RRB ALP (Assistant Loco Pilot) is an exam conducted by Railway Recruitment Board (RRB). It is crucial to know about the exam syllabus and pattern of the exam before beginning your preparation. This exam is conducted in 4 stages – 1) First Stage CBT 2) Second stage CBT 3) CBT (only for ALP) 4) Document Verification. This year there are around 26000+ vacancies. Exam date of RRB ALP 2018 has not been announced officially yet.

So let us take a look at the exam pattern of the first stage and second stage of this exam first.

First stage CBT:

This is a computer-based test and please note that there is a negative marking of 1/3rd marks for every incorrect answer, below is the exam pattern:

Sl. No	Subjects	No.of Qs	Duration
1	Mathematics	75	60 Mins
2	General Intelligence & Reasoning
3	General Science
4	General Awareness on Current Affairs

 

Second Stage CBT:

The second stage has 2 parts and there is a negative marking of 1/3rd marks for the wrong answer. If you qualify in the second stage, you will be allowed to appear for Computer Based Test which will later be followed by document verification.

Part	Subjects	No.of Qs	Duration
Part A	Mathematics	75	60 Mins
	General Intelligence & Reasoning
	Basic Science & Engineering
	General Awareness on Current Affairs
Part B	Relevant Trade	75	60 Minutes
Total		175	2 Hours 30 Minutes

How to begin your preparation Assistant Loco Pilot:

1. It is very important to know minute details about this exam. We have already provided exam pattern and stages of the exam. The full-fledged syllabus is also provided on our site, please refer to it.
2. You must be aware of RRB ALP syllabus and exam pattern by heart.
3. Once you are familiar with the subjects and topics within, also know the priority, weightage of each sub-topic and level of difficulty too.
4. Build a study play, preparation strategy as per the syllabus and go according to the schedule.
5. Follow the notes provided by your institute or tutor, however, prepare your own notes as per your convenience and understanding which may be short and simple. It will help you in memorizing and later while revising.
6. Most of the candidates who appear for this exam may be employed and students which means, there is a high possibility of time limitation for preparation.
7. Therefore, keep in mind about this time you have in hand and allocate study hours for each section accordingly.
8. So, it goes like this. You must allocate more time for the high priority and difficult topics and less for those which are comparatively easier topics.
9. It is important to attempt various mock tests, solve previous papers, model papers. This type of self-assessment helps in improving speed and accuracy.
10. Keep in mind about the negative marking so you must make all efforts to avoid negative marking.
11. Avoid solving random questions. You must solve 75 questions in an hour. By the end of your preparation, you will definitely become proficient and will be at ease what to answer and what not to answer to avoid negative marking.

Few good books that are helpful:

He list of books that would help to crack the railway exam. RRB exam book will provide you important topic wise sections and solved question answers.

 

Subject Name	Railway Exam Books
Arithmetic	R.S Agarwal
Verbal and Non Verbal Reasoning	R.S Agarwal
Reasoning Test	R.S Agarwal
Railway Recruitment Board Exam	Upkar Publication
Upkar Railway Recruitment Board Exam	Khanna & Verma
Traffic Apprentice Editorial Board	Pratiyogita Darpan

 

General Tips:

1. Firstly, get the hang of the syllabus and pattern of the exam and prepare a study plan.  
2. Make notes at the time of preparation that you may refer sometime later too and do a quick revision. Include formulae and concepts in these type of notes.
3. Self-assessment is the utmost important part that will help you assess your focus areas thereby practicing more. Take RRB ALP mock tests , practice more from the model test papers and previous years’ question papers. This will also improve your accuracy as well as speed.

So we wish a very good luck to all those RRB aspirants to get a successful job in Indian railways as Assistant Loco pilot.