Exam Pattern
RRB ALP Exam Pattern
Railway Recruitment Board: Assistant Loco Pilot
The RRB ALP exam pattern below is checked stage by stage, so one stage cannot inherit another stage's scoring rules.
CBT 1
Official Recruitment of Assistant Loco Pilots CEN 01/2025 pattern| Questions | 75 |
| Total marks | 75 |
| Duration | 60 minutes |
| Negative marking | 0.333 per wrong answer |
| Sections | Mathematics, Mental Ability, General Science, General Awareness |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 20 | 20 |
| Mental Ability | 25 | 25 |
| General Science | 20 | 20 |
| General Awareness | 10 | 10 |
Timing: Single 60-minute timer for all four sections combined (no sectional lock).
CBT 1 is a screening exam only: marks are not counted while preparing the final panel. Minimum pass percentage: UR and EWS 40%, OBC (NCL) and SC 30%, ST 25%. Roughly 15 times the notified vacancies per RRB are shortlisted into CBT 2 based on normalized CBT 1 merit.
Official source · checked 7 August 2026The RRB ALP CBT 1 exam pattern is 75 questions carrying 75 marks, to be answered in 60 minutes. That works out to about 48 seconds per question on average, before any time spent reading instructions or revisiting marked answers. The 4 sections are Mathematics, Mental Ability, General Science and General Awareness. Mental Ability carries the most, 25 marks of the 75 or about 33%, against 10 marks for General Awareness. All sections share one composite timer, so you are free to move between them and spend your time where it earns most.
RRB ALP CBT 1 marking scheme
- Each correct answer is worth 1 mark.
- A wrong answer deducts 0.333 marks; an unattempted question scores zero.
- A guess therefore breaks even at 25% accuracy: above that it gains you marks on average, below it loses them. That is exactly what a blind guess between four options returns, so guessing at random neither gains nor loses marks over a long paper. The moment you can rule out even one option, it starts paying.
- Worked example: attempt 60 of the 75 questions and get 45 right and 15 wrong, and you score 40.01 out of 75.
Practising against the same clock is the point of a mock test: at 48 seconds a question, the difference between a good score and an average one is usually pacing rather than knowledge. Attempt a free RRB ALP mock test to see where your time actually goes.
CBT 2
Official Recruitment of Assistant Loco Pilots CEN 01/2025 pattern| Questions | 100 |
| Total marks | 100 |
| Duration | 90 minutes |
| Negative marking | 0.333 per wrong answer |
| Sections | Mathematics, General Intelligence and Reasoning, Basic Science and Engineering |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 25 | 25 |
| General Intelligence and Reasoning | 25 | 25 |
| Basic Science and Engineering | 50 | 50 |
Timing: Single 90-minute timer for all three Part A sections combined (no sectional lock). Part B and the CBAT are separate, later stages not covered by this mock.
This mock covers Part A only (100 questions, 90 minutes). Part B is a separate 75-question, 60-minute qualifying test (minimum 35% to pass) drawn from trade-specific syllabi set by the Directorate General of Training, and the questions a candidate receives depend on their own ITI trade or engineering discipline, so it cannot be modeled as a single common-syllabus mock. Candidates who qualify Part B then take the Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBAT), a psychometric battery (memory, following directions, perceptual speed, and similar tests) with no negative marking, which is also excluded here since it is not a knowledge-based test. Final merit is 70% weightage on Part A of CBT 2 plus 30% weightage on the CBAT score, among candidates who qualify Part B and CBAT.
Official source · checked 7 August 2026The RRB ALP CBT 2 exam pattern is 100 questions carrying 100 marks, to be answered in 90 minutes. That works out to about 54 seconds per question on average, before any time spent reading instructions or revisiting marked answers. The 3 sections are Mathematics, General Intelligence and Reasoning and Basic Science and Engineering. Basic Science and Engineering carries the most, 50 marks of the 100 or about 50%, against 25 marks for General Intelligence and Reasoning. All sections share one composite timer, so you are free to move between them and spend your time where it earns most.
RRB ALP CBT 2 marking scheme
- Each correct answer is worth 1 mark.
- A wrong answer deducts 0.333 marks; an unattempted question scores zero.
- A guess therefore breaks even at 25% accuracy: above that it gains you marks on average, below it loses them. That is exactly what a blind guess between four options returns, so guessing at random neither gains nor loses marks over a long paper. The moment you can rule out even one option, it starts paying.
- Worked example: attempt 80 of the 100 questions and get 60 right and 20 wrong, and you score 53.34 out of 100.
Practising against the same clock is the point of a mock test: at 54 seconds a question, the difference between a good score and an average one is usually pacing rather than knowledge. Attempt a free RRB ALP mock test to see where your time actually goes.
RRB ALP exam pattern: frequently asked questions
Is there negative marking in RRB ALP?
RRB ALP CBT 1 deducts 0.333 marks for a wrong answer; RRB ALP CBT 2 deducts 0.333 marks for a wrong answer. An unattempted question always scores zero, so the choice is only ever between guessing and leaving it blank.
How many questions are there in RRB ALP?
RRB ALP CBT 1 has 75 questions, RRB ALP CBT 2 has 100 questions. That leaves about 48 seconds per question in RRB ALP CBT 1 and 54 seconds per question in RRB ALP CBT 2.
What are the total marks in RRB ALP?
RRB ALP CBT 1 is out of 75 marks, which works out at 1 mark a question, RRB ALP CBT 2 is out of 100 marks, which works out at 1 mark a question.
How long is the RRB ALP exam?
RRB ALP CBT 1 runs for 60 minutes, RRB ALP CBT 2 runs for 90 minutes.
Does RRB ALP have a sectional time limit?
No. RRB ALP runs every section on one composite timer, so you can move between sections freely and give the slower ones more of your time.
How many stages does RRB ALP have?
This site covers 2 objective stages: CBT 1, CBT 2. Each stage is checked against the official notification separately, because scoring rules routinely differ between stages of the same exam.