GATE is the joint entrance test for postgraduate admission to IITs, NITs, IIITs, and other centrally funded technical institutes, and separately, the qualifying score more than a dozen major public sector undertakings use to recruit engineering graduates directly, without running a written exam of their own. The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and seven IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, and Roorkee) jointly conduct GATE on behalf of the National Coordination Board, GATE, with one of the eight institutes serving as the organizing institute for each cycle on rotation. IIT Guwahati organized GATE 2026; IIT Madras is the organizing institute for GATE 2027, with exam dates already announced for February 6, 7, 13, and 14, 2027. A single GATE score does two different jobs at once: it routes a candidate into COAP or CCMT counselling for an M.Tech or PhD seat, and it separately becomes the entry ticket for PSU recruitment drives, each with its own, far more competitive, cutoff.
| Date | Update | Source |
|---|---|---|
| March 19, 2026 | GATE 2026 result declared | IIT Guwahati |
| February 28, 2026 | GATE 2026 answer key objection window closed | IIT Guwahati |
| February 7-15, 2026 | GATE 2026 conducted across four days, eight sessions | IIT Guwahati |
| January 2, 2026 | GATE 2026 admit card released | IIT Guwahati |
| August 25, 2025 | GATE 2026 registration opened | IIT Guwahati |
| Full name | Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering |
| Acronym | GATE |
| Conducting body | IISc Bangalore and 7 IITs (rotating organizing institute; IIT Madras for the 2027 cycle) |
| Mode | Computer-based test (CBT), online |
| Level | National |
| Frequency | Annual, held over 4 days across 8 sessions in February |
| Language | English only |
| Total marks | 100 |
| Duration | 180 minutes (3 hours) per paper |
| Question count | 65 (10 General Aptitude + 55 subject-specific); MCQ, MSQ, and NAT formats |
| Negative marking | -1/3 for an incorrect 1-mark MCQ; -2/3 for an incorrect 2-mark MCQ; 0 for MSQ and NAT |
| Number of papers | 30 subject papers; a candidate may sit one, or two from an approved combination list |
| Application fee (General/OBC-NCL, per paper) | ₹2,000 regular, ₹2,500 extended |
| Application fee (Female/SC/ST/PwD, per paper) | ₹1,000 regular, ₹1,500 extended |
| Official website | gate2027.iitm.ac.in (cycle domain changes with the organizing institute each year) |
| GATE 2026 registrations | 10,11,719 |
| GATE 2026 candidates appeared | 7,97,434 |
| Score validity | 3 years from the date of result declaration |
| Notification release | Around July 2026 tentative |
| Registration opens | August 2026 tentative |
| Registration closes (regular, no late fee) | September 2026 tentative |
| Registration closes (extended, with late fee) | Early October 2026 tentative |
| Admit card release | Early January 2027 tentative |
| Exam dates | February 6, 7, 13, 14, 2027 (announced by IIT Madras) tentative |
| Result declaration | Expected mid to late March 2027 tentative |
| Registration opened | August 25, 2025 |
| Registration closed (regular) | September 25, 2025 |
| Registration closed (extended, late fee) | October 6-13, 2025 |
| Application rectification window | October 28 to November 3-10, 2025 |
| Admit card released | January 2-13, 2026 |
| Exam dates | February 7, 8, 14, 15, 2026 |
| Answer key objection window closed | February 28, 2026 |
| Result declared | March 19, 2026 |
| COAP registration and offer rounds (IITs) | April to June, following the result tentative |
| CCMT registration, choice filling, and allotment rounds (NITs/IIITs/CFTIs) | May to July, following the result tentative |
| PSU recruitment notifications | Staggered, typically opening from March onward, PSU by PSU tentative |
GATE eligibility requires a candidate to be in the third year or higher of a government-approved Bachelor's degree programme in Engineering, Technology, Architecture, or a related discipline, or to already hold one, or to be pursuing (or hold) a Master's degree in a relevant Science, Mathematics, Statistics, or Computer Applications subject. Students still in their second year of an undergraduate programme are not eligible. There is no age limit, no minimum qualifying percentage, and no cap on the number of attempts.
