ITBP Driver Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

The Scheme of Recruitment gives the written test for Constable (Driver) in a single cell:

Objective Type- 50 Marks- 02 hours
i) General Knowledge (Bilingual)- 10 questions- 10 Marks
ii) Hindi- 10 questions- 10 Marks
iii) English- 10 questions- 10 Marks
iv) Mathematics (Bilingual)- 10 questions- 10 Marks
v) Trade related theory questions (Bilingual)- 60 questions- 60 Marks

The heading says 50 marks. The five sections total 100 questions and 100 marks. Both figures sit in the same cell of the same table, and ITBP has not reconciled them.

Prepare against the section list, not the heading. It is internally consistent, it gives question counts as well as marks, and if the paper turns out to be a 50 mark halving of it the proportions hold: trade theory would still be three fifths.

The weighting

The four general sections carry 40 marks between them. Trade related theory carries 60 on its own, a weighting no other ITBP constable entry comes close to. Constable (Workshop), Constable (Crew), Head Constable (Master), Head Constable (Workshop) and Head Constable (Engine Driver) all sit a 100 mark paper split four ways at 25 marks each, with no trade section at all. Constable (Telecommunication) splits its 100 marks five ways at 20 each, again with no trade section. Prepare the general sections thoroughly, neglect motor vehicle theory, and you have prepared for 40 marks out of 100.

Duration, and what the table leaves out

Two hours. At 100 questions that is 72 seconds each, so time pressure is not the difficulty in this paper.

• No negative marking is stated. The Scheme of Recruitment says nothing about a penalty for a wrong answer. Treat that as unconfirmed and check the notification.
• No qualifying percentage is stated for this post, by category or overall.
• General Knowledge, Mathematics and trade theory are bilingual. The Hindi and English sections are necessarily in their own language.

ITBP names five sections and publishes no topic list under any of them. The general sections are set at matriculation level. The trade section is the licensing and workshop knowledge of a working transport driver: the Motor Vehicles Act, the rules a transport licence is issued under, and basic automobile maintenance.

Trade related theory, 60 questions, 60 marks

General Knowledge, 10 questions, 10 marks

• Indian history in outline, the freedom movement, major dates and figures
• Indian geography: states and capitals, rivers, mountain ranges, the India-China border states
• Indian polity: the Constitution in outline, Parliament, fundamental rights and duties
• General science at school level
• Current affairs of the last year, including defence and internal security
• The Central Armed Police Forces, their roles and ministries, and ITBP's own history

Mathematics, 10 questions, 10 marks

• Number system, LCM and HCF, fractions and decimals
• Percentage, ratio and proportion, average
• Profit and loss, simple interest
• Time and work; time, speed and distance, which for this post is the arithmetic of the job
• Mensuration of the square, rectangle, triangle and circle
• Simple tables, bar charts and pie charts

English, 10 questions, 10 marks

• Parts of speech, tenses, articles, prepositions, subject-verb agreement
• Synonyms, antonyms, one word substitution
• Spotting the error, fill in the blank, sentence correction
• A short comprehension passage

Hindi, 10 questions, 10 marks

• Sandhi, samas, upsarg and pratyay
• Paryayvachi and vilom shabd, anekarthi shabd
• Muhavare and lokoktiyan
• Vakya shuddhi and shabd shuddhi
• A short gadyansh with questions

Every figure below comes from ITBP's Scheme of Recruitment table for Constable (Driver).

Age

Between 21 and 27 years. This is the only ITBP constable entry whose lower bound is 21. The Scheme of Recruitment states one relaxation against this post:

Relaxable for Government servant upto 40 years in accordance with the instructions or orders issued by the Central Government from time to time.

The SC, ST and OBC relaxations are not written into this post's age cell, although they are into several others. They come from the Government of India's general instructions and are confirmed in each cycle's notification; their absence from the cell is not their absence.

Educational qualification

Matriculation from a recognised board or equivalent. No higher qualification is asked for and none is given weight.

The technical qualification

Having a valid driving licence (Transport) for light or medium or heavy vehicle with two years experience in driving.

Three requirements sit inside that sentence. The licence must be valid. It must be a transport licence, not a private one for the same vehicle class; a transport endorsement carries its own medical certificate and renewal cycle and cannot be got at short notice. And two years of driving experience must be behind it, so the licence needs to be at least two years old. Nobody becomes eligible during an application window.

