SSC CPO Sub-Inspector: Selection Stages, Physical Test, Paper 2 and Preparation Plan

Here is the question I hear most from graduates thinking about CPO: "Should I train for the running first or study first?" The honest answer is that both are eliminators, and most people lose the seat not on the hard part they worried about but on the one they postponed. Some clear Paper 1 with a great score and fail the 1.6 km run. Others run in 6 minutes flat and never see the physical test because Paper 1 marks were short.

This guide covers the Sub-Inspector recruitment in Delhi Police and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), which SSC runs as the CPO exam. I will walk through the stages in the order you face them, and then build a plan that gives the physical and written sides their own slots in the week.

A note on sources. The 2025 notification was for 3,073 Sub-Inspector vacancies according to news reports on the release. Vacancy counts, dates and even the fee change with each cycle, so I will not lean on them. The pattern, physical standards and pay level are far more stable, and those are what I cover.

Which posts sit under this exam

The exam recruits for:

• Sub-Inspector (Executive) in Delhi Police, male and female.
• Sub-Inspector (GD) in the Central Armed Police Forces: BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP and SSB.
• Assistant Sub-Inspector (Executive) in CISF, in some cycles.

For the CAPF SI post, pay is Pay Level 6 of the 7th Pay Commission, a basic of Rs 35,400 rising to Rs 1,12,400 in the level, Group B non-gazetted. Delhi Police SI is also generally listed at Level 6. The CISF ASI post is at a lower level, so check the notification for the exact level for each post you apply to. Whichever force you land in, there is a pay difference by posting: CAPF postings in remote or high-risk areas carry additional allowances, and Delhi Police postings carry the HRA of a big metro city.

Delhi Police women SI posts are included in the exam, and there is a separate vacancy list. In CAPFs the women vacancies are fewer, and some forces reserve for women in specific numbers. Read the vacancy table in the notification instead of assuming.

Eligibility

Education. Bachelor's degree from a recognised university. Final-year students can apply provided they hold the degree by the cut-off date stated in the notification, which is normally the closing date for applications.

Age. 20 to 25 years on the cut-off date, according to the 2025 notification. For the 2025 cycle, that meant being born between August 2, 2000 and August 1, 2005. The upper limit relaxes by 5 years for SC/ST, 3 for OBC, and more for ex-servicemen and certain other categories. The lower limit of 20 is a real barrier: a 19-year-old graduate cannot apply, and you cannot simply appear early and hope.

Nationality. Indian citizen, with the standard exceptions for certain Nepali and Bhutanese nationals for specific posts.

Delhi Police extra requirement. Male candidates applying for Delhi Police SI need a valid driving licence for a light motor vehicle and two-wheeler (motorcycle/scooter) at the time of the Physical Endurance Test, or by the specified date. This surprises applicants who assumed it would come later. Check the notification for the exact deadline, because failing to hold the licence in time can cost you the Delhi Police option even after clearing every test.

Fee. Around Rs 100 in the 2025 cycle, with exemptions for women, SC, ST and eligible ex-servicemen.

The four stages

The selection has four stages, and they run in a set order.

1. Paper 1, a computer-based test.
2. Physical Standard Test (PST) and Physical Endurance Test (PET).
3. Paper 2, a computer-based English paper, for those who clear the physical stage.
4. Detailed Medical Examination (DME), and then document verification.

The order matters more than it looks. Only those who clear Paper 1's cut-off get called for the physical stage. Only those who qualify in the physical stage get to write Paper 2. And the final merit list is built from Paper 1 and Paper 2 marks combined, not from physical results, since the physical tests are qualifying. So a great run gains you nothing on the merit list. A poor run ends your candidacy.

That sets your priorities. The physical test is a gate and the written papers are the ranking. You need to be comfortably above the physical standards, and then put the rest of your effort into marks.

Paper 1

The pattern in the recent cycle: 200 multiple-choice questions, 200 marks, two hours, four sections of 50 questions each.

Section	Questions	Marks
General Intelligence and Reasoning	50	50
General Knowledge and General Awareness	50	50
Quantitative Aptitude	50	50
English Comprehension	50	50

Negative marking is 0.25 per wrong answer. It is the same shape as CGL Tier 1, but with 50 questions a section instead of 25, and 120 minutes total. Note that this is the same "four subject" structure that CGL Tier 1 uses, though the question difficulty tends to sit a little lower than CGL. If your CGL preparation is already in place, you can carry it over. For CGL patterns see /blog/ssc-cgl-complete-guide.

Two hours for 200 questions is 36 seconds per question. That is fast. A typical split for someone who is strong in reasoning and English: 25 minutes reasoning, 15 minutes GK, 45 minutes maths, 25 minutes English, and about 10 minutes at the end. Maths eats time, so many students attempt it last, and I think that is a mistake, because it gets rushed. Do reasoning first as a warm-up, then maths while you are fresh, then English, then GK last since GK is the quickest to answer or leave.

PST and PET

Physical tests are qualifying in nature. They are also unforgiving.

Physical Standard Test.

