Exam Map: Boards, Patterns and How to Read a Notice
This chapter maps the written and physical stages of the seven recruiting bodies in this kit, and it teaches you to tell a figure taken from an official notice from one taken from a news or coaching report. Every board-specific number in the book carries a verification label. Read this chapter first, because a practice score means little until you know a paper's question count, marks, penalty and eligibility window.
KarmSakha preparation topics covered
- The seven recruiting bodies and the posts each one fills
- Verification labels: VERIFIED, REPORTED and UNVERIFIED
- SSC GD Constable 2026: pattern, qualifying percentages and stages
- SSC Constable (Executive) Delhi Police 2025: pattern, cut-offs and PE&MT
- State boards: what is known and what is not
- Negative-marking arithmetic and break-even chances
- Eligibility windows, reckoning dates and relaxations
- A ten-check routine for reading any notice
One Kit, Several Recruiting Boards: What Is Verified
The kit covers seven recruiting bodies. The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) runs one open competitive examination for Constable (General Duty) in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and the Secretariat Security Force (SSF), namely the Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Sashastra Seema Bal, and for Rifleman (General Duty) in Assam Rifles. The same commission runs the Constable (Executive) examination for Delhi Police. The other five are state bodies: the Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board (UPPRPB), Rajasthan Police, the West Bengal Police Recruitment Board (WBPRB), the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) and Jharkhand Police. Other boards, including Bihar (CSBC), Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Telangana, and officer-grade or Sub-Inspector papers, are outside this kit and need their own notices.
VERIFIED means the figure was read in the official notice text itself. That applies to the SSC notice for Constable (GD) dated 1 December 2025, the SSC notice for Delhi Police uploaded on 22 September 2025 and the SSC tentative calendar, whose file is dated 8 January 2026. REPORTED means two or more concordant news or coaching sources agree, but no notice text for that cycle could be retrieved. UNVERIFIED means no notice text for the cycle could be found, so the book gives no settled number. Any older report is labelled as history.
The labels decide how far a number may be used. Read each label as a statement about the source, not about how likely the figure is to be right. A VERIFIED figure can anchor a mock paper's time plan or a comparison between boards. A REPORTED figure is a working assumption, and you must confirm it against the board's own notice before any decision that costs money or affects your candidature. Where sources disagree, the book shows the disputed range and never averages it or picks the most convenient figure. The SSC and Delhi Police figures in sections 2, 3, 5 and 6 are read from the two official notices, so they are VERIFIED unless a sentence says otherwise. The Devanagari terms below are this book's own renderings of the standard abbreviations and terms.
- कंप्यूटर आधारित परीक्षा (CBE): the computer-based written paper
- शारीरिक दक्षता परीक्षा (PET): the physical efficiency test, a timed race
- शारीरिक मानक परीक्षा (PST): the physical standard test of height, weight and chest, where applicable
- नकारात्मक अंकन (negative marking): marks deducted for each wrong answer
- आयु-सीमा (age limit): the age window, measured on the notice's reckoning date
SSC GD Constable (CAPFs and SSF, Rifleman GD in Assam Rifles): The 2026 Paper
The SSC notice for Constable (GD) and Rifleman (GD), dated 1 December 2025, prescribes one objective paper of 80 questions carrying 2 marks each, so the maximum is 160 marks, to be completed in 60 minutes. Four parts of 20 questions each make up the paper, as the table shows. The questions are of Matriculation level (para 12.1.8), and the paper is offered in English, Hindi and 13 regional languages (para 12.1.1). The commission's own CBE mock test is in the Candidate's Corner of its website (para 12.1.9), and this book reproduces no item from it.
Negative marking is 0.25 marks for each wrong answer (para 12.1.2). The notice describes no deduction for an unattempted question. Scores are normalised before the merit list is drawn (para 12.1.5), and NCC certificate holders receive provisional bonus marks of 5, 3 or 2 per cent of the maximum for the C, B and A certificates (para 14.3). The physical stage is reached through a qualifying-marks check computed without NCC bonus: 30 per cent for UR, 25 per cent for OBC and EWS, and 20 per cent for all other categories (para 14.2). The notice says about eight times the vacancies will be shortlisted for PET and PST (para 14.4).
After the CBE come biometric verification and the PET, a race within fixed time limits, and then the PST, which measures height, weight and chest where applicable (paras 12.2 and 12.4). Ex-servicemen are exempt from both the PET and the PST. They are still measured for height, chest and weight for the record, and they must qualify the medical examination (para 12.3). Later stages are the Detailed Medical Examination or Review Medical Examination, with document verification by the CAPFs (paras 14.1 and 14.7). The commission's tentative calendar, whose file is dated 8 January 2026, lists a 2027 Constable (GD) examination, advertised in September 2026, with the CBE in January to March 2027 (entry 12). That entry names the NIA, which the 2026 notice does not. As of 8 October 2026 the 2027 notice was not confirmed as published, so the 2026 notice remains the latest official text used here.
| Part | Subject as printed in para 12.1 | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | General Intelligence and Reasoning | 20 | 40 |
| B | General Knowledge and General Awareness | 20 | 40 |
| C | Elementary Mathematics | 20 | 40 |
| D | English / Hindi | 20 | 40 |
| Total | One CBE, 60 minutes | 80 | 160 |
SSC Constable (Executive) in Delhi Police: The 2025 Paper
The Delhi Police notice, uploaded on 22 September 2025, prescribes one objective paper of 100 questions carrying 100 marks, to be completed in 90 minutes (para 12.3). Each question carries one mark, so each part's marks equal its question count. Negative marking is 0.25 marks for each wrong answer (para 12.4). The paper is set in English and Hindi only (para 12.5), and the questions are of Matriculation level (para 12.11). The four parts are set out in the table below.