Physical standards

The chest must show a genuine 5 cm expansion in every band. ITBP's medical standards page puts the same number clinically: the chest "should expand for at least 05 cms with ease".

Physical efficiency test

• 1.6 km race within 7 minutes 30 seconds
• Long jump 11 feet, three chances
• High jump 3½ feet, three chances

The Scheme of Recruitment states no female standard against Constable (Driver). Ten other constable entries give a male and a female standard side by side, and the height table has a female row for the Tradesman and Followers entries. This post has a single unlabelled set. Whether that means a male-only cadre or an omission is not something ITBP's published material settles, so a woman candidate would have to look at the notification.

Medical

ITBP's Medical Standards page applies to every entry. The items that most often end a candidacy here:

• Knock knee, flat foot, varicose vein and squint, which ITBP names first.
• Colour vision. A colour blind person is not eligible, and a serving person later found colour blind is boarded out.
• Vision. 6/6 in the better eye and 6/9 in the worse eye, uncorrected, with "Visual correction of any kind is not permitted for distant".
• Teeth, a minimum of 14 dental points.
• Tattoos, only as a religious symbol or figure or a name, only on the left forearm or the back of the hand, and only smaller than a quarter of that part of the body.
• Hearing and speech sound, with no stammer and no obvious ear, nose or throat disease.

ITBP also publishes waiting periods after surgery before a candidate is examined, running from one month after a tonsillectomy or deviated nasal septum to six months after abdominal or pelvic surgery, hernia repair or varicocele surgery.

Indian citizenship is required, and a character and antecedents verification. For a driver that takes in the driving record: a licence endorsement for a serious traffic offence is a live issue at document verification.

ITBP lists eight stages for Constable (Driver), in this order:

Two places the order surprises people

Document verification is third, before the PST. On most ITBP posts it comes after the written test or near the end. Third means a candidate who cannot produce the transport licence, the two years of experience or the matriculation certificate is stopped early, so the eligibility risk is settled at the start rather than after two years of waiting.

The trade test is sixth, after the written test. On Constable (Tradesman) ITBP puts the trade test fourth and the written test fifth. Here the practical test is the last thing between a written-test qualifier and the medical, and it is pass or fail. A candidate can top the paper and go out at the driving test.

The height bar and the physical efficiency test

The height bar is a gate at the entrance to the ground, done in seconds. Carry the category certificate: there is a 10 cm spread between the 170 cm general standard and the 160 cm standard for Scheduled Tribe candidates from the North-Eastern States and Left Wing Extremism affected districts.

The PET is 1.6 km inside 7 minutes 30 seconds, an 11 foot long jump and a 3½ foot high jump, three chances at each. It is qualifying only. Nothing carries forward, so there is no advantage in running 1.6 km in five minutes rather than seven.

The written test

The only scored stage, and therefore the entire merit list. There is no interview at this post and no weight for driving experience beyond the two years that make a candidate eligible. See Exam pattern for the section split.

The trade test

ITBP does not publish its content. At a Central Armed Police Force recruitment it is a practical driving assessment before a board: moving off on a gradient, reversing and parking in a confined space, a figure of eight or similar manoeuvring course, gear and clutch control, and questions on the controls and the daily maintenance checks, normally on the vehicle class the licence covers. With no marking scheme published, treat it as pass or fail and prepare on the heaviest class the licence permits.

The medical, and the review

The DME applies ITBP's Medical Standards page. A candidate declared unfit is entitled to a review medical examination, stage eight. It is a genuine second opinion, and it is the only appeal ITBP publishes anywhere in this process.

There is no interview, which the four gazetted ITBP entries do have, and no skill test besides the driving test.

Constable (Driver) is Pay Level 3 in the 7th Central Pay Commission matrix, entry pay ₹21,700. ITBP prints a caveat at the top of its pay page: the matrix is given "as on March 2017 (Liable to change due to administrative reasons)". The level is current; the dearness allowance layered on top of it is revised twice a year and the page does not track it.

Nothing in the matrix pays a driver more than any other constable. The licence and the two years of experience buy entry to a smaller field, not a higher level.

On top of basic pay

ITBP publishes no allowance schedule, so this is the standard central government and Central Armed Police Force structure rather than a quoted ITBP figure: dearness allowance, revised in January and July; house rent allowance by city class, or government accommodation; transport allowance; ration money; risk and hardship allowance at the notified rate; uniform and kit maintenance; and the high altitude and special compensatory allowances, which matter more here than in most services. The non-cash part is substantial at a border post: unit accommodation, canteen, medical cover for the member and dependants, leave travel concession and group insurance.

