THE IAE ENGINEER’S BRIEF
GATE 2027: The Application Season Checklist
GATE 2027 registration closes on 27 September 2026 without a late fee, and 5 October 2026 with one. The examination is held by IIT Madras on 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21 February 2027, and results are announced on 19 March 2027. The application fee is ₹1,000 or ₹2,000 per paper, by category.
Every date, fee and eligibility rule here was read on IIT Madras's own GATE 2027 portal and in the official Information Brochure, and each figure carries the confidence of what backs it.
Facts checked 5 September 2026 · Accurate until 5 October 2026
PDF · 18 pages · v1.0 · Free to read, free to share, no sign-up.
THE NEXT EDITION
The registration opening date moved again in the week before this was printed.
The exam city allotment date was published in that same week; the closing dates were revised once and have not moved since. When the portal changes, the checklist is re-issued with a changelog. Leave your email and the next edition reaches you the day it is published.
| Milestone | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Organising institute | IIT Madras | Confirmed |
| Registration opened | 2 September 2026 | Confirmed |
| Last date — no late fee | 27 September 2026 | Confirmed |
| Last date — with late fee | 5 October 2026 | Confirmed |
| Application rectification window | 14–21 October 2026 | Confirmed |
| Exam city allotment | 4 January 2027 | Confirmed |
| Admit card download | Not announced | Not announced |
| Examination — weekend 1 | 6 & 7 February 2027 | Confirmed |
| Examination — weekend 2 | 13 & 14 February 2027 | Confirmed |
| Examination — weekend 3 | 20 & 21 February 2027 | Confirmed |
| Results | 19 March 2027 | Confirmed |
| Score validity | three years from the date of announcement of the results | Confirmed |
Source: gate2027.iitm.ac.in/important_dates for each dated row; the organising institute and the score validity from the Information Brochure, pages 2, 3 and 28. All read 5 September 2026. The 2 September 2026 opening date and the start of the 14–21 October 2026 rectification window appear on the portal only. IIT Madras states that all published GATE 2027 dates are liable to change.
| Category | Regular one paper | Regular two papers | Extended one paper | Extended two papers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female / SC / ST / PwD candidates | ₹1,000 | ₹2,000 | ₹1,500 | ₹2,500 |
| All other candidates, including foreign nationals | ₹2,000 | ₹4,000 | ₹2,500 | ₹4,500 |
Source: All eight figures read on gate2027.iitm.ac.in/application_fees on 5 September 2026, with the four one-paper figures independently matched against Table 5, page 14 of the official Information Brochure — which has no two-paper columns. Regular window: to 27 September 2026. Extended window: 28 September 2026 to 5 October 2026. The fee excludes bank service charges, processing charges and any other charges the banks may levy. Note that the PwD concession applies only to candidates with a benchmark disability of 40% or higher under the RPwD Act 2016.
| Paper | Confidence | What our comparison of the official 2026 and 2027 PDFs found |
|---|---|---|
| Data Science & AI (DA) | First-party | Nothing added, removed or reworded: the listed items are identical to 2026. The 2027 PDF presents the same seven topics as numbered Sections 1 to 7, which the 2026 PDF did not. |
| Instrumentation (IN) | First-party | Listing changes in all 10 sections, including: newly listed permanent magnet synchronous machines, buck and boost converters, single phase inverters, IoT and basic AI applications in instrumentation; three phase induction motors not listed by name. Single phase transformers are still listed. |
| Computer Science (CS) | First-party | three of its ten sections |
| Biotechnology (BT) | First-party | six sections in 2027 where 2026 had seven |
| All other papers | Scope note | Not compared by us. Absence from this table is not evidence that a paper is unchanged. |
Source: Token-level and phrase-level comparison of the official 2026 and 2027 syllabus PDFs, each change re-verified by direct string search, and reproducible from the same public documents. It is marked First-party rather than Confirmed because IIT Madras publishes no per-paper change log, so there is nothing external against which it could be checked.
About this resource
Every date, fee and eligibility rule in this Brief was read on 5 September 2026, directly on IIT Madras's own GATE 2027 portal at gate2027.iitm.ac.in and in the official GATE 2027 Information Brochure — 143 pages, marked "Revised version, Date: 27th August 2026". No date, fee or eligibility rule here is taken from a coaching site, an aggregator or a news report.
