SSC CPO 2026: Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Physical Standards, Eligibility, Dates and Preparation

SSC CPO at a glance

All facts on this page are as per the Staff Selection Commission's notice of the Sub-Inspector in Delhi Police and Central Armed Police Forces Examination, 2026 (F. No. E/37/2026-C-2), uploaded on ssc.gov.in on 10 September 2026, and the Commission's tentative calendar of examinations for 2026-27.

Selection process

1. Online application through One Time Registration on ssc.gov.in or the mySSC app. For CPO 2026 the window is 10 to 30 September 2026, with fee payment till 1 October and a correction window from 8 to 10 October 2026.
2. Paper-I, a one-hour Computer Based Examination of 100 questions. On Paper-I marks, with NCC bonus where applicable, candidates are shortlisted category-wise for PST/PET. The Commission may fix different cut-offs for each part of Paper-I.
3. Physical Standard Test and Physical Endurance Test, conducted by the CAPFs. Both are qualifying: height, chest and weight are measured, and the race, long jump, high jump and shot put events are held. Ex-Servicemen skip the PET but must clear the PST.
4. Paper-II, a two-hour Computer Based Examination of 160 questions, only for candidates who qualify PST/PET. Its four parts include General Knowledge and General Awareness.
5. Detailed Medical Examination for candidates shortlisted on Paper-II marks, with a Review Medical Examination for those found unfit, preferably on the next day. Document Verification is done by the CAPFs, preferably along with the DME.
6. Post and force preference through an online option form after the Paper-II result. Options are final, and a candidate who does not opt for a post is not considered for it.
7. Final selection and allocation of post and force on Paper-II performance (with NCC bonus) and the preferences given. Once the first available preference is allotted, the other options are not considered.

Minimum qualifying marks in Paper-I and Paper-II, before adding NCC bonus, are 30% for UR, 25% for OBC and EWS and 20% for all other categories. NCC certificate holders get bonus marks in each paper: 5% of the maximum marks for the 'C' certificate, 3% for 'B' and 2% for 'A'. Marks of a paper held in several shifts are normalised by the Commission's procedure of 2 June 2025. Tentative answer keys can be challenged online at ₹50 per question. Ties are broken by total marks in Paper-II, then marks in English in Paper-II, then date of birth with the older candidate first, then alphabetical order of names.

Exam pattern

Paper-I (Computer Based Examination)

Each question carries 1 mark and each wrong answer costs 0.25 mark. Each part has its own 15-minute timer. Parts I, II and III are set in Hindi and English; Part IV is in English only.

Paper-II (Computer Based Examination)

Each question carries 2 marks and each wrong answer costs 0.50 mark. Parts I to III run in one hour with a 20-minute timer per part, and Part IV runs in a separate hour. The notice says the difficulty level of Paper-II is higher than that of Paper-I. Paper-II marks alone decide the final merit.

What changed from the 2025 cycle

The CPO 2025 notice had a two-hour Paper-I of 200 questions and 200 marks (50 per part, 30 minutes each) and a Paper-II of English Language and Comprehension only, 200 questions and 200 marks in two hours, with 0.25 negative marking in both papers. The 2026 notice halves Paper-I to 100 questions in one hour, adds Reasoning, General Knowledge and General Awareness and Quantitative Aptitude to Paper-II, and doubles the penalty in Paper-II to 0.50 mark. General Awareness now counts in the final merit through the 40 marks of Part II of Paper-II, which it did not under the 2025 scheme.

General Knowledge and General Awareness syllabus

General Knowledge and General Awareness is Part II of both papers: 25 questions for 25 marks in Paper-I and 20 questions for 40 marks in Paper-II. The CPO 2026 notice gives one indicative syllabus for both papers.

• General awareness of the environment around the candidate and its application to society
• Current events
• Matters of everyday observation and experience in their scientific aspect, as expected of an educated person
• India and its neighbouring countries: History
• Culture
• Geography
• Economic Scene
• General Polity and the Indian Constitution
• Scientific Research

GK24's content follows the same heads. The GK notes for SSC CPO cover Indian Polity and the Constitution, Ancient, Medieval and Modern History, Art and Culture, Indian and World Geography, the Indian Economy and General Science topic by topic. The daily current affairs cover current events from official releases, and the SSC CPO quizzes and previous-year questions test both.

Guidance, not from the notice: in SSC papers of this level most General Awareness questions are static, with Polity, History, Geography and Science taking the largest shares and Economy and current affairs the rest. Current-affairs questions usually come from the year before the exam: appointments, awards, sports, schemes, defence exercises, reports and summits. For a police recruitment it is sensible to also know the CAPFs themselves, their raising years and headquarters, and the constitutional provisions on police and public order.

