Delhi Police Head Constable Syllabus, Exam Pattern

Computer based exam: 90 minutes, 100 marks

• Objective, Hindi and English only, at centres across India.
• 0.25 deducted per wrong answer.
• No scribe for PwBD candidates.
• Marks are normalised by SSC's formula of 2 June 2025; cut-offs are on normalised scores.

The four stages

The typing test

10 minutes on a printed passage of at least 400 words or 2,000 strokes in English, or 350 words or 1,750 strokes in Hindi. Typing stops at ten minutes.

A bare pass and a fast typist are 15 marks apart on a merit total of 125.

Qualifying marks in the written exam

Candidates within twenty times the vacancies in each category go to the PE&MT. Ties go to the older candidate, then alphabetical order of first names.

From Para 16 of the 2025 notice.

Part-A: General Awareness (20)

General awareness of the environment and its application to society; current events; everyday science as an educated person would know it. Questions on India and its neighbours, especially History, Culture, Geography, Economy, Polity, the Constitution and Scientific Research.

Part-B: Quantitative Aptitude, "Basic Arithmetic Skill" (20)

The title undersells it.

Part-C: General Intelligence (25)

Verbal and non-verbal: analogies, similarities and differences, space visualisation, spatial orientation, problem solving, judgement, decision making, visual memory, discrimination, observation, relationship concepts, arithmetical reasoning, figural classification, number and non-verbal series, coding and decoding, statement conclusion and syllogistic reasoning.

Also named: semantic, symbolic, number and figural analogy, classification and series; word building; numerical and symbolic operations; trends; Venn diagrams; drawing inferences; punched hole and pattern folding and unfolding; figural pattern folding and completion; indexing; address matching; date and city matching; classification of centre codes and roll numbers; small and capital letter and number coding; embedded figures; critical thinking; emotional intelligence; and social intelligence.

Part-D: English Language (25)

Spot the error; fill in the blanks; synonyms and homonyms; antonyms; spellings; idioms and phrases; one-word substitution; sentence improvement; active and passive voice; direct and indirect narration; shuffling of sentence parts and of sentences in a passage; cloze passage; comprehension.

Part-E: Computer Fundamentals (10)

1. Word processing: basics, opening and closing documents, text creation, formatting and presentation
2. MS Excel: spreadsheet elements, editing cells, functions and formulas
3. Communication: email basics, sending and receiving
4. Internet, WWW and Web Browsers: internet services, URL, HTTP, FTP, websites, blogs, browsers, search engines, chat, video conferencing, e-banking

The same ground is tested again, hands-on, in the Computer (Formatting) Test.

Nationality

Citizen of India.

Age as on 1 July 2025: 18 to 25

Born not before 2 July 2000 and not later than 1 July 2007.

Qualification, by the closing date

• 10+2 pass from a recognised Board, any subjects.
• Typing at 30 w.p.m. in English OR 25 w.p.m. in Hindi. One language is enough.

The result must be declared by the closing date; a Board merely processing it doesn't count. Original mark sheets are checked at DV, and the Delhi Police cancels candidature if they're missing.

Open and Distance Learning qualifications from central, state or deemed universities (Section 3 of the UGC Act 1956) and Institutions of National Importance count, under the notification of 10 June 2015, if approved by the UGC's Distance Education Bureau for the period you studied.

Persons with Benchmark Disabilities

Only locomotor disability of 40 per cent and above, one leg (OL) or both legs (BL). Certificate held when applying. Posts are civilian, no uniform. No PE&MT, but DV is required. No scribe.

Physical standards

The 5 cm relaxation covers hill-area residents (with a certificate from the DC, DM, SDM or Tehsildar), ST candidates, and children of serving, retired or deceased Delhi Police personnel and Multi-Tasking Staff.

Medical

Sound health, no defect, deformity or disease. Vision 6/12 in both eyes, with or without glasses, with no relaxation for any category.

Category certificates

SC, ST, OBC, EWS, PwBD and ESM certificates must be in the formats annexed to the notice, or the claim fails and you're treated as Unreserved. Disability certificates under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 are also accepted. OBC follows the Central List (a Government of NCT of Delhi certificate is fine), with the creamy layer judged on the closing date.

Who does what

The recruitment runs under the Delhi Police's Recruitment Scheme and Standing Order and an MoU with SSC.

Court cases, RTI and grievances about anything except the written exam and its shortlisting go to the Delhi Police, as does malpractice at its stages.

Physical Endurance Test (qualifying)

Race first; those who pass go on to the long jump and high jump, three chances each.

