RRB JE — after the 28 Oct (reported) paper

The verdict

Aspirants and coaching educators reviewing the RRB JE CBT-1 (CEN 04/2026) held on 27-28 October 2026 largely describe the paper as easy-to-moderate to moderate: Reasoning was the friendliest section, while Mathematics was calculation-heavy and time-consuming. One aspirant on a YouTube analysis thread said Reasoning was easy and Maths was very calculative.

Scope note: The exam ran 27 and 28 October 2026 in three shifts a day. Most detailed, published section-wise numbers we could verify relate to the 27 October Shift 1. For 28 October, shift-wise pages exist (Testbook, Practicemock, Prepp), but their detailed tables were not readable in what we found, so 28 October-specific figures below are limited. This article is based on 10+ coaching/news pages and YouTube analyses reviewed, not a Reddit sample. Treat everything as reported opinion, not official data.

One caveat for 28 October: RRB had postponed the CBT 1 exam scheduled for 28 October at seven test centres in Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry and Vijayawada because of Cyclone Arnab, and those affected candidates' exam is scheduled for 2 November 2026. So the 28 October sitting was not held at those centres.

What educators and aspirants are saying

• Testbook's FAQ says the overall difficulty of the CBT 1 held on 27th October was reported to be easy to moderate across the three shifts. Its page notes around 11 lakh students appeared (Testbook's figure, not an official count).
• CareerPower reports that candidates in the 1st shift reported the paper was of Moderate level.
• Prepp rates the 27 October Shift 1 paper as Moderate, with approximately 72-82 good attempts.
• Testbook's question-paper page says difficulty ranged from moderate to high, and that Maths was moderately difficult, requiring too much calculation and being time-consuming. Note the disagreement with the "easy to moderate" read above.
• A YouTube commenter on a Shift 2 analysis said they attempted 82 questions, found Maths very calculative (statistics, geometry with construction, circles and quadrilaterals), said Biology rewarded those who had read NCERT well, and called Reasoning easy. That is one aspirant's account, and the video page does not make clear which date that shift was.
• Another commenter on a cutoff video cautioned that attempts alone don't decide results and urged waiting for the answer key, since scores can shift.

Topic-wise difficulty (27 October Shift 1, per Prepp)

Subject	Questions	Difficulty	Top complaint / note
Mathematics	30	Moderate	~21-24 good attempts; calculation-heavy per aspirants and Testbook
Reasoning	25	Easy to Moderate	Generally called the easiest section
General Awareness	15	Moderate	~9-11 good attempts
General Science	30	Easy to Moderate	Biology/NCERT-dependent, physics questions framed to be lengthy (aspirant comment)

The paper is 100 questions for 100 marks, with 1/3 mark negative marking. Counts above are the pattern as reported for the 27 October shift; shift-wise 28 October tables were not verifiable.

Expected cutoff (predictions, not official)

RRB has not released CBT-1 cutoffs for this cycle; Prepp lists the CBT 1 cut-off as "To Be Announced". The only category-wise estimate we found is MADE EASY's safe-score table, which it describes as estimates, since RRB publishes the actual cutoff only after results. Adda247 separately suggests 68-80 marks out of 100 for UR depending on zone and post.

Category	Aspirant/educator predicted safe score (out of 100)	2025 official
General (UR)	80+ (Adda247: 68-80 range by zone)	Zone-wise; see RRB zonal PDFs
EWS	72+	Zone-wise
OBC	75+	Zone-wise
SC	68+	Zone-wise
ST	60+	Zone-wise

Minimum qualifying marks are separate from the shortlisting cutoff: general candidates must score at least 40% in CBT 1 and CBT 2, and there is no sectional cutoff. Actual cutoffs vary by RRB zone, so a single national number is unreliable.

Answer key status

As of writing, no official answer key has been published for this CBT-1. Prepp's schedule lists the CBT 1 answer key and results as "To be announced". We did not find any named coaching institute's unofficial key for the 27-28 October papers. Be wary of pages about "RRB JE answer key 2026" that actually refer to the earlier February 2026 exam (CEN 05/2025), a different cycle. When RRB publishes, it will appear on your regional RRB website.

What to do this week

• Don't trust attempt counts alone. With 1/3 negative marking, a higher number of attempts does not necessarily mean a higher score if accuracy is low.
• Remember normalisation. Shifts differed in difficulty, so raw-score comparisons with friends in other shifts are misleading.
• Reconstruct your paper now. Note the questions you remember and your confidence level, so you can check them quickly once the official response sheet is out.
• Start CBT-2 groundwork. CBT 1 is a screening stage; CBT 2 has 150 one-mark questions. Begin your technical-discipline revision rather than waiting idly.
• If you're in the affected Andhra Pradesh centres, check your revised city slip and e-call letter; these were available from October 30, and the rescheduled exam is today's date, 2 November.
• Verify before sharing. Ignore "leaked key" or guaranteed-cutoff claims on social media; rely on the official RRB notice.