SSC Exam Calendar 2026-27 Explained: What It Lists and How Dates Have Moved

Every year the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) publishes a tentative calendar of the exams it plans to hold. For 2026-27 the calendar is a PDF on ssc.gov.in. It lists 12 exams and gives three things for each: when SSC expects to publish the advertisement, when applications close, and the month or months when the first computer-based exam (CBE) should be held. This page goes through what the calendar says, how to read it, and how the exams announced so far compare with it.

What the SSC calendar 2026-27 lists

For each exam the calendar gives the tier or phase, the date of advertisement, the closing date, and the tentative date or month of the exam. The tier listed is only the first stage, such as Tier-I or Paper-I. Later tiers and other stages are not in it.

The first three rows are Limited Departmental Competitive Examinations (LDCE), which, as the name says, are departmental exams. The other nine rows are the exams most readers are looking for.

How to read the calendar

"Tentative" means a plan, not a promise. The document itself is titled a tentative calendar. SSC can move any exam, and the dates that count are the ones in the notice of each exam and in the schedule notices that follow it.

Most rows give a month, not a date. Only the three departmental exams have exact advertisement and closing dates. For CGL, CHSL and the rest, the calendar gives only a month. Do not treat the first day of that month as a deadline.

"Advertisement" is the notice of the exam. In the 2026 notices we checked, the application window opened on the day the notice was published. The closing date is the last day to apply online. The last date for fee payment and the form correction window come after that, and their dates appear only in the notice.

The exam month is for the first stage only. The CGL 2026 and JE 2026 notices both list a second computer-based exam in December 2026 (tentative). Later stages like these are not in the calendar.

Notice the exam year in the name. The exam names carry their own year. The Constable (GD) row is the 2027 exam, even though its advertisement was planned for September 2026.

How the 2026 exams compared with the calendar

Combined Hindi Translators was advertised in April 2026, as the calendar planned. CGL, Selection Post, JE, SI and CHSL were all advertised later than the calendar's month. The table below sets the calendar's month next to what SSC's own notices say.

A few points from these notices:

• CGL 2026 was advertised about two months later than the calendar's March. The notice itself gave Tier-I as August–September 2026 (tentative), and a later notice of 12 September 2026 fixed it at 30 September to 30 October 2026. The notice gives December 2026 as the tentative month for Tier-II.
• CHSL 2026 was advertised about five months after the calendar's April. The notice said the Tier-I schedule would be notified later. SSC's notice of 1 October 2026 then set Tier-I from 30 November to 31 December 2026, against the calendar's July–September.
• Junior Engineer and SI dates were set and then changed. A notice of 1 October 2026 gave JE Paper-I as 2 to 6 November and SI as 20 to 28 November. A corrigendum of 26 October 2026 added 30 November to 1 December for JE and changed SI to 23 to 28 November. This is why the latest notice matters more than the calendar.
• Stenographer 2026. SSC's notice of 31 August 2026 on exam cities and admission certificates gave Tier-I as 9 to 12 September 2026. Check ssc.gov.in for any later change.

MTS 2026 and Constable (GD) 2027. The calendar placed the MTS advertisement in June 2026 and the GD 2027 advertisement in September 2026. We could not find a notice for either exam when we checked on 31 October 2026. Both planned months have passed. Until SSC publishes a notice, the calendar months are the only official guide. Keep checking ssc.gov.in.

What to do with the calendar

• Use the gap between notice and exam. For CGL 2026, the notice came out on 21 May 2026 and Tier-I began on 30 September 2026, about four months later. For CHSL 2026 the notice came out on 7 September 2026 and Tier-I begins on 30 November 2026, under three months later. Do not wait for the notice to start preparing.
• Watch the notice board, not the calendar. Exam dates are fixed in short "Important Notice" documents that SSC posts on ssc.gov.in. For every exam in the table above, the dates now in force come from such notices.
• Apply early in the window. SSC's notice of 17 September 2026 on JE 2026 said the last date of 22 September 2026 would not be extended under any circumstances.
• Plan for later tiers. The calendar shows only the first stage. If you are aiming for CGL, plan for Tier-II as well, which the 2026 notice put in December 2026 (tentative).

For a month-by-month view of what is coming up across exams, see our government exam calendar for November–December 2026. To check your speed before the next CGL cycle, try the free SSC CGL Tier 1 Full Mock 1: 100 questions in 60 minutes. More practice papers are on the SSC CGL page and the SSC CHSL page.