UPSC CAPF Assistant Commandant 2026: Notification, Exam Pattern, Syllabus, PET, Cut-off and Free Mock Tests

The five forces

• Border Security Force — guarding the land borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• Central Reserve Police Force — internal security, counter-insurgency and law and order assistance to states.
• Central Industrial Security Force — security of industrial installations, airports and critical infrastructure.
• Indo-Tibetan Border Police — guarding the high-altitude northern border.
• Sashastra Seema Bal — guarding the borders with Nepal and Bhutan.

Qualification

• Degree — A bachelor’s degree of a recognised university or equivalent. Final-year candidates may sit the written examination and must produce proof of passing in the 15-day window after the written result.
• NCC — NCC B or C certificates are desirable and are considered at the interview.

Other conditions

• Fee — ₹200 online; women, SC and ST candidates are exempt.
• Medical — Vision and general standards in Appendix V, tested after the interview under an MHA nodal authority; appeals lie only against the medical.
• Pregnancy — Women who are 12 weeks or more pregnant at the PET are declared temporarily unfit.

The UPSC CAPF process, from registration to recommendation

1. Create the account and the Universal Registration Number profile on upsconline.nic.in The Commission’s portal has four modules: account creation, universal registration (the URN profile with your identity, photograph, signature, photo-ID and educational particulars), a common application form, and an examination-specific form. The first three are filled once and reused for every UPSC examination; the URN profile must be locked before an examination form can be submitted, and the photo-ID entered there is the one carried to every stage.
2. Fill the examination-specific form in the notified window Choose the centre, the medium and language options, the optional subject or service preferences where the notification asks for them, claim any category, PwBD or fee-remission benefit with the certificate details, and submit before 6 p.m. on the last date. A withdrawal window of about a week usually follows the closing date for candidates who no longer wish to appear.
3. Pay the fee ₹200 online; nil for women, SC and ST candidates.
4. e-Admit card Issued on the portal about a week to ten days before the examination; it is not posted. Print it, check the photograph and the centre, and carry it with the photo-ID named in the URN profile. Centres are allotted first-come, and a candidate who does not get a preferred centre is allotted another in the same region.
5. The written examination Objective papers are answered on an OMR sheet in black ballpoint pen, with the question paper series and roll number coded by hand — the Commission publishes a note on the common OMR mistakes that lead to rejection. Conventional papers are handwritten in the question-cum-answer booklet. Provisional answer keys are opened for representations on the portal within a week of an objective paper.
6. Result and the next stage Results are published as roll-number lists on upsc.gov.in with a press note; marks and cut-offs are released only after the final result. Qualified candidates get a window on the portal to pay the next-stage fee, update details and submit the detailed application form where the examination has one.
7. Written result and the 15-day window Roll numbers above the cut-off are published; every qualified candidate must log in within 15 days to update qualification status and upload proof, failing which they are not allowed into the later stages.
8. PST and PET conducted by the forces Height, chest and weight are measured first; candidates within the standards run the 100 and 800 metres, jump and, for men, throw. Failure at either test ends the candidature.
9. Interview, medical and final result Interviewed for 150 marks with originals of every certificate; medically examined afterwards; ranked on the 600-mark total and allotted a force by rank, category and preference. A reserve list is maintained.

A five-month plan

1. Months 1–2: Paper I breadth Reasoning and quantitative aptitude; general science; polity, economy, modern history, geography; daily current affairs with a security and human-rights lens. Start running 800 metres and practising the long jump.
2. Month 3: Paper II writing One essay a week on freedom-struggle, polity, economy, security and human-rights themes; précis and comprehension in English twice a week.
3. Month 4: full mocks A Paper I mock every week with the deduction applied, a timed Paper II every fortnight, and a PET rehearsal every week.
4. Month 5: revision, PET margin and the interview file Revise from notes; be inside every PET standard; prepare the interview on the forces, current events and your own background.

Official documents

CAPF (Assistant Commandants) Examination 2026 — notification (18 February 2026) CAPF 2026 written result (25 August 2026) CAPF 2025 final result (7 August 2026) CAPF 2025 cut-off marks (10 August 2026) UPSC annual calendar 2027 UPSC online application portal