Delhi Police HC Ministerial: Pattern, Typing, Computer Test

Most SSC aspirants prepare for one exam. Delhi Police Head Constable (Ministerial) asks you to clear four different things: a 100-question computer-based test, a physical test, a typing test that adds marks to your score, and a computer formatting test that you can fail even after a good written score. People who only solve reasoning and maths papers often get stuck at the skill stages. This guide covers the whole journey, stage by stage, and then gives you a 60-day plan that treats typing and MS Office as seriously as the CBT.

This post is about the Head Constable (Ministerial) post only. It is a desk-job cadre in Delhi Police, recruited by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), and it has its own tests. Do not confuse it with the Constable (Executive) exam, which has a different pattern and different priorities.

Delhi Police HC Ministerial at a glance

The details below come from coverage of the latest cycle (SSC notice dated 29 September 2025, CBT held in January 2026). Pattern and standards can change between cycles, so always read the current SSC notice before you apply.

Item	Detail
Conducting body	Staff Selection Commission, for Delhi Police
Post	Head Constable (Ministerial), Group C
Vacancies (2025 cycle)	509 reported (341 male, 168 female). Check the latest notification for any change.
Pay level	Level 4, Rs 25,500 to Rs 81,100 (basic pay scale)
Education	10+2 (Senior Secondary) from a recognised board
Age	18 to 25 years (as on 1 July 2025 in the last cycle), with category relaxations
Typing requirement	30 wpm in English or 25 wpm in Hindi, on computer
Stages	CBT (100 marks), PE&MT (qualifying), Typing Test (25 marks), Computer Formatting Test (qualifying), document verification and medical
Final merit	CBT plus typing test, out of 125 marks
Application fee	Rs 100, with exemptions for women, SC, ST, PwBD and eligible ex-servicemen (check the notice for the exact list)

Eligibility in detail

Nationality and education

You must be an Indian citizen with a 10+2 pass certificate from a recognised board. The qualification should be held by the cut-off date given in the notice. If your result is awaited, check the notice carefully before you apply, because SSC usually specifies the date by which the certificate must be in hand.

Age limit and relaxation

The upper limit in the last cycle was 25 years, and candidates born between 2 July 2000 and 1 July 2007 were eligible. Relaxations reported for the cycle include 5 years for SC and ST, 3 years for OBC, and ex-servicemen relaxation after deducting military service. Delhi Police departmental candidates and some categories of women get higher relaxations. These rules are long and category-specific, so read the age relaxation table in the official notice rather than relying on any summary, including this one.

The typing condition

This is the clause that surprises people. The notice asks for typing speed of 30 words per minute in English or 25 words per minute in Hindi on a computer. It is part of eligibility as well as a stage of the test. If you cannot type at that speed, even a top CBT score will not save your candidature.

Physical standards

Reported standards are a minimum height of 165 cm for men with a chest of 78 to 82 cm (with expansion), and a minimum height of 157 cm for women. Relaxations apply for notified categories. Confirm these in the notice, since physical standards are a common reason for rejection.

Selection process: the four hurdles

The selection moves in stages, and the order matters for planning.

1. Computer Based Test (100 marks). This decides who is called for the next stages.
2. Physical Endurance and Measurement Test (qualifying). Race, long jump and high jump, plus measurements. No marks are added to merit.
3. Typing Test on computer (25 marks). This one counts in the final merit.
4. Computer (Formatting) Test (qualifying). Common with the AWO/TPO posts. It does not add marks but you must clear it.

After these, document verification and a medical examination follow. The final merit list is built from the CBT marks plus the typing marks, which together make 125. This is why typing practice is not optional: a good typist can gain a real margin over someone with the same CBT score.

CBT pattern

The written test is one objective paper, bilingual (English and Hindi, except the English section), with 100 questions for 100 marks in 90 minutes. Each correct answer carries 1 mark. Most coverage of the latest cycle reports a deduction of 0.25 marks per wrong answer. A few websites mention 0.50, so treat the negative marking as something to confirm in the current notice.

The section split reported by most sources is below. One major coaching site lists a slightly different split (General Awareness 20, General Science 25, Mathematics 25, Reasoning 20, Computer 10), so check the notice for the exact break-up of your cycle.

Section	Questions	Marks
General Awareness	20	20
Quantitative Aptitude	20	20
General Intelligence and Reasoning	25	25
English Language	25	25
Computer Fundamentals	10	10
Total	100	100

The qualifying percentage in the CBT has been reported as 40 percent for General and EWS, 35 percent for SC, ST and OBC, and 30 percent for PwBD and ex-servicemen. This comes from a single coaching source, so verify it in the notice.

