RRB NTPC (Non-Technical Popular Categories) recruits for both graduate-level posts (Station Master, Goods Guard, Senior Clerk-cum-Typist, Senior Time Keeper) and undergraduate-level posts (Junior Clerk-cum-Typist, Accounts Clerk-cum-Typist, Trains Clerk) through Indian Railways. CBT-1 is 100 questions in 90 minutes with −1/3 mark per wrong answer, and unlike SSC exams, General Awareness alone carries 40 of the 100 marks - making it the single most decisive section on the paper.
CBT-1 is common to both graduate and undergraduate NTPC posts: 100 questions in 90 minutes, with General Awareness (40 questions), Mathematics (30 questions) and General Intelligence & Reasoning (30 questions). A wrong answer costs one-third of a mark. Candidates who clear CBT-1 (which is primarily a screening/normalisation stage across multiple shifts) proceed to CBT-2, a more difficult 120-question, 90-minute paper with the same section split but sharper difficulty and, for graduate-level posts, sometimes a Typing Skill Test or Aptitude Test depending on the specific post.
| Section (CBT-1) | Questions |
|---|---|
| General Awareness | 40 |
| Mathematics | 30 |
| General Intelligence & Reasoning | 30 |
| Total | 100 |
General Awareness is the widest and most decisive section - current affairs (national and international), Indian history and freedom struggle, geography, Indian polity and constitution, general science, economics, sports, and matters of Railways specifically (since candidates are expected to know basic railway general knowledge). Mathematics covers number systems, decimals, fractions, LCM/HCF, ratio & proportion, percentages, mensuration, time-work, time-distance, profit-loss, algebra, geometry, trigonometry and elementary statistics. General Intelligence & Reasoning covers analogies, coding-decoding, mathematical operations, syllogism, puzzle/seating, data sufficiency, statement-conclusion and similar verbal/non-verbal reasoning.
With 40 of 100 CBT-1 marks riding on GA alone - nearly double the weight it carries in a typical SSC paper - a candidate who is strong in Maths and Reasoning but weak in GA will still underperform relative to peers who balance all three. Because GA questions test recall rather than calculation, they're also the fastest marks available per minute of exam time once you know the answer, which is why a sustained daily current-affairs habit (not a last-week cram) tends to separate NTPC toppers from the rest.
Given the 90-second-per-question average pace (100 Qs in 90 minutes) and the heavy GA weightage, the highest-leverage prep sequence is: build a daily current-affairs habit first (it compounds over months and can't be crammed), drill Mathematics and Reasoning topic-by-topic to build speed (both sections are calculation-heavy and reward repetition), then convert that into pace with full-length CBT-1 mocks under real time pressure - since normalisation across shifts means your raw score is compared against a very large candidate pool, consistency matters as much as peak performance.
Reviewed by the Pareeksha Exam Content Team - SSC & RRB pattern specialists. Patterns below reflect recent notification cycles; always cross-check the exact dates, vacancies and marking scheme in your cycle's official notification before applying.
Both write the same CBT-1. Graduate-level posts (Station Master, Goods Guard, Senior Clerk) generally require a bachelor's degree; undergraduate-level posts (Junior Clerk, Accounts Clerk, Trains Clerk) require 12th pass. Post-specific stages after CBT-2 can differ.
One-third (1/3) of a mark is deducted per wrong answer in both CBT-1 and CBT-2.
Yes - Pareeksha's RRB question bank is bilingual by design, with one-tap English/हिंदी switching mid-test.