RRB NTPC Typing Test (CBTST)

The Railway Recruitment Boards hold a Computer Based Typing Skill Test (CBTST) for the NTPC posts that need typing. The rules below are from the RRBs' notice of special instructions to candidates for CEN 05/2024 (various NTPC graduate posts), dated 22 December 2025. The same rules, word for word, appeared in the CBTST notice for CEN 01/2019 in July 2022, so they have been stable across recruitment cycles.

The rules

• You type in English or Hindi. English is the default. Hindi typists "must be familiar with the usage of Krutidev or Mangal font".
• The session has three parts: one minute of practice to warm up, a 30 second break, then the 10 minute test that is evaluated.
• If you finish the passage, you may retype it from the beginning within the 10 minutes.
• "Candidates who do not type the whole passage at least once in 10 minutes will be treated as disqualified."
• Transcripts with fewer than 300 words in English or 250 in Hindi are not evaluated.
• "Use of editing tools for correcting the mistakes of the typed matter is not permitted."
• The minimum speed is 30 words per minute in English and 25 in Hindi.

How speed is calculated

The notice gives the method in three steps:

Total mistakes       = full mistakes + half mistakes / 2
Final count          = total mistakes - 5% of total words typed
Typing speed (wpm)   = (total words typed - final count x 10) / time

Its own example: a candidate who types 400 words in 10 minutes with a final count of 10 mistakes scores (400 - 10 x 10) / 10 = 30 words per minute, exactly the English minimum. Two things follow from the formula. First, the 5 percent allowance is generous: in 400 words, 20 mistakes cost nothing at all. Second, every mistake beyond that is expensive, because each one removes 10 words, a full word per minute over a 10 minute test.

This page applies exactly that formula. The result screen writes it out with your numbers, so you can see how many mistakes you could afford and how many you used.

Full and half mistakes

The RRB notice uses full and half mistakes but does not list which errors fall into each. The most detailed official list is the Staff Selection Commission's guidelines for evaluating typed scripts, so this page uses those. Full mistakes: a word left out, a wrong word, an extra or repeated word, an incomplete word, typing in capitals. Half mistakes: a spelling slip, singular for plural, a missing or misplaced full stop, a missing capital at the start of a sentence or a name. A missing or extra space, which neither document covers, counts here as one half mistake. Your exam's evaluation may differ in detail, so treat the full and half split as a close guide rather than a guarantee.

Preparing

• Make sure you can finish the passage once in 10 minutes. At 30 words a minute that is 300 words, so a passage of about 350 needs a little more.
• Practise without Backspace from the start. Typists who rely on it are slowed down most by this test.
• For Hindi, practise the layout your exam centre provides. The Hindi typing test has Remington (GAIL), Remington (CBI) and InScript in Unicode, the text Mangal displays.
• Watch the half mistakes. Capitals and full stops cost only half a mistake each, but they add up quickly over 300 words.

Where to verify

• RRB notice on CBTST, special instructions, CEN 05/2024, dated 22.12.2025 (archived copy of the file published on RRB Chandigarh's website).
• Railway Recruitment Boards portal for the notice for your own CEN.
• SSC, Revised Guidelines for Evaluation of Stenography Skill Test Scripts (the mistake categories used here).

1. Choose English (30 wpm) or Hindi (25 wpm). For Hindi, choose your layout.
2. Click the typing box and start. The 10 minute clock starts on your first key.
3. Type without correcting. Backspace is off, as editing is not permitted in the real test.
4. If you finish the passage, carry straight on: it starts again from the beginning, as the notice allows.
5. When time runs out, read your speed and the formula worked out with your own mistakes.