RRB Group D 2025 Exam Pattern: Check Exam Duration & Marking Scheme

Railway Recruitment Board Group D 2025 ( RRB Group D )

DeskCalelnderExam On - 17 Nov '25 - 31 Dec '25

Anangsha Patra
Updated on Sep 17, 2025 11:21 IST

By Anangsha Patra, Deputy Manager – Editorial

RRB Group D Exam Pattern 2025 highlights the overall structure of the exam. The exam pattern of RRB Group D 2025 is such that it is divided into computer-based test, Physical Efficiency Test (PET), document verification, medical exam, and empanelling of candidates. Going through the RRB Group D exam pattern, candidates can know the marking scheme, different sections, total number of questions, etc. Candidates qualifying the CBT exam are called for PET/PST, Those who qualify the PET/PST are called for document verification and a medical exam. RRB Group D syllabus is framed as per the exam pattern. 

RRB Group D Level 1 exam is conducted to recruit candidates for the 1,03,769 vacancies for the posts of Track Maintainer Grade-IV, Helper/Assistant, Assistant Pointsman, Level-I posts in Indian Railways. Here, we have explained in detail the RRB Group D exam pattern for different stages of recruitment. 

 

Table of content
  • RRB Group D Exam Pattern 2025
  • RRB Group D Marking Scheme
  • RRB Group D Exam Pattern 2025 FAQs
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RRB Group D Exam Pattern 2025

According to RRB Group D exam pattern, the CBT is divided into four sections: General Science, Mathematics, General Intelligence and Reasoning and General Awareness and Current Affairs. The total marks allotted to CBT are 100. Candidates qualifying the CBT are called for PET. Candidates qualifying the PET are called for document verification. The final selection of candidates is done based on the performance in the CBT provided they qualify the PET. RRBs had removed the CBT 2 exam from the exam pattern of RRB Group D after facing backlash from the student communities. The railway boards conduct only single-stage CBT exam for RRB Group D. 

RRB Group D Exam Pattern for CBT

RRB Group D exam pattern for CBT is divided into four sections: General Science, Mathematics, General Intelligence and Reasoning and General Awareness and Current Affairs. The total duration of the test is 90 minutes (120 minutes for eligible PwBD candidates accompanied by the scribe). The test paper comprises a total of 100 objective-type multiple-choice questions. The structure of RRB Group D pattern for CBT is given below.

Sections

Number of questions

General Science

25

Mathematics

25

General Intelligence and Reasoning

30

General Awareness and Current Affairs

20

Total

100


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RRB Group D Exam Pattern 2025 for PET

PET is conducted for candidates qualifying the CBT. The selection of candidates for this stage is done three times the number of vacancies. It is mandatory for candidates to pass the PET and it is qualifying in nature.

Male candidates Female candidates/Transgender candidates

Candidates should be able to lift and carry 35 kg of weight for a distance of 100 meters in two minutes without putting down the weight

Female candidates should be able to lift and carry 20 kgs of weight for a distance of 100 meters in two minutes without putting down the weight
Candidates should be able to run for a distance of 1000 meters in four minutes and 15 seconds in one chance Candidates should be able to run for a distance of 1000 meters in five minutes and 40 seconds in one chance


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Document Verification & Empanelling of Candidates

In 2022, the process of document verification was revised. Based on the performance of candidates in CBT 1 and subject to their qualifying in PET, candidates equal to the number of vacancies in the ratio 1.1 are called for document verification as per their merit and options. Earlier, it was based on the performance of candidates in CBT subject to their qualifying in PET, candidates 1.05 times (number of extra candidates to be called for Document Verification shall be five per cent beyond the number of notified vacancies) the number of vacancies were called for Document Verification as per their merit and options. Appointment of selected candidates is subject to their passing the requisite medical fitness by the railway administration, final verification of education, community certificates, and verification of antecedents/character certificates. Candidates successful in document verification are sent for medical examination. Visual acuity standard is one of the important criteria of the medical fitness of railway staff. The medical standard prescribed for different categories is given below:

