TNPSC Annual Planner 2026: The Complete Exam Calendar with Updated Dates

The Official 2026 Planner, With Post-Publication Updates

What the Annual Planner Is - and What It Is Not

The Annual Planner (formally "Programme of Examinations") is TNPSC's official year-ahead calendar, published on tnpsc.gov.in under Recruitment. For each planned examination it gives three facts: the expected notification date, the exam commencement date, and the number of exam days. That is all it gives - by its own notes, vacancies are announced only in each notification, syllabus and scheme details remain changeable until notification, and the whole calendar is tentative. Treat the planner as your preparation compass and the notification as your contract.

Group 1: The Cycle Already in Motion

Group 1 is the planner entry that has already come alive: Notification 05/2026 was published on 23 June 2026 exactly as scheduled, applications closed on 29 July 2026, and the Prelims - after the Addendum 5A postponement - is set for 27 September 2026, 9.30 AM to 12.30 PM. If this is your exam, the calendar question is settled; the only questions left are preparation questions. Everything you need is in one place: the complete Group 1 syllabus with weightage analysis and the full exam-date timeline FAQ.

Group 2/2A: The Next Big Date on the Calendar

Group 2/2A is the planner entry that has just come alive: Notification 07/2026 was published on 11 August 2026 exactly as scheduled, and the Common Preliminary Examination is confirmed for 1 November 2026, 9.30 AM to 12.30 PM - revised from the planner's tentative 25 October, and roughly two and a half months after the notification. Read that gap the way toppers do: it is a revision window, not a preparation window. The syllabus is already published and stable (Prelims code 495), so an aspirant who starts only now is starting months behind those who used the planner. Full notification details - 821 vacancies, eligibility, fees and the complete exam pattern - are on our Group 2 Prelims Notification 2026 page, and the complete unit-wise syllabus, the 100-question Language part, and both Mains formats are on our Group 2/2A syllabus page.

Group 4: The Year-End Giant

The planner closes 2026 with Group 4: notification on 6 October 2026, exam on 20 December 2026. Group 4 is TNPSC's highest-vacancy recruitment - the previous notification carried 3,935 posts - and its single-paper format means the December date is the whole battle: no second stage, no interview. With half the marks coming from the Tamil Eligibility-cum-Scoring part, the smart play for an October-to-December runway is Tamil-first preparation, exactly as laid out in our Group 4 syllabus page.

The Three Combined Technical Services Examinations

Alongside the civil services track, the 2026 planner schedules three technical recruitments: Non-Interview Posts (notification 20 May, exam from 3 August, spanning 7 days), Diploma/ITI Level (notification 7 July, exam from 20 September, 7 days) and Interview Posts (notification 31 August, exam from 14 November, 4 days). These cover engineering, technical and specialist posts across departments, each with post-specific qualifications - candidates from technical backgrounds should watch these notifications on tnpsc.gov.in, since the eligibility and syllabus vary by post far more than in the civil services exams.

Turning the Calendar into a Preparation Plan

The planner's real gift is the countback. Take your target exam's commencement date and count backwards: the final month belongs to full-length mock tests and revision, the two months before that to completing and consolidating the syllabus, and everything earlier to first-pass study. Applied to 2026: a Group 2/2A aspirant should be syllabus-complete by late September and in mock-test mode through October and into early November; a Group 4 aspirant should be Tamil-strong by October and fully test-ready through November and December. Aspirants writing multiple exams get a bonus from this calendar's spacing - Group 1 (September), Group 2/2A (November) and Group 4 (December) form a natural ladder where each preparation feeds the next, since the General Studies base overlaps heavily across all three.

Two habits make the calendar work: a daily current-affairs routine that never pauses between cycles (every exam's syllabus ends with current affairs - our free daily bilingual current affairs run year-round for exactly this reason), and scheduled testing that follows the real formats - which is what our test series exists for.

How to Track Changes Like the Group 1 Postponement

TNPSC announces changes through addenda on tnpsc.gov.in and through SMS/email to registered candidates - never by post. Practical routine: check the Commission's website weekly once your target notification is out, keep your One Time Registration mobile number and email active, and re-verify every date you see on any website (including this one) against the official source before building plans on it. We annotate this page whenever an official change is published, so bookmarking it gives you the planner and its live corrections in one view.

TNPSC Annual Planner 2026: Frequently Asked Questions