| Age limit | None. GATE places no upper or lower age restriction on candidates who meet the educational qualification. |
| Educational qualification (undergraduate route) | Currently in the third year or higher of a government-approved Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Technology, Architecture, or Pharmacy (4-year programme), or the corresponding year of a 5-year integrated programme, or already holds such a degree. |
| Educational qualification (postgraduate-science route) | Currently pursuing, or already holding, a Master's degree in a relevant subject such as Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Statistics, or Computer Applications. |
| Professional-body route | Candidates who have completed, or are in the final year of, professional examinations recognised as equivalent to a Bachelor's degree (such as Sections A and B of AMIE) are also eligible. |
| Minimum percentage to appear | None. |
| Number of attempts | Unrestricted. A candidate can appear in GATE every year for as long as they wish. |
| Second-year undergraduates | Not eligible; must be in the third year or higher. |
| Paper selection | One primary paper aligned to the candidate's discipline, from roughly 30 papers; an approved second paper is allowed only from a published combination list. |
| Nationality | Open to Indian nationals. Citizens of Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the UAE have historically also been eligible at designated international centres under GATE International, subject to confirmation each cycle. |
| Domicile | No domicile-based quota in GATE itself. Individual participating institutes may apply their own home-state preferences separately during their own admission process. |
GATE registration is fully online through the GOAPS (GATE Online Application Processing System) portal, typically open for about a month from late August to late September, with a further extended window that carries a late fee. A candidate applies for exactly one primary paper and, where an approved combination exists, may also opt into a second paper for an additional fee. The application fee is charged per paper, so a two-paper candidate pays twice the single-paper amount.
| Document | Format | Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photograph | JPG / JPEG | As specified in the notification | Recent, plain background, clearly visible face |
| Signature | JPG / JPEG | As specified in the notification | Handwritten, scanned on plain paper |
| Category certificate (if applicable) | As specified in the notification | OBC-NCL, SC, ST, EWS, or PwD as relevant | |
| PwD certificate (if applicable) | As specified in the notification | Required only for candidates claiming PwD relaxation | |
| Certificate from Head of Department (final-year candidates) | As specified in the notification | Confirms the candidate is currently enrolled in the qualifying year |
| Category | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| General / OBC-NCL (regular window) | ₹2,000 | ₹2,000 |
| Female / SC / ST / PwD (regular window) | ₹1,000 | ₹1,000 |
| General / OBC-NCL (extended window) | ₹2,500 | ₹2,500 |
| Female / SC / ST / PwD (extended window) | ₹1,500 | ₹1,500 |
GATE has 65 questions worth 100 marks in every paper: 10 General Aptitude questions common to all 30 papers, worth 15 marks, and 55 subject-specific questions worth the remaining 85 marks. Questions appear in three formats: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ), Multiple Select Questions (MSQ, no partial credit), and Numerical Answer Type (NAT, a typed value with no options). The exam runs 3 hours per paper, entirely online.
| Mode | Computer-based test (CBT), online |
| Duration | 180 minutes (3 hours) per paper |
| Sections | General Aptitude (common to all papers) plus the chosen subject paper |
| Questions, General Aptitude | 10 questions, 15 marks |
| Questions, subject-specific | 55 questions, 85 marks (some papers include a fixed Engineering Mathematics share) |
| Total questions | 65 |
| Total marks | 100 |
| Question types | MCQ, MSQ, NAT |
| Negative marking (1-mark MCQ) | -1/3 for an incorrect answer |
| Negative marking (2-mark MCQ) | -2/3 for an incorrect answer |
| Negative marking (MSQ, NAT) | None |
| Number of papers offered | 30 |
| Papers per candidate | One, or two from an approved combination list |
| Calculator | On-screen virtual scientific calculator provided; no physical calculator |
GATE's core 65-question, 100-mark, 3-hour structure has held steady for several cycles. The two-paper option, allowing a candidate to sit a second paper from a published combination list, has expanded gradually, with the organizing institute reviewing and occasionally adding combinations each year subject to infrastructure and scheduling feasibility. Confirm the current cycle's combination list once the GATE 2027 notification publishes, since it is set fresh each year.
Under GATE's fractional negative marking, the break-even point for a blind guess on a four-option 1-mark MCQ is a 1-in-3 chance of being correct; on a 2-mark MCQ it works out to the same 1-in-3 threshold, since the ratio of gain to loss (2 marks gained against 2/3 lost) mirrors the 1-mark case. Eliminating even one wrong option before guessing pushes the expected value positive. MSQ and NAT questions carry no negative marking at all, so a candidate should never leave one blank purely out of guessing anxiety.