Medical Standard Visual Acuity
A-2  Distant Vision: 6/9, 6/9 without glasses (no fogging test)
Near Vision: Sn. 0.6, 0.6 without glasses and must pass tests for colour vision, binocular vision, night vision, mesopic vision, etc.
A-3  Distant Vision: 6/9, 6/9 with or without glasses (power of lenses not to exceed 2D)
Near Vision: Sn: 0.6, 0.6 with or without glasses and must pass test for colour vision, binocular vision, night vision, myopic vision, etc. 
B-1  Distant Vision: 6/9, 6/12 with or without glasses (power of lenses not to exceed 4D)
Near Vision: Sn. 0.6, 0.6 with or without glasses when reading or close work is required and must pass the test for colour vision, binocular vision, night vision, mesopic vision, etc.
B-2  Distant Vision: 6/9, 6/12 with or without glasses (power of lenses not to exceed 4D)
Near Vision: Sn. 0.6, 0.6 with or without glasses when reading or close work is required and must pass test for Binocular Vision, etc.
C-1  Distant Vision: 6/12, 6/18 with or without glasses
Near Vision: Sn. 0.6, 0.6 with or without glasses when reading or close work is required
C-2 Distant Vision: 6/12, NIL with or without glasses
Near Vision: Sn. 0.6 combined with or without glasses where reading or close work is required
Q&A Icon
Commonly asked questions
Q:   Is there any qualifying marks in RRB Group D exam?
Q:   How RRB Group D exam pattern helps in preparation?
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RRB Group D Marking Scheme

The marking scheme has been prescribed by the RRBs. The scores of candidates are calculated as per the marking scheme. The marking scheme of RRB Group D is given below:

  • For each correct answer marked in the exam, candidates score one mark
  • 1/3 marks are deducted for wrong answers in the exam

RRB Group D Qualifying Marks

o qualify the exam, candidates need to secure the qualifying marks as per their category. Besides, candidates are also required to secure RRB Group D cutoff marks. The category-wise qualifying marks are given below:

Category

Qualifying marks (In per cent)

UR

40

EWS

40

OBC (Non-Creamy Layer)

30

SC

30

ST

30

Note: The percentage of marks is relaxed by 2 per cent for PwBD candidates.

RRB Group D Percentile Based Calculation

Percentile scores are scores based on the relative performance of all those who appear for the examination. The marks obtained are transformed into a scale ranging from 100 to 0 for each shift of examinees. The percentile score is not the same as the percentage of marks obtained. The percentile score indicates the percentage of candidates that have scored equal to or below (same or lower raw scores) that particular percentile in that examination. Therefore, the topper (highest score) of each shift will get the same percentile of 100 which is desirable. The marks obtained in between the highest and lowest scores are also converted to appropriate percentiles. According to the revised marking scheme, the boards have decided to interpolate the raw marks into the base shift. 

Formula for Percentile Score Based Normalisation

The percentile score is the normalized score for the examination (instead of the raw marks of the candidate) and is used for the preparation of the merit lists. The percentile score of a candidate for a particular shift is calculated below:

Percentile Score=Number of candidates appeared in the ‘Shift’ with  raw score EQUAL TO OR LESS than the candidate/The total number of the candidates who appeared in the ’Shift’ X 1000

The percentile scores for the raw score of all the candidates for all the shifts are merged and called the RRC scores which then is used for the compilation of results and further processing for deciding the merit allocation. The Percentile Scores will be calculated up to 5 decimal places to avoid the bunching effect and reduce ties.

In case of two or more candidates secure same Normalized Percentile Score, their merit position will be determined by age criteria i.e., the older person will be placed at higher merit, and in case age being same, then alphabetical order (A to Z) of the name shall be taken into account to break the tie.

What is Base Shift?

‘Base Shift’ is a shift having the ‘Highest Mean’ (Average) among all the shifts of CBT with a condition that its ‘Present Candidate Count’ should be 70 per cent or more than the average of all shifts. In case the ‘Highest Mean’ of two shifts is the same then the shift having ‘Highest Individual Marks’ is considered as ‘Base Shift’.