For men, minimum height is 170 cm for general candidates, with relaxation to 165 cm for hill area candidates and 162.5 cm for ST candidates, as reported for the recent cycle. Chest for men is 80 cm unexpanded with at least 5 cm expansion for general and hill candidates, and a lower figure of 77 cm for ST. Women's standard is height only: 157 cm generally, with lower values for hill areas and ST candidates. Chest is not measured for women. Weight should be proportionate to height. Standards can differ slightly between Delhi Police and the CAPFs and by category, so use the notification's table for your exact numbers.

Physical Endurance Test, male candidates.

• 100-metre race in 16 seconds.
• 1.6 km race in 6.5 minutes.
• Long jump of 3.65 metres, with three chances.
• High jump of 1.2 metres, with three chances.
• Shot put (16 lb) of 4.5 metres, with three chances.

Physical Endurance Test, female candidates.

• 100-metre race in 18 seconds.
• 800-metre race in 4 minutes.
• Long jump of 2.7 metres, with three chances.
• High jump of 0.9 metres, with three chances.

These are the standards reported for recent cycles, and they come from multiple sources rather than my own reading of the official notice. Check them against the notification before you plan, particularly the shot put weight and distance, and the qualifying time for each event.

Everything is pass or fail. You must clear every event. A 6-minute 1.6 km run does not offset a failed high jump. Because of this, weak events matter more than strong ones. Students often practise the run and skip the jumps, since the run feels like the "real" test, and then miss the high jump by one attempt.

Paper 2

Paper 2 is entirely English language and comprehension, 200 marks, two hours, as reported for the 2025 cycle. Negative marking is 0.25 per wrong answer in the pattern I found. The content includes spotting errors, cloze tests, synonyms and antonyms, idioms and phrases, sentence improvement, fill in the blanks, para jumbles, and reading comprehension.

This is the paper that decides ranking among people who all clear Paper 1. Your Paper 1 score is out of 200, and Paper 2 is another 200, so English is worth as much as the entire first paper. Plenty of students from a non-English medium background spend their year on maths and reasoning and reach Paper 2 with their English untouched, and then it becomes a lottery.

The paper is usually doable but has time pressure. Two hours for 200 questions gives you 36 seconds a question, and comprehension passages consume time. A well-trained student finishes error spotting and fill-in-the-blanks quickly, which buys time for passages. See /blog/error-spotting-rules, /blog/cloze-test-strategy, and /blog/reading-comprehension-strategy for the specific techniques.

Do check the current notification for how Paper 2 marks are counted. In some cycles the merit was calculated from the combined marks of both papers, and in others there were qualifying cut-offs applied to Paper 2 first. The notification spells out the rule.

Medical examination

Detailed Medical Examination is the last hurdle. It covers vision, colour vision, hearing, flat feet, knock knees, varicose veins and other standards. Candidates who are declared unfit can seek a review medical, which is a formal process with a time limit. If you already know you have any of these conditions, read the medical standards in the notification before you begin the year. It is bitter to lose a seat at the medical stage after two years of preparation.

Salary and life in the job

Level 6 starts at a basic of Rs 35,400. On top of that comes dearness allowance at the current rate, HRA if you are not in government accommodation, and transport allowance. Delhi Police postings add the HRA for X class city at 24 percent of basic, which is about Rs 8,500, though that can drop if the government lets you have accommodation. CAPF postings in remote areas carry a field or border allowance instead of a big HRA.

For an approximate in-hand figure: basic 35,400, DA at the prevailing rate adds a chunk that has been large in recent years, HRA adds another few thousand, and after NPS contribution and other deductions the take-home is often in the mid-forties to fifty thousand range in a metro posting. This is a rough estimate. The DA rate and the city class decide the actual figure, so treat it as a ballpark and ask a serving officer for what is accurate today.

What the salary number does not tell you is what the job demands. CAPF SI (GD) means deployment: border, counter-insurgency, election duty, disaster response. Delhi Police SI means police station work, investigation, law and order, VIP security and long shifts. Promotion in both is decent by government standards. A Delhi Police SI can rise to Inspector, and CAPF SI can reach Inspector, then Assistant Commandant through limited departmental exams. If you want a desk job, this is not it.

A worked example of Paper 1 scoring

Say you attempt 170 of 200 questions and get 140 right, so 30 are wrong. The score is 140 minus 30 x 0.25, which is 132.5. Now say you had attempted only 150 and been more careful, getting 130 right and 20 wrong. That gives 130 minus 5, or 125. The first approach wins here, but only because the accuracy was 82 percent. If your accuracy on the extra 20 questions had been 40 percent, those 20 questions would have added 8 right and 12 wrong, which is 8 minus 3, a net gain of just 5 marks for a lot of risk and time.

The rule of thumb is that a question where you can eliminate two options is worth attempting, since a one-in-two guess at 0.25 penalty is clearly positive. A question where you cannot eliminate anything is a coin-flip over four options, with an expected value of about zero, so it is a matter of time rather than marks. Use your mocks to work out your own break-even accuracy per section. Most people find they are far more accurate in reasoning and English than in GK, which means their GK attempts should be more selective.

