RRB NTPC Exam Pattern: CBT 1, CBT 2, Typing Test, CBAT and Marking

ProSyllabus is an independent study site. We are not affiliated with Indian Railways, the Railway Board or any Railway Recruitment Board. Every rule and number below is quoted or summarised from their published notices, and the notices control if anything here differs.

The two notifications use the same tests. Candidates who need a scribe get 120 minutes in place of 90 in both CBTs, and the section distribution in the printed tables is described as indicative, so a real paper can vary a little from it.

CBT-1 only screens: the notification says its normalised score is used for shortlisting candidates for the second stage and the standard of its questions follows the educational standard of the post. A strong CBT-1 does not carry over, and a candidate who is shortlisted starts again from zero in CBT-2. That has a practical effect on how to use the cut-offs published after CBT-1: they say who reached CBT-2, not who will be selected.

The first two stages are common. The difference is the third stage: Station Master and Traffic Assistant take the Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBAT), the two typist posts take the Computer Based Typing Skill Test (CBTST), and the rest go straight to document verification after CBT-2.

The 15-times rule is applied community by community, against the posts the RRB has notified. For the Graduate CEN the maximum list is 15 x 5,810 = 87,150 candidates across the country, which against 25,89,978 applications is about 3.4 per cent by our division; for the Under Graduate CEN the figure is 15 x 3,058 = 45,870. The tool below does the same sum for the board and category you choose. Where the list is larger than the number of applicants in a small category, the printed minimum percentage, not rank, becomes the filter.

Both notifications print one syllabus for CBT-1 and CBT-2, grouped under three headings. It is not a chapter list; it is a list of areas "likely to include questions pertaining to" them. The table reproduces the headings in our wording.

Two readings follow from the printed split. General Awareness is 40 of 100 in CBT-1 and 50 of 120 in CBT-2, so the share barely moves between the tests (40.0 per cent and 41.7 per cent by our division); the "CBT-2 is the harder test" talk is about a larger paper and a smaller, sharper field, not about a different syllabus. Second, because of the one-third deduction, a question you can narrow to two options is worth attempting: with a random pick between two the expected gain is 0.5 - (0.5 x 1/3) = +0.33 marks, while a blind pick among four options is exactly zero.

Qualification: a degree from a recognised university for the Graduate posts, and the 12th with at least 50 per cent marks for the Under Graduate posts (not insisted on for SC, ST, PwBD and ex-servicemen, or where the candidate holds a higher qualification). Candidates waiting for the final result of the prescribed qualification are not eligible, and the crucial date is the closing date of the application. Corrigendum-1 moved that closing date to 27 November 2025 for the Graduate CEN and to 4 December 2025 for the Under Graduate one.

If you qualify for relaxation on more than one ground you get the largest one, not the sum. Candidates of SC, ST and OBC-NCL who apply against UR vacancies do not get category relaxation. The date of birth in the application must match the Class 10 certificate; a later change is not considered and a mismatch disqualifies.

The EBC concession is an income-based fee waiver (an EBC income certificate, a BPL card or a similar poverty-alleviation document, held on or before the closing date) and is not reservation: the notifications say EBC, EWS and OBC are three different categories. Medical standards are printed per post: A-2 (Station Master, Goods Train Manager, Traffic Assistant) needs distant vision 6/9, 6/9 without glasses with no fogging test, near vision Sn 0.6 without glasses and passes in colour, binocular, night and myopic vision tests; B-2 (Chief Commercial cum Ticket Supervisor, Commercial cum Ticket Clerk) allows 6/9, 6/12 with or without glasses with lenses not above 4D; C-2 (the typist posts) is 6/12, nil with or without glasses. Candidates who have had Lasik or another refractive surgery are not eligible for the A-2 posts, and for Station Master and Traffic Assistant the vision certificate in the notification's Annexure VII is checked at the aptitude test.