Pension and promotion

Appointments made now fall under the National Pension System, with the employee contributing 10 per cent of basic pay and dearness allowance and the government 14 per cent. The Old Pension Scheme does not apply to new entrants. Gratuity and leave encashment continue separately.

The path from Level 3 runs to Head Constable at Level 4, Assistant Sub-Inspector at Level 5 and Sub-Inspector at Level 6, by seniority, departmental examination and the Modified Assured Career Progression scheme.

Applications go only through recruitment.itbpolice.nic.in. There is no offline route and no other portal. ITBP also publishes this warning:

...no fee is charged from candidates to qualify in any stage of recruitment, selection in ITBP or while joining the Force. Do not fall prey to such fraudsters posing himself as member of the Force or otherwise and ask you for money.

Creating the account

The account comes first and the application second. ITBP calls the registered e-mail address unchangeable, and every later communication goes to it, so pick one you will still be reading in two years. Name, e-mail and date of birth cannot be edited after registration; everything else can be corrected up to submission and nothing at all after it.

The fee

Constable (Driver) is a Group C post, so the fee is ₹100; Group B is ₹200 and Group A ₹400. The exemption runs: "No fee is being charged from candidates belonging to SC/ST community, Ex-serviceman and women." Read it carefully. Every woman candidate is exempt, whatever her category, as is every ex-serviceman. Payment is online only, and a duplicate payment against one application number is refunded automatically within three or four days.

What is uploaded

• Photograph and signature, as .jpg or .jpeg only. Colour or black and white are both fine; poor quality is a ground for rejection. The site previews the upload and allows unlimited re-uploads before submission.
• No certificates. Nothing is uploaded at registration or application; every document named in the notification is checked in person at document verification.

In any correspondence ITBP asks you to quote the post, the advertisement number, the registered e-mail address, your name, father's name, date of birth and the roll or reference number. Keep the fee receipt: it is the evidence the Force asks for if a payment is disputed. The submitted application can be printed from My Applications at any time, including after the closing date. Helpline 011-24369482 and 011-24369483, 09:30 to 18:00 Monday to Friday.

There is one recruiting authority. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force is a Central Armed Police Force under the Ministry of Home Affairs, raised on 24 October 1962, and it recruits Constable (Driver) itself rather than through SSC, which conducts the Constable (General Duty) examination for eight forces at once.

Where the Force works

ITBP guards the India-China border from the Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh, a frontage the Force gives as 3,488 km. Its own description of the posting:

ITBPF deployments range from 9000 ft to 18700 ft in picturesque and rugged mountain terrain which require a certain degree of toughness.

Beyond border guarding the Force lists high altitude and counter-terrorist operations, VIP security, disaster relief, mountaineering, civic action programmes and medical camps.

The five Frontier Headquarters

Two of these sit away from the border their Frontier is named for: Eastern Frontier headquarters is in Lucknow and Central Frontier headquarters is in Bhopal. The Directorate General is at Block II, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003.

ITBP publishes no standing list of examination cities. The centre is named on the admit card for each stage, and the stages are not all held in the same place.

• The physical and documentation stages are held at recruitment centres the Force runs itself, normally at a Frontier Headquarters or a battalion location under it. Those are the five addresses listed under Participating institutes, and a candidate may be called to a Frontier a long way from home.
• The computer based written test runs on a commercial test centre network, which is why the home page carries a separate mock test link, a separate admit card link and a separate helpline for it.

What to carry

ITBP collects no document online, so the document folder is the one thing that cannot be replaced on the day. Carry the printed online application, the admit card, the matriculation certificate for date of birth, the educational and technical certificates the post requires, the category certificate in the prescribed central government format, and the experience certificate the technical qualification column names. On category certificates the Force's standing instruction is:

Candidates desirous of availing SC/ST/OBC (NON creamy layers) EWS benefits at the time of recruitments or at a later stage shall produce a valid certificate to that effect at the time of DV/DME/RME.

There is no live Constable (Driver) advertisement, and two earlier ones are still open. That is the position as at 12 September 2026, stated on ITBP's own home page.

A standing notice there lists the recruitments whose written test has not been held. Constable (Driver) appears in it twice:

Process of Written Examination / Computer Based Test (CBT) of ... Constable (Driver) recruitment- 2023 & 2024 ... is under active consideration and same will be conveyed to all eligible candidates, in due course of time.

