CS Professional December 2026 Exam Dates, Time Table and Study Plan

ICSI holds the CS Professional December 2026 exams from Monday 21 December to Monday 28 December 2026, with no paper on Friday 25 December. Each paper runs from 2:00 pm to 5:15 pm, and the first 15 minutes are for reading the question paper. Group 1 has four papers and Group 2 has three, so a student writing both groups sits seven papers in eight days.

The dates are fixed. What you can still change is how many full papers you write against the clock before 21 December.

TL;DR

• Exams: 21 to 28 December 2026, 2:00 pm to 5:15 pm, no paper on 25 December.
• The two elective papers come last: Elective 2 on 27 December and Elective 1 on 28 December, both open book.
• Tax electives 4.5 and 7.2 follow the Finance Act, 2025 (AY 2026-27), with changes up to 31 May 2026. The Income-tax Act, 2025 does not apply this session.
• Pass rule: 40 in every paper and 50% of the group total.

When are the CS Professional December 2026 exams?

Here is ICSI's time table for the Professional Programme (Syllabus 2022), as reported by Careers360:

• Monday 21 December: Paper 1, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) - Principles and Practice (Group 1).
• Tuesday 22 December: Paper 5, Strategic Management and Corporate Finance (Group 2).
• Wednesday 23 December: Paper 2, Drafting, Pleadings and Appearances (Group 1).
• Thursday 24 December: Paper 6, Corporate Restructuring, Valuation and Insolvency (Group 2).
• Friday 25 December: no exam.
• Saturday 26 December: Paper 3, Compliance Management, Audit and Due Diligence (Group 1).
• Sunday 27 December: Paper 7, Elective 2, open book (Group 2).
• Monday 28 December: Paper 4, Elective 1, open book (Group 1).

What the dates mean if you write one group

Group 1 papers fall on 21, 23, 26 and 28 December, with two clear days (24 and 25 December) before Compliance Management. Group 2 papers fall on 22, 24 and 27 December. Both groups means a paper every day except 25 December.

Seven papers from 21 to 28 December, all at 2:00 pm, electives last.

Which elective papers are on 27 and 28 December?

ICSI's study material notice for this session, reported by TaxGuru, lists these options.

• Elective 1, 28 December: 4.1 CSR and Social Governance; 4.2 Internal and Forensic Audit; 4.3 Intellectual Property Rights - Law and Practice; 4.4 Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics and Cyber Security - Laws and Practice; 4.5 Advanced Direct Tax Laws and Practice; 4.6 IFSCA - Regulations, Listing and Compliances.
• Elective 2, 27 December: 7.1 Arbitration, Mediation and Conciliation; 7.2 Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Corporate Tax Planning; 7.3 Labour Laws and Practice; 7.4 Banking and Insurance - Laws and Practice; 7.5 Insolvency and Bankruptcy - Law and Practice.

Paper 4.6 is new from the June 2026 session, so June 2026 is the only past session for it. Our post on choosing CS Professional electives compares them.

Elective 2 is on 27 December and Elective 1 on 28 December, in the subject you chose.

Which Finance Act applies to the tax electives in December 2026?

ICSI's notice dated 29 June 2026 says the Finance Act, 2025 applies to Paper 4.5 (Advanced Direct Tax Laws and Practice) and Paper 7.2 (GST and Corporate Tax Planning). That means assessment year 2026-27 and previous year 2025-26. You also need the rules, notifications, circulars and clarifications that CBDT, CBIC and the Central Government issued on or before 31 May 2026. The same notice says the Income-tax Act, 2025 does not apply to this session, so answer on the 1961 Act's sections.

Watch the gap in the study material. ICSI has updated Paper 4.5 to 31 October 2025 and Paper 7.2 only to 31 May 2025. For 7.2, a full year of changes sits outside the book, including the GST rate changes that took effect on 22 September 2025. Add them to your notes before November.

Both tax electives: Finance Act, 2025, AY 2026-27, updates to 31 May 2026.

When will ICSI release the CS Professional admit card?

ICSI has not announced a date. Careers360 lists the third week of November as tentative. Last session, the December 2025 admit cards came out on 12 December 2025, ten days before the first paper. Check your exam centre and elective on it the day it comes out.

What do you need to pass CS Professional?

Every paper carries 100 marks. You pass a group with at least 40 in each paper and 50% of the group total, which is 200 out of 400 in Group 1 and 150 out of 300 in Group 2.

A Group 2 student with 72, 70 and 38 has 180, well above 150, and still fails because of the 38. A Group 1 student with 45, 48, 52 and 50 clears every paper and fails on the total of 195.

You need both: 40 in each paper and 50% of the group total.

How should you plan from 24 October to 20 December?

From 24 October to 20 December is 58 days. Take one day off a week and you have 50 study days. At 7 hours a day that is 350 hours: 50 a paper for both groups, about 87 for Group 1 alone and about 116 for Group 2 alone. Fifty hours revises a paper you have read once. It will not cover a first reading.

Phase 1, 24 October to 15 November (20 study days)

1. Revise each paper: just under 3 study days a paper for both groups, 5 for Group 1 only, 6 to 7 for Group 2 only.
2. Update the tax elective for the post-cut-off amendments in this phase, not in December.
3. Write two past questions after each chapter; list any you miss.

Phase 2, 16 November to 6 December (18 study days)

1. Write two full papers per subject for both groups, 14 in all, or three per subject for one group (12 for Group 1, 9 for Group 2).
2. Sit them at 2:00 pm with the 15 minutes of reading time, and mark each one the next morning against ICSI's guideline answers.

Phase 3, 7 to 20 December (12 study days)

1. Revise again in exam order, starting with the chapters on your list.
2. Stop new questions three days before your first paper and read only your own notes.

For past papers, use ICSI's previous session question papers and its guideline answers. Our post on ICSI guideline answers shows how to mark yourself with them, and our CS Professional study material guide covers which books to keep.

Revise by 15 November, write timed papers until 6 December, then revise in exam order.

How do you use the open-book electives well?

Open book helps only if you can find a provision fast. The weak elective answer I see in checked copies reproduces the section and stops there. Keep a one-page index of sections, and spend the writing time applying the provision to the facts.

If you want your mock papers checked, Gradehunt's CS Professional test series has you write by hand and upload. An ex-examiner returns each paper within 48 hours with step-wise marks and remarks. Gradehunt has checked more than 6,000 answer sheets, and your first paper is checked free.