WBP constable syllabus for the written test, physicals and interview

Stages in the last constable recruitment

Last time round, WBPRB opened with the written examination, published a shortlist, and then held the physical tests for those candidates. The full order looks like this:

1. Written test: 85 objective questions, the only paper.
2. PMT: your height and weight are measured, plus chest for male applicants.
3. PET: a run against the clock.
4. Interview: 15 marks, with documents checked at this point.

The recruitment rules of 2017 also describe a 100 mark preliminary test before the physicals, but the most recent recruitment went straight to the 85 mark paper. If a new notice brings back a preliminary round, its pattern will be printed in that notice.

WBP constable syllabus: how the 85 marks split

Here is the WBP constable exam syllabus as the last notice laid it out, section by section.

Each correct mark adds 1, a wrong mark subtracts 0.25, and a blank changes nothing. With 85 questions in an hour, you have roughly 42 seconds for each, so the reasoning and GK sections must move fast to leave time for arithmetic.

General Awareness and maths topics

General Awareness and General Knowledge (25)

• Indian and Bengal history, along with art and culture
• Geography of India with a West Bengal focus
• Indian polity and the Constitution
• Economy, government schemes and social development
• Everyday science, inventions and discoveries, environment
• Current events, especially from West Bengal

Elementary Mathematics (25)

• Number system, fractions, decimals and square roots
• Percentage, averages, ratio and proportion
• Gain and loss in buying and selling, interest sums
• Time and work sums, plus speed and distance questions
• Linear equations and basic algebraic identities
• Mensuration and geometry of polygons
• Basic trigonometry and reading tables and graphs

The Board pegs the maths to the Madhyamik (class 10) syllabus, so your school textbook is the right level.

Reasoning and Logical Analysis (25)

This section rewards practice more than memory. Past papers have drawn on:

• Analogies, and spotting which of four items breaks the group
• Letter series and number series that you complete
• Codes, where words or numbers are written in a hidden pattern
• Family relations and which way a person faces
• Ordering and ranking
• Statement and conclusion
• Space visualisation, embedded figures and paper folding

Because 25 marks ride on it, reasoning is often where a well drilled candidate pulls ahead. Twenty minutes of mixed puzzles every day for two months makes a visible difference.

WBP constable English syllabus

English carries only 10 questions, but each one is a full mark, and a careless miss here also attracts the quarter mark penalty. The topics are basic:

• Vocabulary: synonyms, antonyms, one word substitution
• Grammar: tenses, articles, prepositions, subject verb agreement
• Fill in the blanks and sentence completion
• Idioms and phrases
• Sentence structure and spotting the correct usage

Body measurements and the timed run

On the track, a male constable aspirant must cover 1.6 km inside six and a half minutes, and a woman must finish 800 metres within four. Separate run standards apply to third gender candidates and ex servicemen; see the notice. These stages carry no marks, but failing either ends your application.

Eligibility and the interview

The minimum schooling is a Madhyamik pass or its equivalent, and you must be able to speak, read and write Bengali. Permanent residents of the hill subdivisions of Darjeeling and Kalimpong are exempt from the Bengali rule and can use Nepali. In the last cycle the age band was 18 to 30, counted on 1 January of the recruitment year, with higher upper limits for reserved categories as listed in the notice.

The 15 mark interview looks at general awareness, your suitability for police work and your command of Bengali or Nepali. Ties in the final list are broken first on written marks and then by age, with the older candidate placed higher.

Splitting your time across the four sections

• Maths and reasoning, 50 marks together: give them about half of your study hours. Class 10 arithmetic chapters first, then daily mixed reasoning sets.
• GK, 25 marks: one hour a day on Bengal history, geography and polity, plus 20 minutes of state news.
• English, 10 marks: a short daily habit is enough, as shown above.
• Running: start jogging from day one. Building to 1600 metres under 6 minutes 30 seconds can take two to three months if you are new to running.

Once the written test is done, keep training for the run, because the physicals follow soon after the shortlist. For the officer route, see the WBP SI syllabus; the WBP constable cut off page shows what scores got people through; and other states' forces sit together under police and defence recruitment.