Notice that the paper does not have a separate sectional time limit. You decide how to spread 90 minutes across five sections. That makes time management a skill you must practise in mocks.

Syllabus, section by section

General Awareness (20 questions)

Expect Indian history, geography, polity and Constitution, basic economy, general science, culture, awards, books and authors, important days, and current affairs from roughly the last six to twelve months. Since the post is in Delhi Police, keep an eye on Delhi-related news and policing or law-and-order developments, though the paper is general in nature.

Quantitative Aptitude (20 questions)

Number system, percentages, ratio and proportion, averages, profit and loss, simple and compound interest, time and work, time, speed and distance, algebra, geometry, mensuration, basic trigonometry and data interpretation. The level is comparable to the 10+2 SSC exams, so speed on arithmetic matters more than advanced tricks.

General Intelligence and Reasoning (25 questions)

Analogy, classification, series, coding-decoding, Venn diagrams, blood relations, directions, ranking, syllogism, pattern completion, paper folding, embedded figures and basic problem solving. This is the second-largest section and the most scoring one for a prepared candidate.

English Language (25 questions)

Reading comprehension, cloze test, error spotting, sentence improvement, synonyms and antonyms, idioms and phrases, one-word substitution, fill in the blanks and para jumbles. With 25 questions, English is as big as reasoning. Do not leave it for the last month.

Computer Fundamentals (10 questions)

Parts of a computer, input and output devices, memory and storage units, operating system basics, MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint features and shortcuts, internet and email, networking basics, common abbreviations and computer security. These 10 marks are the easiest in the paper, and the same knowledge helps in the formatting test later.

The typing test

The typing test is conducted on a computer, lasts 10 minutes and carries 25 marks. The minimum is 30 wpm in English or 25 wpm in Hindi. Marks are awarded on the basis of the speed you achieve, which means that speed above the minimum earns more marks. The exact conversion table from speed to marks should be read from the official notice, because third-party tables vary and I could not confirm one from an official document.

How to think about the typing standard

• The minimum is a cut-off, not a target. Plan to type comfortably above it, with accuracy, so that nerves on the day do not take you below the line.
• Speed is usually measured in words, where one word is counted as five key depressions. Errors reduce your net speed, so accuracy is part of the speed score.
• Choose one language and stay with it. Choosing English or Hindi is a strategic decision. Pick the one in which you can reach a higher stable speed within your preparation window.
• If you choose Hindi, find out which keyboard layout the test supports (some coverage mentions Remington Gail and Inscript) and practise on exactly that layout. Check the notice or the SSC mock interface before you decide.

Common typing disqualifiers

• Net speed below the minimum on the day.
• Typing a different passage section or skipping lines, which adds many full-word mistakes.
• Ignoring capital letters, punctuation and spacing, which are counted as mistakes in most SSC typing tests.
• Switching keyboard layouts during practice and not being ready for the exam layout.

The computer formatting test

This stage is qualifying and is shared with the AWO/TPO posts. Reported details: a duration of about 10 minutes, a task based on MS Word, MS PowerPoint and MS Excel, and the candidate must format a document as instructed in a given handout and then print it. One coaching site reports 20 formatting features with a pass mark of 6 out of 10, but I could not confirm that from an official document, so treat it as indicative and check the notice.

What to practise

• MS Word: font style, size and colour, bold, italic, underline, alignment, line spacing, paragraph indents, bullets and numbering, page margins, page orientation, headers and footers, page numbers, tables, borders and shading, find and replace, and print preview.
• MS Excel: cell formatting, number formats, merge and centre, column width and row height, borders, basic formulas such as SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX and COUNT, sorting, simple charts and print settings.
• MS PowerPoint: slide layouts, text formatting, bullets, slide transitions, simple animations, inserting a picture or shape, and slide numbering.
• Printing: setting the print area, the number of copies and the orientation. Since the handout must be matched and printed, knowing the print dialog saves time.

The key habit is reading the handout carefully and doing each instruction exactly. Many candidates know the feature but format one item differently from the handout, and lose marks for it.

PE&MT: does it apply to the ministerial cadre?

Yes. Even though the work is clerical, the Delhi Police Head Constable (Ministerial) selection includes a Physical Endurance and Measurement Test. It is qualifying only, so it carries no marks in the merit list, but failing it ends your candidature. Persons with disability are reported to be exempt from the race and jumps; confirm this in the notice if it applies to you.

The standards reported by several coaching sources for the ministerial posts are given below. They match the general Delhi Police pattern, but verify them in the current notice.

