RRB Pharmacist Syllabus and Exam Pattern

How the selection works

Just a single written round exists. Everyone who applies for the pharmacist post takes one common computer based test (CBT), and the merit list for document verification is drawn from its marks. If the board runs the test over several shifts, scores are normalised so that nobody gains from landing in a lighter shift.

1. CBT: 100 multiple choice questions in 90 minutes.
2. Document verification: your pharmacy qualification, registration certificate, category and age proofs are checked.
3. Medical examination: the railway medical standard set for the post in the notice.

There is no typing test, skill test or interview for pharmacists, so your CBT score carries the whole weight of selection.

RRB pharmacist exam pattern

Every item offers four choices and is worth one mark. Pick wrongly and 0.33 is taken away; leave it blank and your score is untouched. All four sections share one 90 minute timer rather than each having its own, so you can start with the pharmacy block if that is where you are quickest.

Professional ability: the pharmacy syllabus

This block follows the subjects of the diploma and degree courses in pharmacy. The notification annexure lists the topics; going by recent notices and past papers, expect questions from these areas:

• Pharmaceutics: dosage forms (tablets, capsules, emulsions, suspensions, ointments, injections), prescriptions, posology, incompatibilities, packaging and storage, sterilisation
• Pharmaceutical chemistry: inorganic chemistry of antacids, electrolytes and gases; organic and medicinal chemistry of major drug classes; limit tests and basic analysis
• Pharmacognosy: crude drugs and their sources, alkaloids, glycosides, tannins, volatile oils, adulteration and evaluation of herbal drugs
• Pharmacology and toxicology: routes of administration, drug action on the nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory and digestive systems, chemotherapy, antibiotics, adverse effects, poisoning and antidotes
• Biochemistry and clinical pathology: carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, enzymes, vitamins, and tests on blood and urine
• Human anatomy and physiology: body systems, blood, the heart, kidneys and nervous system
• Hospital and clinical pharmacy: hospital formulary, drug distribution, inventory, patient counselling, drug interactions
• Community pharmacy, health education and drug store management
• Pharmaceutical jurisprudence: the Pharmacy Act, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and its schedules, the NDPS Act

The 30 general questions

General awareness (10)

News of national importance, the history and culture of India, geography, the Constitution and polity, the economy, sports, and important government schemes.

Arithmetic and reasoning (10)

Number system, percentages, ratio, averages, simple plus compound interest, trading profit, pipes, work rates, trains and boats, along with analogies, number and letter series, codes, family relations, direction sense, syllogism and Venn diagrams.

General science (10)

School level science up to about class 10, across physics, chemistry and biology. As a pharmacy student, you already know much of the chemistry and biology here, so this is usually the easiest block to score in.

These 30 marks often separate candidates who are equally strong in pharmacy. The same general sections appear in other railway tests, so the RRB group D syllabus is a useful extra source of practice questions.

Qualifying marks and how normalisation affects you

Railway notices fix a floor score in the CBT that you have to cross to be considered at all. For the latest paramedical cycle, reports give these limits:

Crossing this floor is just the entry ticket. The real shortlist is far tougher because pharmacist vacancies are small, often around a hundred posts across all boards, and candidates are ranked by normalised marks within each board and category.

Pharmacist post eligibility in brief

The age band in the latest paramedical notice is reported as 20 to 35 years for the pharmacist post, with the usual relaxation for reserved categories and ex-servicemen. You must also be registered as a pharmacist under the Pharmacy Act, 1948.

On the course itself, reports on the latest notice disagree. Some describe it as 10+2 science with a diploma in pharmacy, or a B.Pharm; others say only a B.Pharm or Pharm.D is now accepted. Since this decides whether you can apply, read the eligibility table in the official notification and do not rely on secondary summaries.

Ten weeks with the RRB pharmacist syllabus

Because one paper decides everything, divide time by marks: about two thirds for pharmacy and one third for the general sections.

1. Weeks 1 to 3: pharmacology and pharmaceutics, the two heaviest areas. Make a one page sheet for each drug class with the mechanism, uses and side effects.
2. Weeks 4 and 5: pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacognosy and biochemistry.
3. Week 6: jurisprudence, hospital pharmacy and drug store management. Learn the schedules of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act carefully, as one-mark factual questions from them are common.
4. Weeks 7 and 8: class 10 science, 15 arithmetic chapters and the standard reasoning types, 30 minutes daily, alongside a short current affairs reading.
5. Weeks 9 and 10: a full 90 minute mock every second day, then revise the topics where you lost marks.

Books and study material

Your own diploma or degree textbooks are the main source for 70 marks. Keep a pharmacopoeia handy for dosage forms and standards, plus the actual sections of the Pharmacy Act and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act for jurisprudence. For general science, NCERT books for classes 9 and 10 are enough. For arithmetic and reasoning, any standard question bank for railway exams will do, as long as you practise under time limits.

Other railway posts with a technical first section are covered on our RRB JE syllabus and RRB ALP syllabus pages, while our railway exams hub gathers every railway recruitment in one place.