Syllabus

RRB NTPC Syllabus 2026

Railway Recruitment Board: Non-Technical Popular Categories

CBT 1 syllabus and pattern

CBT 1 contains 100 one-mark questions in 90 minutes: 30 Mathematics, 30 General Intelligence and Reasoning, and 40 General Awareness. The paper is a screening test, and its standard generally follows the educational level prescribed for the notified posts.

Read the section counts as a guide

The Railway Recruitment Boards describe the section-wise distribution as indicative, so the actual paper may vary slightly. Each wrong answer deducts one-third of a mark; eligible candidates using a scribe receive 120 minutes.

Mathematics

30 questions · 30 marks
  • • Number system, decimals and fractions
  • • LCM and HCF
  • • Ratio, proportion and percentage
  • • Mensuration
  • • Time and work, and time and distance
  • • Simple and compound interest
  • • Profit and loss
  • • Elementary algebra
  • • Geometry and trigonometry
  • • Elementary statistics

General Intelligence and Reasoning

30 questions · 30 marks
  • • Analogies, similarities and differences
  • • Number and alphabetical series
  • • Coding and decoding
  • • Mathematical operations
  • • Relationships and analytical reasoning
  • • Syllogism and jumbling
  • • Venn diagrams and puzzles
  • • Data sufficiency
  • • Statement-conclusion and statement-courses of action
  • • Decision making and maps
  • • Interpretation of graphs

General Awareness

40 questions · 40 marks
  • • Current events of national and international importance
  • • Games and sports
  • • Indian art, culture, literature, monuments and places
  • • General Science and Life Science up to Class 10 CBSE level
  • • History of India and the freedom struggle
  • • Physical, social and economic geography of India and the world
  • • Indian polity, governance, the Constitution and the political system
  • • Scientific and technological developments, including India’s space and nuclear programmes
  • • The United Nations, major world organisations and environmental issues
  • • Computer basics, computer applications and common abbreviations
  • • Indian transport systems, the economy and flagship government programmes
  • • Famous personalities, Indian flora and fauna, and major government and public-sector organisations

CBT 2 syllabus and pattern

CBT 2 contains 120 one-mark questions in 90 minutes: 35 Mathematics, 35 General Intelligence and Reasoning, and 50 General Awareness. It tests the same published topic areas as CBT 1 with a larger share of General Awareness questions.

Mathematics

35 questions · 35 marks
  • • Number system, decimals and fractions
  • • LCM and HCF
  • • Ratio, proportion and percentage
  • • Mensuration
  • • Time and work, and time and distance
  • • Simple and compound interest
  • • Profit and loss
  • • Elementary algebra
  • • Geometry and trigonometry
  • • Elementary statistics

General Intelligence and Reasoning

35 questions · 35 marks
  • • Analogies, similarities and differences
  • • Number and alphabetical series
  • • Coding and decoding
  • • Mathematical operations
  • • Relationships and analytical reasoning
  • • Syllogism and jumbling
  • • Venn diagrams and puzzles
  • • Data sufficiency
  • • Statement-conclusion and statement-courses of action
  • • Decision making and maps
  • • Interpretation of graphs

General Awareness

50 questions · 50 marks
  • • Current events of national and international importance
  • • Games and sports
  • • Indian art, culture, literature, monuments and places
  • • General Science and Life Science up to Class 10 CBSE level
  • • History of India and the freedom struggle
  • • Physical, social and economic geography of India and the world
  • • Indian polity, governance, the Constitution and the political system
  • • Scientific and technological developments, including India’s space and nuclear programmes
  • • The United Nations, major world organisations and environmental issues
  • • Computer basics, computer applications and common abbreviations
  • • Indian transport systems, the economy and flagship government programmes
  • • Famous personalities, Indian flora and fauna, and major government and public-sector organisations

Official source

Prepared from Railway Recruitment Boards, Detailed Centralised Employment Notice CEN 07/2025 for NTPC Undergraduate posts, clauses 13.1 and 13.2, checked 10 September 2026. View the official notice.

Frequently asked questions

What is the RRB NTPC syllabus?

It runs to 3 sections: Mathematics, General Intelligence and Reasoning and General Awareness, and the same ones are set at every stage this page covers. 33 named topics are listed on this page beneath them, each taken from the official syllabus rather than inferred from past papers.

How many questions are there in the RRB NTPC paper, and how long is it?

The CBT 1 stage is 100 questions for 100 marks in 90 minutes. Wrong answers are penalised 0.333 per question. Knowing that alongside the syllabus is what turns a topic list into a plan: it tells you how many marks each section is actually worth and how many minutes you can afford per question.

How do I practise the whole RRB NTPC syllabus?

Sit a full mock first, before working through the topic list. A syllabus tells you what can be asked; it does not tell you which parts of it are costing you marks, and most candidates find that is not where they expected. There are 15 free tests for RRB NTPC here, and the sectional ones let you rebuild a single section once the full paper has shown you which one to rebuild.

Is this RRB NTPC syllabus current?

It is taken from the official notice, cited and linked at the foot of this page, rather than from another preparation site, so you can check it against the source yourself. Syllabuses do change between cycles, usually through a corrigendum to the notification rather than a fresh document, so confirm against the current notice before planning a whole revision cycle around any topic list, including this one.