RRB NTPC
Recruits for Indian Railways' non-technical popular posts — station master, goods train manager (guard), senior and junior clerk-cum-typist, accounts clerk, traffic assistant and commercial-cum-ticket clerk — at pay Levels 2 to 6 of the 7th Central Pay Commission.
Eligibility
Graduate-level posts (CEN 06/2025) need a bachelor's degree in any discipline and age 18–33; undergraduate posts (CEN 07/2025) need a Class 12 pass and age 18–30 (both as on 1 January 2026). Age relaxation is 3 years for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and 5 years for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST). There is no limit on the number of attempts. A candidate may apply through only one RRB per CEN.
Age limit: 18–30 years (undergraduate posts) / 18–33 years (graduate posts), as on 1 January 2026; +3 years OBC, +5 years SC/ST
Exam pattern
Fully online, two-stage recruitment. Computer-Based Test (CBT) 1 is a screening paper: 100 questions in 90 minutes — General Awareness 40, Mathematics 30, General Intelligence and Reasoning 30 — with 1/3-mark negative marking and score normalisation across shifts. CBT 2 has 120 questions in 90 minutes — General Awareness 50, Mathematics 35, Reasoning 35 — with the same negative marking; roughly 15 times the vacancies are shortlisted for it zone-wise. Depending on the post, a qualifying Computer-Based Aptitude Test (station master, traffic assistant) or Typing Skill Test (clerk/typist and accounts posts) follows, then document verification and medical examination.
Syllabus at a glance
General Awareness dominates: static General Knowledge, Indian history, polity, geography, economy, general science to Class 10 level, and roughly the last 12 months of current affairs including railway-specific facts. Mathematics covers Class 10-level arithmetic — number system, percentages, ratio, time-work, time-distance, simple/compound interest, geometry, mensuration, elementary statistics. Reasoning covers analogies, coding-decoding, puzzles, syllogism, Venn diagrams, data sufficiency and series.
Upcoming dates
| Event | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| CBT 2 — graduate-level posts (CEN 06/2025) | 10 July 2026 | confirmed |
| CBT 2 — undergraduate posts (CEN 07/2025) | 17 September 2026 | confirmed |
| CBT 2 results (graduate first, then undergraduate) | Aug–Nov 2026 | expected |
| Typing Skill Test / Computer-Based Aptitude Test (post-specific) | Late 2026 | expected |
| Next NTPC notification (CEN 2026–27 cycle) | TBA — awaiting RRB annual calendar | tba |
Expected dates follow the usual calendar; confirm on the official notification before planning.
Free prep material
Standard books
- Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations — R.S. Aggarwal
- A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning — R.S. Aggarwal
- Lucent's General Knowledge — Dr Binay Karna and team
- Fast Track Objective Arithmetic — Rajesh Verma (Arihant)
- RRB NTPC Previous Years' Solved Papers — Kiran Prakashan
How toppers play it
- General Awareness carries the biggest weight (40/100 in CBT 1, 50/120 in CBT 2) — do 20 minutes of current affairs daily for the trailing 12 months plus Lucent-style static GK; this is where toppers separate.
- With 1/3 negative marking and shift-wise normalisation, accuracy beats raw attempts: skip true guesses, take 50–50 eliminations only when you can rule out two options.
- CBT 1 marks do not count in the final merit — it only screens (about 15× vacancies go to CBT 2) — so peak your preparation for CBT 2, where the same syllabus is tested at higher difficulty.
- If you opt for clerk/typist or accounts posts, start typing practice early — the qualifying Typing Skill Test demands 30 words per minute in English or 25 in Hindi without editing tools.
- You can apply through only one RRB: compare zone-wise vacancies against expected competition before locking your board, because cut-offs vary sharply between zones.