UP Police Constable Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Written examination: 300 marks, 2 hours

Every question carries 2 marks. The paper is objective, offered in Hindi and English, and has historically been conducted OMR-based rather than on computer.

The 2026 cycle is reported to carry no negative marking. Earlier cycles did deduct marks, so confirm it in the notification for your cycle.

Document Verification and Physical Standard Test

Height, and chest measurement for male candidates, with relaxations by category and region. Qualifying.

Physical Efficiency Test

Qualifying, with no marks.

General Knowledge

Indian history and the freedom struggle, Indian polity and the Constitution, geography of India and the world, Indian economy, general science, current affairs of national and international importance, sports, awards and books, and a substantial component specific to Uttar Pradesh: its history, culture, geography, administration, districts, schemes and current affairs.

Police-specific general knowledge also appears: the internal security and law and order framework, human rights, cyber crime, and the basics of Indian criminal law.

General Hindi

हिन्दी व्याकरण, संधि, समास, उपसर्ग और प्रत्यय, पर्यायवाची और विलोम शब्द, वाक्य संशोधन, मुहावरे और लोकोक्तियाँ, तत्सम-तद्भव, अनेक शब्दों के लिए एक शब्द, रस, अलंकार, छंद, अपठित गद्यांश, हिन्दी साहित्य का सामान्य ज्ञान.

Numerical & Mental Ability

Number system, simplification, decimals and fractions, LCM and HCF, ratio and proportion, percentage, profit and loss, discount, simple and compound interest, partnership, average, time and work, time and distance, mensuration, statistics and data interpretation, and elementary algebra and geometry. Mental ability covers logical diagrams, symbol-relationship interpretation, coding and decoding, perception, word formation, series, direction sense, blood relations and data analysis.

Mental Aptitude, Intelligence Quotient & Reasoning

Mental aptitude questions are notably police-flavoured: public interest, law and order, communal harmony, crime control, rule of law, adaptability, professional information, police system, contemporary police issues and the basic law. IQ and reasoning cover relationships, analogies, series completion, coding-decoding, direction sense, blood relations, alphabet-based problems, time sequence, Venn diagrams, mathematical ability, calendar and clock, order and ranking.

Educational qualification

Class 12 (Intermediate) or equivalent from a recognised board, completed on or before the last date of application.

Age

Broadly 18 to 25 years for male candidates and 18 to 28 for female candidates, reckoned as on the date given in the notification, with the usual relaxations: 5 years for SC and ST, 5 years for OBC as per state policy, and the prescribed relaxations for ex-servicemen and other categories. Confirm both the band and the cut-off date in the notification.

Physical standards

Height and, for male candidates, chest measurement, with relaxations for candidates from Scheduled Tribes and from hill regions. Take the exact figures from the notification. They vary by category and region and are eliminating.

Domicile

The recruitment is a state one and reservation benefits under Uttar Pradesh policy apply to candidates domiciled in the state; candidates from outside UP may apply but compete in the unreserved category. Check the notification for the current position.

1. Written examination: 300 marks, two hours. This produces the merit list.
2. Document verification and Physical Standard Test: qualifying.
3. Physical Efficiency Test: qualifying: 4.8 km in 25 minutes for male candidates, 2.4 km in 14 minutes for female candidates.

Both physical stages are qualifying only. The final merit rests on the written paper.

What a Constable is paid

Recruits are appointed on probation and draw a fixed training allowance during the training period rather than the full scale. Actual monthly pay adds dearness allowance, house rent allowance and the allowances of a uniformed state service, all of which vary with the posting district.

The level comes from the Uttar Pradesh pay rules, not the advertisement.

Apply online on the Board's site, uppbpb.gov.in, within the window the advertisement sets. There's no offline route.

Have ready

• Class 12 certificate, plus domicile and category certificates if you claim reservation or a state relaxation.
• A working mobile number and email for the whole process, which runs for months.
• Photograph and signature in the specified dimensions.

Check yourself against the height, chest and running standards in the advertisement before you apply. They differ by category and region, and failing them is the commonest reason someone who cleared the paper doesn't get the job.

One employer: the Uttar Pradesh Police, under the state Home Department. Recruitment is conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board (UPPRPB) in Lucknow, which handles direct recruitment and promotion for the force.

The Board also recruits to other posts in the force, including ministerial, technical and computer cadres, under separate advertisements with their own schemes. A Constable advertisement does not cover them.