Each of GATE's roughly 30 papers has its own official syllabus document, published separately by the organizing institute, listing topics and sections. Unlike JEE Main's NTA syllabus, GATE's official documents specify sections and topics but do not publish a percentage weightage per topic; the relative emphasis below for the four highest-volume papers is drawn from analysis of recent published papers and coaching-institute past-paper review, not an official disclosure.
Worth 15 of the 100 marks in every paper. Most candidates treat this as a reliable, low-effort scoring section since the difficulty rarely exceeds Class 10 to 12 level.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Aptitude | Half of GA | English grammar, sentence completion, verbal analogies, critical reasoning, reading comprehension |
| Quantitative Aptitude | Half of GA | Data interpretation, numerical computation, ratio and proportion, permutation and combination, basic geometry and mensuration |
The highest-registration paper most cycles. Ten official sections.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Programming and Data Structures | Consistently high | Arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists, trees, hashing, graph representations |
| Algorithms | High | Sorting, searching, greedy and dynamic programming, graph algorithms, complexity analysis |
| Computer Organization and Architecture | Moderate to high | Instruction sets, pipelining, memory hierarchy, cache, virtual memory |
| Operating System | Moderate to high | Process scheduling, concurrency, deadlocks, memory management, file systems |
| Databases | Moderate | Relational algebra, normalization, SQL, transactions, indexing |
| Computer Networks | Moderate | OSI and TCP/IP layers, routing, addressing, application-layer protocols |
| Theory of Computation | Moderate | Finite automata, regular languages, context-free grammars, decidability |
| Digital Logic | Lower to moderate | Boolean algebra, combinational and sequential circuits, number systems |
| Compiler Design | Lower | Lexical analysis, parsing, intermediate code, optimisation basics |
| Engineering Mathematics | Consistently present | Discrete mathematics, linear algebra, calculus, probability and statistics |
Five official section groups.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences | Consistently high | Fluid statics and dynamics, heat transfer, thermodynamics cycles, refrigeration |
| Applied Mechanics and Design | High | Engineering mechanics, strength of materials, theory of machines, machine design |
| Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering | Moderate | Casting, machining, metrology, production planning, operations research |
| Materials | Lower to moderate | Structure and properties of engineering materials, phase diagrams |
| Engineering Mathematics | Consistently present | Linear algebra, calculus, differential equations, numerical methods, probability |
Standard ten-section list.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Power Systems | Consistently high | Transmission and distribution, fault analysis, load flow, protection |
| Electrical Machines | High | Transformers, induction and synchronous machines, DC machines |
| Control Systems | Moderate to high | Transfer functions, stability, root locus, frequency response |
| Signals and Systems | Moderate | Fourier and Laplace transforms, sampling, LTI systems |
| Electric Circuits | Moderate | Network theorems, transient analysis, two-port networks |
| Power Electronics | Moderate | Converters, inverters, choppers, thyristor circuits |
| Analog and Digital Electronics | Lower to moderate | Op-amps, diode circuits, logic families, ADC/DAC |
| Engineering Mathematics | Consistently present | Linear algebra, calculus, differential equations, complex variables, probability |
Standard seven-section list.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Structural Engineering | Consistently high | Structural analysis, RCC design, steel structures, mechanics of materials |
| Geotechnical Engineering | High | Soil mechanics, foundation engineering, earth pressure theories |
| Water Resources Engineering | Moderate to high | Fluid mechanics, hydrology, irrigation, open-channel flow |
| Transportation Engineering | Moderate | Highway and traffic engineering, pavement design, railway and airport engineering |
| Environmental Engineering | Moderate | Water and wastewater treatment, air pollution, solid waste management |
| Surveying | Lower to moderate | Levelling, theodolite surveying, GPS and remote sensing basics |
| Engineering Mathematics | Consistently present | Linear algebra, calculus, differential equations, probability and statistics |
A GATE preparation plan is time-bound and paper-specific, unlike JEE Main or CAT's shared syllabus across every candidate. The plans below assume a February exam date and are written around the four highest-volume papers (CS, ME, EE, CE); a candidate in a smaller paper should apply the same phase structure to their own paper's official syllabus.
12-month plan
Months 1-4: Foundation. Across your subject's core sections, one section at a time, working through the official syllabus document topic by topic with a standard textbook per subject rather than jumping straight to problem sets. General Aptitude can be built in parallel with 20 to 30 minutes daily rather than as a separate phase.
