BSF Eligibility & Selection Process – Age Limit, Height, Chest

Joining BSF is a dream for many youngsters, for which they work hard to get elected to fit in the criteria of the selection process. BSF gives a chance to all the aspirants every year for recruitment in various categories that includes the post of the Gazetted Officer through UPSC and for Non-Gazetted officer through SSC.

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1 BSF Eligibility & Selection Process – Age Limit, Height, Chest

BSF Eligibility & Selection Process – Age Limit, Height, Chest

Below we will talk about the different BSF eligibility criteria for every post for both men and women, which includes medical examining, physical fitness tests, and other criteria. So have a look and then prepare hard for your dream job with pride and valor.

Rank Hierarchy Of BSF Personnel

First, we will tell you about the rank hierarchy of the BSF personnel for which we will explain the BSF height and weight eligibility and BSF age limit, etc. So the hierarchical rank is given below.

General Duty Cadre

Constable
Sub-Inspector

Communication Set-up

Assistant Commandant
Assistant Sub-Inspector (Radio Mechanic)
Head Constable (Radio Operator)

HC

Head Constable (Fitter)

BSF Constable Eligibility Criteria

The BSF Constable falls under the non-gazetted officer category. Hundreds of vacancies are released every year for the BSF recruitment of constables and it is the most opted post by all the aspirants.

Eligibility criteria consist of age, educational qualification, and physical test, etc., it is important to fulfill all the criteria of the post by the aspirants to get selected.

Age Limit For BSF Constable

For the BSF age limit, the applicant must be from 18 to 23 years old as of August 1st every year. The relaxation to all the reserved categories such as SC/ST/OBC and ex-servicemen etc. will be provided according to the orders from the government.

Educational Qualifications For A Constable

The applicant should be at least a 10th pass or above from a recognized board or university. There are no minimum percentage criteria needed for it.

Physical Requirements

Weight: Weight for both males and females should be in accordance with their height and age according to the medical standards.
Height: For males, the height is supposed to be around 170 cm and for females, it should be at least 157 cm.
Chest: This one is only for males, here the size of the male chest without expansion should be 80 cm and it could go up to 85 cm with expansion.
Medical Fitness Standards: Without the glasses, the minimum far vision should be around 6/6 and 6/9 for both eyes. The candidates shouldn’t have squint eyes and should have a high color vision. There is one more thing that is common for all the BSF hierarchy, which is that the candidates should not have a flat foot, knock knee, and should be in good mental health and should be free from any kind of defect, and should be totally physically fit.

Process of Constable Selection

The candidate has to go through the below given 6 steps to get selected for the constable position.

Physical Standard Test (PST): In this, the candidate undergoes some tests where they are tested for their height, weight, and chest and after fulfilling all the required standards they can easily qualify for the next round.
Document Verification: After the candidate has passed the Physical test, they then become eligible for the document verification. Here they have to show their original certificates and proof of their education.
Physical Efficiency Test (PET): After qualifying the above two stages, the candidates are tested for their physical abilities like running, long jump, and high jump. This does not carry any marks and is not required for ex-servicemen, they are only required to pass the medical examination. Below is a given description of this test.

Gender Racing High Jump Long Jump

Male 5 km in 24 minutes 11 feet (3 tries) 3½ feet (3 tries)

Female 1.6 km in 8.30 minutes 9 feet (3 tries) 3 feet (3 tries)
Written Test: Students after succeeding in the PET, get selected for the written examination. It is a basic MCQ examination that consists of 100 questions in a total of one mark each, which equals a total of 100 marks. There is no negative marking in this exam and it provides both Hindi and English as a language or medium to write the exam.
Medical Examination: In this, a candidate is checked both for mental and physical fitness and after satisfying the medical standards, qualifies for the final round.
Merit List: At last, a merit list is drawn which consists of the marks in the written exam according to their category.

