Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an all India examination administered and conducted jointly by the Indian Institute of Science and seven Indian Institutes of Technology on behalf of the National Coordination Board - GATE, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India. The GATE committee, which comprises of representatives from the administering institutes, is the sole authority for regulating the examination and declaring the results.

Zonal Administering Institutes

GATE is conducted through the constitution of eight zones. The zones and the corresponding administering institutes are:

Zone 1 - Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru

Zone 2 - Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Zone 3 - Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Zone 4 - Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

Zone 5 - Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Zone 6 - Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Zone 7 - Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Zone 8 - Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

Eligibility for GATE

The following categories of candidates ONLY are eligible to appear for GATE:

a) Bachelor’s degree holders in Engineering/Technology/ Architecture (4 years after 10+2) and those who are in the final year of such programmes.

b) Bachelor's degree holders in Engineering/Technology/Architecture (Post-B.Sc./Post-Diploma) and those who are in the final year of such programmes.

c) Master’s degree holders in any branch of Science/Mathematics/ Statistics/Computer Applications or equivalent and those who are in the final year of such programmes.

d) Candidates in the second or higher year of the Four-year Integrated Master’s degree programme (Post-B.Sc.) in Engineering/Technology.

e) Candidates in the fourth or higher year of Five-year Integrated Master’s degree programme or Dual Degree programme in Engineering/Technology.

f) Candidates with qualifications obtained through examinations conducted by professional societies recognized by UPSC/AICTE (e.g. AMIE by Institute of Engineers (India); AMICE by Institute of Civil Engineers (India)) as equivalent to B.E./B.Tech. Those who have completed section A or equivalent of such professional courses are also eligible.

GATE Qualification

Admissions to postgraduate programmes with MHRD and some other Government scholarships/assistantships in engineering colleges/institutes is open to those who qualify in GATE examination. Candidates with Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/Technology/ Architecture or Master’s degree in any branch of Science/Mathematics/Statistics/Computer Applications, who qualify in GATE examination are eligible for admission to Master’s degree programmes in Engineering/Technology/ Architecture as well as for Doctoral programmes in relevant branches of Science with MHRD or other Government scholarships/assistantships. To avail the scholarship, the candidate must secure admission to such a postgraduate programme, as per the prevailing procedure of the admitting institution. However, candidates with Master’s degree in Engineering/Technology/Architecture may seek admission to relevant Doctoral programmes with scholarship/assistantship without appearing in the GATE examination. Qualification in GATE is also a minimum requirement to apply for various fellowships awarded by many Government organizations.

Postgraduate Admissions with MHRD Scholarship

As per the directives of the MHRD, the following procedure is to be adopted for admission to the postgraduate programmes (Master and Doctoral) with MHRD scholarship/assistantship. The performance of the candidate in GATE will be considered for admission. If the candidate is to be selected through interview for postgraduate programmes, minimum 70% weightage is to be given to the performance in GATE. The remaining weightage (30% maximum) can be given to the candidate’s academic record or performance in interview. The admitting institution could however prescribe minimum passing percentage of marks in the interview. Some colleges/institutes specify GATE qualification as the mandatory requirement even for admission without MHRD scholarship/assistantship. Candidates are advised to seek details of admission procedures and availability of MHRD scholarship/ assistantship from the concerned admitting institution. The criteria for postgraduate admission with scholarship/ assistantship are different for different admitting institutions. The management of the postgraduate scholarship/assistantship is also the responsibility of the admitting institution. Similarly, reservation of seats under different categories is as per the policies and norms prevailing at the admitting institution and Government of India rules. GATE offices will not entertain any enquiry about admission, reservation of seats or award of scholarship/assistantship. A candidate declared “Qualified in GATE at the time of admission” is entitled for MHRD fellowship for 24 months unless he/she loses it due to poor performance in the registered programme. The students of Integrated Master Degree and Dual Degree programmes in Engineering/Technology are eligible to appear in GATE 2012 in order to qualify for the postgraduate scholarships in their own institutions only. They are not eligible for admission to a fresh M.E./M.Tech. programme.

GATE Exams, Results and Scorecard

A. GATE exams are conducted online only for a few disciplines: [Aerospace Engineering; Agricultural Engineering; Architecture and Planning; Geology and Geophysics; Mining Engineering; Textile Engineering and Fibre Science]. For Electronics & Communication Engg.; Electrical Engg. Mechanical Engg. and many other branches, the exam is conducted offline.