Constable vacancies are notified as a single state-wide figure with reservation applied under Uttar Pradesh rules. Posting is anywhere in the state.

The written examination is held at centres across Uttar Pradesh, and the Board allots them. Because a Constable recruitment draws applicants in the millions, the examination is conducted over several days and in multiple shifts, and candidates are routinely allotted a district other than their own.

Expect to travel. The Board doesn't accept requests to change a centre, date or shift.

The physical standard and efficiency tests are held separately, at the Board's own or the force's designated grounds, and are called after the written result.

The Board posts notifications, application windows, admit cards, exam dates and results on uppbpb.gov.in. Constable recruitments are large and irregular, with no fixed month, so take dates and vacancy counts only from the current advertisement.

When we checked the Board's Direct Recruitment page on 8 September 2026 it listed just one recruitment, Programmer Grade-2, 2023 (55 posts, closed 31 January 2024). There was no live Constable advertisement.

Admit cards are downloaded from uppbpb.gov.in with the registration number and date of birth or password set at application. Nothing is sent by post, and a separate admit card is issued for each stage: the written examination, the physical standard and efficiency test, and document verification.

Carry with you

• The printed admit card.
• A photo identity document in original of the type the admit card names, and a photocopy.
• The photograph used in the application.

Biometric verification is carried out at the venue and repeated at the physical and document stages. A mismatch at any point ends the candidature.

Normalisation, because the paper runs over many shifts

A Constable written examination is held across several days and shifts, and scores are normalised before any merit is drawn. It is the normalised score that decides who goes forward. Raw marks from different shifts can't be compared.

The written result is a shortlist, not a selection

Candidates are called for the physical standard and efficiency tests at a multiple of the vacancies. Those tests are qualifying: they carry no marks and only remove people. The final merit comes from the written score.

Then document verification and the character check

Appointment follows document verification and a character and antecedents verification, which is a real stage for a police force.

Answer keys

The Board publishes an answer key with an objection window after the written examination. Raise objections inside the window; nothing is entertained afterwards.

The cut-off is worked out after the exam from that cycle's normalised scores and vacancies, and published with the result on uppbpb.gov.in. It isn't in the advertisement.

UP Constable recruitments swing hugely in size, from tens of thousands of posts to far fewer, so an old cut-off is no guide to the next one. Cut-offs are also set separately for each reserved and horizontal category.

1. General Hindi is a quarter of the paper. 74 marks of grammar, vocabulary and literature, more than most candidates budget for, and a month of steady study moves it a lot.
2. Learn Uttar Pradesh specifically. General Knowledge has a large state component (history, geography, administration, districts, state schemes) that national GK books don't cover. Candidates from outside UP lose most marks here.
3. The mental aptitude section is about policing. Questions on law and order, communal harmony, rule of law and police issues test attitude; the expected answer is the lawful, impartial, public-interest one.
4. Check the negative marking rule for your cycle. If 2026 really has none, attempt everything; earlier cycles deducted marks.
5. Train for the run early. 4.8 km in 25 minutes is hard going after months at a desk.
6. Measure yourself against the physical standards before applying. They're eliminating and can't be trained away.
7. Past papers are unofficial. The ones in circulation are rebuilt from memory; use them for the shape of the paper and don't trust their answer keys.

The Board doesn't publish previous year papers for UP Police Constable. What it does publish is the advertisement, with the scheme and syllabus, and an answer key with an objection window after each written exam, both on uppbpb.gov.in.

UP Police Recruitment & Promotion Board: uppbpb.gov.in (current recruitments on its Direct Recruitment page)

Uttar Pradesh Police: uppolice.gov.in

How many questions and marks are in the written exam?

150 questions for 300 marks in two hours: every question is worth 2 marks.

Is there negative marking?

The 2026 cycle is reported to have none, unlike earlier cycles. Confirm it in your cycle's notification.

Is General Hindi compulsory?

Yes. It is one of the four sections, worth 74 marks, roughly a quarter of the paper.

What are the running standards?

4.8 km in 25 minutes for male candidates and 2.4 km in 14 minutes for female candidates. The PET is qualifying and carries no marks.

What qualification do I need?

Class 12 or equivalent, completed on or before the last date of application.

Can candidates from outside Uttar Pradesh apply?

Generally yes, but state reservation benefits apply to UP-domiciled candidates and others compete unreserved. Check the notification for the current position.

Do the physical tests carry marks?

No. Both the Physical Standard Test and the Physical Efficiency Test are qualifying; the merit list comes from the written paper.