Gender	Racing	High Jump	Long Jump
Male	5 km in 24 minutes	11 feet (3 tries)	3½ feet (3 tries)
Female	1.6 km in 8.30 minutes	9 feet (3 tries)	3 feet (3 tries)

Head Constable(Operator) and Head Constable(fitter) Eligibility Criteria

Some of the criteria like age and medical are the same as that of constable and the other criteria are the following:

Educational Qualification for Head Constable(operator and fitter)

For Head Constable Operator, a candidate could be either matric or equivalent with 2 years of ITI certificate in Radio and TV/Electronics or 10+2 with PCM in any recognized Board.
For Head Constable Fitter, a candidate could be either matric or equivalent with 2 years of ITI certificate in Engine, Automobile, Motor Mechanic, Diesel Mechanic, Fitter from any state or central government or equivalent or 10+2 with PCM in any recognized Board.

Physical requirements for Operator & Fitter

Particulars	Height	Chest		Weight
		Expanded	Unexpanded
General Category	170cms	85 cms	80 cms	In accordance with the height
SC/ST(Adivasis/Tribal)	Must be 162.5 cms	81 cms	76 cms

Sub Inspector (SI) Eligibility Criteria

The exam for SI is conducted by Staff Selection Committee (SSC) and the vacancies are directly filled by 1/3rd of the post and the remaining 2/3rd by promotion. The criteria for direct recruitment as an SI are given below:

Age: The age of the candidate should be between 20 – 25 years. The age relaxation for SC/ST/OBC is provided according to the government policy.
Educational Qualification: Bachelor’s degree from any recognized university or equivalent is required.
Physical Requirements: The physical requirements include the BSF height and weight eligibility test and other things like that, there is a relaxation for a certain category of people which is given according to the government’s standards.

The physical requirements for candidates are given below:

The height for male candidates should be at least 170 cm, whereas for females it should be at least 157 cm.
For candidates belonging to hilly areas like HP, Garhwal, Kumaon, Leh & Ladakh, Kashmir valley, Marathas, Gorkhas & other NE states, the minimum required height is 165 & 155 cm for both males and females respectively.
For ST candidates, the height is 162.5 cm for males and 154 cms for females.
For the general category, the chest measurement for males should be 80 – 85 cm and is the same for the candidates belonging to hilly areas, and for the people belonging to the ST category, it should be 77 – 82 cm.
The standard for Weight is kept according to the height of a person.
Medical Requirements: Distant vision of a candidate should be 6/6 or 6/9 for both eyes without using glasses.

Selection Process Of Sub Inspector

A candidate has to go through different stages of the selection process to qualify as a sub-inspector. The first step of the selection process starts with paper I, followed by PET/PST. After qualifying these two steps, the next step is paper II and at last there is the medical examination. After all the tests are done, a merit list is drawn and the candidates are selected accordingly. Now let’s talk about all these levels in detail below:

Written Examination: There are two categories in the written examination i.e. paper I and paper II. Paper I is the type of a multiple-choice question, which consists of a total of 200 questions weighing 200 marks with a time duration of 2 hours. This paper is divided into 4 sections, where each section is of 50 marks and 50 questions.

Whereas, Paper-II is a subjective type written exam where the total marking is 200 marks and the time duration to finish the exam is 2 hours.

Candidates can choose any language i.e. Hindi or English as their preferred language and solve the paper accordingly, also there is a negative marking of 0.25 for each wrong answer.

Physical Standard Test (PST)/ Physical Endurance Test (PET): The next step on the BSF recruitment of sub-inspector after qualifying the paper I of the written examination are the PST and PET. The aspirant first undergoes the PST and then PET, it can be vice-versa also and doesn’t have to be in a fixed order. It doesn’t contain any marks but works as a qualifier or eliminator. After passing the PET, the candidate moves on to the further round which is paper II.

