Assam Police Constable vs SI — Which Post Should You Actually Choose?

The single most important difference is the order of stages. For Constable, the PET (physical test, 40 marks) comes first — you must pass it to proceed to the written exam. For SI, the Written Exam (100 marks) comes first — only the top 5x vacancies (category-wise) from the written exam are called for PST. This means a physically strong but academically average candidate should focus on Constable, while an academically strong candidate with average physical fitness should focus on SI where the written exam is the primary gate.

A Graduation degree in any discipline from a recognized university is required for Assam Police SI. The qualification must be completed before the application date. HSLC (Class 10) is sufficient for Constable, but not for SI. If you hold a graduation degree, you are eligible for both posts — but if you’re still in your final year of graduation or have only completed HSLC, you can only apply for Constable.

Significantly harder, in two specific ways. First, the difficulty level is graduation standard (vs Class IX–X for Constable). Second, there is negative marking of 0.5 per wrong answer in SI (there is no negative marking in Constable). The SI written exam carries 100 marks vs 50 for Constable. In practice, this means you need considerably more preparation time for SI, and a “guess everything you don’t know” strategy — which works for Constable — will actively hurt your SI score.

Constable sits in Pay Band-2 (₹14,000–₹60,500) with Grade Pay ₹5,600, giving an approximate gross in-hand of ₹25,000–₹35,000 per month. Sub-Inspector sits in Pay Band-3 (₹22,000–₹97,000) with Grade Pay ₹8,700, giving approximately ₹38,000–₹50,000 per month. The difference is roughly ₹10,000–₹15,000 per month at entry level — a meaningful gap that compounds over a career through increments and promotional scales.

For SI, the PET carries 40 marks and is merit-based — not just qualifying. However, the PET stage in SI comes after the written exam, and candidates must already have scored well enough on the written exam to be called for PST/PET (top 5x vacancies). The final merit for SI is built on Written (100) + PET (40) + Viva (5) = 145 total marks. So while PET matters significantly to SI final merit, the written exam is the bigger filter because it eliminates most candidates before PET happens.

The current cycle announced 147 SI vacancies across all departments (UB, AB, APRO, Fire & Emergency Services, Prison) vs 1,715 Constable vacancies (AB & UB combined). This means proportionally far more competition per SI seat, even accounting for the higher educational barrier limiting the SI applicant pool. The ratio of applicants to seats is a key factor in the difficulty of clearing any competitive exam — it’s one of several reasons Constable, despite being an “easier” qualification, isn’t necessarily easier to get.