UPSC CAPF (AC)

UPSC CAPF (AC) is the competitive recruitment examination for entry as an Assistant Commandant, a Group A officer post, in five Central Armed Police Forces: the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). It is a recruitment route into these forces rather than a general academic entrance examination.

In the 2026 notification, UPSC listed 349 tentative vacancies across the five forces: BSF 108, CRPF 106, CISF 70, SSB 53 and ITBP 12. Those figures were expressly tentative and liable to alteration; they should not be treated as a forecast for a future cycle.

• Applicants indicate force preferences in the online application. Allocation is made using final merit position and those preferences.
• Both male and female candidates are eligible for appointment under the 2026 notice.

The 2026 notice required a bachelor’s degree from a qualifying Indian university or an equivalent qualification. Candidates whose qualifying result was pending, or who planned to take the qualifying examination in 2026, could be admitted provisionally to the written examination, but had to provide acceptable evidence of passing if they qualified for the physical stages.

For that cycle, the ordinary age range was 20 to under 25 on 1 August 2026. Eligible SC/ST candidates could receive up to five years’ upper-age relaxation; eligible OBC candidates up to three years; and specified civilian Central Government servants and ex-servicemen up to five years, subject to the notification’s conditions. These cut-off dates and relaxations must be rechecked in each annual notice.

Physical and medical fitness are mandatory. The 2026 standards included minimum height, weight, eyesight and other medical requirements, alongside specified physical-efficiency events. Candidates should read the full physical and medical appendix before applying, rather than relying only on a summary.

• 2026 minimum physical standards included: men—165 cm height, 81 cm unexpanded chest with 5 cm minimum expansion, and 50 kg weight; women—157 cm height and 46 kg weight, with weight also assessed against height-and-age tables.
• NCC ‘B’ or ‘C’ certification was described as desirable and considered only at the interview/personality-test stage; it was not stated as a basic eligibility requirement.
• A candidate already finally selected through an earlier CAPF (AC) examination for a participating force is not eligible to reappear for subsequent CAPF (AC) recruitment examinations.

The written examination is held in two papers on the same day. In 2026, Paper I, General Ability and Intelligence, was a 250-mark objective paper set in English and Hindi; Paper II, General Studies, Essay and Comprehension, was worth 200 marks. The essay could be written in Hindi or English, but précis, comprehension and other language-skills components were in English only.

Paper I is screened first: Paper II is evaluated only for candidates who meet the Paper I minimum qualifying mark set by UPSC. In the objective paper, a wrong answer attracts a deduction of one-third of the marks assigned to that question; a blank response has no penalty.

Written-qualified candidates are called for Physical Standards Tests (PST) and Physical Efficiency Tests (PET). Candidates passing those stages are called for the 150-mark Interview/Personality Test. Medical standards testing follows for candidates who have appeared at the interview. The final merit list uses written and interview/personality-test marks, but appointment also requires meeting medical standards.

• 2026 PET benchmarks: 100 m in 16 seconds for men and 18 seconds for women; 800 m in 3:45 for men and 4:45 for women; long jump of 3.5 m for men and 3.0 m for women, each with three chances.
• The men’s 2026 PET also included a 7.26 kg shot put of 4.5 m, with three chances.
• The notification’s detailed syllabus covers reasoning and quantitative/data interpretation, science, current affairs, polity and economy, Indian history, and Indian/world geography; Paper II includes an 80-mark essay component and 120 marks of English comprehension, précis and language skills.

Applications are submitted online through UPSC’s online application portal. The 2026 process used a Universal Registration Number (URN), a Common Application Form and an examination-specific module; candidates had to provide supporting information and documents for claims such as date of birth, category and educational qualification. UPSC warned that required information or documents not provided as required could result in cancellation of candidature.

The 2026 application window ran from 20 February 2026 to 12 March 2026 at 18:00. That deadline has passed and is included only as dated context. Prospective applicants should use UPSC’s examination-notification archive and online portal for the next applicable cycle, rather than assuming that dates, documents, fees or procedures will repeat.

For 2026, applicants were required to give a government-issued photo-ID detail, upload a photograph and signature, and complete a live-photo capture in the common form. Once submitted, the examination-specific application could not be withdrawn or altered; the URN profile had a separate one-time edit facility whose changes did not alter an already submitted application.

• Choose examination centre and force preferences carefully: centre availability may be capacity-limited, while force allocation uses merit and stated preferences.
• Keep the URN, application number, application copy, active email address and photo-ID details available for later communication and stages.
• An e-Admit Card is made available for download from UPSC’s portal; it is not sent by post or email.

Build preparation around the notified syllabus rather than generic civil-services material alone. For Paper I, allocate recurring practice to reasoning, quantitative aptitude and data interpretation, general science, current affairs, polity/economy, history and geography. For Paper II, prepare timed essays on the listed themes—modern Indian history and freedom struggle, geography, polity/economy, security and human rights—and practise English-only comprehension, précis, counterarguments and grammar.

Treat physical preparation as a parallel requirement from the outset. A candidate must clear the physical standards and PET after the written result to reach the interview stage; therefore, a written-only study plan leaves a material selection risk. Train specifically for the notified sprint, 800 m and long-jump requirements, and, where applicable, shot put, while checking the complete medical standards early.

Use full-length, timed practice for both papers. In Paper I, accuracy matters because the 2026 notice applied one-third negative marking to each wrong objective answer. In Paper II, practise the permitted language rule: essays may be Hindi or English, but précis, comprehension and language-skills responses must be in English.

• Download and work from UPSC’s official notification for the current syllabus, paper rules and physical/medical standards.
• Use official UPSC previous-question-paper resources where available to become familiar with UPSC paper presentation and exam-day instructions.
• Before committing substantial preparation time, assess eligibility, physical standards and medical requirements against the current notice.

Successful candidates are recruited as Assistant Commandants in one of the five participating CAPFs—BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP or SSB. This is an officer-entry outcome, with the specific force determined through final merit and the candidate’s submitted force preferences, not simply by qualifying the written examination.

For the 2026 cycle, final selection was based on the combined written-examination and interview/personality-test marks. Passing the written stage or receiving an interview call was not by itself an appointment guarantee: candidates also had to clear PST/PET and satisfy the prescribed medical standards.

The notification did not establish a universal salary figure in the cited examination summary. Candidates seeking compensation, posting, training or service-condition information should consult the appointment documentation and the relevant force/MHA materials applicable at the time of selection.

• Participating outcomes: Assistant Commandant in BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP or SSB.
• Force allocation reflects merit rank and force preference.
• Candidates found medically unfit after medical standards testing are not appointed under the 2026 scheme.