Two cycles, both past their application windows, neither having reached a written test. The same page carries an admit card link reading "Download CT(Driver)/HC(Midwife)/SI(ESC) Admit Card for PET/PST 2022-23", so the physical stages of an earlier cycle were conducted.

ITBP publishes no annual recruitment calendar. An advertisement appears on the website, the window runs for roughly a month, and the stages follow at intervals the Force announces as they come. So create the account at recruitment.itbpolice.nic.in before an advertisement appears. Registration is separate from application, the e-mail address is unchangeable once set, and the window is short.

Admit cards are issued stage by stage, not once for the whole recruitment, and only from the account created at registration.

1. Log in at recruitment.itbpolice.nic.in with the registered e-mail address and password.
2. Open My Application.
3. Download the admit card for the stage now open, and print it.

There is no public download link, and ITBP has had to say so in capitals on its home page: "FOR DOWNLOADING ADMIT CARD ... MUST LOG IN THEIR ACCOUNT IN ITBP RECRUITMENT OFFICIAL WEBSITE AND DOWNLOAD THEIR ADMIT CARD VIA MY APPLICATION."

Before the written test, sit the mock test on the same home page. It uses the interface the real test uses. A separate helpline, +91 95132 51988, handles admit card download problems and the objection window. If the account will not open, ITBP's own advice is to check the browser first, enable JavaScript and disable the pop-up blocker, then write to comdtrect[at]itbp[dot]gov[dot]in with the details so it can call back.

ITBP publishes very little in the way of results. As at 12 September 2026 the NEWS and RESULTS panels on the recruitment home page read "Currently there are no news to display" and "Currently there are no results to display".

In practice a stage outcome reaches a candidate as the appearance of the next stage's admit card inside the account at recruitment.itbpolice.nic.in. There is often no separate result list and no SMS beyond one telling you to check the site.

For the computer based test ITBP does run a short objection window, announced on the home page with a link to the answer key and the helpline number beside it. For Constable (Driver) the computer based test for the 2023 and 2024 cycles has not been held, so no result of any kind is due yet.

ITBP publishes no cut-off marks for the posts it recruits itself, and has not done so in any past cycle. Nothing is released after a recruitment closes, and there is no archive to look in.

What is on the record is the structure. Only the written test is scored: the height bar, the physical standards test, the physical efficiency test, the trade test, the detailed medical examination and the review medical examination are all pass or fail, so the merit list is the written mark and nothing else.

For a sense of competitive pressure in the same recruiting space, the Staff Selection Commission does publish cut-offs for its Constable (General Duty) examination, which ITBP takes its General Duty constables from, at ssc.gov.in under Results, usually two to three months after the paper. It is a different examination with a different paper, so read it as background rather than as a target.

1. Settle the licence question before you study anything

The transport licence and the two years of driving cannot be acquired during an application window. Check the class endorsement on the physical licence, check its issue date, check it is valid. If the endorsement is private rather than transport, the first task is the licence, not the syllabus.

2. Put sixty per cent of your time on trade theory

Trade theory is 60 of the 100 marks ITBP lists. Split study time evenly across five sections and you have put 20 per cent of the effort against 60 per cent of the marks. A workable split: trade theory 60 per cent, general knowledge 15, mathematics 10, English 8, Hindi 7.

3. Use ITI material and the RTO handbook

Two free bodies of material cover almost all of the trade section, both at exactly this paper's level: the NCVT trade theory syllabus and papers for Mechanic Motor Vehicle and Driver-cum-Mechanic, and the state transport department's licence handbook with the Motor Vehicles Act.

4. Learn the signs and the paperwork cold

Sign questions are the cheapest marks in the paper: finite, visually distinctive, asked directly. Mandatory signs are circular, cautionary triangular, informatory rectangular; learn the whole chart. Do the same with the documents, registration certificate, fitness certificate, permit, insurance, pollution under control and the licence endorsement: which expire when, which are vehicle documents and which are driver documents, and the penalty for driving without each.

5. Run against a clock, and rehearse the jumps

1.6 km in 7 minutes 30 seconds is roughly 4 minutes 41 seconds a kilometre. Run it on a measured track with a watch; candidates routinely find out in the last fortnight that their training pace is thirty seconds a kilometre slow. Three chances at a jump is not many if the approach has never been rehearsed.

6. Treat the trade test as the real final

Stage six, pass or fail, after the written test. Drive the heaviest class your licence permits in the weeks before it. Reversing into a confined bay, a controlled hill start and a figure of eight are the manoeuvres most likely to be set, and all three punish a driver who only ever drives forward on open roads.