In case both ‘Highest Mean’ and ‘Highest Individual Marks’ are the same then the shift having ‘Highest Present Candidate Count’ is considered as ‘Base Shift’ to break the tie.

Q&A Icon
Commonly asked questions
Q:   What is RRB Group D negative marking?
Q:   What is RRB Group D normalisation?
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RRB Group D Exam Pattern 2025 FAQs

Candidates can check below RRB Group D exam pattern FAQs.

Q&A Icon
Commonly asked questions
Q:   What is the topic-wise distribution of questions in RRB Group D General Science section?
Q:   How tough is the General Science section of RRB Group D exam?
Q:   How tough is the General Awareness section of RRB Group D exam?
Q:   How to prepare for RRB Group D General Science section?
Q:   How do I prepare for General Awareness section in RRB Group D exam?
Q:   How many questions are asked in each section of RRB Group D exam?
Q:   In how many languages RRB Group D question paper will be framed?
Q:   What is base shift in the calculation of RRB Group D marks?
Q:   How to prepare for RRB Group D exam in three months?
Q:   What is percentile base calculation in RRB Group D exam?
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RRB Group D Exam

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Answered 3 weeks ago

The highest salary in IBPS RRB is offered to Officers Scale III. The salary for this post ranges between INR 80,000 to 90,000. The next the highest salary is provided to Officers Scale 1. The range for this post is between INR 65,000 to 67,000. IBPS RRB PO salary ranges between INR 75,000 to 77,000.

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Bhumika Lama

Contributor-Level 7

Answered a month ago

RRB Group D e-books and PDFs are useful for preparation. Candidates must practice the previous years' question papers and mock tests to improve the speed and accuracy of solving questions.

 

B

Bhumika Arora

Contributor-Level 7

Answered a month ago

To improve the basics, candidates can refer to one book, but for advanced practice, candidates must complement with question banks. online test series and mock papers.

 

A

Abhishek Kumar

Contributor-Level 7

Answered a month ago

Yes, you can buy the RRB Group D previous year question paper books. Practising year papers and mock tests improves speed, accuracy, and understanding of exam patterns.

 

M

Mani Shukla

Contributor-Level 7

Answered a month ago

NCERT books for Classes 6 to 10, especially for Science and Social Science, are highly useful to clear the concepts of the topics given in the General Science and General Awareness. 

 

I

Ishita Aggarwal

Contributor-Level 7

Answered a month ago

Candidates must buy separate books for Maths, Reasoning, General Awareness and Science. Referring to separate books helps in focused preparation and practice. Candidates must also buy the combined guidebooks for different subjects for detailed coverage.

B

Bhumika Lama

Contributor-Level 7

Answered a month ago

Candidates must choose the medium they are comfortable with. RRB Group D books are available in both English and Hindi. Candidates must also choose the books that have covered the syllabus and are easily understandable.

I

Ishita Aggarwal

Contributor-Level 7

Answered a month ago

RRB Group D previous year question papers are equally important as it helps candidates to understand the exam pattern, frequently asked topics, and difficulty level. Solving the question papers help candidates to improve their speed and accuracy of solving questions.

B

Bhumika Lama

Contributor-Level 7

Answered a month ago

Yes, candidates are required to refer to separate RRB Group D books for Current Affairs such as Pratiyogita Darpan and Manorama Yearbook. Questions in this section are asked from the following topics:

  • Static GK for Group D

  • Railway Budget news

  • Sports news for Group D

  • Indian Geography for RRB

  • History of In

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A

Anangsha Patra

Contributor-Level 10

Answered a month ago

Yes, NCERT books (from Class 6 to 10) are sufficient for covering basics of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology for RRB Group D. The syllabus for RRB Group D General Science is given below.

RRB Group D Physics Syllabus: Units and measurements, Force and Laws of Motion, Work, Energy, and Power, Gravitatio

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Chanchal Jain

Contributor-Level 7

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