Months 5-8: Section-wise problem practice. Using paper-specific practice books, plus a first pass through the last 10 years of your paper's actual GATE questions, sorted by section. Begin one sectional mock per week from month 6, expanding to one full-length mock per week by month 8.
Months 9-12: Mock-heavy phase. Two full-length mocks per week from month 9, tapering to alternate-day mocks in the final two weeks. Spend at least as long analysing each mock as taking it, since GATE's negative marking on MCQs means the analysis often reveals guessing habits that cost more than knowledge gaps.
6-month plan
Months 1-2: Combine concept and practice. Cover the highest-emphasis sections first (see the syllabus tables above), since a compressed timeline cannot afford equal time on every section.
Months 3-4: Begin one full mock per week. Start with 3 to 4-year-old papers before moving to the two most recent cycles. Build a running error log by section, since GATE candidates repeatedly lose marks to the same two or three weak sections rather than spreading errors evenly.
Months 5-6: Mock-heavy. Two to three mocks per week rising to alternate-day in the final three weeks. Revise General Aptitude and Engineering Mathematics in the final two weeks, since both are common across nearly every section and carry a favourable effort-to-marks ratio this late in prep.
90-day plan
Days 1-30: Triage hard. Rank your subject's sections by your own mock accuracy, not by the emphasis tables above, and concentrate almost all study time on the two or three sections where the gap between current accuracy and a realistic target is largest.
Days 31-60: Mock-heavy. One mock every alternate day, alternating full-length and sectional. Read every wrong answer's explanation and log whether the error was a knowledge gap, a careless mistake, or a guessing decision that should have been a skip, since GATE's negative marking makes the third category unusually costly.
Days 61-90: Stamina and review. Mocks three times a week, tapering in the final ten days to review only. Revise General Aptitude and your paper's Engineering Mathematics component in the last week, both scoring sections that respond quickly to focused revision even this late.
GATE's coaching landscape is built around Made Easy and ACE Academy, both offering classroom and online programmes priced roughly ₹40,000 to ₹90,000 for a full-year CS or core-branch programme, with a bundled test series included. The genuine value is structured pacing and a large, calibrated question bank rather than concept instruction the standard textbooks and NPTEL lectures cannot already provide for a self-motivated candidate.
Self-study built on standard subject textbooks, NPTEL video lectures, and a purchased test series (roughly ₹3,000 to ₹6,000 separately) costs well under ₹10,000 total and has produced single-digit All India Ranks in multiple papers most cycles. GATE Overflow, a free community-maintained archive of past CS papers with detailed peer-reviewed solutions, is unusually strong for that one paper and a reasonable substitute for a chunk of paid CS test-series content, though it does not extend meaningfully to other papers.
Topper insight (pending)
Verified GATE topper from the 2025 or 2026 cycle, single-digit or top-100 All India Rank in a named paper, with scorecard verification, willing to be quoted by name. Without this, the page reads like every other generic prep article. Format to be used once sourced: "[Name], AIR [rank] in GATE [year] [paper], recommends [specific tactic]. '[direct quote in their own words],' they say."
| Book | Subject | Price (₹) | One-line take |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made Easy GATE Handbook (paper-specific) | CS / ME / EE / CE | 300 | Compact formula and definition reference; not a learning text, use for last-mile revision only. |
| ACE Academy Previous Year Solved Papers (paper-specific) | CS / ME / EE / CE | 600 | Genuinely strong solutions; better error-checked than most Made Easy equivalents per candidate feedback. |
| Standard core textbook (e.g. Cormen, Shigley, per subject) | Paper-specific | 1,200 | The concept depth GATE actually tests at; skip abridged "GATE-only" summaries for the hardest sections. |
| RS Aggarwal Quantitative Aptitude | General Aptitude | 400 | Adequate drilling for the Quantitative half of GA; the Verbal half needs standard English-grammar practice separately. |
Made Easy Test Series and ACE Academy Test Series are the two dominant paper-specific mock series, each priced roughly ₹3,000 to ₹6,000 depending on the paper and package. Both are calibrated close enough to actual GATE difficulty that most serious candidates use one rather than both.
