Structure

The examination consists of two papers: Paper 1 and Paper 2. Paper 1 has three sections: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry with equal weight for each subject. Each section consists of multiple choice objective-type questions each of which has four choices. Out of the four choices for a given question, only one choice is correct. Paper 1 has a negative-marking scheme wherein an incorrect answer is negatively marked with one fourth of the maximum marks allotted to the question. Paper 2 has three sections: Mathematics, Drawing, and Aptitude. Mathematics, and Drawing sections have multiple choice objective-type questions and the Aptitude section has drawing-based questions. The duration of each paper is three hours. Candidates are not allowed to carry any textual material, calculators, logarithmic tables or electronic devices into the examination hall. The number of questions and their maximum marks have been variable through the years. The questions are based on a syllabus that is common to syllabi of all the state boards in India and the Central Board of Secondary Education. Candidates can opt for question papers either in English or in Hindi language. For admission to B.Tech or B.E. courses in the participating institutes the candidate is required to take the Paper 1; for admission to B.Arch or B. Planning courses the candidate is required to take Paper 2. Students can opt to take any one or both the papers. The examination was conducted in offline pen and paper mode till 2010. In 2011, as per the orders of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, CBSE conducted Paper 1 in Computer-Based-Test mode for the first one lakh candidates who opted for the same, while the remaining students took the examination in the conventional pen and paper mode. The number of attempts which a candidate can avail at the examination is limited to three in consecutive years.

Participating Institutes

Institutes participating in the Central Counselling:Click here

For previous year question papers click here

For more details visitwww.ccb.nic.in and aieee.nic.in

Examination

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 consists of only multiple choice objective questions each having four choices for the answer. Out of 65 questions, 55 are based on candidate’s chosen specialization or branch, while remaining 10 are to test his/her general aptitude.

Eligibility

The following categories of candidates are eligible to appear in GATE:

Bachelor degree holders in Engineering/ Technology/ Architecture (4 years after 10+2) and those who are in the final year of such programmes.
Master degree holders in any branch of Science/ Mathematics/ Statistics/ Computer Applications or equivalent and those who are in the final or pre-final year of such programmes.
Candidates in the second or higher year of the Four-year Integrated Master degree programme (Post-B.Sc.) in Engineering/ Technology or in the third or higher year of Five-year Integrated Master degree programme and Dual Degree programme in Engineering/ Technology.
Candidates with qualifications obtained through examinations conducted by professional societies recognised by UPSC/AICTE (e.g. AMIE by IE(I), AMICE(I) by the Institute of Civil Engineers (India)-ICE(I)) as equivalent to B.E./B.Tech. Those who have completed section A or equivalent of such professional courses are also eligible.

Eligibility

Each candidate appearing in the exam is issued a GATE score along with an All India Rank(AIR) which is the basis for admissions to various institutes. The GATE score is calculated using a specific formula, where the marks obtained by the candidate, average of marks of all candidates in that paper, standard deviation of marks of all candidates in that paper, global average of marks of all candidates in last 2 years and the standard deviation (global) of marks of all candidates in last 2 years are considered. The GATE score is set to zero if the value calculated by the formula is less than zero and the GATE score is set to 1000 if the value calculated by the formula is more than 1000.

GATE Score

GATE Score is calculated using the formula 10(a_g + s_g\frac{m-a}{S})

Where
m = marks obtained by the candidate.
a = average of marks of all candidates who appeared in the paper mentioned on this scorecard in GATE for that year
S = standard deviation of marks of all candidates who appeared in the paper mentioned on this scorecard in GATE for that year
ag= global average of marks of all candidates who appeared across all papers and years
sg= global standard deviation of marks of all candidates who appeared across all papers and years

GATE score remains valid for up to two years from the date of issue.

Qualifying Score
A candidate is said to have qualified the exam if he/she has secured a minimum number of marks called Qualifying Score.The qualifying score for general category in each paper is (a + s) or 25, whichever is higher, where a and s are the average and standard deviation of marks of all candidates in a particular paper, with all marks less than zero, converted to zero.

Admission to Post-Graduate programmes

GATE qualified candidates with Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/ Technology/ Architecture or Master’s degree in any branch of Science/ Mathematics/ Statistics/ Computer Applications are eligible for admission to Master/Doctoral 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 a 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 PhD programmes with scholarship/ assistantship without appearing in the GATE examination.

Some institutions specify GATE qualification as mandatory even for admission of self-financing students to postgraduate programmes. GATE qualified candidates are also eligible for the award of Junior Research Fellowship in CSIR Laboratories and CSIR sponsored projects. Top rank holders in some GATE papers are entitled to apply for “Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Fellowship” awarded by CSIR. Some government organizations prescribe GATE qualification as a requirement for applying to the post of a Scientist/ Engineer.

In recent years ,various academicians have recognized GATE as being one of the toughest exams in its category. Moreover it has strikingly similar toughness like Joint Entrance Examination held for students entering IIT for undergraduate engineering courses. Many universities like National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and some technical universities in Germany, do identify GATE score card as a parameter for judging the quality of the candidates for admission into their Masters and PhD Programmes.

Most Indian institutes do not specify cut-off marks for previous years. So there is a general confusion in terms of selecting institutes and specializations. But in the recent years IIT Kharagpur and IIT Guwahati have been specifying last year cut-off mark list. Typically the Indian Institute of Science is the most selective, very closely followed by the IITs and the NITs.

For previous year question paper Click here

For further details about GATE Click here

SCOPE

The Common Admission Test (CAT) is conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) as a pre-requisite for admission to various management programmes of IIMs, IITs, FMS and IISc. For details on programmes offered by each of the IIMs, please refer to their respective websites.

There are non-IIM institutions that have registered to avail the CAT scores to be used in their admission process. CAT score use is restricted only for admission to IIMs and non-IIM member institutions.

CAT is normally conducted every year during a 20 day testing window in the months of October and November. A candidate can appear for CAT only once during the 20-day testing window. The test score is valid for admission to the forthcoming academic year only.

Test Duration and Pattern

There will be two separately timed sections in the test. Once a section ends, candidates can no longer go back to it. The sections are (a) Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation (b) Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning. Each of the sections will have 30 questions with a duration of 1 hour and 10 minutes. Including a 15-minute tutorial before the start of the test which candidates are advised to go through, the total duration of the test will be 2 hours and 35 minutes.

Eligibility

The candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% in case of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Differently Abled (DA) (It may also referred to as Persons with Disability (PWD) category)], awarded by any of the Universities incorporated by an act of the central or state legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India.

For Previous year question papers CLICK HERE

For further details of about CAT Click here

Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) conducted by Xavier Association of Management Institutes (XAMI), an association of like minded institutes. There are 16 core member institutes and more than 85 associate institutes located in different parts of the country. The test would be co-ordinated by XLRI Jamshedpur.

View complete list of Institutes

For previous year question papers of XAT Click here