Also decide before the exam which questions you skip on sight. Long data-based maths, dense figure-series and any comprehension passage that takes more than a minute to read should be marked and left for a second pass. Your first pass should collect all the questions that take 30 seconds or less, since those are the ones that build your base score in the first 60 minutes.

The competition

I will not quote a number of applicants because the figure varies and I cannot verify it for the latest cycle. What you can know is that lakhs of applicants apply, a fraction appear, and a much smaller number clear Paper 1 and the physical test. The physical stage filters out a significant fraction of those who clear Paper 1. Being physically ready gives you an edge.

A useful way to think about the exam: it is CGL Tier 1 written in a smaller window, then a physical test, then an English paper. So if you are already preparing for CGL, CPO is a natural add-on rather than a separate exam, and many students prepare for both. See /blog/preparing-two-exams-together for how to split the time. The extra work for CPO is physical fitness, plus Paper 2 English at depth.

A weekly plan that includes running

The plan is for someone with a full day free who can put in 5 to 6 hours of study and about an hour and a half of training. If you are working, cut the study hours and keep the training, since fitness takes long to build and fades fast.

Physical training, 5 to 6 days a week.

• Three days a week: running. One day a 1.6 km time trial, one day interval work (for example 6 x 200 metres with a 90-second walk between), one day a longer steady run of 3 to 4 km. The goal for men is a 1.6 km in about 6 minutes flat in training, so the 6.5 minutes in the exam is comfortable. For women, 800 metres in about 3 minutes 40 seconds.
• Two days a week: jumps and shot put. Long jump and high jump technique is worth learning from someone who knows it, because form matters more than power. If you cannot find a coach, watch instructional videos and practise on a proper sand pit. Shot put: many people fail by a small margin, and the fix is technique, not strength.
• One day: rest. Real rest, since injury ends more candidacies than laziness.

Get a proper pair of running shoes and do not start hard interval work in the first two weeks. Build a base first.

Study, 5 to 6 hours.

• Maths 1.5 hours, one topic at a time and then mixed timed sets.
• Reasoning 1 hour, mostly practice.
• English 1.5 to 2 hours. Grammar rules, vocabulary and one passage a day. This is the block that most people cut when they are tired, so schedule it first and let the others flex.
• GK 45 minutes, with the last 15 minutes on current affairs.

Sundays. A full-length Paper 1 mock, then two hours of analysis. Every two weeks, an English-only paper in the Paper 2 format. Pareeksha's mock tests at /mock-tests have full-length papers, and after each one the percentile shows where you stand against other candidates, which is more useful than a raw score.

Nine mistakes I see repeatedly

1. Starting physical training only after the Paper 1 result. The gap can be short.
2. Practising only running. Jumps and shot put fail people.
3. Skipping English because "Paper 1 is more important". Paper 2 is worth the same marks.
4. Ignoring the driving licence requirement for Delhi Police male candidates.
5. Treating negative marking lightly. At 0.25 per wrong answer, 60 wrong answers cost you 15 marks.
6. Over-relying on last-year cut-offs. They move with difficulty and vacancies.
7. Not checking eyesight and medical standards early.
8. Filling the form with wrong category details. Category certificates are verified at document verification.
9. Skipping the medical review process if declared unfit. It exists for a reason, and you should know the timeline.

Should you choose CPO over CGL

They are different jobs. CGL is mostly desk-based, with postings in tax, audit, statistical and secretariat offices. CPO is uniformed and field-oriented. Salary at entry is comparable, since many CGL posts are at Levels 6 to 8, and the working life is very different. If you love the idea of the uniform and physical work, CPO is worth the extra preparation. If you are doing it because it is a government job, and you dislike physical work or shift duty, think again. For a comparison of the SSC posts by salary and lifestyle, see /blog/ssc-cgl-posts-ranked-salary-perks, and for physical preparation across exams see /blog/ssc-gd-cpo-pst-pet-preparation.

What to do this week

Measure your height and chest against the standards. Then run 1.6 km as fast as you can, without warming up, and note the time. That one number tells you how much physical work you need. Then take a full-length Paper 1 mock to see where the written side stands. If the run is close and the mock is far, your priorities are obvious.

FAQ

Is the physical test marked? No. PST and PET are qualifying. You must clear every event, but your performance does not add to the merit list.

Do I have to be graduate to apply? Yes, a bachelor's degree in any stream from a recognised university. Final-year students can apply if they will hold the degree by the cut-off date in the notification.

Can a 19-year-old apply? Not in the recent cycle. The minimum age was 20 on the cut-off date.

Is there any interview? No. Selection is by Paper 1, PST/PET, Paper 2, medical and document verification.

Do CAPF and Delhi Police have different physical standards? There are slight differences in some cycles, including the driving licence requirement for Delhi Police male candidates. Use the table in the notification for your own category and post.

Is Level 6 pay the same across forces? Basic pay is the same at Level 6. Allowances differ by posting, so the take-home varies.