IAE Academy
GATE28 Sep 2026 · 7 min read

Where GATE EE's marks have come from

Based on IAE's count of past papers. What it cannot tell you is at the end.

Nine published study subjects, mapped against the seven GATE EE papers of 2018, 2020 and 2022–2026, show where the 85-mark subject component's marks have landed, subject by subject and year by year. The same counts, ranked by average marks per paper, turn into an order for deciding what to open first.

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This post counts where GATE EE's marks have shown up across nine published study subjects, using IAE's own subject tags on the seven GATE EE papers — 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. It is written for a GATE EE candidate weighing which subject to open first. The GATE 2027 Information Brochure (printed page 4) fixes every paper at 65 questions and 100 marks, and on every paper except AR, CY, DA, EY, GE, GG, MA, PH, RA, ST, XH and XL splits them as General Aptitude 15, Engineering Mathematics 13 and the remaining subject questions 72. Engineering Mathematics and the other subject questions together make an 85-mark subject component; General Aptitude's 15 marks sit outside it and are common to every paper.

Where GATE EE's 85 subject marks have come from, paper by paper

Marks per GATE EE paper under each published study subject, seven papers: 2018, 2020, 2022–2026, with the average per paper

Marks per GATE EE paper under each published study subject, seven papers: 2018, 2020, 2022–2026, with the average per paper
Subject2018202020222023202420252026Average per paper
Engineering Mathematics1512151313131714.0
Networks (Electric Circuits)1310712981210.1
Electrical Machines91110108999.4
Control Systems811999968.7
Signals and Systems7981111958.6
Analog Electronics35766635.1
Electromagnetics56544565.0
Digital Electronics53263243.6
Electrical and Electronic Measurements32201522.1
Not in a library subject yet1716201421192118.3
Subject component (fixed by the brochure)8585858585858585

Source: the official GATE EE papers and answer keys for 2018, 2020 and 2022–2026. 2019 and 2021 are left out: the copies IAE hosts are image scans without the answer key. We placed each question under a subject ourselves; the exam paper does not label subjects. These are counts of past papers, not a forecast. The 85-mark subject component is from the GATE 2027 Information Brochure (printed page 4). Data as of 27 Sep 2026.

The rows show how many marks of each paper's 85-mark subject component we placed under each published subject, year by year. Engineering Mathematics runs from 12 marks (2020) to 17 (2026) across the seven papers, averaging 14.0. That range straddles the brochure's fixed 13: below it in 2020, level with it in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and above it in 2018, 2022 and 2026. We placed each question ourselves, so these are not the paper's own section boundaries. The last data row, 'Not in a library subject yet', runs from 14 marks (2023) to 21 (2024 and 2026), averaging 18.3 marks a paper. These are marks on questions that are not under any published subject. That includes the sections not in the study library yet and can also include a question from a covered section that we did not place.

GATE EE subjects in order of average marks per paper

Published study subjects for GATE EE, ordered by average marks per paper across the seven papers

Published study subjects for GATE EE, ordered by average marks per paper across the seven papers
OrderSubjectAverage marks per paperLowest–highest in one paperPapers it appeared in (of 7)
1Engineering Mathematics14.012–177
2Networks (Electric Circuits)10.17–137
3Electrical Machines9.48–117
4Control Systems8.76–117
5Signals and Systems8.65–117
6Analog Electronics5.13–77
7Electromagnetics5.04–67
8Digital Electronics3.62–67
9Electrical and Electronic Measurements2.10–56

Source: Computed from the table above. General Aptitude is not in this list: it is a fixed 15 marks outside the 85-mark subject component, with its own common syllabus. Data as of 27 Sep 2026. Subjects with the same average (to one decimal place) share a place, marked =.

