The Short Version
Carry your printed admit card and the original photo ID whose number you entered in your application, plus passport-size photographs. Reach the centre at the reporting time printed on your admit card, which is between 75 and 105 minutes before your paper starts — not at the exam time. Leave every electronic item outside. Almost everyone turned away on SSC CGL exam day is turned away for one of those three things, not for anything exotic.
Shift Timings and Reporting Times
SSC CGL Tier 1 2026 runs from 30 September to 30 October with three to four shifts a day. Your admit card carries your own shift and reporting time — these are the published timings for the cycle, so use them to plan the journey and confirm against your admit card when it arrives.
| Shift | Exam time | Reporting time |
|---|---|---|
| Shift 1 | 9:00 – 10:00 am | 7:45 am |
| Shift 2 | 11:45 am – 12:45 pm | 10:30 am |
| Shift 3 | 2:30 – 3:30 pm | 1:15 pm |
| Shift 4 | 5:15 – 6:15 pm | 4:00 pm |
What to Carry
Three documents and nothing else that matters:
- 1The admit card, printed. Print two copies on separate sheets — a phone screen is not accepted at the gate, and printers near exam centres have queues on exam mornings.
- 2An original photo ID. Use the same ID whose number you gave in the application — Aadhaar, PAN, Voter ID, Passport or Driving Licence. Carry a photocopy as well.
- 3Passport-size photographs matching the one on your application. Two is enough.
- 4A transparent water bottle and a simple analogue watch are usually permitted, but the instruction sheet on your own admit card overrides any general list, including this one. Read it.
What Not to Carry
The prohibited list is enforced at the gate and there is normally nowhere secure to leave things. Anything on this list is best left at home or with someone waiting outside.
- 1Phones, smartwatches, fitness bands, Bluetooth devices, earphones.
- 2Calculators, log tables, scales, any electronic or digital device.
- 3Notes, books, rough sheets, printed material of any kind — rough paper is issued inside.
- 4Bags and wallets beyond what the centre explicitly allows.
The Rules That Actually Catch People
Reporting time is a gate closure, not a suggestion — once the gate shuts there is no entry, and it shuts well before the paper begins. Biometric and photo capture happen at entry and take time, which is exactly why the reporting time is over an hour early. Your ID has to match the application: an Aadhaar number entered in the form and a Voter ID produced at the gate is a genuine risk. And the centre address is on the admit card, not on the city intimation slip, so do the route check on the admit card address after it is released around 27 September — the city slip will not tell you where to go.
The Night Before and the Hour Before
Plan the journey against the reporting time with an hour of slack, especially for the 7:45 am reporting of Shift 1. Put the admit card, ID and photos in one place before you sleep rather than searching in the morning. Do not sit a full mock on the last night; a light revision of formulae and your own error log is more use than a fresh score to worry about. In the hall, the paper is 100 questions in 60 minutes across four sections with negative marking, so the plan you have practised — which section first, when to abandon a question — matters more on the day than anything you can still learn.
After You Walk Out
Note down what you attempted while it is fresh, then leave it. SSC releases the response sheet and answer key after the full window closes, and scoring yourself properly from the response sheet is the only honest read on your paper — shift-mates comparing attempt counts in the corridor is not. If you have another shift or Tier 2 ahead of you, a timed SSC CGL mock test two days later, with over 13,000 exam-pattern questions and solutions to work from, is a better recovery than a post-mortem.