The below-given table shows a list of the endurance test and the qualifying standard of it:

Male	Female
100-meters in 16 seconds	100-meters in 18 seconds
1.6-km race in 6.5 minutes	800-meter race in 4 minutes
3.65-meter long jump (3 tries)	2.7-meter (9 feet) long jump (3 tries)
1.2-meter high jump (3 tries)	0.9-meter (3 feet) high jump (3 tries)
4.5-meters shot put (16 lbs) (3 tries)	–

Medical Test and Merit List: Medical test basically consists of the eye vision test as mentioned in medical standards and should be physically and mentally fit and healthy. After this a merit list is drawn, this includes the marks of the written exam and the final selection is made accordingly.

Assistant Sub Inspector(Radio Mechanic) Eligibility Criteria

The criteria for age and physical test are the same as that of SI. The educational requirement for this post is matric with a 3-year diploma in Electronics/ Radio and TV technology/ Tele-Communications/ Computer/ Electrical/ Mechanical/ Domestic Appliances Engineering from any recognized institute whether from state or central government or should have 10+2 or equivalent in PCM with a minimum of 50% marks from any recognized board.

Assistant Commandant(AC) Eligibility Criteria

Assistant Commandant comes under the category of gazetted officers and the examination is conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). 50% of the recruitment is direct which includes 10% from SSCO and the other 50% are filled by promotion from the procedure inspector to Assistant Commandant.

The Eligibility criteria for AC is given below:

Age: The BSF age limit of the candidate should be from 19 – 25 years. In the case of any reserved categories like SC/ST/OBC, relaxation is provided according to the instructions given by the government.

Educational Qualification: A graduate degree in any stream or equivalent from a recognized university is required. NCC ‘C’ or ‘B’ certificate or achievement in sports and athletics will be beneficial and be an added advantage to the candidate’s qualification.

Physical Requirements

Height requirement for male and female candidates is 165 cms and 157 cms respectively.
The chest measurement of males should be from 81 – 86 cms, and there is no chest measurement for the female candidates.
The minimum weight for males is 50 kgs and for a female is 46 kgs minimum, but it also varies according to height.

Medical Standards

Distant vision for males should be 6/6 or 6/9 and near vision should be J-I (with or without glasses).
For females, the distant vision should be 6/12 or 6/9 and near vision should be around J-II (with or without glasses).
Colour vision should be high for everyone.

Selection Process Of Assistant Commandant

There is not much difference in the selection process of AC and sub-inspector, there is an exception of the personal interview for the assistant commandant. It starts with the written exam, which is then followed by the PET/PST exam, medical exam, Interview, and at last the merit list.

Written Examination: It includes two papers i.e. Paper I and Paper II, Paper I consist of General Ability and Intelligence questions, which are 125 MCQs in a total of 200 marks with the duration of 2 hours in both English and Hindi.

Paper-II consists of subjective type questions from General Studies, Essay, and Comprehension, it is a subjective type paper of 200 marks with a total duration of 3 hours. Although you will have the option to choose any medium whether English or Hindi, but there will also be some communication and language skills which will be only in English.

PET, PST, And Medical Standards Test: When the candidates are done with the written examination, and after clearing the examination they will go through PET, PST, and the medical tests. This doesn’t carry any marks but works as the eliminating round for the candidates who do not fit perfectly in the standards. The Physical Efficiency test includes:

Male	Female
100-meters race in 16 seconds	100-meter race in 18 seconds
800-meters race in 3 min 45 secs	800-meter race in 4 min 45 secs
3.5-meter long jump (3 tries)	3-meter long jump(3 tries)
4.5-meter shot put (7.26 kgs)	–

A medical Officer examines the candidates and the candidates must be mentally and bodily fit and shouldn’t have any injuries.

Personal Interview: After the medical examination, the candidates are called for a personal interview, which consists of 150 marks.

Merit List: After all the processes are done, a merit list will be shown, which will give a list of the final result on the basis of the personal interview and written exam, and this will be the final selection of the candidate.

So, this was all about the BSF Eligibility & Selection Process – Age Limit, Height, Chest. For all the ranks for both Gazetted and Non-Gazetted Officers. If you have any doubts or queries related to the article or some other questions related to the BSF eligibility criteria, feel free to comment below.