By average marks per paper across the seven papers, the order runs Engineering Mathematics at 14.0, then Networks (Electric Circuits) at 10.1, Electrical Machines at 9.4, Control Systems at 8.7, Signals and Systems at 8.6, Analog Electronics at 5.1, Electromagnetics at 5.0, Digital Electronics at 3.6, and Electrical and Electronic Measurements at 2.1. None of these nine averages match another at one decimal place, so the order carries no shared places. A plan that follows the marks would take Engineering Mathematics first, 3.9 marks a paper clear of Networks next in line. From there the drop-off is gradual rather than a single clear break: Networks leads Electrical Machines by 0.7, and Electrical Machines leads Control Systems by the same 0.7. Control Systems and Signals and Systems follow within a tenth of a mark of each other; Analog Electronics and Electromagnetics sit close together lower down; Digital Electronics and Measurements close the list, with Measurements the only one of the nine absent from one of the seven papers. It carried 0 marks in 2023.

The GATE EE syllabus, section by section, against the study library

Sections of the official GATE 2027 EE syllabus and the IAE study subjects that cover them

Sections of the official GATE 2027 EE syllabus and the IAE study subjects that cover them
Syllabus sectionTitleStudy library subject
Section 1Engineering MathematicsEngineering Mathematics
Section 2Electric circuitsNetworks (Electric Circuits)
Section 3Electromagnetic FieldsElectromagnetics
Section 4Signals and SystemsSignals and Systems
Section 5Electrical MachinesElectrical Machines
Section 6Power SystemsNot in the library yet
Section 7Control SystemsControl Systems
Section 8Electrical and Electronic MeasurementsElectrical and Electronic Measurements
Section 9Analog and Digital ElectronicsAnalog Electronics, Digital Electronics
Section 10Power ElectronicsNot in the library yet

Source: official GATE 2027 EE syllabus PDF (IIT Madras), 27 Sep 2026. Subjects are those in IAE's study library.

Two sections of the printed GATE EE syllabus have no matching study subject yet: Power Systems (Section 6) and Power Electronics (Section 10). These are real marks in the paper. The syllabus prints them as full sections alongside Electrical Machines and Control Systems, and the study library has not solved them yet. The 'Not in a library subject yet' row above includes marks from these two sections, and can also include a question from a covered section that we did not place. The row does not separate the two.

WHAT THIS CANNOT TELL YOU

Seven papers only: 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. GATE EE 2019 and 2021 are left out because the copies IAE hosts are image scans without the answer key. We placed each question under a subject ourselves; the exam paper does not label subjects. The 'Not in a library subject yet' marks are marks on questions that are not under any published subject. This includes the two uncovered sections (Power Systems and Power Electronics) and can also include a question from a covered section that we did not place. The row does not separate the two. These are counts of past papers, not a forecast of the GATE 2027 paper.

Data as of 27 Sep 2026.

Common questions

Which seven papers does this cover, and why not all nine?+
The seven GATE EE papers: 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. GATE EE 2019 and 2021 are excluded because the copies IAE hosts are image scans without the answer key.
Is Engineering Mathematics really worth more than the brochure's 13 marks?+
The GATE 2027 Information Brochure fixes Engineering Mathematics at 13 marks a paper (printed page 4). We placed each question under a subject ourselves, not by the paper's printed section boundary, and that puts 12 to 17 marks a paper under Engineering Mathematics across the seven papers, averaging 14.0. That is below the brochure's figure in one paper, level with it in three, and above it in three.
What does 'Not in a library subject yet' mean?+
Marks on questions that are not under any published subject. This includes the two syllabus sections not in the study library yet (Power Systems and Power Electronics) and can also include a question from a covered section that we did not place. It averaged 18.3 marks a paper across the seven papers, from 14 (2023) to 21 (2024 and 2026).
Does this order predict the GATE 2027 paper?+
No. The order and every count in this post are counts of nine published study subjects across the seven past papers (2018, 2020, 2022–2026), current as of 27 Sep 2026. They are not a forecast of the GATE 2027 paper.

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