RRB ALP · Psycho Test
RDSO publishes a 15-question FAQ on the aptitude test, in English and Hindi. Pindel Sir goes through the answers that matter for the ALP CBAT: who takes the test, how it is scored, the rules, the mock test in the hall, and the five points RDSO itself asks you to keep in mind.
By Team Kautilya · 12 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
RDSO, the Research Designs and Standards Organisation of Indian Railways at Lucknow, is the body whose Psychology Directorate designs the aptitude tests the RRBs give. Its website has a Candidates' Corner with a 15-question FAQ, in English and Hindi. Some of the questions are about Station Masters, some about serving loco pilots, and the rest apply to every candidate, including the RRB ALP psycho test, the Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBAT). This article takes the FAQ answer by answer and says, in plain words, what each one means for an ALP candidate.
Two things this article does not repeat. The pattern of the ALP test itself, the five tests and the 20 kinds of question with their counts and clocks, is in the complete guide to the RRB ALP psycho test. And the T-Score formula with RDSO's worked examples has its own article.
RDSO's answer: aptitude tests are given to candidates selected as safety-category staff, at the entry level of Station Masters, Traffic Assistants and Assistant Loco Pilots, to assess the cognitive and personality attributes essential for safe train operation. Today this testing is in CBT mode, the computer-based mode, for the RRB recruitment of Station Masters and ALPs. It is also used in CBT mode for in-house promotions through the GDCE and for Station Controllers and Train Operators of metro rail corporations.
The Candidates' Corner adds the purpose in one line: people who perform well in these tests usually also do well on the job, and the tests are designed to give real measures of your strengths and limitations. What it means for you: the CBAT is not a knowledge test. It measures abilities, memory, following directions, depth perception, observation and speed, and each of those abilities improves with the right practice. A candidate who has never seen the screen is at a disadvantage that has nothing to do with intelligence.
RDSO lists five points for the aptitude test in CBT mode:
Pindel Sir's note on the first point: the example on the instruction screen is not decoration. The hall gives one kind of question for each test, and the example tells you which kind. Read it to the end even when you know the kind at a glance. The other four points are habits, and habits come from practice on a screen that runs like the hall's, with the hall's clock.
To qualify, a candidate needs a T-Score of 42 or more in each test. The T-Score is not the raw score; the raw score of each test is converted into a T-Score using the mean and the standard deviation of all candidates who appeared in that test. RDSO's formula is T = 50 + 10 × (score − mean) ÷ SD, and its FAQ gives three worked examples: a score of 20 with mean 14 and SD 3 gives 70; a raw score of 75 out of 100 with mean 85 and SD 10 gives only 40; and a raw score of 0 with mean 40 and SD 5 gives −30. The five T-Scores are added and scaled to a score out of 30. The T-Score article works through each example.
What it means for you: the score is relative, so your practice must also be relative. A percentage on a practice paper tells you nothing. On the Kautilya Classes portal every paper reports a T-Score against every student who sat it, with the same formula.
RDSO's Candidates' Corner describes the mechanics. In the computer-based test you record an answer by clicking the mouse on one of the alternatives for the question. A mock test is available before the aptitude test, so that you can get familiar with it. The answers you mark can be changed within the time limit specified for the test.
Three things follow. First, the hall is a desktop with a mouse, so practise on a laptop or desktop, not only on a phone. Second, the mock in the hall is for the mouse and the screen, not for learning the 20 kinds of question; a candidate who meets the Watch Table Test for the first time in that mock has left it too late. Third, changing an answer is allowed, but going back costs seconds that the clock does not return. Give your most likely answer, press Save & Next, and change it only when you are sure.
The ALPs Guidelines CBT (Jan 2020) give the five tests in their order, Memory, Following Directions, Depth Perception, Power of Observation and Perceptual Speed, and the kinds of question each test can take, 20 in all, with the number of questions and the minutes for each kind. The Kautilya Classes portal follows that guideline for every practice paper and every Full Mock, and the list of all 20 kinds of question gives the count and the clock of each one.
Start with the free Full Mock: create a free account and sit all five tests on a screen like the hall's, in the hall's order, with a T-Score in each.
