Exam Pattern
RRB Junior Engineer Exam Pattern
Railway Recruitment Board: Junior Engineer / Depot Material Superintendent / Chemical & Metallurgical Assistant
Two thirds of the second paper is one section. CBT 2 gives Technical Abilities 100 of its 150 questions, with General Awareness and Physics and Chemistry at 15 each and Computers and Environment at 10 apiece, so the branch-specific block settles that stage almost on its own. CBT 1 is the common screening test across every Junior Engineer, Depot Material Superintendent and Chemical and Metallurgical Assistant post, and it spreads far more evenly: Mathematics and General Science at 30 each, Reasoning 25, General Awareness 15. Both run one composite timer with no sectional lock.
The RRB Junior Engineer exam pattern below is checked stage by stage, so one stage cannot inherit another stage's scoring rules.
CBT 1
Official CEN No. 05/2025 pattern| Questions | 100 |
| Total marks | 100 |
| Duration | 90 minutes |
| Negative marking | 0.333 per wrong answer |
| Sections | Mathematics, General Intelligence and Reasoning, General Awareness, General Science |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 30 | 30 |
| General Intelligence and Reasoning | 25 | 25 |
| General Awareness | 15 | 15 |
| General Science | 30 | 30 |
Timing: Single 90-minute timer for all four sections combined (no sectional lock).
CBT 1 is a common screening test across all JE, DMS, and CMA posts. The CBT is followed by a 2nd Stage CBT (branch-specific technical questions), then Document Verification and a Medical Examination.
Official source · checked 5 August 2026The RRB Junior Engineer CBT 1 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 4 sections are Mathematics, General Intelligence and Reasoning, General Awareness and General Science. Mathematics carries the most, 30 marks of the 100 or about 30%, against 15 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 Junior Engineer 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 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 Junior Engineer mock test to see where your time actually goes.
CBT 2
Official CEN No. 05/2025 pattern| Questions | 150 |
| Total marks | 150 |
| Duration | 120 minutes |
| Negative marking | 0.333 per wrong answer |
| Sections | Technical Abilities, General Awareness, Physics and Chemistry, Basics of Computers and Applications, Basics of Environment and Pollution Control |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Technical Abilities | 100 | 100 |
| General Awareness | 15 | 15 |
| Physics and Chemistry | 15 | 15 |
| Basics of Computers and Applications | 10 | 10 |
| Basics of Environment and Pollution Control | 10 | 10 |
Timing: Single composite 120-minute timer for the entire paper: no sectional lock, you can move between sections freely.
CBT 2 is a single, continuous 150-question, 120-minute-timed Computer Based Test with no sectional lock. Unlike CBT 1, which is common to every JE/DMS/CMA discipline, CBT 2's dominant Technical Abilities section (100 of the 150 questions) is branch-specific: JE recruits across several engineering disciplines (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics & Communication, and others, varying by cycle), while DMS and CMA each have their own distinct, non-engineering technical syllabus. This site currently covers the Civil and Mechanical Technical Abilities syllabi only; other JE disciplines and the DMS/CMA syllabi are not yet built. The four non-technical sections (General Awareness, Physics and Chemistry, Basics of Computers and Applications, Basics of Environment and Pollution Control) are common across every discipline. General Awareness (15Q) is not built, since it needs current, fact-checked content rather than stable engineering/science fundamentals; the other three non-technical sections, being stable and definitional, are built once and shared across both Civil and Mechanical mocks.
Official source · checked 10 September 2026The RRB Junior Engineer CBT 2 exam pattern is 150 questions carrying 150 marks, to be answered in 120 minutes. That works out to about 48 seconds per question on average, before any time spent reading instructions or revisiting marked answers. The 5 sections are Technical Abilities, General Awareness, Physics and Chemistry, Basics of Computers and Applications and Basics of Environment and Pollution Control. Technical Abilities carries the most, 100 marks of the 150 or about 67%, against 10 marks for Basics of Environment and Pollution Control. All sections share one composite timer, so you are free to move between them and spend your time where it earns most.
RRB Junior Engineer 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 120 of the 150 questions and get 90 right and 30 wrong, and you score 80.01 out of 150.
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 Junior Engineer mock test to see where your time actually goes.
RRB Junior Engineer exam pattern: frequently asked questions
Is there negative marking in RRB Junior Engineer?
RRB Junior Engineer CBT 1 deducts 0.333 marks for a wrong answer; RRB Junior Engineer 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 Junior Engineer?
RRB Junior Engineer CBT 1 has 100 questions, RRB Junior Engineer CBT 2 has 150 questions. That leaves about 54 seconds per question in RRB Junior Engineer CBT 1 and 48 seconds per question in RRB Junior Engineer CBT 2.
What are the total marks in RRB Junior Engineer?
RRB Junior Engineer CBT 1 is out of 100 marks, which works out at 1 mark a question, RRB Junior Engineer CBT 2 is out of 150 marks, which works out at 1 mark a question.
How long is the RRB Junior Engineer exam?
RRB Junior Engineer CBT 1 runs for 90 minutes, RRB Junior Engineer CBT 2 runs for 120 minutes.
Does RRB Junior Engineer have a sectional time limit?
No. RRB Junior Engineer 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 Junior Engineer 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.