Category	Race	Long jump	High jump
Male, up to 30 years	1600 m in 7 minutes	12.5 feet	3 ft 6 in
Male, 30 to 40 years	1600 m in 8 minutes	11.5 feet	3 ft 3 in
Male, above 40 years	1600 m in 9 minutes	10.5 feet	3 ft
Female, up to 30 years	800 m in 5 minutes	9 feet	3 ft
Female, 30 to 40 years	800 m in 6 minutes	8 feet	2 ft 6 in
Female, above 40 years	800 m in 7 minutes	7 feet	2 ft 3 in

Most candidates for this post are under 30, so the first row for each gender is what you will face. Start light running early. A 1600 m run in 7 minutes needs a pace of roughly 4 minutes 22 seconds per kilometre, which is comfortable for someone who runs regularly but hard for someone who has never trained. Do not wait for the CBT result to begin, because the gap between stages can be short.

Pay level and what it means

The post is in Pay Level 4 of the 7th Pay Commission matrix, with a basic pay scale of Rs 25,500 to Rs 81,100. This is Group C. Allowances such as dearness allowance, house rent allowance and transport allowance are added on top, and they depend on rules and city classification at the time. Some websites quote an approximate in-hand salary in the mid-thirties of thousands per month at the start, but treat that as a rough estimate rather than an official figure.

Cut-off trends: what I can and cannot say

Cut-offs for this post change with the number of vacancies, the difficulty of the paper and the number of applicants. I could not verify official category-wise cut-off marks from SSC documents, and some figures circulating on coaching sites differ from each other. So this guide does not give a cut-off table. When you review past cut-offs, use only the official result notice published by SSC for the specific year, and look at both male and female lists, since the vacancies and cut-offs are separate.

A sensible planning approach, which is my suggestion and not an official rule, is to aim for a CBT score in the top range you can reach with low negative marks, and to treat the typing marks as a way to pull ahead of candidates with a similar score.

Section-wise strategy for the CBT

Suggested time split

This is a planning suggestion. In a 90-minute paper, one workable split is: Computer Fundamentals 5 minutes, General Awareness 8 minutes, English 20 minutes, Reasoning 22 minutes, Quantitative Aptitude 25 minutes, and 10 minutes for review and unattempted questions. Adjust it after five or six mocks, once you know your own strengths.

Order of attempt

1. Start with Computer and General Awareness. They are fact-based, quick and do not eat time.
2. Move to English. Do vocabulary and error-spotting first and leave long comprehension passages for later in the section.
3. Do reasoning next, picking the series, coding and classification questions first.
4. Do maths last, because calculation-heavy questions can drain time. Attempt the simple ones first.

Handling negative marking

With a deduction of 0.25 per wrong answer (confirm in the notice), a blind guess has a slightly negative expected value, but an educated guess after eliminating two options is usually worth it. Do not leave easy questions blank, and do not guess on a question where you cannot remove any option.

Section tips

• General Awareness: revise static topics from short notes and read a monthly current affairs compilation. Make a separate page for awards, important days and appointments.
• Quant: master percentages, ratio, average, profit and loss and time and work first, because they reappear in data interpretation and in many other chapters.
• Reasoning: practise by type, then move to mixed sets. Accuracy matters more than the number attempted.
• English: read an editorial daily and keep a vocabulary notebook. Practise at least one comprehension passage a day.
• Computer: learn the shortcuts and the Word, Excel and PowerPoint tabs by actually using them. This doubles as preparation for the formatting test.

60-day study plan including typing and MS Office

This plan assumes about four hours a day on the CBT plus 45 to 60 minutes of typing, and that you already have a basic idea of the syllabus. Change the balance if your typing is weak or your maths is weak. It is a suggestion, not an official schedule.

Days 1 to 15: foundation

• Take one full-length mock on day 1 to know your starting point. Do not worry about the score.
• Quant: number system, percentages, ratio, average, profit and loss.
• Reasoning: analogy, classification, series, coding-decoding.
• English: parts of speech, tenses, subject-verb agreement, daily vocabulary.
• GA: Indian polity and Constitution, basics of history.
• Typing: learn proper finger placement. Practise 30 minutes of drills and 20 minutes of paragraph typing daily with accuracy as the only goal.
• MS Office: spend 20 minutes on Word basics, such as fonts, alignment and spacing.
• Fitness: three easy runs a week plus jump practice twice a week.

Days 16 to 30: build speed

• Quant: time and work, time and distance, interest, algebra, geometry.
• Reasoning: blood relation, direction, ranking, Venn diagram, syllogism.
• English: error spotting, sentence improvement, cloze test, idioms.
• GA: geography, economy, general science.
• Typing: take a timed 10-minute test every second day. Track your net speed and mistakes in a notebook. Aim to cross the minimum standard comfortably by day 30.
• MS Office: Excel formatting, number formats, basic formulas and printing. Make a one-page checklist of every formatting command you learn.
• Take a sectional test every two days and one full mock each week.