7. Do the medical homework early, and use the wait

Colour vision, uncorrected distance vision at 6/6 and 6/9, 14 dental points and the four named disqualifications: an optician and a dentist can settle most of that cheaply, months ahead. Finding a colour vision problem at the DME costs years. Two cycles are sitting between application and written test, and the announcement will come with weeks of notice on a website, so sit ITBP's own mock test and keep preparing.

ITBP releases no previous question papers. There is no archive on the recruitment website, no sample paper against any of the thirty one posts, and no answer key left up after an objection window closes. Anything sold as a previous year ITBP paper is a reconstruction.

The one practice resource the Force does publish is a mock test of the computer based test, on the home page at recruitment.itbpolice.nic.in. It is an interface rehearsal, not a question bank, and it goes up when a computer based test is near.

For question practice, the closest published papers are the NCVT ITI trade theory papers for Mechanic Motor Vehicle and Driver-cum-Mechanic, which are free and cover the 60 mark trade section, and the SSC Constable (GD) papers for the four short general sections.

Contacts

• Recruitment helpline 011-24369482, 011-24369483, 09:30 to 18:00 Monday to Friday
• Recruitment Directorate 011-24366021
• Admit card and objection management helpline +91 95132 51988
• E-mail comdtrect[at]itbp[dot]gov[dot]in
• RTI: Deputy Inspector General (Establishment and Recruitment), Directorate General ITB Police, Block II, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003

ITBP's recruitment site is recruitment.itbpolice.nic.in. Sites using a similar name are not ITBP, and the Force charges the application fee and nothing else, at any stage.

Is a private driving licence enough for ITBP Constable (Driver)?

No. ITBP asks for a valid driving licence (Transport), light, medium or heavy, with two years of driving experience. A private licence for the same class does not satisfy it, and it is checked at document verification, third in the sequence for this post.

Why does the written test say 50 marks when the sections add up to 100?

Because ITBP's own table says both. The cell is headed "Objective Type- 50 Marks- 02 hours" and then lists General Knowledge 10, Hindi 10, English 10, Mathematics 10 and trade related theory 60. The Force has not reconciled the two figures. Prepare against the section list; the proportions hold either way, with trade theory at three fifths of the paper.

How old do I have to be?

Between 21 and 27 years. This is the only ITBP constable entry that starts at 21 rather than 18, which follows from the transport licence requirement. The age cell states a relaxation up to 40 years for government servants; SC, ST and OBC relaxations come from the Government of India's general instructions and are confirmed in each cycle's notification.

Can women apply for ITBP Constable (Driver)?

The Scheme of Recruitment does not settle it. Ten other constable entries state male and female standards side by side; this post states a single unlabelled set and no female height row. Go by the notification for the cycle.

What is the salary?

Pay Level 3, entry pay ₹21,700, the same as every other ITBP constable trade, with dearness, house rent, transport, ration money and the high altitude and hardship allowances on top.

Is there an interview?

No, and only the written test produces marks, so the merit list is that score alone.

What happens at the trade test?

ITBP publishes no marking scheme. It is a practical driving assessment before a board, normally on the class the licence covers: moving off, hill start, reversing and parking in a confined space, a manoeuvring course, and questions on the controls and daily checks. Stage six, pass or fail.

When is the next recruitment?

No new advertisement is live as at 12 September 2026, and two earlier ones are unfinished. ITBP's home page says the computer based test for Constable (Driver) recruitment 2023 and 2024 is "under active consideration". There is no annual recruitment calendar, so the recruitment website is the only reliable signal.

How much is the application fee?

₹100. No fee at all from SC and ST candidates, ex-servicemen, and women of every category. Payment is online only, and a duplicate payment against the same application number is refunded automatically within three or four days.

Can I be rejected for a tattoo?

Yes. A tattoo is permitted only if its content is a religious symbol or figure or a name, only on the left forearm or the back of the hand, and only if it is smaller than a quarter of that part of the body. A tattoo on the right forearm fails on location alone, because the right is the saluting limb.

Will glasses disqualify me?

For distance vision, yes. Direct entry other ranks need 6/6 in the better eye and 6/9 in the worse eye uncorrected, and "visual correction of any kind is not permitted for distant". Reading glasses for near vision are allowed. Separately, a colour blind candidate is not eligible at all, and a serving member later found colour blind is boarded out.