The activity with the highest score-to-effort ratio in exam prep is mock-test analysis. Solving a mock takes hours; analysing it correctly takes longer. Most candidates skip the analysis. The candidates who score well do not.
| Year | Difficulty | Hardest section | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Moderate to hard | Algorithms | Multi-step dynamic programming questions weighted higher than usual (CS paper) |
| 2025 | Moderate | Computer Networks | Application-layer protocol questions trickier than 2024 (CS paper) |
| 2024 | Moderate | Operating System | Concurrency and synchronisation set considered the standout section (CS paper) |
| 2023 | Moderate to hard | Theory of Computation | Decidability questions ran longer than typical time budget (CS paper) |
| 2022 | Moderate | Databases | Normalisation and transaction questions were direct and formula-driven (CS paper) |
Programming and Data Structures, Algorithms, and Operating System recur as the three highest-question-count sections nearly every cycle in the CS paper. Databases and Computer Networks each contribute a stable mid-range share. Compiler Design, while part of the official syllabus, typically carries the fewest questions of the ten sections, a reasonable low-priority topic under serious time pressure.
| Year | General | OBC-NCL | EWS | SC | ST | PwD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS (2025) | 29.2 | 26.2 | — | 19.4 | 19.4 | — |
| ME (2025) | 35.8 | 32.2 | — | 23.8 | 23.8 | — |
| CE (2025) | 29.2 | 26.2 | — | 19.4 | 19.4 | — |
| EE (2025) | 25.0 | 22.5 | — | 16.6 | 16.6 | — |
| CS (2024) | 32.5 | 29.2 | — | 21.6 | 21.6 | — |
| CS (2023, approximate) | 32.0 | 28.8 | — | 21.3 | 21.3 | — |
| College | General (HS) | General (OS) | OBC (OS) | SC (OS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 PSUs (ONGC, IOCL, NTPC) | — | Roughly GATE Score 800 to 900-plus (out of the 0-1000 scale) | — | — |
| Tier 2 PSUs (BHEL, NPCIL, EIL, HAL) | — | Roughly All India Rank 500 to 1,500 within the relevant paper | — | — |
Our 2027 qualifying-cutoff projection uses the last three cycles' published qualifying marks as the anchor, applying a drift correction for year-on-year paper difficulty and registration volume changes. This model has not yet been calibrated against confirmed 2027 figures, since the GATE 2027 exam itself has not taken place; treat any 2027-specific number as provisional until the organizing institute publishes qualifying marks after the result. PSU recruitment cutoffs are set independently by each PSU after its own application window closes and are aggregated here from multiple recruitment-cycle reports rather than a single official bulletin.
Use the College Predictor with full methodology disclosure →GATE results are declared as a mark out of 100 plus a GATE Score out of 1000, roughly five weeks after the exam. GATE 2026 results were declared by IIT Guwahati on March 19, 2026. Scorecards are downloadable from the current cycle's GOAPS portal using the enrolment ID and password.
A GATE scorecard is valid for 3 years from the date of result declaration. A GATE 2026 score, declared March 19, 2026, remains valid through the corresponding date in 2029 for both M.Tech/PhD admission and PSU recruitment purposes, though individual PSUs may apply a shorter acceptance window in their own notifications.
GATE Score equals Sq plus, if the candidate's raw mark exceeds the qualifying mark Mq, (St minus Sq) multiplied by (the candidate's mark minus Mq) divided by (Mt minus Mq). Mq is the qualifying mark for the general category in that paper, Mt is the mean mark of the top 0.1 percent (or top 10, whichever is larger) of candidates in that session, Sq is fixed at 350, and St is fixed at 900. In plain terms, a candidate scoring exactly at the qualifying mark is anchored to a GATE Score of 350, and a candidate at the top-scorer benchmark is anchored to 900, with everyone else interpolated between those two fixed points using their own session's actual mean and top-performer data. This normalises across shifts for a multi-session paper, since raw marks are not directly comparable across sessions of differing difficulty.
GATE does not offer post-result rechecking or re-evaluation of the response sheet or score. The only opportunity to contest a scoring error is the pre-result provisional answer key objection window, where a candidate can challenge a specific question for a ₹500-per-question fee, refunded if the challenge is accepted. Once the final answer key is published and results are declared, GATE scores are final and not revisited.