B. The offline exams are conducted on the second Sunday of February every year. The online exams are conducted in January.

C. The results are declared generally on 15th of March.

D. GATE score is valid for TWO YEARS from the date of announcement of the GATE results.

E. Details about the contents of GATE Scorecard will be made available in the GATE websites at an appropriate time. There is no provision for issue of additional GATE scorecard. The GATE Committee has the authority to decide the qualifying mark for each GATE paper.

Examination Type

The GATE examination consists of a single paper of 3 hours duration which contains 65 questions carrying a maximum of 100 marks. The question paper will consist of only objective questions. The candidates will have to mark the correct choice on an Optical Response Sheet (ORS) by darkening the appropriate bubble against each question. There will be negative marking for each wrong answer, except for some questions, as explained in the next sectons. Each GATE paper shall have a General Aptitude (GA) component carrying 15 marks.

GATE would contain questions of four different types in various papers:

(i) Multiple choice questions carrying 1 or 2 marks each;

(ii) Common data questions, where two successive questions use the same set of input data;

(iii)Linked answer questions, where the answer to the first question in the pair is required to answer its successor; and

(iv)Numerical answer questions, where the answer is a number, to be entered by the candidate.

Marking

For 1 mark multiple choice questions, 1/3 mark will be deducted for a wrong answer. Likewise, for 2 marks multiple choice questions, 2/3 mark will be deducted for a wrong answer. However, for the linked answer question pair, where each question carries 2 marks, 2/3 mark will be deducted for a wrong answer to the first question only. There is no negative marking for wrong answer to the second question of the linked answer question pair. If the first question in the linked pair is wrongly answered or is unattempted, then the answer to the second question in the pair will not be evaluated. There is no negative marking for numerical answer type questions.

General Aptitude (GA) Section

In all papers, GA questions are of multiple choice type, and carry a total of 15 marks. The GA section includes 5 questions carrying 1 mark each (sub-total 5 marks) and 5 questions carrying 2 marks each (sub-total 10 marks).

Types of Multiple Choice Objective Questions

Each of the multiple choice objective questions in all papers and sections will contain four answers, of which the correct answer is to be marked. The types of questions in a paper may be based on the following logic

(i) Recall: These are based on facts, principles, formulae or laws of the discipline of the paper. The candidate is expected to be able to obtain the answer either from his/her memory of the subject or at most from a one-line computation.

Example

Q. During machining maximum heat is produced (A) in flank face (B) in rake face (C) in shear zone (D) due to friction between chip and tool

(ii) Comprehension: These questions will test the candidate’s understanding of the basics of his/her field, by requiring him/her to draw simple

Example

Q. A DC motor requires a starter in order to

(A) develop a starting torque (B) compensate for auxiliary field ampere turns

(C) limit armature current at starting (D) provide regenerative braking

(iii) Application: In these questions, the candidate is expected to apply his/her knowledge either through computation or by logical reasoning.

Example

Q. The sequent depth ratio of a hydraulic jump in a rectangular channel is 16.48. The Froude number at the beginning of the jump is:

(A) 5.0 (B) 8.0 (C) 10.0 (D) 12.0

(iv) Analysis and Synthesis: These can be linked answer questions, where the answer to the first question of the pair is required in order to answer its successor. Or these can be common data questions, in which two questions share the same data but can be solved independently of each other. Common data based questions: Two questions are linked to a common data problem, passage and the like. Each question is independent and its solution is obtainable from the above problem data or passage directly. (Answer of the previous question is not required to solve the next question). Each question under this group will carry two marks.

Example

Statement for Common Data Questions, for instance, for Questions 48 and 49 in Main Paper :

Let X and Y be jointly distributed random variables such that the conditional distribution of Y, given X=x, is uniform on the interval (x-1,x+1). Suppose E(X)=1 and Var(X)=5/3.

First question using common data:

Q.48 The mean of the random variable Y is

(A) 1/2 (B) 1 (C) 3/2 (D) 2

Second question using common data:

Q.49 The variance of the random variable Y is

(A) 1/2 (B) 2/3 (C) 1 (D) 2

Linked answer questions: These questions are of problem solving type. A problem statement is followed by two questions based on the problem statement. The two questions are designed such that the solution to the second question depends upon the answer to the first one. In other words, the first answer is an intermediate step in working out the second answer. Each question in such ‘linked answer questions’ will carry two marks.

The questions based on the above four logics may be a mix of single stand alone statement/phrase /data type questions, combination of option codes type questions or match items type questions.