RDSO (लखनऊ) का मनोविज्ञान निदेशालय रेलवे के अभिवृत्ति परीक्षण बनाता है, और उसकी वेबसाइट के Candidates' Corner में 15 सवालों का FAQ है। ALP उम्मीदवार के काम की बातें: यह परीक्षण संरक्षा श्रेणी (स्टेशन मास्टर, ALP, सेक्शन कंट्रोलर) के लिए होता है और अब कंप्यूटर पर होता है; हर टेस्ट में 42 या ज़्यादा T-Score ज़रूरी है; कट-ऑफ पूरे देश के हर RRB में एक जैसा है; न आरक्षण है, न नेगेटिव मार्किंग; अंतिम मेरिट में RRB परीक्षा और अभिवृत्ति परीक्षण के अंक 70:30 के अनुपात में जुड़ते हैं। उत्तर माउस से क्लिक करके दिया जाता है, असली टेस्ट से पहले एक मॉक टेस्ट मिलता है, और समय सीमा के अंदर उत्तर बदला जा सकता है। RDSO के पाँच सुझाव: उदाहरण समझें, हर सवाल पर ध्यान रखें, समय का ध्यान रखें, कठिन सवाल छोड़कर आगे बढ़ें, और दो टेस्ट के बीच के विश्राम में आराम करें। स्टेशन मास्टर के छह स्कोर और CADAT (110 किमी/घंटा से तेज़ ट्रेनों के लोको पायलटों के लिए) ALP भर्ती का हिस्सा नहीं हैं।
Source: RDSO (Research Designs and Standards Organisation, Lucknow), Psychology Directorate, Candidates' Corner and Frequently Asked Questions, rdso.indianrailways.gov.in; RDSO, "ALPs Guidelines CBT, Jan 2020".
Educator · शिक्षक
Founder & Director, Kautilya Classes · M.Tech., NIT Jalandhar
Pindel Sir has taught the RRB ALP psycho test (CBAT) for ten years at Kautilya Classes in Jaipur and Jodhpur, with thousands of selections to the institute's name. He built this portal so that every student practises the five tests on a screen like the hall and sees the same T-Score the railway reports.
पिंडेल सर दस साल से कौटिल्य क्लासेस, जयपुर और जोधपुर में RRB ALP साइको टेस्ट पढ़ा रहे हैं; संस्थान के नाम हज़ारों चयन हैं।
All five tests in one sitting, the hall's order and timing, a scorecard out of 30 and your T-Score in each test. Free with every account, no package needed.
पाँचों टेस्ट एक बार में, असली क्रम और समय, हर टेस्ट का T-Score। हर अकाउंट के साथ मुफ़्त।
Most of it does. RDSO designs the aptitude tests for Station Masters, Assistant Loco Pilots and Section Controllers, and the FAQ covers all of them. The questions on the six scores of the Station Master battery and on CADAT do not apply to ALP recruitment.
No. RDSO states that the aptitude test selects staff for safety categories, so there is no provision of reservation. The same T-Score of 42 is needed by every candidate.
No. RDSO says the test measures cognitive attributes, so there is no negative marking. Attempt every question; a blank can only lose.
Yes. RDSO states that the qualifying criterion is the same in all RRBs across the country, with no variation at all: a T-Score of 42 or more in each test.
Yes. RDSO's Candidates' Corner says a mock test is available before the aptitude test so that candidates can get familiar with it. It shows you the screen and the mouse, not the kinds of question; those must be practised beforehand.
Yes, within the time limit of that test. RDSO states that answers marked in CBT mode can be changed within the time specified for the test. Going back costs time, so change an answer only when you are sure.
CADAT is RDSO's computer-aided test system for serving Loco Pilots being deployed on trains faster than 110 km/h. It has its own five tests and is not part of ALP recruitment. Prepare for the five tests of the ALP CBAT instead.
No original vision certificate in the Annexure VI-A format, no entry to the CBAT: that is the RRB's notice of 8 October 2026 for CEN 01/2025. Here is the format in Hindi and English, what every box means, who may sign it, and a step-by-step guide to getting it made without a mistake.
Er. Mahendra Pindel (Pindel Sir), founder and director of Kautilya Classes, has coached RRB ALP psycho test batches for ten years in Jaipur and Jodhpur. This is his method, and how the portal puts it on a screen like the hall.
What RDSO tells candidates to do before and during the aptitude test session, and the ten rules Pindel Sir gives every Kautilya Classes batch in the last class before the CBAT.
