What is the APPSC Group 1 exam in 2026, as it stands today?

APPSC Group 1 notification 2026: what is out

APPSC Group 1 for 2026 is notification 07/2026. The brief notification of 15 September 2026 listed 163 provisional vacancies, and the detailed notification of 6 October 2026 lists 166. Online applications run from 6 October to 27 October 2026 on psc.ap.gov.in. The detailed notification gives age, community breakup and reservation, and sets the screening test for 24 January 2027. It is now the document to read.

APPSC Group 1 2026, key dates as of 23 September 2026. The marked row is the next thing due.

The brief notification is short, and it carries more than a headline number. Its table lists all 13 posts with the vacancies and pay scale of each. It states the degree each post needs, and it says the screening test will be held offline, on an OMR sheet. Paragraph 5 adds one line worth reading twice: the date of the detailed notification "will be reckoned as the crucial date in all aspects". The detailed notification keeps that date, 6 October 2026, for your degree, and counts age on 1 July 2026.

The count can still move. The notification calls its vacancies provisional and subject to confirmation from the departments. Last time, notification 12/2023 advertised 81 Group 1 posts, and an addendum of 16 March 2024 took the total to 89.

APPSC Group 1 posts and salary

APPSC Group 1 notification 07/2026 lists 166 vacancies across 13 posts. Deputy Superintendent of Police (Civil) has 36 and Divisional Development Officer 35, which is 71 of the 166 between them. Entry basic pay under the 2022 scales runs from ₹54,060 a month for posts such as Assistant Audit Officer to ₹65,360 for Divisional Development Officer.

Vacancies by post in brief notification 07/2026, with each post's monthly pay scale. The vacancies are provisional.

How the gross is estimated. Entry basic pay, plus dearness allowance at 37.31 percent (due from 1 January 2024 and paid from the October 2025 salary), plus house rent at 16 percent in the 13 district headquarters cities or 10 percent, the lowest slab. It leaves out city allowance, special pay, the pension contribution and tax, so the salary in hand is lower. These are our estimates from the published scales and rates.

If a police post is your aim, 39 of the 166 are Deputy Superintendent of Police posts, 36 civil and 3 communications. The brief notification says both have physical requirements, which the detailed notification sets out.

Age limit for OC, BC, SC and ST

For non-uniform APPSC Group 1 posts the upper age limit is 44, under G.O.Ms.No.187 of 14 September 2026, for posts notified up to 30 September 2027. In notification 12/2023 it was 42, with five more years for SC, ST, BC and EWS and ten for people with benchmark disabilities. Uniform posts, such as DSP, keep their own bands.

G.O.Ms.No.187 keeps the category concessions on top of the 44, as they sat on top of the 42. It does not cover uniformed posts in police, excise, fire, prisons, forest and transport where physical standards apply.

The six Group 1 and Group 2 notifications from 2016 to 2023 counted age on 1 July of the notification year. For 2026 the rule is the same: the detailed notification 07/2026 counts age on 1 July 2026 (para 5.1). The APPSC age limit page has the full list of relaxations and a calculator.

APPSC Group 1 exam pattern and marks

APPSC Group 1 has three stages under the scheme printed with notification 07/2026. A screening test of two objective papers, 240 marks, which you need to clear. A Mains of seven descriptive papers, five of which count for 750 marks. Then a 75-mark interview. Your rank comes from the Mains and the interview together, 825 marks.

• Negative marking. In the screening, one third of the marks for a question is cut for each wrong answer (G.O.Ms.No.235 Finance, 6 December 2016).
• Qualifying papers. The Telugu and English papers do not count for rank, but you need 40 percent in each (OC, EWS, sports, ex-servicemen), 35 percent (BC) or 30 percent (SC, ST, persons with disabilities). You must sit every paper.
• Who reaches the Mains. Notification 12/2023 fixes no ratio. The commission sets the screening qualifying mark at its discretion, under G.O.Ms.No.5 of 5 January 2018. The interview call is fixed at 1:2 against the vacancies, under G.O.Ms.No.100 of 30 September 2022.
• Medium. Screening papers are set in English and translated into Telugu, and the English version is authentic for valuation. The Mains may be written in English, Telugu or Urdu, one medium for all five papers.
• Mains centres in 12/2023. Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Anantapur.

Screening marks do not carry into your rank. The screening is a gate to pass, and 750 of the 825 marks that decide selection are written in the Mains.

APPSC Group 1 final selection list and timeline

APPSC Group 1 notification 12/2023 ran from 8 December 2023 to a selection notification on 30 January 2026, about 25.7 months. It opened with 81 posts, and an addendum took it to 89. Press reports put the number who sat the screening on 17 March 2024 at 91,463. The commission's list sent 4,496 to the Mains, press reports put the interview call at 182, and 87 were provisionally selected.

The selection notification calls the 87 provisional and makes the list subject to the outcome of three writ petitions in the High Court: W.P.Nos.10011 of 2025, 32315 of 2025 and 106 of 2026. If the list changes, the commission publishes the change on psc.ap.gov.in, and this page will carry it.

Most of the waiting came between the screening in March 2024 and the Mains, first planned for September 2024 and held from 3 to 9 May 2025. The cycle before, notification 28/2022, ran from 30 September 2022 to a final list on 17 August 2023, 10.5 months. These are records of past cycles; the 2026 dates come only from the commission.

APPSC Group 1 cut-off marks

APPSC's own record holds two Group 1 cut-offs. The screening result for notification 27/2018, dated 1 November 2019, stated one mark: 90.42 out of 240, with 8,351 qualifying. On 7 June 2024 it published category-wise Mains-to-interview lines for notification 28/2022, with the open line at 409 out of 750. No cut-off was printed for the 12/2023 screening.

The 2024 interview lines ran from 296.5 (HH) to 409 (OC General) out of 750. BC-C at 403 sat above BC-A at 379, so reserved lines do not fall in a neat order. Each line belongs to its own cycle's posts and candidates, so read the table as the shape of one past call.

A 2024 or 2025 Group 1 screening cut-off seen elsewhere is an estimate: the result lists for 12/2023 carry register numbers and no marks. What exists for each APPSC exam is set out on the APPSC cut-off marks page.

What is being said about APPSC Group 1 2026 that is not true?

Several claims about APPSC Group 1 are older figures, or mix up two cycles. The 2026 count is 166 vacancies under detailed notification 07/2026; 91, 149 and the brief notification's 163 are earlier figures. The Mains counts 750 marks plus a 75-mark interview. The court case in the news belongs to the 2018 cycle. Each row names the document that settles it.

What should I do now that the detailed notification is out?

The APPSC Group 1 detailed notification came out on 6 October 2026. Before you apply, check your degree and age against this page and find your post in the list of 13. If you plan to sit Group 2 as well, its notification is due on 15 October 2026 for 673 posts under G.O.Ms.No.81.

APPSC Group 1 and Group 2 together sets the two exams side by side, stage by stage, for anyone preparing for both.

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