Elementary Arithmetic (5), General Hindi (5), General English (5), Logic and Reasoning (5), Current Affairs (10), General Awareness (10), two unseen Hindi passages (10), two graphs (10) and two tables (10).
The exam date has not been announced. The notification says date, time, district and centre come with the admit card, and no change of centre, date or time will be allowed. Some sites are quoting October 2026 from the UPSSSC exam calendar. [UNVERIFIED: exam date, treat October as a proposal only until UPSSSC issues an exam notice]
Common reasons applications get rejected
Straight from clauses 13.06 to 13.10 of the notification:
- Date of birth missing from the form, or not matching the High School certificate
- Being under 18 or over 40 on 1 July 2026 without a valid relaxation claim
- Not holding the minimum Class 10 qualification by 1 September 2026
- False or unverifiable information, which can also get you debarred from all future UPSSSC exams
- Claiming a category or relaxation you cannot back with documents
- For reserved category candidates of UP: forgetting to mark your category in the form
- Fee paid but never reconciled, so the application never completes
Cheating now falls under the UP Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act 2024, which carries penalties up to life imprisonment and a fine of one crore rupees. Impersonation cases go to prosecution.
FAQ
Is there any vacancy in PET 2026? No. PET has no vacancies. It is a screening score. Posts and their vacancy counts come in separate recruitment notifications later.
How long is the PET 2026 score valid? 3 years from the date the result is uploaded on the UPSSSC website.
Can I apply without OTR? No. OTR is mandatory and must be completed before the PET application. Offline applications are not accepted in any circumstances.
I applied for PET 2025. Do I register again? Complete your OTR using your PET 2025 registration number. Your name, date of birth and mobile number carry over unchanged.
What is the last date? 1 September 2026 for application and fee. 8 September 2026 for fee reconciliation and corrections.
Are there minimum qualifying marks in PET? The notification does not mention any qualifying percentage. Shortlisting for each later recruitment is done on your normalised score against that post’s cutoff, so a higher score simply keeps more doors open.
Does clearing PET guarantee a job? No. Clause 2.3 says applying for, appearing in or holding a PET scorecard gives no claim to selection for any post. You must separately apply and clear each post’s main exam.
Where do I complain if the form gives trouble? Phone 0522-2720814 on working days, or through upsssc.gov.in.
Applications close 1 September 2026. If your Class 10 certificate, category certificate and a clean photo and signature are ready, the form takes under an hour. Do not leave it for the last two days, when the portal slows down.