By Ananya Sharma 
Prayagraj, September 7: The UPSSSC Preliminary Eligibility Test (PET) 2025 rolled into its second day on Sunday, and the story on the ground wasn’t about the exam papers but about the sheer effort needed to move lakhs of young job aspirants across Uttar Pradesh. With nearly a lakh candidates in Prayagraj alone, railway stations were choked, buses ran fuller than usual, and the state machinery scrambled to keep the movement smooth.
Trains, Buses, And A State On The Move
The North Eastern Railway’s Lucknow division had prepared for this weekend like it was festival season. Extra staff were stationed at busy junctions, CCTV cameras monitored the swelling crowds, and for the first time, drones hovered overhead to track gatherings on platforms. Officials admitted privately that every recruitment exam in Uttar Pradesh risks turning into a logistical nightmare if not planned in advance.
On the roads, the UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) added special buses and altered schedules so candidates could actually make it to their allotted centres on time. For those travelling from small towns into cities like Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, and Lucknow, these arrangements meant the difference between a shot at a government job and missing the exam entirely.
What Students Really Want To Know
While the government fussed over travel and crowd control, students were already scouring the internet for something else the answer keys. Officially, the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission has been silent. The Commission is expected to publish the provisional answer key sometime around mid-September. But students rarely wait that long.
By Saturday evening, big coaching names like Career Power, Adda247, and Jagran Josh had rushed out their own PDFs with “unofficial” solutions for the September 6 papers. Some offered detailed breakdowns and projected cut-offs. Others simply posted scanned question sets with suggested answers. These makeshift keys are far from gospel, but for anxious candidates, they serve as a first reckoning of how they performed.
Inside The Exam Hall
The PET itself hasn’t changed much since it was introduced four years ago. A hundred multiple-choice questions. Two hours on the clock. One mark for a correct response, a quarter-mark penalty for every wrong attempt. Shifts are split between morning and afternoon sessions.
Candidates describe the September 6 paper as moderate in difficulty, with most “good attempt” estimates falling somewhere between 74 and 87 questions. Coaching portals wasted no time putting out subject-wise difficulty charts General Studies leaned tricky, reasoning stayed manageable, and math predictably ate up the minutes.
The Waiting Game
The official key will arrive on the Commission’s website in a couple of weeks, and with it, the short window for objections. The final version, once released, will decide the PET results, most likely by October. Until then, aspirants have little choice but to cross-check with the unofficial material, argue with friends over tricky answers, and wait.
It’s a familiar cycle in Uttar Pradesh the rush to the exam, the scramble for answer keys, the long pause before results. For lakhs of young people chasing the stability of a government job, PET is less an exam than a threshold. Crack it, and doors open to clerical and technical posts across the state. Fall short, and it’s another year of preparation.
More Than An Exam
What played out this weekend wasn’t just about question papers or marking schemes. It was about an entire state moving in sync for one purpose opportunity. Railway tracks and highways bore the weight of ambition. Small-town students lugged their bags across cities, eyes fixed on a shot at stability. Coaching institutes, sensing demand, became overnight newsrooms, churning out PDFs that shaped how students judged themselves.
And in the middle of all this, the official key the one that really matters is still days away.
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- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
Rajiv Menon