AspirantGoal is an independent app. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Railway Recruitment Boards or any exam authority. This page uses the numbers in the Railway Recruitment Boards’ detailed notices CEN No. 06/2026 (graduate) and CEN No. 07/2026 (under graduate), as checked on 23 October 2026. The exam body’s current documents are the authority, so read them before you plan around any figure.
RRB NTPC selection has a first stage computer based test, a second stage computer based test, and document verification with a medical examination [1,2]. The notices for graduate posts (CEN No. 06/2026) and under graduate posts (CEN No. 07/2026) set both tests the same way.
What the documents print
The first test has 100 questions and the second 120, each of 1 mark, in 90 minutes [1,2]. The syllabus lists are the same under both tests [1,2].
First stage computer based test
| Subject | Marks | Share of marks | Printed units | Share of units | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Awareness | 40 | 40.0% | 20 | 38.5% | 40 |
| Mathematics | 30 | 30.0% | 15 | 28.8% | 30 |
| General Intelligence and Reasoning | 30 | 30.0% | 17 | 32.7% | 30 |
| Total | 100 | 100% | 52 | 100% | 100 |
Second stage computer based test
| Subject | Marks | Share of marks | Printed units | Share of units | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Awareness | 50 | 41.7% | 20 | 38.5% | 50 |
| Mathematics | 35 | 29.2% | 15 | 28.8% | 35 |
| General Intelligence and Reasoning | 35 | 29.2% | 17 | 32.7% | 35 |
| Total | 120 | 100% | 52 | 100% | 120 |
Numbers in brackets are the sources listed at the foot of the page. Printed units are the headings the syllabus prints, counted the same way as in the free tracker. The RRB NTPC exam page gives each figure with the paragraph and page it comes from.
What this means for your hours
- Here the two views agree. General Awareness carries 40.0% of the first test’s marks and 41.7% of the second’s, and it prints 20 of the 52 units (38.5%). Mathematics carries 30.0% and 29.2% against 28.8% of the units, and Reasoning 30.0% and 29.2% against 32.7%. When marks and units point the same way, the starting split is easy to see, and your own pace decides the rest.
- The first test is a screening test. Its normalized score shortlists candidates for the second test, and the total shortlisted is 15 times the community wise vacancies [1,2]. The second test’s normalized marks then shortlist candidates for document verification [1,2].
- A wrong answer costs one third of a mark in both tests [1,2], so a wrong answer cancels a third of what a right one earns.
- Each test has 90 minutes. That is 0.9 of a minute a question in the first test (90 ÷ 100) and 0.75 in the second (90 ÷ 120).
- The notices say the section wise split is only indicative and the actual papers may have some variations [1,2], so treat the marks above as a guide to proportions.
From marks and units to hours
The documents give you the marks and the units. How long a unit takes you is the third number, and only you can supply it. Time yourself on three units of each subject, work out the hours as units × minutes per unit ÷ 60 × rounds, and set each subject’s share of the hours beside its share of the marks. How many hours does a syllabus take? explains each step, How to split study hours across subjects shows how the three numbers fit together, and the hours calculator does the sums.
Example: one plan worked through
Example. The minutes below are made up to show the sums, and the units are the ones in the table above. Nothing here says a unit takes this long, and none of it is advice on how long RRB NTPC needs. Assume 2 rounds, 30 study hours a week and a buffer of 15%.
| Subject | Hours for one pass (units × minutes ÷ 60) | Hours for 2 rounds | Share of hours | Share of marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Awareness | 20 × 180 ÷ 60 = 60 | 60 × 2 = 120 | 27.5% | 40.0% |
| Mathematics | 15 × 360 ÷ 60 = 90 | 90 × 2 = 180 | 41.3% | 30.0% |
| General Intelligence and Reasoning | 17 × 240 ÷ 60 = 68 | 68 × 2 = 136 | 31.2% | 30.0% |
| Total | 436 | 100% | 100% |
Hours you can use each week after the buffer: 30 × 85% = 25.5. Weeks the plan needs: 436 ÷ 25.5 = 17.1.
Read the last two columns together. In this example Mathematics takes 41.3% of the hours and carries 30.0% of the marks, while General Awareness takes 27.5% of the hours and carries 40.0%.
Questions about the RRB NTPC study plan
How many hours does RRB NTPC need?
No exam body publishes a figure, and this page does not give one. The hours depend on three numbers that only you can supply: the units you still have to cover, the minutes each one takes you and the rounds you plan. The example above uses made-up minutes: its 52 printed units over 2 rounds come to 436 hours. Time yourself on three units of each subject, put your own minutes into the free sheet below or the syllabus hours calculator, and the sums give your number.
Can I finish RRB NTPC preparation in three months?
Three months is about 13 weeks. Whether that is enough depends on your own figures, and no document can tell you in advance. The sum is hours needed ÷ (study hours a week × 85%), where 15% is the buffer kept for the weeks that go wrong. The example’s 436 made-up hours need this many weeks:
| Study hours a week | Usable after the 15% buffer | Weeks the example needs |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 8.5 | 51.3 |
| 15 | 12.8 | 34.2 |
| 20 | 17 | 25.6 |
| 30 | 25.5 | 17.1 |
| 40 | 34 | 12.8 |
Put your own hours in place of the example’s to read your own row. The study hours calculator checks a plan against the time you have.
Is there a free RRB NTPC study plan as a PDF or Excel file?
Yes. The sheet below comes as an Excel file with the sums built in, a PDF worksheet to fill in by hand and a CSV file. It already holds both computer based tests, their questions and marks, and the units each subject prints, carries the AspirantGoal mark and needs no sign-up.
A free plan sheet with your numbers
The sheet has both computer based tests, their questions and marks, and the units each subject prints already in it. Type your minutes per unit, the rounds you plan, the study hours you have each week and the weeks until the exam, and it works out the hours, the shares and the weeks the plan needs. The Excel file does the sums with formulas, the PDF is a worksheet to fill in by hand, and the CSV holds the same table for any spreadsheet. All three carry the AspirantGoal mark. They are free and need no sign-up.
The units themselves are listed one by one in the free RRB NTPC syllabus tracker, where you can record minutes and finished passes.
How AspirantGoal handles this
- Each subject can have a target in hours. Roadmap compares your targets with the time you have left at your daily budget, and says how many hours short you are when they do not fit.
- The Study Timer and the Stopwatch save the minutes you really studied, with pauses and breaks left out. Those minutes give you the pace this page asks for.
- Week shows Available time, Assigned time and Buffer, so the buffer in the sums above is a number you can see.
- The RRB NTPC package gives you a syllabus to start from and to edit. It is an editable template, so compare it with the documents and change what differs.
See the Features page for the full list. The RRB NTPC exam page lists the structure and the syllabus units as the exam body prints them.
What this does not tell you
This page does not say how many hours RRB NTPC needs, which subject to start with or what a result will be. It does not predict a rank, a cut-off or a score. The unit counts are the number of headings the syllabus prints, which is not a measure of how hard or how large a unit is. The notices say the section split is only indicative and the actual papers may vary. The printed syllabus lists end with “etc.”, so the unit counts are the items printed, not a full inventory. Typing, medical and document stages are in the notices. The exam body’s current documents are the authority, and AspirantGoal is an independent app with no link to any exam authority.