SSC CGL Tier 1 2026 If you’ve been prepping for SSC CGL, today’s the day. Tier 1 runs from 30 September to 30 October 2026, in Computer-Based mode, spread across a full month of shifts at centres nationwide, as SSC confirmed in its notice on 12 September.
A month sounds long for one exam, but that’s normal for SSC CGL given how many people sit it — more than 28 lakh applied this cycle, according to Adda247. Spreading it over a month across shifts is just how they physically fit that many candidates into available centres.
The vacancy number actually changed, and here’s why you’ll see two figures
If you’ve seen “12,256 vacancies” in one place and “10,731” in another,SSC CGL Tier 1 2026 you’re not imagining a typo. Testbook reports that the number was revised down from 12,556 to 10,731 on 24 September — six days before the exam started. Some articles written before that date still show the older, higher figure and haven’t been updated. The 10,731 number, for Group B and C posts, is the current one as of this writing.
Worth knowing if that revision stings a bit: SSC does still release the final vacancy count later, closer to the result, so this isn’t necessarily the last word either. It’s just the number that applies right now.
What’s actually new this year
A couple of real changes worth knowing before you sit down:
- Sectional timing. Several sources, including Business Standard, mention that SSC has introduced sectional timing this year, meaning you can’t freely move time between sections the way some past CGL cycles allowed. If your prep strategy was “spend more time on quant, less on reasoning,” that approach needs rethinking under a sectional format.
- No slot booking, expected. A few trackers note that, unlike some other SSC exams, there’s no slot-booking process expected for CGL Tier 1 this year — your city and shift come from SSC’s own allocation, not a choice you make.
Tier 1 is qualifying. It’s easy to forget that under exam pressure.
This is worth saying plainly because it changes how you should actually approach the day: Tier 1 doesn’t count toward your final score. It’s a filter. Clear the cutoff, and you move to Tier 2, which is where your actual ranking gets decided. Careerpower’s guide confirms the exam runs in exactly this two-tier structure — Tier 1 qualifying, Tier 2 scoring.
Practically, that means panic over a couple of rough questions in Tier 1 is more costly than it needs to be. You need to clear the bar, not top the chart. Save the intensity for Tier 2.
What happens after you’re done today
Once your shift wraps, here’s the realistic sequence: SSC reviews objections, releases the final Tier 1 answer key, then the Tier 1 result with category-wise cutoffs, according to Adda247’s process breakdown. If you clear that, Tier 2 follows — currently expected in December 2026, per Shiksha’s tracker, though that’s still some way off and worth reconfirming closer to the date rather than banking on it now.
One honest gap: I couldn’t find a confirmed admit card release date beyond the usual “2-3 days before your exam” pattern most sources repeat. If your specific shift is later in the month-long window, don’t wait for a firm public date — check your own SSC login directly a few days before your date.
If you’re sitting a later shift in the window
Since this runs the full month, plenty of readers won’t be testing today specifically. If your shift is a few weeks out, use the extra runway for one thing especially: get comfortable with the sectional timing format now, in mock tests, rather than discovering it for the first time on exam day. A format change like this genuinely trips people up more than a difficulty change does, simply because your instincts are trained on the old, more flexible structure.
Suggested Internal Links
- RRB Group D 2026: What Happens After the Answer Key
- Campus Placements 2026: Rising Budgets, Falling Outcomes
Suggested External References
- Staff Selection Commission: https://ssc.gov.in