IAE Academy applies a 90-day first-party rule: no claim about another organisation's current practice is marked Confirmed unless it was read on that organisation's own live page or PDF within the last 90 days. Aggregators, coaching portals and press reports are Reported at best. Where the portal and the brochure disagree, the Brief says so and states which one it followed, and every figure on the page carries its own confidence badge.
Everything that could not be confirmed is listed in its own section rather than quietly dropped — including the admit card release date, which both the portal and the brochure still print as TBA. Where a number is IAE's own arithmetic rather than a published figure, it is labelled as such.
What's included
- ✓How this document was checked — the method note and what each confidence badge means
- ✓The five things to do first, in order, before you open the form
- ✓When exactly the GATE 2027 exam is held, and how the sessions work
- ✓When registration closes — both dates, stated as the pair they are
- ✓What it costs to apply, by category and by number of papers
- ✓Who is eligible for GATE 2027, including the postgraduate first-year carve-out
- ✓What has changed for GATE 2027
- ✓What happens between the application and the exam
- ✓What we could not verify — stated, not omitted
- ✓Sources: every claim, its confidence, and where and when it was read
How to use this resource
Read the answer block and the five-step checklist first — between them they cover the whole application in a page. Then go to the eligibility section and check your own case in the official table before you pay anything, because a wrong category or paper cannot be fixed after the form closes. Put the 14–21 October 2026 rectification window in your calendar: it is the only chance to change your category, test paper, examination city choices or personal details, or to add a second paper. Finally, read the section on what we could not verify, so you know exactly which dates are still unannounced and worth watching.
Frequently asked questions
When is the GATE 2027 exam?+
GATE 2027 is held on six days across three consecutive weekends: 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21 February 2027. A candidate sits only one session, on the date and slot specified on the admit card. There are two sessions on each exam day — forenoon 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and afternoon 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
What is the last date to apply for GATE 2027?+
The two closing dates are stated only as a pair: 27 September 2026 without a late fee, 5 October 2026 with one. Neither is meaningful alone. The application portal opened on 2 September 2026, and applications and fee payment are made online through the GOAPS portal, after the opening date had been announced twice before — 14 August 2026, then 27 August 2026.
Can a second-year undergraduate apply for GATE 2027?+
No — a first- or second-year undergraduate is not eligible on the undergraduate route. Some other routes have a lower floor: the third-year floor is an undergraduate rule only, and M.Sc., M.A. and MCA students are eligible from the first year, as are post-B.Sc. integrated M.E./M.Tech. students. If your qualification is not a standard B.E. or B.Tech., check the official eligibility table rather than any summary, this Brief included. There is no upper age limit, and no cap on the number of GATE attempts.
Can I apply for two GATE papers, and does it cost double?+
Yes, a candidate may apply for one or two test papers. In the regular window the fee doubles — ₹2,000 for female, SC, ST and PwD candidates, or ₹4,000 for all other candidates. In the extended window it does not: two papers cost ₹2,500 or ₹4,500, because the extended-period surcharge is a flat ₹500 levied once on the application, not once per paper. Note that the permitted two-paper combinations are published in Table 4 of the brochure, which labels the table tentative and subject to change.
When will the GATE 2027 admit card be released?+
The admit card download date has not been announced — both the portal and the brochure print TBA. Exam cities are notified to candidates on 4 January 2027, and the admit card follows the city allotment, which is IAE's reading of the Important Dates sequence rather than a stated rule. The circulating aggregator claim of an admit card from 3 January 2027 is rejected: it is unsourced, and it would precede the 4 January 2027 city allotment.
How long is a GATE 2027 score valid?+
A GATE 2027 score is valid for three years from the date the results are announced, which for GATE 2027 means from 19 March 2027. That works out to 19 March 2030 — IAE Academy's arithmetic, not a published figure; IIT Madras states the three-year term but no end date. Beyond that, whether an institute or PSU accepts an older score is that organisation's own rule, so check each advertisement. The scorecard itself costs ₹500 per test paper after the free window, until 31 December 2027.
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