RRB NTPC Syllabus and Exam Pattern

Stages of the NTPC exam

Non Technical Popular Categories, the NTPC full form in railway recruitment, which explains why the syllabus skips technical subjects, covers railway jobs such as clerks, ticket clerks, goods train managers and station masters. Selection runs in this order:

1. CBT 1: a common screening test for everyone at that level.
2. CBT 2: a harder test, held separately for groups of posts, whose marks decide merit.
3. Skill stage: a computer based aptitude test (CBAT) for Station Master and Traffic Assistant, or a typing skill test for the typist posts. Other posts skip this.
4. Document verification and medical examination.

CBT 1 only filters candidates for the next round; its marks play no part in the final ranking.

RRB NTPC syllabus CBT 1 and CBT 2 pattern

A right answer earns a single mark, and one third of a mark is deducted for a wrong answer. CBT 2 squeezes 20 more questions into the same 90 minutes, so speed matters even more there. Eligible PwBD candidates writing with a scribe are allowed additional minutes, as the notice explains. Scores across shifts are normalised.

Mathematics topics

• Numbers: number system, decimals, fractions, LCM, HCF
• Arithmetic: percentage, ratio and proportion, profit, loss and discount, simple interest, compound interest
• Applied problems: work and time, speed, distance and time
• Measurement: mensuration of 2D and 3D figures
• School maths: basic algebra, geometry, trigonometry and simple statistics such as mean and median

The level is roughly class 10, and most questions reward quick arithmetic rather than long working. Graduate level questions tend to add an extra step.

General intelligence and reasoning

• Pattern items: analogy, series with numbers or letters, odd one out, similarities and differences
• Code and symbol items: coding, decoding, mathematical operations with swapped signs, jumbled words
• Logic items: syllogism, Venn diagram, blood relations, analytical reasoning, puzzles, data sufficiency
• Statement items: conclusions, courses of action, decision making
• Visual items: reading maps and graphs

Reasoning is usually the section where steady practice gives the quickest gains, because the question types repeat.

General awareness syllabus

This is the biggest section in both tests and the hardest to finish preparing. The notice lists:

• Static India: Indian history with the national movement, our art, literature, culture and monuments, the land, people and economy of India and other countries, the Constitution and how the country is governed, the Indian economy, transport networks
• Science: class 10 level CBSE science, both physical and life science,, along with India's space, nuclear and other technology milestones
• Current affairs: major national and world news, sport, flagship central schemes, well known people
• Organisations: the UN and other global bodies, key Indian government and public sector bodies
• Others: environment issues, plants and animals of India, computer basics and applications, common abbreviations

CBAT and typing test for some posts

If you choose Station Master or Traffic Assistant, you face the CBAT after CBT 2. Recent notices asked for a T-score of at least 42 in every battery of the CBAT, carried no penalty for wrong answers there, and built final merit from CBT 2 and CBAT marks weighted 70 and 30.

Typist posts need a typing skill test on a computer. It is qualifying only, and recent notices set the speed at 30 words a minute for English typing and 25 for Hindi.

Study plan for the graduate and 12th level papers

General awareness carries 40 percent of CBT 1 and over 40 percent of CBT 2, so give it a fixed daily slot rather than leaving it for the end. Read class 6 to 10 NCERT science, history, geography and polity once, and keep a short notebook of current events.

Mathematics and reasoning together are 60 questions in CBT 1. Practise them in timed sets of 30, aiming to finish each in under 25 minutes so that you have time left for general awareness.

Past papers show how the topics above are tested; start with our guide to past NTPC papers.

NTPC syllabus in Hindi

आरआरबी एनटीपीसी की दोनों कंप्यूटर आधारित परीक्षाओं में तीन विषय आते हैं: गणित, सामान्य बुद्धि और तर्कशक्ति, तथा सामान्य जागरूकता। सीबीटी 1 में 100 प्रश्न और सीबीटी 2 में 120 प्रश्न होते हैं, और दोनों के लिए 90 मिनट मिलते हैं। गलत विकल्प चुनने पर एक तिहाई अंक का नुकसान होता है। गणित में प्रतिशत, लाभ हानि, ब्याज, समय और दूरी जैसे अध्याय हैं। सामान्य जागरूकता में करंट अफेयर्स, इतिहास, भूगोल, राजव्यवस्था और कक्षा 10 तक का विज्ञान शामिल है। स्नातक और 12वीं स्तर का सिलेबस एक जैसा है।

Where the official syllabus is published

The full syllabus sits inside the detailed notice that every regional RRB posts on its own website, and railway recruitment news is also linked from the Indian Railways portal. Read the notice for your level before you apply, then check the RRB NTPC eligibility rules and the way each board fixes its RRB NTPC cut off. For a different railway job, compare the RRB Group D syllabus or browse the railway exams hub.