WHAT IS GATE Entrance Exam?

The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is a National Level Entrance Exam conducted every year to test a candidate’s understanding of various undergraduate subjects in engineering and science. From past few years, the no. of applicants has grown exponentially. The acceptance of GATE score by PSUs for Recruitment can be considered as one of the major reasons for this increase in no. of applicants.

WHEN IS THE GATE EXAM CONDUCTED?

GATE exam is conducted every year in the month of January/February. Previously it was conducted on second Sunday of February but from past two years since it has become online for all 22 streams of Engineering including EC, EE, CS, ME, IT & CIVIL It is now conducted in different slots on weekends between January Last week to February Last week. The exam for all the 22 streams will be conducted by an online Computer-based Test. This year GATE was held on alternate weekends (Saturday and Sunday) during forenoon and afternoon sessions between January – February 2018. The Exam for some papers may also be held in multiple sessions. Exact details regarding the complete schedule will be notified by the respective institute conducting GATE for the given year. The organizing institute is responsible for end to end process and coordination amongst administering Institutes.

WHO CONDUCTS GATE?

GATE is conducted by 7 IITs – Indian Institute of Technology (that includes IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi)and IISc Bangalore (Indian Institute of Science) on a Rotational basis every year on behalf of the National Coordination Board-GATE, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD)Indian govt. GATE 2018 was conducted by IIT Guhwati & GATE 2017 was conducted by IIT Roorkee.

An Interesting Fact about GATE

Previously even the pre-final year students were allowed to take GATE exam but from last 3 years, only the students in final year are allowed to write. Even then we see an exponential growth in the number of total applicants. Had the 3rd Year engineering students been allowed to take GATE exam then we might have crossed the mighty magical figure of 20 Lakh Applicants for GATE 2013, GATE 2014 & GATE 2015. At the same time, the eligibility for GATE has also been increased to 3 years instead of 2 years earlier.

GATE Exam Eligibility

• ALL the Bachelor’s degree holders in Engineering/Technology/Architecture (4 Years after 10+2/ Post-B.Sc/Post-Diploma) and those in the final year of such programs

• Master’s Degree holders in any branch of Science/ Mathematics/ Statistics/ Computer Applications or Equivalent and also those in Final year

• Candidates in the second or higher year of four-year integrated Master’s degree programs (Post-B.Sc) in Engineering/ Technology

• Candidates in the fourth or Higher year of 5 Year Integrated Master’s degree programs or Dual Degree programs in Engineering/Technology

• Candidates with qualification obtained through examinations conducted by professional societies recognized by UPSC/AICTE ( For Instance : AMIE by iE(i), AMICE(i) by Institute of Civil Engineers (India)-iCE(i)) as equivalent to B.E/ B.Tech

GATE Papers & their codes

There are 22 streams of GATE paper. A candidate is allowed to appear only one stream at a time. The following are the codes for different streams of Engineering

S.no	GATE PAPER	Paper Code
1	Electronics & Communication	EC
2	Electrical Engineering	EE
3	Mechanical Engineering	ME
4	Computer Science & Information Technology	CS
5	Civil Engineering	CE
6	Aerospace Engineering	AE
7	Agricultural Engineering	AG
8	Architecture & Planning	AR
9	Biotechnology	BT
10	Chemical Engineering	CH
11	Chemistry	CY
12	Ecology & Evolution	EY
13	Geology & Geophysics	GG
14	Instrumentation Engineering	IN
15	Mathematics	MA
16	Mining Engineering	MN
17	Metallurgical Engineering	MT
18	Physics	PH
19	Production & Industrial Engineering	PI
20	Textile Engineering & Fibre Science	TF
21	Engineering Sciences	XE
22	Life Sciences	XL

GATE Entrance Exam – PAPER PATTERN

GATE is online for all the 22 streams of Engineering. Previously GATE was online for only 16 streams of engineering and paper-pencil mode for the remaining 6 streams. But from past 2 years, GATE is conducted in the online format. It is now an ONLINE Computer Based Test (CBT). The GATE paper is a combination of Technical subjects, Engineering Maths & Aptitude. The GATE paper has two types of questions that are multiple choice type & Numerical answer type. The details about each type of questions are mentioned below:

1. Multiple Choice Type: These are objective type of questions. Each question will have 4 multiple choices. The candidate needs to mark any one of them as the answer. Each right answer will be rewarded with either 1 or 2 marks.
2. Numerical Answer Type: These type of questions needs to be answered by entering a Real number as the answer. This has to be done using a virtual keyboard. These types of questions will not be having any choices. Each right answer will be rewarded with either 1 or 2 Marks.

• The GATE paper has a total of 65 questions including all type of questions.
• The Total duration is 3 Hours (180 minutes).
• Total Marks = 100
• 35 questions for 2 Marks & 30 questions for 1 mark

The details have been tabulated below:

Particulars	Details
GATE paper Duration	3 Hours
No. of Questions	65 Questions
Question Break- up	35 Questions – 2 Marks30 Questions – 1 Marks
Total Marks	100

Negative Marking in GATE Entrance Exam

For all the 1 mark questions, the negative marking is 1/3^rd and for 2 Marks questions, the negative marking is 2/3^rd. Please note that there are no NEGATIVE marks for Numerical Type Questions

The GATE question paper is designed to test candidate’s ability on

• Recall
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis & Synthesis

GATE 2018 was conducted by IIT Guhwati & there were around 10 Lakh applicants for GATE exam. With more PSUs accepting GATE scores, the number of GATE applicants is expected to rise every year making the competition tougher.

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