There's no appeal against failing the race, long jump or high jump, and an earlier disqualification in this exam stands even if you reappear and pass. Height and chest, measured only after the endurance test, can be appealed, and are re-measured the same day; nothing is heard later.

A woman who is pregnant, or within six months of a delivery or 45 days of a miscarriage, is declared temporarily unfit; her result is sealed and the vacancy held, and she's re-tested six weeks after the confinement ends with a fitness certificate.

Typing and formatting

PE&MT qualifiers, and PwBD candidates who pass the written exam, sit the typing test (scored, see Exam Pattern). The Computer (Formatting) Test is qualifying, on twenty operations: insert chart or graph, wrap text, merge cells, centre a text, centre align as text, orientation of text, bold, underline, italics, insert header, format cell as rupee, insert clipart, font size, font style, font colour, insert footer, sort data, insert formula, insert shapes, and format cell as number and decimal places. Mostly spreadsheet work.

The final list

Category-wise, on the written exam (100), typing (25) and any bonus marks. SC, ST and OBC candidates selected without relaxed standards take unreserved seats; an EWS candidate selected on merit doesn't count against the EWS quota.

SSC also prepares a 15 per cent reserve panel, category-wise, handed to the Delhi Police in a sealed cover and not published. The Delhi Police runs it; SSC takes no grievances about it.

Selection is provisional until police verification and the medical. Concealment found after joining means action under Standing Order No. HRD/12/2025: repaying training costs, debarment from the Delhi Police and legal action.

₹25,500 is entry basic pay, not take-home. Add DA, HRA at the Delhi rate, Transport Allowance and Delhi Police allowances; NPS and health scheme contributions come off.

The posting is the Delhi Police, and every stage after the written exam is held in Delhi. It's the clerical stream, hence the English and computer sections, the clerical reasoning topics, and the scored typing test.

10 per cent of vacancies go to ex-servicemen (CAPF personnel can't apply as ex-servicemen). In the revised 2025 figures, ex-servicemen posts exist only for men.

Apply online only on ssc.gov.in; a parallel notice appears on delhipolice.gov.in. Toll-free helpline: 180 030 930 63.

Fee

₹100. Women, SC, ST, PwBD and eligible ex-servicemen pay nothing. Pay online by BHIM UPI, net banking, or Visa, MasterCard, Maestro or RuPay debit card. Check 'Payment Status' in your login: an unpaid form shows 'Incomplete' and is rejected. No refunds.

Before you apply

• Pick your typing language and practise in it.
• PwBD: hold the certificate already.
• Category certificates must be in the notice's formats; you'll produce them at the PE&MT or skill tests.

Correction is a charged three-day window. False SC, ST, OBC, EWS, PwBD or ESM claims get you debarred from SSC exams.

The employer is the Delhi Police; SSC runs the written stage (who does what is under Selection Process). The Delhi Police sets the SC, ST, OBC and EWS vacancies on a post-based roster, and SSC only publishes them.

Vacancies after the revision of 25 February 2026

The notice originally had 341 men (295 open, 46 ex-servicemen) and 168 women. PwBD posts went from 7 male and 4 female to 8 of the 275 male and 5 female plus 1 backlog, 6 in all. Head Constable (AWO/TPO) has no provision for disability reservation.

The written exam is held by SSC at centres across India, in Hindi and English. The PE&MT, typing test, formatting test, document verification and medical are all in Delhi, run by the Delhi Police.

You choose centre preferences in the application, and no change is allowed later; SSC can still move candidates. In 2025 SSC opened a Self Slot Selection option for the four Delhi Police exams on 4 December 2025; watch ssc.gov.in for the same next cycle.

Age is reckoned on 1 July 2025. Qualification, category status, the OBC creamy layer, NCC and Rashtriya Raksha University bonus marks, and the ex-servicemen service deduction are all reckoned on the closing date.

The exam date is tentative and changes appear only on ssc.gov.in. PE&MT and skill test dates are set by the Delhi Police and posted on both ssc.gov.in and delhipolice.gov.in. Last cycle's notice came out in late September.

An exam city intimation comes a few days before the written exam's admit card.

For DV bring: category certificates in the notice's formats; a hill area certificate or a ward-of-police certificate (from the DCP, Additional DCP or ACP where the officer last served) if claiming height relaxation; the original NCC certificate or Rashtriya Raksha University degree or PG diploma for bonus marks; and original 10+2 mark sheets.

Results and cut-offs appear on ssc.gov.in, with parallel notices on delhipolice.gov.in. SSC publishes tentative answer keys with the question paper and your response sheet (5 February 2026 last cycle). Objections are online only, ₹50 per question, non-refundable. Final keys and marks follow the result. There's no re-evaluation.

