RRB NTPC Syllabus 2026: CBT 1, CBT 2, CBAT/Typing Test Pattern & Marking Scheme

Exam Snapshot / परीक्षा अवलोकन

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Selection Stages & Exam Pattern / परीक्षा पैटर्न और विषय

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Syllabus Overview & Preparation Guidance / पाठ्यक्रम विवरण

RRB NTPC selection runs through a screening CBT 1, a merit-deciding CBT 2, and a post-specific CBAT or Typing Skill Test, followed by Document Verification and a Medical Examination. Check the complete subject-wise CBT syllabus, marking scheme and post-specific tests for the 2025-26 cycle below.

Preparing for RRB NTPC means understanding that the exam is built around a deliberately layered filtering system rather than a single decisive paper, and the syllabus itself reflects that layering: CBT 1 and CBT 2 share the same three subjects — General Awareness, Mathematics and General Intelligence & Reasoning — but differ meaningfully in question count, depth and the weight each ultimately carries. CBT 1, the First Stage CBT, is a 100-question, 100-mark, 90-minute screening paper (extended to 120 minutes for PwBD candidates using a scribe) split as 40 questions on General Awareness, 30 on Mathematics and 30 on General Intelligence & Reasoning, with a flat one-third (0.33) mark deducted for every wrong answer and no penalty for questions left unattempted. Crucially, RRB's own notification describes CBT 1 as being of a purely screening nature, meaning its marks exist solely to determine who advances to CBT 2 and are then discarded entirely — they carry zero weight in the eventual merit calculation, a structural point that should shape how candidates approach this stage: speed and a comfortable safety margin above the qualifying cutoff matter more here than squeezing out every possible mark, since none of it survives into the next round. CBT 2, the Second Stage CBT, uses a genuinely common format across every post within a stream — Station Master, Goods Train Manager, Traffic Assistant, CCTS, JAA and Senior Clerk cum Typist candidates on the Graduate side, for instance, all sit the identical CBT 2 paper — and expands to 120 questions worth 120 marks across the same 90-minute window, redistributed as 50 questions on General Awareness, 35 on Mathematics and 35 on General Intelligence & Reasoning, with the same one-third negative-marking rule carried over from CBT 1. The subject matter overlaps with CBT 1 but runs noticeably deeper: General Awareness in CBT 2 leans harder into current affairs from the preceding several months, static general knowledge, and railway-specific awareness beyond what CBT 1 typically tests, Mathematics moves into more layered, multi-step problems within the same broad topic list (number systems, percentages, ratio and proportion, time and work, mensuration, and similar), and General Intelligence & Reasoning introduces more complex, data-heavy puzzles and analytical reasoning types rather than the more straightforward analogy and coding-decoding questions that dominate CBT 1. Both CBTs apply a statutory minimum qualifying percentage that candidates must clear to remain in contention — 40% for General and EWS candidates, 30% for OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) and SC candidates, and 25% for ST candidates — applied to the total normalised score across all three sections combined rather than as an independent per-section hurdle, meaning a candidate can be comparatively weaker in one section as long as their overall normalised score clears the applicable threshold. Once CBT 2 concludes, the syllabus genuinely diverges by post, and this is where RRB NTPC differs most sharply from a typical single-paper competitive exam: candidates who applied for Station Master or Traffic Assistant move into a Computer-Based Aptitude Test, a psychometric assessment run across multiple timed batteries testing personality and aptitude traits relevant to safety-critical operational roles, where a minimum T-score of 42 is required in every individual battery — falling short in even one battery disqualifies a candidate regardless of how strong their CBT 2 score was — and where the final merit for these two specific posts is calculated as a weighted combination of 70% from the CBT 2 score and 30% from the CBAT score, meaning CBAT performance can meaningfully move a borderline CBT 2 candidate up or down the final ranking. Candidates who applied for Junior Accounts Assistant cum Typist or Senior Clerk cum Typist on the Graduate side (or Accounts Clerk cum Typist and Junior Clerk cum Typist on the Undergraduate side) instead sit a Typing Skill Test requiring 30 words per minute in English or 25 words per minute in Hindi; this stage is purely qualifying, adding no marks to the merit score, but failing to meet the speed threshold removes a candidate from further consideration entirely. Candidates who applied for Goods Train Manager or Chief Commercial cum Ticket Supervisor skip both CBAT and the typing test altogether, moving directly from the CBT 2 result to Document Verification and a Medical Examination, making CBT 2 itself the last written assessment standing between these candidates and final selection. Document Verification, the stage every successful candidate eventually reaches regardless of post, checks educational qualification, age, category and community certificates against what was originally submitted at the application stage, while the accompanying Medical Examination applies fitness standards that vary meaningfully by post — vision standards for Station Master are notably stricter than for most clerical roles, given the safety-critical nature of train-movement authorisation duties. Given this layered structure, the most effective preparation sequencing treats CBT 1 as a speed-and-accuracy filter to clear comfortably, dedicates the bulk of serious study time to CBT 2's deeper syllabus since that is what actually decides merit for most posts, and — for anyone specifically targeting Station Master or Traffic Assistant — begins CBAT-style psychometric and aptitude practice well before the CBT 2 result lands, rather than starting cold once the CBAT call letter arrives, since the gap between a CBT 2 result and the subsequent CBAT stage has historically left limited runway for candidates who haven't already built some familiarity with that unfamiliar test format.

आरआरबी एनटीपीसी की चयन प्रक्रिया कई परतों में बनी है। सीबीटी-1 केवल स्क्रीनिंग चरण है — 100 प्रश्न, 100 अंक, 90 मिनट (सामान्य जागरूकता 40, गणित 30, सामान्य बुद्धि व तर्कशक्ति 30) — इसके अंक अंतिम मेरिट में नहीं जुड़ते। सीबीटी-2 सभी पदों के लिए समान प्रारूप में होती है — 120 प्रश्न, 120 अंक (सामान्य जागरूकता 50, गणित 35, तर्कशक्ति 35) — और यही वास्तविक मेरिट तय करती है। दोनों में एक-तिहाई नकारात्मक अंकन लागू होता है, तथा न्यूनतम अर्हता प्रतिशत सामान्य/ईडब्ल्यूएस के लिए 40%, ओबीसी/एससी के लिए 30%, और एसटी के लिए 25% है। सीबीटी-2 के बाद स्टेशन मास्टर व ट्रैफिक असिस्टेंट के लिए सीबीएटी (न्यूनतम टी-स्कोर 42, मेरिट में 70% सीबीटी-2 + 30% सीबीएटी), टाइपिस्ट पदों के लिए टाइपिंग स्किल टेस्ट (30/25 शब्द प्रति मिनट, केवल क्वालीफाइंग), तथा गुड्स ट्रेन मैनेजर व सीसीटीएस के लिए सीधे दस्तावेज़ सत्यापन व चिकित्सा परीक्षण होता है।

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