The Delhi notice does not use percentages for shortlisting. Para 16.5 sets normalised cut-offs: 35 for Unreserved candidates, 30 for SC, ST, OBC and EWS candidates, and 25 for ex-servicemen (ESM). Because these cut-offs are absolute, section 2's base question does not arise. Candidates are shortlisted category-wise for the PE&MT and document verification, at about twelve times the vacancies (para 16.6). The Physical Endurance and Measurement Test (PE&MT) is qualifying in nature (paras 1.4 and 16.8), so it is a pass or fail gate that adds no marks. Only candidates who pass the PE&MT and document verification reach the final merit list, which is drawn from aggregate CBE marks (paras 16.10 and 16.11).
The notice's tentative CBE schedule was December 2025 or January 2026, so by October 2026 this cycle should be complete; the book describes it in the past tense and leaves the result status to the SSC website. Eligibility uses two dates, the age reckoning date and the qualification date, set out in section 6 (paras 5, 7 and 7.1). Male candidates also need a valid LMV driving licence on the PE&MT date, and a learner's licence is not accepted (para 7.2).
| Part | Subject | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | General Knowledge and Current Affairs | 50 | 50 |
| B | Reasoning | 25 | 25 |
| C | Numerical Ability | 15 | 15 |
| D | Computer Fundamentals, MS Excel, MS Word, Communication, Internet, WWW and Web Browsers | 10 | 10 |
| Total | One CBE, 90 minutes | 100 | 100 |
State Police Boards: Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, Jharkhand
Uttar Pradesh. The UPPRPB's Constable 2025 direct recruitment (reported with 32,679 posts) held its written test on 8, 9 and 10 June 2026 (REPORTED). Reports give 150 questions and 300 marks, 2 marks per correct answer, in four sections: General Knowledge 38 questions (76 marks), General Hindi 37 (74), Numerical and Mental Ability 38 (76) and Mental Aptitude, IQ and Logical Ability 37 (74), with the section split taken from one coaching guide (Oliveboard). The duration is disputed: Oliveboard gives 120 minutes and the Careers360 report gives 150.
The UP negative-marking rule is disputed. Reports disagree: Oliveboard's 2026 page says there is no negative marking, a February 2026 Careers360 article says the test includes negative marking without giving a figure, Physics Wallah gives 0.25 per wrong answer, and Aglasem gives 0.5, although that page could not be re-read for this check. No version is settled, so the book treats the penalty as open, and section 5 shows how each reading changes the same score. PET notices dated 29 September to 7 October 2026 on the UPPRPB homepage indicate that the written stage is over. A candidate preparing for UP should read the UPPRPB notice for the penalty before settling on an attempt strategy.
Rajasthan Police. The constable written test of 13 and 14 September 2025 is reported with 150 multiple-choice questions and a penalty of 0.25 marks per wrong answer, a figure consistent across the sources consulted (REPORTED). The marks total is 150 in the Careers360 Hindi report and 75 in Oliveboard, the duration is 120 or 150 minutes, and one report (Aglasem) describes the paper as OMR-based while the others do not state the mode. The official notice could not be checked, so these points stay disputed. West Bengal. The WBPRB's 2024 constable drive has no pattern figure in this book. The board's site returned an error when checked on 8 October 2026, and the reports available give no notice number, so the written test, its duration and its penalty are UNVERIFIED.
Haryana. HSSC's 2026 police constable recruitment is reported at about 5,500 posts, with the HSSC Group C CET as the shortlisting gate before the physical stages (REPORTED). The written knowledge test's scheme and date are UNVERIFIED: one guide gives 105 minutes and 97 marks, which do not reconcile with its own 100-question count, and a 90-minute figure is reported elsewhere but was not checked. Figures from an earlier HSSC police advertisement of February 2024 are historical only. Jharkhand. No notice for the latest drive was found. A 2023 advertisement (JCCE-2023, reported at 4,919 posts) is described on one coaching page as two papers of 100 questions and 300 marks each, two hours each. That is history, not the current pattern, so no Jharkhand figure is treated as current.
Stages after the written test. Chapter 8, section 1 maps the physical stages in full. For SSC GD and Delhi Police the order is notice text (VERIFIED). For Uttar Pradesh, the UPPRPB's Constable 2025 PET notices of late September and early October 2026 indicate that the PET follows the written test (REPORTED). For Haryana, the CET is reported as the shortlisting gate before the physical tests (REPORTED). For Rajasthan, West Bengal and Jharkhand the post-written stage is not verified in this book (UNVERIFIED), so the candidate should read the board's own notice.
| Board and paper | Questions | Marks | Time | Penalty per wrong answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSC GD Constable 2026, CBE | 80 (VERIFIED) | 160 (VERIFIED) | 60 minutes (VERIFIED) | 0.25 (VERIFIED) |
| SSC Delhi Police 2025, CBE | 100 (VERIFIED) | 100 (VERIFIED) | 90 minutes (VERIFIED) | 0.25 (VERIFIED) |
| UP Police, written test 2026 | 150 (REPORTED) | 300 (REPORTED) | 120 or 150 minutes (disputed) | None, 0.25 or 0.5 (disputed) |
| Rajasthan Police, written test 2025 | 150 (REPORTED) | 150 or 75 (disputed) | 120 or 150 minutes (disputed) | 0.25 (REPORTED) |
| West Bengal Police, 2024 drive | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | UNVERIFIED |
| Haryana Police, 2026 recruitment (HSSC) | Not stated | Not stated | 90 or 105 minutes (disputed) | UNVERIFIED |
| Jharkhand Police, latest drive | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | UNVERIFIED |