Physical standards

PST and PET carry no marks and are qualifying. They are held after Paper-I for the shortlisted candidates. Weight must correspond to height for all posts. There is no minimum chest measurement for women.

Height and chest for SI in Delhi Police

Height and chest for SI (GD) in CAPFs

Height and chest for SI (Fire) in CISF (male only)

Physical Endurance Test

Relaxation in height and chest is allowed only on a certificate in the notice's Annexure-VIII format from the district authority. A candidate declared not qualified in height or chest may appeal to the appellate authority present on the ground the same day. Ex-Servicemen do not take the PET but must meet the physical standards. Women submit a self-declaration about pregnancy before the PST/PET.

Eligibility and age limit

Nationality

A candidate must be a citizen of India, or a subject of Nepal or Bhutan holding a certificate of eligibility issued by the Government of India.

Educational qualification (as on 30 September 2026)

Candidates who have appeared in the final degree examination may apply, but the result must be declared by 30 September 2026. Male candidates for Sub-Inspector in Delhi Police must hold a valid driving licence for LMV (motorcycle and car) on the date of the PE&MT; male candidates without it are eligible for the CAPF posts only. No extra marks are given for sports certificates.

Age limit (as on 1 August 2026)

Upper age relaxation: 5 years for SC and ST, 3 years for OBC, and 3 years after deducting military service for Ex-Servicemen. For Sub-Inspector in Delhi Police, widows, divorced women and women judicially separated who have not remarried may apply up to 35 years (40 for SC/ST). Departmental candidates of Delhi Police (Constables, Head Constables and Assistant Sub-Inspectors with three years' regular service) may apply for Sub-Inspector (Executive) Male up to 30 years (33 for OBC, 35 for SC/ST). The date of birth in the Matriculation certificate is final.

Medical standards

Candidates who qualify Paper-II are examined by a CAPF medical officer. Near vision must be N6 in the better eye and N9 in the worse eye, and distant vision 6/6 and 6/9, without glasses or any corrective surgery. Knock knee, flat foot, varicose veins and squint disqualify, and high colour vision is required. Tattoos are allowed only for religious symbols or names, on the inner left forearm or the back of the hands, and smaller than a quarter of that part.

Important dates

As of 2 November 2026 the Computer Based Examination of CPO 2026 is proposed for 23 to 28 November 2026. The notice of 10 September 2026 had left the schedule "to be notified later", the Commission's Important Notice of 1 October 2026 proposed 20 to 28 November 2026, and its corrigendum of 26 October 2026 revised the start to 23 November 2026; the Commission calls the dates proposed, so they can change, and any change is announced only on ssc.gov.in. Exam city details go up on the regional office websites about 10 days before the exam and admission certificates 2 to 3 days before. Candidates choose three centres within one SSC region, and the choice cannot be changed later. Candidates without Aadhaar-based authentication report two hours before the exam with two photographs and a photo ID.

How to prepare General Awareness for SSC CPO

General Awareness is worth 25 marks in Paper-I and 40 marks in Paper-II under the 2026 scheme, and the Paper-II marks decide the final rank. With 15 minutes for 25 questions and 20 minutes for 20, the part rewards recall, not working out.

1. Cover static GK first. Read the GK24 GK notes for SSC CPO topic by topic: Polity and the Constitution, Modern History, Geography, Economy, Ancient and Medieval History, Art and Culture and General Science. Finish one pass before Paper-I and a second before Paper-II.
2. Read the daily current affairs. GK24 writes them from official releases in English and Hindi. Cover the 12 months before Paper-I and keep monthly notes; Paper-II will need the months between the two papers as well.
3. Solve SSC CPO previous-year questions. They show which facts SSC repeats and the level of detail it wants in each area.
4. Take timed quizzes. Practise 25 questions in 15 minutes and 20 in 20, and learn to leave a question you do not know, because a wrong answer costs 0.25 mark in Paper-I and 0.50 mark in Paper-II.
5. Train for the PET in parallel. The 100-metre and 1.6-km timings and the jumps need weeks of practice, and a good Paper-I score is wasted if the PET is failed.

Posts and pay

Force-wise SI (GD) vacancies in the notice: BSF 457, CRPF 254, CISF 250, ITBP 187 and SSB 172. All posts except Sub-Inspector in Delhi Police carry All India Service Liability. Selected candidates are on probation for two years and must pass seven obstacle events during training: the vertical board, holding the rope on jumping from the board, the Tarzan swing, the horizontal board, the parallel rope, the monkey crawl and the vertical rope. The pay scale is the basic pay of the level; allowances depend on the force and the posting.