Category: Recruitments

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), and Government of India.

Admission 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.

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.

Examination Pattern:

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.

In all papers other than AE, AG, AR, GG, MN and TF, all the questions are of multiple choice type. In AE, AG, AR, GG, MN and TF papers, the question paper will consist of questions of multiple choice type and also some questions of numerical answer type. For multiple choice type questions, each question will have four choices for the answer. For numerical answer type questions, each question will have a number as the answer.

The examination for the papers with codes AE, AG, AR, GG, MN and TF will be carried out ONLINE using computers where the candidates will be required to enter the answer for each question using mouse. For all other papers, 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 the numerical answer type questions.

GATE exam will contain questions of four different types in various papers:

• Multiple choice questions carrying 1 or 2 marks each.
• Common data questions, where two successive questions use the same set of input data.
• Linked answer questions, where the answer to the first question of the pair is required in order to answer its successor.
• Numerical answer questions, where the answer is a number, to be entered by the candidate.(for online exams papers only)

In all the papers, there will be a total of 65 questions carrying 100 marks, out of which 10 questions carrying 15 marks in General Aptitude (GA) are compulsory.

In the papers bearing the codes AE, AG, BT, CE, CH, CS, EC, EE, GG, IN, ME, MN, MT, PI, TF and XE, the Engineering Mathematics will carry 15 % of the total marks, the General Aptitude section will carry 15 % of the total marks and the remaining 70 % of the total marks is devoted to the subject of the paper.

In the papers bearing the codes AR, CY, GG, MA, PH and XL, the General Aptitude section will carry 15 % of the total marks and the remaining 85 % of the total marks is devoted to the subject of the paper.

GATE Examination Papers:

XE (Engineering Sciences) and XL (Life Sciences) papers are of general nature and will comprise of the sections listed below. A candidate appearing in XE or XL paper will be required to answer three sections apart from the General Aptitude (GA) questions. Section A is compulsory in XE paper and Section H is compulsory in XL paper. The candidate can choose any two out of the remaining sections listed against the respective papers, at the time of examination.

How to Apply

Application process for GATE  is entirely ONLINE, and sale of application forms through banks / GATE office counters has been discontinued from GATE 2012. Candidates need to register and fill the application Online only by accessing the zonal GATE websites of IITs and IISc. The application process is complete only when a print out of the filled ONLINE application with the candidate’s signature and a good quality photo affixed in the appropriate place is received by the respective GATE office along with necessary documents.