GATE has no single central counselling body the way JoSAA is for JEE Main. Two separate portals handle M.Tech and PhD admission depending on which institutes a candidate targets, and PSU recruitment runs as a third, entirely independent track each PSU manages on its own. COAP (Common Offer Acceptance Portal) coordinates offers from the IITs, IISc, and a small number of other participating institutes and PSUs for M.Tech, MS, and PhD seats; it is not an application portal, a candidate applies separately to each institute. CCMT (Centralized Counselling for M.Tech, M.Arch, and M.Plan admissions) runs the seat allocation process directly for NITs, IIITs, IIEST Shibpur, and other CFTIs, using GATE scores from the current and two preceding cycles, closer in structure to JoSAA. PSU recruitment through GATE is separate from both: each PSU releases its own recruitment notification on its own schedule and a candidate must apply directly to that specific PSU.
Apply to every IIT M.Tech programme you would genuinely accept, not just the two or three you have heard of most. COAP only compares offers from institutes you applied to directly; a strong GATE score cannot retroactively earn you an offer from an IIT you never applied to.
Register for CCMT even if COAP looks promising. CCMT eligibility uses GATE scores from up to two preceding cycles, so registering costs nothing and keeps an NIT or IIIT seat available as a fallback while COAP rounds are still in progress.
Track each PSU's own notification separately once results are out. PSU recruitment does not happen automatically off a GATE scorecard; missing a PSU's own three-to-four-week application window after its notification releases means missing that PSU's cycle entirely, regardless of GATE score.
Do not assume a strong M.Tech-qualifying GATE score is also a strong PSU-recruitment score. PSU recruitment cutoffs, especially at Tier 1 PSUs like ONGC and IOCL, run substantially above the academic qualifying mark; a candidate targeting PSU recruitment specifically should benchmark against PSU-tier scores, not the qualifying cutoff.
Use Retain and Wait on COAP unless the offer in hand is genuinely your top choice. Accept and Freeze exits COAP immediately; a candidate who freezes too early on a lower-preference IIT loses the chance at a better offer arriving in a later round.
Both COAP and CCMT typically leave some seats unfilled after their published rounds close, particularly at newer or less centrally located institutes. CCMT's special and national spot rounds exist specifically to fill these; COAP institutes may separately announce their own additional offer rounds if seats remain, communicated through each institute's own M.Tech admission page rather than centrally through COAP. PSU recruitment does not run spot rounds in this sense; a PSU that does not fill its vacancies from one notification simply issues a fresh notification later, treated as a new recruitment cycle.
Talk to a counsellor about your strategy →Top 15 GATE-accepting institutes by NIRF Engineering rank. Each links to the full college page with placements, fees, hostel, and student reviews.
| NIRF rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | IIT Madras | Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
| #2 | IIT Delhi | New Delhi |
| #3 | IIT Bombay | Mumbai, Maharashtra |
| #4 | IIT Kanpur | Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh |
| #5 | IIT Kharagpur | Kharagpur, West Bengal |
| #6 | IIT Roorkee | Roorkee, Uttarakhand |
| #7 | IIT Hyderabad | Hyderabad, Telangana |
| #8 | IIT Guwahati | Guwahati, Assam |
| #9 | NIT Tiruchirappalli | Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu |
| #10 | IIT BHU Varanasi | Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh |
| #12 | IIT Indore | Indore, Madhya Pradesh |
| #13 | NIT Rourkela | Rourkela, Odisha |
| #17 | NIT Karnataka Surathkal | Mangaluru, Karnataka |
| #21 | NIT Calicut | Kozhikode, Kerala |
| #28 | NIT Warangal | Warangal, Telangana |
| Comparison | Mode | Conducting body | Frequency | College scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GATE vs ESE (UPSC Engineering Services Exam) | CBT vs Pen-and-paper plus interview | Rotating IISc/IIT vs UPSC | Annual vs Annual | M.Tech admission and PSU recruitment vs direct Group A government engineering service |
| GATE vs CSIR-UGC NET | CBT vs CBT | Rotating IISc/IIT vs NTA (for CSIR-UGC NET) | Annual vs Biannual | Engineering M.Tech/PhD and PSU jobs vs Science PhD admission and JRF/lectureship eligibility |
| GATE vs CAT | CBT vs CBT | Rotating IISc/IIT vs Rotating IIM | Annual vs Annual | Engineering PG and PSU recruitment vs MBA admission at IIMs and other B-schools |
| GATE vs individual PSU exams (e.g. SAIL Management Trainee) | CBT vs CBT (own exam) | Rotating IISc/IIT vs the individual PSU | Annual vs As announced by each PSU | Shared GATE score reused across many PSUs vs a one-off written test specific to a single PSU |
Pending verified contributors
6 to 8 verified test-taker reviews required. Curation mix: one recent topper (single-digit or top-100 All India Rank in a named paper), one M.Tech-admission-track candidate who secured a seat through COAP or CCMT, one PSU-recruitment-track candidate who cleared the qualifying mark but not a specific PSU's own cutoff, one repeat test-taker, one first-attempt test-taker, and one candidate from a Science postgraduate background rather than an Engineering undergraduate background. All must be scorecard-verified and year-stamped. Without these the page cannot meet the experiential E-E-A-T moat requirement.
