CS Executive Exam: Dates, Papers, Pattern and Passing Marks

December 2026 exam schedule

Source: ICSI, Time Table for CS Examinations, December 2026 Session. Every paper starts at 2:00 PM. The first 15 minutes, 2:00 to 2:15 PM, are for reading the question paper, which leaves 3 hours for writing.

Admit cards can be downloaded from ICSI's website 10 days before the exams begin (Student Services FAQs, 18 September 2026). ICSI holds the exams in cities across India, listed region by region in its list of exam centres, and at one overseas centre in Dubai.

June 2027 session

ICSI had not published the June 2027 time table when we checked on 7 October 2026. To sit both groups in June 2027, you must register for CS Executive by 30 November 2026 (ICSI notice on registration for the June 2027 exam). Cut-offs for one group and for other sessions are in our CS Executive registration guide.

CS Executive papers and groups

You can sit one group or both groups in a session. These are the papers under Syllabus 2022, the only syllabus examined at Executive level since June 2025:

Group 1 has 400 marks and Group 2 has 300. If an older guide lists two modules with eight papers (such as "Tax Laws" or "Financial and Strategic Management"), it describes Syllabus 2017. ICSI held the last Executive exam under that syllabus in December 2024 (Student Services FAQs).

Which study material and law apply

ICSI's study material for each paper sets out the detailed syllabus and can be downloaded from its Executive Programme page. For the December 2026 exam, ICSI's notice of 28 July 2026 lists the study material for Papers 1 to 6 as updated to 30 November 2025 and for Tax Laws and Practice as updated to 31 May 2025. ICSI has published a separate Tax Laws and Practice book for exams from June 2027 onwards.

Questions are based on the law as amended up to 31 May of the same year for the December session, and up to 30 November of the previous year for the June session (ICSI guideline answers, June 2026).

Exam pattern and marking scheme

ICSI's guideline answers for the June 2026 session show how the papers are set:

• Marks and time: each paper carries 100 marks and lasts 3 hours.
• Questions: every paper had 6 questions, and all were compulsory. Some questions came with an alternative, for example Question 4 or 4A and Question 6 or 6A, and you answer one of the pair.
• Answer format: all answers are written. Many questions are case studies split into sub-questions, most of them worth 2 to 5 marks. The June 2026 papers had no multiple-choice questions.
• Parts: most papers are divided into Part I and Part II. In Tax Laws and Practice, Part I covers income tax and Part II covers GST and customs.

Before the exam: training, pre-exam test and exam form

You need to complete three things before you can sit a CS Executive exam:

1. Three Days Orientation Programme (TDOP): compulsory if you registered for CS Executive on or after 1 February 2025. ICSI says completing it is a prerequisite for filling in the exam form (ICSI notices of 1 February 2025 and on TDOP for 2025 registrations).
2. Pre-Exam Test: all Syllabus 2022 students must pass ICSI's online Pre-Exam Test before enrolling for the main exams. The ₹1,000 fee for it is part of the Executive registration fee (ICSI fee schedule, 29 September 2026).
3. Exam form: submitted online on ICSI's SMASH portal for each session, with an exam fee of ₹1,500 per group.

Source: ICSI Student Services FAQs (18 September 2026). For the December 2026 session, forms can still be submitted with the late fee until 10 October 2026. You can change your exam centre, group or medium for ₹250 per change, at least 30 days before the exams start. Taking the exam at the Dubai centre costs an extra US$100 (ICSI fee schedule, 29 September 2026).

Passing marks and pass percentage

ICSI's qualifying-marks rules are applied group by group (they still use the old word "module"):

• One group: at least 40% in each paper and 50% in the aggregate of that group's papers, in one sitting.
• Both groups together: at least 40% in each paper and 50% in the aggregate of all the papers, in one sitting.
• Exemption: if you fail a group after sitting all its papers, a paper in which you scored 60% or more (with at least 25% in each of the other papers) is exempted in later exams.

In the June 2026 session, 17.41% of candidates passed Group 1 and 22.19% passed Group 2, according to ICSI's press release of 25 August 2026. Earlier sessions, result dates and verification of marks are covered in our CS Executive result guide.

Where CS Executive fits in the CS course

The CS course has three exam levels: the entrance test (CSEET), CS Executive and CS Professional. The CSEET is held in the first week of February, June and October (ICSI's announcement on the restructured CSEET, effective from the June 2026 session). Graduates and post-graduates, among others, can register for Executive without it, as can students who passed the old CS Foundation exam. After passing both Executive groups you move on to CS Professional, whose papers, electives and exam dates are in our CS Professional exam guide. For all 18 papers of the course on one page, see our CS syllabus and exam pattern overview.

Proposed Syllabus 2027

In September 2026 ICSI published an exposure draft of a proposed Syllabus 2027 and invited comments until 30 September 2026. It is a proposal, not a decision, and ICSI has not announced when it would apply. For the Executive Programme, the draft proposes:

• reshaping three papers into Setting up of Business and Intellectual Property Laws, Corporate Accounting, and Economic, Commercial and Labour Laws;
• written (descriptive) exams for all papers;
• a grading system in which written exams count for 70% and internal continuous assessment for 30%.

The draft also lists a four-paper Foundation Programme. Until ICSI announces otherwise, the December 2026 exams follow Syllabus 2022 as described above.