Days 31 to 45: mock phase

• Take a full mock every alternate day and spend at least as long analysing it as taking it.
• Revise weak chapters from your error notebook.
• Start a current affairs revision, covering the last six to twelve months.
• Typing: practise with passages including capitals, punctuation and numbers, and work on keeping a steady rhythm instead of bursts.
• MS Office: simulate the formatting test. Print a sample document with mixed formatting, then try to recreate it from the printout in 10 minutes. Repeat with a PowerPoint slide and an Excel sheet.
• Fitness: one timed 1600 m (or 800 m) run a week, and measure your long jump and high jump.

Days 46 to 60: polish

• Full mock daily or on alternate days, with strict timing and the section order you plan to use.
• Revise formulas, vocabulary, important dates and your error notebook.
• Typing: one test every day in exam conditions, on the same keyboard type if possible. Do not try radical technique changes in the last week.
• MS Office: two full formatting simulations a week.
• Prepare documents and photographs, so that nothing is left for the last day.
• Sleep well in the last three days and avoid new topics.

Document verification

Document verification comes after the skill and physical stages, and the exact list is given in the notice and on your call letter. Common documents to keep ready for an SSC post of this kind are listed below. Use this as a checklist and compare it with the official list.

• Admit card or call letter and the SSC registration details.
• Class 10 certificate or equivalent as proof of date of birth.
• Class 12 certificate and marksheet, as proof of the educational qualification.
• Photo identity proof, such as Aadhaar, voter ID or passport.
• Caste or category certificate in the prescribed format, for SC, ST or OBC claims, along with the non-creamy layer certificate for OBC where required.
• EWS certificate, disability certificate, ex-servicemen documents or other claim documents, if you are using a relaxation or reservation.
• Recent passport-size photographs.

Name, date of birth and category should be the same across all documents and your application. A mismatch should be fixed well before the verification stage. Delhi Police also conducts a character and antecedent verification for appointment, so declare all required information honestly in your forms. Concealing details is a common reason for cancellation.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Ignoring typing until the CBT result is out. The gap between stages can be short.
• Typing only for speed and never checking accuracy.
• Assuming the formatting test is easy because you use a phone every day. Mobile habits do not teach you Word, Excel and PowerPoint menus.
• Skipping physical practice because the post is a desk job.
• Relying on one coaching website for pattern details instead of the SSC notice.
• Leaving English for later, even though it has as many questions as reasoning.
• Not taking mocks in the exact section order you plan to follow on exam day.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Delhi Police Head Constable (Ministerial) exam conducted by SSC? Yes. SSC conducts the recruitment for Delhi Police. The notice, application and results appear on the SSC website.

What is the minimum typing speed required? 30 words per minute in English or 25 words per minute in Hindi, on a computer. The test lasts 10 minutes.

Do typing marks count in the final merit? Yes. The typing test is for 25 marks and is added to the 100 CBT marks, giving 125 marks in total.

Is the computer formatting test qualifying? Yes. It carries no marks in merit but you must clear it. It covers MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel formatting based on a handout.

Is PE&MT applicable for the ministerial post? Yes. It is a qualifying stage with a race, long jump and high jump, plus measurement standards. Disability exemptions are given as per the notice.

What is the CBT pattern? One paper of 100 objective questions for 100 marks in 90 minutes, covering General Awareness, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning, English and Computer Fundamentals. Check the notice for the latest section split and negative marking, which is reported as 0.25 per wrong answer.

What is the pay level? Pay Level 4, with a basic pay scale of Rs 25,500 to Rs 81,100, plus allowances.

What is the age limit? 18 to 25 years in the last cycle, with relaxation for reserved categories and other groups as per the notice.

Can I choose Hindi typing if I studied in English medium? The notice allows either English or Hindi typing. Choose the language where you can reach the higher stable speed, and practise on the layout the exam supports.

How is this exam different from the Delhi Police Constable exam? The Constable post is an executive role with a different test structure. The Head Constable (Ministerial) post is a clerical role with a typing test and a computer formatting test as extra stages.

Final word

This exam rewards candidates who prepare for the whole process, not only the written test. Fix a daily typing slot, practise MS Office hands-on, and keep up light physical training from the first week. For the CBT, take full-length mocks and sectional tests on Pareeksha, analyse every error, and build the section order and timing that suits you before exam day. Always rely on the latest official notification for the final word on pattern, standards and dates.