Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), as the name suggests, monitors the recruitment for various posts under the Indian Railways.
The technical exam is conducted to hire for all the engineering related posts. However, the Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) exam is conducted to hire for all the non-technical posts like commercial apprentice, goods guard, traffic assistant, etc.
Here are the type and number of vacancies under RRB NTPC 2016:
| Category | RRB NTPC Post Name | No. of Vacancies |
| 1 | Commercial Apprentice | 703 |
| 2 | Traffic Apprentice | 1645 |
| 3 | Enquiry-cum-Reservation Clerk (ECRC) | 127 |
| 4 | Goods Guard | 7591 |
| 5 | Junior Accounts Assistant-cum-Typist | 1205 |
| 6 | Senior Clerk-cum-Typist | 869 |
| 7 | Assistant Station Master (ASM) | 5942 |
| 8 | Traffic Assistant | 166 |
| 9 | Senior Time Keeper | 4 |
| Total | 18252 |
If you haven’t appeared for the RRB NTPC 2016, the table is not relevant for you. The number of vacancies keeps changing with every notification. However, this table can give you a fair idea of the kind of jobs that you can get through RRB NTPC paper.
You can read the complete examination notice for RRB NTPC 2016 here.
Tips to prepare for RRB NTPC mains exam
First of all, let’s see the structure of RRB NTPC mains exam:
| Subject | No. of Questions |
| General Awareness | 50 |
| Arithmetic Ability/Numerical Ability | 35 |
| General Intelligence and Reasoning | 35 |
| Total | 120 |
The total duration of the exam is 90 minutes, i.e. 1 ½ hours.
In this article, we will discuss some clever tips to crack the RRB NTPC exam and the best online and offline preparation resources.
- General Awareness
The General Awareness part can be broadly divided into these three sections:
- Static GK
This part includes high school level questions on Indian History, Polity, Geography, etc.
- General Science (GS)
This section covers questions on Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Environment, Agriculture, etc. The questions will be based on high school level syllabus.
- Current Affairs
This part will contain questions on the last six months’ current affairs. Some of the main topics will be Economics, Banking, Awards, Sports, and International Affairs.
Best books to buy:
- General Knowledge (Lucent Publication)
- Objective General Knowledge (Lucent Publication)
- 14000 + Objective Questions – General Studies (Manohar Pandey- Arihant Publication)
- Manorama Yearbook 2017
Got no time to read all these books?
You can download any of these apps for on the go learning:
- Arithmetic Ability/Numerical Ability
For this section, you can refer to class 9 and 10 Maths books to clear your concepts. Once your concepts are clear, you can refer to a specific RRB Mains preparation Maths book.
Best books to refer:
- Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations by R.S. Aggarwal
- Fast Track Objective Arithmetic (Rajesh Verma- Arihant Publications)
- Magical Book on Quicker Maths by M. Tyra
For this section, it is also advisable to refer to class 9 and 10 NCERT books.
- General Intelligence and Reasoning
This section is designed to test a candidate’s logical reasoning abilities. Most of the questions asked can be solved with general intelligence, i.e. without having to learn any formulae.
However, to solve the questions within a limited time requires a lot of regular practice.
Best books to refer:
- A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning by R.S. Aggarwal
- A New Approach to Reasoning: Verbal, Non-Verbal & Analytical by Rajesh Verma (Arihant Publications)
- Analytical Reasoning (M.K. Pandey- B.Sc. Publications)
This section is the easiest of all the three sections. All you need is to practice consistently. An hour of serious practice every day can help you score really well in this section.
Government jobs have been among the top career preferences of Indian students. And when it comes to government jobs, Railway and Banking sectors are the most coveted employers.
Clearly, RRB NTPC mains exam is a significant exam for any government job aspirant. Clearing this exam will bring many students closer to their target.
With the above-mentioned resources, regular practice and hard work, you can secure your place among these students.
Hope you find the information helpful. Good Luck 🙂