THE GATE GUIDE
GATE, read from
the official documents.
How the exam works, in the order you will need it — from what GATE is to reading the answer key. Each chapter is read from the Information Brochure, the syllabus or the previous-year papers, and says which page, and when.
8 chapters · 20 articles · 7 Engineer’s Briefs
CHAPTER 01
What GATE is
The exam, its thirty papers, and what changed for the cycle now open.
CHAPTER 02
The paper and how it is marked
Sixty-five questions, three question types, negative marking on one of them, and how a numerical answer is judged.
CHAPTER 03
From marks to a score
How raw marks become a GATE score, when normalisation applies, and how long the score lasts.
- How the GATE score is calculated — and why the qualifying mark is a formula, not last year's number7 min read · 6 citations · 3 tables
- The GATE normalisation formula, symbol by symbol6 min read · 2 citations · 1 table
- A GATE score is valid for three years — and the scorecard stops being issued long before that6 min read · 4 citations · 1 table
CHAPTER 04
What a score does and does not get you
The brochure's own disclaimers, the four uses it describes for a score, and how to check a recruiter's current practice for yourself.
CHAPTER 05
Which year, which paper
The cycle you can sit, the second paper you may add, and what each paper's official syllabus lists.
- Which GATE you can sit, by the year you are studying in now7 min read · 4 citations · 1 table
- GATE 2027: which second paper you can take6 min read · 6 citations · 2 tables
- GATE CS or GATE DA: what each syllabus lists that the other does not8 min read · 4 citations · 2 tables
- One line, three syllabi: what GATE EC, EE and IN list in common8 min read · 2 citations · 2 tables
- Engineering Mathematics in GATE: six different syllabi, and one paper without it7 min read · 7 citations · 2 tables
- GATE 2027 Syllabus Changes: Which Papers Changed, and Which Did NotEngineer's Brief · The GATE 2027 cycle
CHAPTER 06
Applying
Who may apply, the form itself, the examination city, the photograph and signature, the correction window, and a scribe.
- GATE 2027 Eligibility: Who Can Apply, Degree by DegreeEngineer's Brief · The GATE 2027 cycle
- GATE 2027: The Application Season ChecklistEngineer's Brief · The GATE 2027 cycle
- How the GATE 2027 examination city choice works: three cities, one zone, no guaranteeThe GATE 2027 cycle · 5 min read · 11 citations · 1 table
- GATE 2027 Exam Cities: West Bengal Sits in Two ZonesEngineer's Brief · The GATE 2027 cycle
- GATE 2027 photograph and signature requirements: the specifications that get an application rejectedThe GATE 2027 cycle · 6 min read · 3 citations · 1 table
- GATE 2027 correction window: what you can changeThe GATE 2027 cycle · 6 min read · 8 citations · 2 tables
- How to request a scribe and compensatory time in GATE 2027: it is done on the application form, not on exam dayThe GATE 2027 cycle · 7 min read · 10 citations · 2 tables
CHAPTER 07
In the exam hall
What the brochure requires you to carry, what it provides, and what it prohibits.
CHAPTER 08
After the paper: the answer key and past papers
How to read the organising institute's answer key, and what the previous-year papers on this site do and do not contain.
- How to read the official GATE answer key that is already inside your question paper7 min read · 3 citations · 1 table
- What is actually in the GATE previous-year papers we host — including which years carry the official answer key6 min read · 8 citations · 2 tables
- We corrected these pages once, and the correction was also wrong. Here is every file, opened.5 min read · 1 table
STUDY MATERIAL
Previous-year questions, solved
Notes, formula sheets and previous-year questions by subject, each solution checked against the official answer key.
THE PREPARATION BLOG
Preparing for the paper
Where the marks have come from and what to study when, with the data behind every recommendation.
IF YOU WOULD RATHER TALK IT THROUGH