RRB JE Previous Year Cut Off: Check CBT 1, CBT 2 Category-wise Marks Here

RRB JE Previous Year Cut off: The Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) conducts the Junior Engineer exam every year to select applicants for technical positions in Indian Railways. One of the major concerns of candidates while preparing is the previous year's cutoff marks of RRB JE. This is because having information about the cutoff gives candidates an idea regarding the difficulty level of the examination and also helps them set a realistic mark. The cutoff for RRB JE keeps varying every year, depending upon many parameters, including vacancies, number of candidates, difficulty level of exam, and category-wise reservation. In this article, we will discuss in detail the previous year's cutoff marks for RRB JE.

RRB JE CBT 1 Previous Year Cutoff

The RRB JE CBT 1 paper comprises 100 questions for 100 marks and the candidate should clear the minimum qualifying marks to appear for CBT 2. 

• According to the official notification, the minimum qualifying marks for the general category is 40%, OBC and SC is 30%, and for ST category it is 25%. The minimum qualifying marks remain constant throughout the cycles, while the actual cutoff zone-wise (which is required to overcome competition) varies from year to year.

• From the trend analysis of recent years, the RRB JE CBT 1 cutoff in the last cycle varied from 30 to 75 marks based on the zone and category. Also, some of the zones have shown an increasing trend over the years. 

• For example, the cutoff of RRB Guwahati CBT 1 in the General category increased to 72, which denotes an increase in the cutoff as compared to past cycles. In general, the cutoff in UR category remains higher than other categories such as OBC, SC, ST, and EWS.

RRB JE CBT 2 Previous Year Cutoff

RRB JE CBT 2 is a more crucial stage because it determines the ultimate merit list, and hence, its cutoff is obviously high and difficult when compared to CBT 1. The test will have 150 questions carrying 150 marks, with each question having 1 mark, while there will be a reduction of one-third mark for any incorrect answer. The minimum qualifying marks in this case are the same as CBT 1, i.e., 40% for UR, 30% for OBC and SC, and 25% for ST.

• From the previous year's trends, it can be seen that the cutoff marks of CBT 2 are usually high when compared to CBT 1 due to its greater difficulty level and importance in the final selection process. 

• As an example, the cutoff marks of General candidates belonging to Mechanical and Civil branches in one cycle lie between 72 and 78 marks out of 150, and then in the subsequent cycle, this trend remains constant, with some zones like Guwahati surpassing 80 marks. 

• As the scores of CBT 2 are normalized, considering different shifts to avoid any unfairness, the candidate's raw marks are likely to go up and down after normalization.

Factors Affecting RRB JE Cut Offs

There are some factors that influence the RRB JE cut off marks. The RRB JE cut off marks vary each year. This depends upon the following criteria:

• Vacancy: In case there are more vacancies, the cut off marks will be comparatively lower. Conversely, less number of vacancies means the cut off marks will be higher.

• No. of Applicants Appearing: The cut off marks depend upon the no. of applicants who appeared in the examination. Higher numbers of candidates appearing means more competition.

• Difficulty Level of Question Paper: Easy question paper will result in high marks scored by candidates. This will lead to an increase in the cut off marks.

• Candidates under Reserved Category: In accordance with the government rules, the cut off marks vary for different categories like SC, ST, OBC, and EWS. The cut off marks for the candidates in reserved categories are lower than those in the General Category.

• Normalization of Marks: Since SSC conducts examination in different centers and different shifts, marks are normalized, which in turn affects the cut off marks.

• Demand of the Post: If the post is in high demand, such as the JSO and Statistical Investigator Grade II posts, then their cut off marks will be high.