IAE ACADEMY BLOG
GATE preparation,
from the past papers.
Where the marks come from, what to study first and how to handle the paper, worked out from the previous-year papers we have solved.
New to GATE? Start with the GATE Guide: how the exam is marked, scored and applied for.
STARTING OUT
General Aptitude and Engineering Mathematics marks
General Aptitude is 15 marks in every GATE paper, from one shared syllabus. Engineering Mathematics is a further 13 marks in six of the seven papers IAE teaches, but each paper prints its own list. Here is where those marks have landed across 21 EC, EE and IN papers.
7 min read · 1 source · 4 tables
6–12 MONTHS OUT
Where GATE EC's marks have come from
Every GATE EC paper has 65 questions and 100 marks, and 85 of those marks form the subject component. Across seven papers, those 85 marks split between nine subjects and 57 topics as shown here.
7 min read · 4 tables
6–12 MONTHS OUT
Where GATE EE's marks have come from
Eleven study subjects cover the 85-mark subject component of GATE EE. This post sets out the marks each has carried across seven papers, from 2018 to 2026. It then looks at the topics that carried the most.
7 min read · 4 tables
6–12 MONTHS OUT
Where GATE IN's marks have come from
Seven GATE IN papers, 2018 to 2026, set against the subjects and topics of the study library. The 85-mark subject component splits unevenly: Engineering Mathematics averages 14.0 marks a paper, Communications 1.4. The tables below give the marks paper by paper, the order by average, and the topics that carried the most.
7 min read · 4 tables
6–12 MONTHS OUT
Where GATE BT's marks have come from
Every GATE BT paper has 65 questions and 100 marks, and 85 of them sit in the subject component. This post sets out where those 85 marks have come from across seven papers, subject by subject and topic by topic.
7 min read · 4 tables
6–12 MONTHS OUT
Recurring slips in GATE questions, by subject
The worked solutions in these subjects end with a note on the slip that question can lead to. Read together, the notes show the same slips coming back from question to question: this post lists the recurring slips recorded in each subject, 210 in all, each recorded in at least three solutions and linked to past questions that turn on it.
58 min read · 1 table
6–12 MONTHS OUT
Where GATE DA's marks have come from
GATE DA has had three papers so far: 2024, 2025 and 2026. This post lays out how the 85 subject marks in each paper fall across seven subjects and the topics inside them. It shows what was asked, not what will be asked.
6 min read · 4 tables
6–12 MONTHS OUT
Where GATE CS's marks have come from
Ten GATE CS papers, 2018 to 2026, set out subject by subject and topic by topic. Data Structures and Algorithms has averaged 13.6 marks a paper, the most of any subject. The tables show where the 85 subject marks have gone.
6 min read · 4 tables
THE FINAL WEEKS
What a wrong answer costs in GATE, by question type
A wrong answer costs different amounts on GATE depending on whether it is MCQ, MSQ or NAT — the brochure spells out how much. This post sets out that rule and how many of each paper's 85 subject marks have fallen into each type across the papers counted (2018, 2020 and 2022–2026; BT: 2019, 2020 and 2022–2026), plus the arithmetic behind what a guess is worth.
6 min read · 5 tables
THE FINAL WEEKS
GATE's most repeated topics, paper by paper
Some GATE topics have had a question in six or seven of the seven years counted. This post lists them for six papers: EC, EE, IN, BT, CS and DA. Each paper has a table and a list of its topics.
8 min read · 6 tables
AFTER THE RESULT
IISc's GATE cut-offs and offer scores, 2024–2026
IISc publishes three different GATE score figures each year — the M.Tech call cut-off, the lowest score at which an M.Tech offer was made, and the research interview cut-off — and they answer different questions. This post sets all three side by side for seven papers, 2024–2026, from IISc's own reports, naming the programmes behind the 2026 call cut-off ranges and every offer floor.
9 min read · 3 tables
AFTER THE RESULT
Which PSU and government notices use a GATE score
A GATE score counts in some recruitment notices and not in others. This post sets the latest PSU notices, BARC, DRDO, ISRO, UPSC ESE and the private companies on the Core jobs pages side by side. It names the notice year wherever a PSU appears, because the route belongs to the notice.
7 min read · 29 sources · 4 tables
IF YOU WOULD RATHER TALK IT THROUGH