GATE 2027 registration is expected to open in August 2026, following the official notification from IIT Madras, the organizing institute for this cycle, expected around July 2026. Both dates are tentative until IIT Madras confirms them.
GATE 2027 is scheduled for February 6, 7, 13, and 14, 2027, as announced by IIT Madras. Confirm the exact session and shift assignment once the admit card releases.
A candidate must be in the third year or higher of a government-approved Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Technology, or Architecture, or already hold one, or be pursuing or hold a relevant Master's degree in Science, Mathematics, Statistics, or Computer Applications. There is no age limit and no minimum qualifying percentage to appear.
No. A candidate currently in the second year of an undergraduate programme is not eligible. Eligibility begins from the third year onward, or once the qualifying degree is complete.
There is no cap. A candidate can appear in GATE every year for as long as they wish, since neither an age limit nor an attempt limit applies.
Only if the second paper appears on the organizing institute's official two-paper combination list for your chosen primary paper. Combinations outside that published list are not permitted, and the application fee is charged separately for each paper.
Through a normalisation formula anchored on two fixed points: a candidate scoring exactly at their paper's qualifying mark receives a GATE Score of 350, and a candidate at the top-performer benchmark (mean of the top 0.1 percent, or top 10, whichever is larger) receives 900, with every other score interpolated between those two points using that paper's own session data.
The qualifying cutoff, set paper-wise and category-wise by the organizing institute, only determines whether your scorecard is valid at all. Each PSU that recruits through GATE then applies its own, separately decided recruitment cutoff, which typically runs well above the qualifying mark, especially at Tier 1 PSUs. Clearing the qualifying cutoff does not mean clearing any specific PSU's recruitment threshold.
Yes. A GATE score alone does not enrol you for any PSU job. Each PSU releases its own recruitment notification on its own schedule and you must apply directly to that PSU, uploading your GATE scorecard as one part of its separate application process.
COAP coordinates M.Tech, MS, and PhD offers from the IITs, IISc, and a few other participating institutes and PSUs; a candidate applies to each institute separately and only uses COAP to compare and accept offers. CCMT runs the actual seat-allocation process directly for NITs, IIITs, and other CFTIs, closer in structure to JoSAA, using GATE scores from the current and two preceding cycles.
3 years from the date of result declaration, for both M.Tech/PhD admission and PSU recruitment eligibility, though individual PSUs may apply a shorter acceptance window in their own notifications.
No. GATE does not offer post-result rechecking or re-evaluation. The only opportunity to contest a scoring error is the pre-result answer key objection window, before the final answer key and result are published.
Around 30 subject papers as of recent cycles, spanning core engineering branches (Computer Science, Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Electronics, Chemical, and others), select Science and interdisciplinary papers, and newer papers added periodically such as Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. Confirm the current cycle's full paper list and codes on the organizing institute's official notification.
No. GATE's core content is undergraduate-level engineering, already covered in most degree programmes. What most candidates actually need is disciplined section-wise practice and mock analysis, achievable through standard textbooks, NPTEL, GATE Overflow (for CS), and one purchased test series, without a full classroom programme.
The admit card (printed or digital, per current-cycle instructions), one valid government-issued photo ID matching the application details, and a recent passport-size photograph matching the one uploaded during registration. Check the admit card's exact accepted-ID list before travelling to the centre.
GATE 2028 is expected around February 2028, with the organizing institute for that cycle typically announced by the current organizing institute (IIT Madras for 2027) toward the end of the 2027 cycle, following the same eight-institute rotation.
GATE is jointly conducted by IISc Bangalore and seven IITs on behalf of the National Coordination Board, GATE, with responsibility for running each cycle rotating among the eight institutes. This is why the official cycle website's domain changes every year, unlike JEE Main or NEET UG, where a single national agency runs every cycle from the same domain.
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