The final merit is on 125 marks plus bonus. Because the PE&MT shortlist is twenty times the vacancies in each category, the February 2026 cut in vacancies tightens the written cut-off.

SSC publishes category-wise cut-offs with each result on ssc.gov.in, after each stage. None is published in advance, and cut-offs are on normalised marks, so don't compare them with a raw answer-key score.

Practise typing like it's a paper

Typing is worth up to 25 marks: 10 at 30 w.p.m. in English, 25 above 50 (Hindi: 25 w.p.m. to qualify, above 45 for full marks). Fifteen marks for a few weeks of practice is the best return in this recruitment. Practise to spec: 10 minutes, a printed passage, stop dead at time.

Learn the formatting operations in Excel

Do each of the twenty named operations until it's automatic. Most are spreadsheet tasks.

Take English seriously

It's 25 marks and standard SSC English. Vocabulary work pays more than grammar theory.

Don't trust "Basic Arithmetic"

The syllabus includes graduate-level mensuration and trigonometry, but only 20 questions. Do arithmetic and data interpretation first, where most questions fall, then geometry and mensuration.

Practise the clerical reasoning topics

Indexing, address matching, date and city matching, and roll number classification are pure speed-and-accuracy and are often skipped by candidates using generic reasoning books.

Guess with care

0.25 off per wrong answer, 54 seconds a question. Guessing between two options usually pays; among four, it doesn't.

Prepare for the race

The height standard is lighter but the race isn't: 1600 metres in 7 minutes for men up to 30, 800 metres in 5 minutes for women up to 30, with no appeal.

Practise on real papers

SSC uploads the actual question paper with the tentative answer key. Download it, and your response sheet, while the window is open. Make sure any practice set is for Ministerial, not AWO/TPO.

Get paperwork right early

Certificates in the notice's formats; NCC or RRU certificates earned by the closing date (ex-servicemen don't get the NCC benefit). Answer the Attestation Form honestly.

SSC publishes the actual question papers for this exam. They're uploaded with the tentative answer keys and your response sheet on ssc.gov.in a few weeks after the written exam (5 February 2026 last cycle), and stay up only during the objection window, so save them then.

Older papers are under For Candidates > Previous Year Question Papers on ssc.gov.in, and SSC published detailed marks for the 2022 cycle on 7 February 2024. A mock test on the CBT platform is announced by notice before each exam.

• Staff Selection Commission: notice, application, admit cards, answer keys, results
• Delhi Police: parallel notices and the PE&MT, skill tests, DV and medical
• Notice, Head Constable (Ministerial) Examination 2025, 29 September 2025: the full rules, syllabus and standards
• Revised vacancies notice, 25 February 2026
• Tentative answer keys with question papers, 5 February 2026, on the SSC notice board
• Previous Year Question Papers, under For Candidates on ssc.gov.in
• Toll-free helpline: 180 030 930 63

Governing rules: the Delhi Police (Appointment and Recruitment) Rules, 1980; Standing Order No. HRD/12/2025 on the Attestation Form; Notification No. 38-16/2020-DDIII on disability certificates; SSC's normalisation notice of 2 June 2025.

Does the typing test count towards final marks?

Yes. Merit is the written exam (100) plus typing (25) plus bonus. The PE&MT and formatting test are qualifying.

What typing speed do I need?

30 w.p.m. in English or 25 in Hindi to qualify; full marks above 50 (English) or 45 (Hindi).

Do I need both English and Hindi typing?

No, one is enough.

What is the age limit?

18 to 25 on 1 July 2025, with relaxations including 5 or 10 years for sportspersons of distinction and up to 40, 43 or 45 for serving Delhi Police staff.

Are posts reserved for persons with disabilities?

Yes, for locomotor disability of 40 per cent or more in one or both legs: 8 male and 6 female posts in the revised figures. They're civilian, without uniform.

Do PwBD candidates take the physical test?

No, but they need DV and the typing test, and get no scribe.

What are the physical standards?

165 cm men, 157 cm women (5 cm relaxation for some), men's chest 78 to 82 cm.

Can I appeal a physical failure?

Only height and chest, on the same day. No appeal for the race or jumps.

Do I need to be from Delhi?

No. Anyone in India can apply; everything after the written exam is in Delhi.

What is the fee?

₹100; women, SC, ST, PwBD and eligible ex-servicemen pay nothing.

How is this different from Head Constable (AWO/TPO)?

Different paper: this one has English and a scored typing test, and any 10+2 qualifies. AWO/TPO has General Science, needs Science and Maths, and its skill tests are qualifying only.

How many vacancies are there?

306 male and 150 female after the 25 February 2026 revision, down from 341 and 168.