The UP Police SI 2026 recruitment is one of the largest Sub Inspector drives conducted in Uttar Pradesh in recent years. UPPRPB announced 4,543 vacancies across four post categories — SI Civil Police, Platoon Commander PAC, SI Special Security Force, and Female SI NAPO. Applications opened on 12 August 2025 and closed on 11 September 2025, drawing an enormous response of 15,75,760 registered candidates. Of these, 10,77,403 candidates actually appeared for the written exam — an attendance rate of approximately 68%, which is typical for large UP Police recruitment cycles.

What makes this cycle significant is the competition ratio: with 10.77 lakh candidates competing for 4,543 posts, there are roughly 237 candidates for every single vacancy. This means even a difference of 2–3 questions can push a candidate above or below the cut-off. Understanding the answer key, using the objection window correctly, and accurately calculating your score are therefore critical steps — not optional ones.

The written examination was conducted over two days in four shifts. This is important to understand because each shift had a completely different question paper and a unique Question Booklet Number. The official answer key released by UPPRPB is therefore shift-specific — you must match your answers only against the key for your own shift and booklet series. Using a different shift's key by mistake will give you a completely wrong score estimate and cause unnecessary panic or false confidence.

Day 1 (14 March 2026) saw a combined 5,31,765 candidates appear across both shifts at 1,090 exam centres spread across all 75 districts of UP. The remaining candidates appeared on Day 2 (15 March 2026). All four shift answer keys have been uploaded to siupexam25.com and are accessible via your login credentials.

The UP Police SI written exam is an OMR-based offline test of 2 hours duration. It tests four subjects equally — 40 questions each, all carrying 2.5 marks per correct answer. The most candidate-friendly feature of this exam is that there is absolutely no negative marking. This means every question you attempted — whether right or wrong — either adds 2.5 marks or adds nothing. Leaving a question blank also scores zero. This is why attempting all 160 questions was always the correct strategy, regardless of certainty.

Many candidates mistakenly believe that skipping uncertain questions is "safe." In this exam, that logic is wrong. With no negative marking, even a random guess on an MCQ gives you a 25% chance of scoring 2.5 marks. Over 20 unattempted questions, that could mean 10–12.5 bonus marks — potentially the difference between clearing and missing the cut-off.

Once you have downloaded your answer key and compared it question by question with your OMR response sheet, count the total number of questions where your answer matches the official key. Enter that number below. The calculator will instantly show your estimated score out of 400 and tell you where you stand relative to the expected category-wise cut-offs.

Keep in mind this is an estimated score based on the provisional answer key. After the objection window closes on 26 March 2026, UPPRPB will release the final answer key with any accepted corrections. If questions are deleted or answers are changed, your score will be recalculated accordingly for the final merit list.

Expected UP SI Cut Off 2026 — based on moderate difficulty and 124–137 good attempts:

Unlike many other state recruitment boards that release a single generic PDF answer key, UPPRPB has built a personalised portal where each candidate's login shows their own question paper, their own OMR response sheet, and the official answer key — all side by side. This makes it very easy to spot which questions you got wrong and which you got right without manually hunting through a PDF. Here is how to access it:

The answer key objection process gives candidates a formal channel to challenge answers they believe are incorrect in the provisional key. UPPRPB's expert committee reviews every valid, fee-paid objection with submitted proof. If an objection is accepted, the answer key is corrected in the final key — and every candidate who had marked the now-correct answer gets 2.5 marks for that question. If a question is found to be defective or ambiguous, it is deleted entirely and all candidates receive 2.5 marks for it regardless of what they marked.

This makes the objection process genuinely valuable — especially for candidates who are near the cut-off. Even 1 accepted objection adds 2.5 marks to your score. Two accepted objections = 5 marks. At a competition ratio of 237:1, that is potentially the difference between selection and rejection. The objection fee is fully refunded for accepted challenges, so the only risk is losing the fee on rejected ones — which is why you should only raise objections you are genuinely confident about.

Based on candidate feedback collected across all four shifts and analysis from major coaching institutes including Adda247, Testbook, and Career Power, the overall difficulty of the UP Police SI 2026 written exam was rated Moderate. The paper was considered balanced — neither significantly easier nor harder than the 2021 UP SI exam. General Hindi was the most scoring section for well-prepared candidates, while Numerical Ability was the most time-consuming section and caused the most time management issues.

The expected good attempts range of 124–137 questions translates to an expected competitive score range of 310–342 marks. Candidates who attempted more than 137 questions correctly are likely to be above the UR cut-off range. Those between 104–124 correct (260–310 marks) are in a competitive but uncertain zone depending on their category.

The UP Police SI selection process has multiple stages, but it is critical to understand one key fact: the final merit list for appointment is based exclusively on the written examination marks out of 400. All subsequent stages — Document Verification (DV), Physical Standard Test (PST), and Physical Efficiency Test (PET) — are purely qualifying in nature. They do not add or subtract from your merit score. This means that if two candidates have the same written score, they are considered equal regardless of how well they performed physically.

The practical implication is that candidates who score high in the written exam but neglect physical preparation can still be disqualified at the PST or PET stage, losing their selection despite an excellent written score. If your estimated score puts you in the competitive range, begin your physical training immediately — do not wait for the result to be declared. The 4.8 km run in 28 minutes (for males) requires at least 6–8 weeks of consistent cardiovascular training to achieve comfortably.

A Sub Inspector in UP Police is a gazetted officer — this is a significant distinction. As a gazetted officer, the SI holds direct supervisory authority over constables and head constables and is the first-level investigating officer in civil police assignments. Under the 7th Pay Commission, the post falls under Pay Level 6 with a starting basic pay of ₹35,400.

Beyond the basic salary, the total gross in-hand package including all allowances is approximately ₹50,000–₹65,000 per month depending on the posting city (X, Y, or Z category). The UP Police SI position also comes with job security, a government pension, promotion pathways to Inspector and Deputy SP, and non-monetary benefits like government quarters and police welfare fund support. For candidates from Uttar Pradesh, home-state posting preferences also make this a particularly attractive career option.

These are the most commonly searched questions by candidates after the UP Police SI answer key release. We have answered each one in detail based on official UPPRPB notifications and how the process has worked in previous recruitment cycles.