WHAT IS GATE ?
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 ?
This exam is conducted every year in 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. The previous year GATE was held on alternate weekends (Saturday and Sunday) during forenoon and afternoon sessions between 31st January 2015 and 14th February 2015. 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.
| YEAR | INSTITUTE CONDUCTING |
| 2005 | IIT BOMBAY |
| 2006 | IIT KHARAGPUR |
| 2007 | IIT KANPUR |
| 2008 | IISC BANGALORE |
| 2009 | IIT ROORKEE |
| 2010 | IIT GUWAHATI |
| 2011 | IIT MADRAS |
| 2012 | IIT DELHI |
| 2013 | IIT BOMBAY |
| 2014 | IIT KHARAGPUR |
| 2015 | IIT KANPUR |
| 2016 | IISC BANGLORE |
| 2017 | IIT ROORKEE |
Last year ie., GATE 2015 was conducted by IIT KANPUR.
GATE 2016 will be conducted by IISc Bangalore. Last time IISc Bangalore conducted it in the year 2008. All the important dates related to GATE 2016 can be expected to be available on the institute’s website by first/second week of September 2015. The lists of all important dates include the following:
- GATE online application processing system(GOAPS) website open date
- GATE online application submission last date
- Last date for change in city through GOAPS
- Admit card availability for printing
- Exam Dates/Slots
- Date of announcement of results
GATE STATISTICS
The Following table shows the year on year numbers of GATE Applicants, GATE Qualifying numbers and Percentage of students qualifying the GATE exam.
| Year | GATE Applicants | No. of Students Appearing | No. of Students Qualifying | Qualifying Percentage | Institute Conducted |
| 2012 | 777,134 | 686,614 | 108,526 | 15.81% | Delhi |
| 2013 | 1,200,728 | 984,855 | 136,699 | 13.88% | Bombay |
| 2014 | 1,033,625 | 889,156 | 149,694 | 16.84% | Kharagpur |
| 2015 | 927,580 | 804,463 | 121,060 | 15.05% | Kanpur |
The above table clearly shows the kind of growth GATE exam has seen for past few years. Ranging from 2-4 Lakh students in 2008, we can see that the no. of takers have gone past 10 Lakh.
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 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-Dipploma) 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 & Gepphysics | 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 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:
- 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.
- 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 Marks
30 Questions - 1 Marks |
Total Marks
|
100
|
Negative Marking in GATE:
For all the 1 mark questions, the negative marking is 1/3rd and for 2 Marks questions the negative marking is 2/3rd. 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
Other Related Articles : GATE 2016 Notification, GATE & Campus Placement, GATE & Higher Education, Previous Year GATE Papers
