PSC Mastery

Endurance runs and swimming tests, and which posts have them

An endurance run or swimming test is a separate qualifying hurdle on top of the Physical Efficiency Test, and only some posts carry one. Civil Excise Officer under Category 564/2025 published a 2.5 km run within 13 minutes; Beat Forest Officer under Category 211/2025 published 2 km within 13 minutes for men and 15 minutes for women; Fire and Rescue Officer under Category 471/2024 published a swimming test instead. Police Constable under Category 537/2022 published neither.

Steps

  1. Check whether your post has one at all

    The endurance test appears as its own numbered clause in the notification, separate from the Physical Efficiency Test clause. If your notification has no such clause, your post does not have one.

  2. Civil Excise Officer — 2.5 km in 13 minutes

    Category 564/2025 published a 2.5 km run within 13 minutes alongside the standard five-of-eight PET. That notification also stated that differently abled candidates and female candidates were not eligible for the post.

  3. Beat Forest Officer — 2 km, with different times by gender

    Category 211/2025 published 2 km within 13 minutes for men and within 15 minutes for women, alongside a PET of five events from eight for men and five from nine for women.

  4. Fire and Rescue Officer — swimming, in two parts

    Category 471/2024 required 50 m completed within 2 minutes and the ability to float for 2 minutes at the deep end. The notification states that a candidate must qualify in both events to be considered qualified.

  5. These are qualifying, like PET

    As with PET, nothing in these tests carries marks into your ranked-list position in the notifications we examined. They are gates.

  6. What is not published

    The notifications do not spell out what happens if you pass one hurdle and fail the other — both are listed as qualifications the candidate must qualify in. If your case turns on that, ask the Commission rather than assuming.

Frequently asked questions

Is the endurance test the same as PET?#

No. They appear as separate numbered clauses in the notification. The endurance test is a single timed run; PET is the five-of-eight event standard.

Do all uniformed posts have a swimming test?#

No. Of the posts we examined, only Fire and Rescue Officer under Category 471/2024 carried one. Police, Excise and Forest notifications carried none.

What if I pass PET but fail the endurance run?#

The notifications list both as qualifications the candidate must qualify in, which reads as requiring both. The Commission does not publish a rule for the split case, so we will not state one.

Official sources

Steps last verified against official Kerala PSC sources on 25 August 2026.

Where the Commission has not published a rule, this guide says so rather than guessing. Anything marked “not officially published” is exactly that.

This is an independent guide for aspirants, written from the Commission’s own published instructions. Portal screens and rules change — always confirm on keralapsc.gov.in and in your own Thulasi profile before acting. PSC Mastery is not affiliated with the Kerala Public Service Commission.