By Aditya Reddy
Director, Gateforum Educational Services
GATE
Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), administered by the IITs and IISc, is the qualifying test for admission to ME, M.Tech and MS courses in India. There are 21 different papers (one for each stream) in GATE including engineering streams such as ECE, CSE, EE and pure sciences such as Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. For each of the streams, the syllabus is different and therefore the question paper is different as well. The syllabus for engineering streams includes four years of engineering syllabus and general aptitude.
GATE Syllabus and Pattern
GATE is an objective type test with multiple choice questions with total time duration of 3 hours. There are 65 questions for a total of 100 marks. There is a 33 % negative marking for every wrong answer. The question wise distribution is as follows
– Q. 1 to Q. 25 : One mark Technical Questions
– Q. 26 to Q. 55 : Two mark Technical Questions
– Q. 56 to Q. 60 : One mark Aptitude Questions
– Q. 61 to Q. 65 : Two mark Aptitude Questions
The aptitude part of the syllabus in GATE has been added from GATE 2010 only. Till last year, the syllabus of GATE contained only technical aspects but from this year numerical and verbal aptitude questions have been added. In GATE 2010, there will be 10 aptitude questions carrying 15 marks out of total 100 marks. The verbal aptitude part includes questions on English grammar, sentence completion, verbal analogies, word groups, instructions, critical reasoning and verbal deduction. The numerical aptitude part includes questions on numerical computation, numerical estimation, numerical reasoning and data interpretation. It will be very important to prepare and do well in these aptitude questions because they can make a difference in qualifying in GATE or not.
GATE 2010
Apart from adding aptitude questions in the syllabus, GATE 2010 has some other important changes. The GATE 10 score will be valid for two years while the GATE 2009 score was valid only for one year. Due to the increase in validity to two years, third year engineering students can also take GATE and use the score obtained for applying for masters programs after one year. IIT Guwahati is the organizing institute for GATE 2010 while IIT Roorkee was the organizing institute for GATE 2009. Out of the 21 papers in GATE, 19 will be conducted in the paper based format. For the first time two papers - Textile Engineering & Fibre Science and Mining Engineering will have a computer based online test. These tests will be conducted at the IIT and IISc campuses one week before the date of other papers i.e. on 7th February, 2010. This is the first time that any paper of GATE is being conducted as computer based test and given the fact the CAT is also going to be conducted as a computer based test this year, it could be that IITs are experimenting with the online test format. Based on the success of this idea, they could make all streams computer based test next year.
GATE 2010 will be conducted on 14th February, 2010 and the results will be announced on 15th March, 2010. The application forms are available at specific bank counters from 22nd September to 28th October, 2009.
Students can apply for GATE online through the Internet or offline. The online application fee is Rs 800 while the offline application fee is Rs 1000 for general and OBC category candidates.
Increased Competition
First, due to the economic slowdown there is a scarcity of software and other jobs for fresh engineering graduates. This is leading to more students applying for M.Tech and GATE. It is all the more attractive due to the Rs. 8000 per month stipend for all GATE qualified students during the masters program. Second, the validity of GATE score has been increased to two years, which means pre-final year students can also take up the exam. Third, lot of new engineering colleges have been set up in the last few years which means the number of engineering graduates passing out every year is always increasing. Due to these factors, the number of applicants for GATE is likely to increase to 3 Lakhs in GATE 2010. In GATE 2009, there were 2 lakh candidates. This means there will be increased competition especially in the streams of Computer Science and Electronics and Communication.
GATE 2009 Cutoffs
| Stream | No. of Students appeared | Cut off for Qualification in General Category |
| Percentile | AIR | Marks (out of 100) |
| Computer Science | 42,383 | 86.88 | 5491 | 25 |
| Electronic and Communication | 42,943 | 85.55 | 6112 | 26.67 |
| Electrical | 21,056 | 94.39 | 1173 | 25 |
| Mechanical | 22,965 | 85.68 | 3291 | 26 |
| Instrumentation | 5,557 | 98.93 | 59 | 25 |
| Civil | 8,534 | 85.75 | 1233 | 29 |
As can be seen from the above table, the percentile cutoff for qualifying in GATE 2009 was a minimum of 85 for the six papers mentioned. The minimum marks required for qualification was 25 out of 100. In GATE 2010, it is expected that the minimum marks for qualification will be closer to 30 and the percentile cutoff will be almost 90 for most of the streams.
For admission to any M.Tech, M.E. or M.S. program in India, the candidate needs to qualify in GATE first. The cutoff for admission to IITs and IISc Bangalore is in the range of 98 percentile. The exact cut off will depend on many factors such as the stream & specialization, the course (M.Tech / M.E. / M.S.), the institute and the admission procedure. Detailed information on cutoffs of various institutes and courses is available on www.gateforum.com
How to prepare for GATE
The Concept Building Phase: For the technical section, start working on topics where your concepts are strong. Practice as many questions as you can and ensure that you score heavily in these topics. If you are aiming to qualify GATE, a score in the range of 25-30 out of 100 should be sufficient and thus you can afford to ignore a couple of topics of declining importance. The aptitude section this year could well be the deciding factor. So ensure that you have this section covered thoroughly. Good training, both classroom or online will help you in this phase.
The Self – Evaluation Phase: It is extremely important for you to know how you have geared up for the exam. And this becomes critical in case of a change in pattern, wherein you should know not just how you have coped up with the changes but also how your competition has adjusted. A test series conducted on an All India basis, will help you know all this and will also provide you with invaluable practice.
Remember, weaknesses cannot become strengths overnight. Hard work and perseverance will pay in the long run.
While, the normal time duration for preparation for GATE is 6 months, if the basic concepts of the candidate are good, a student can start seriously preparing for GATE even 4 months before the test. It is however important for the candidate to understand the type of questions asked in GATE and have sufficient practice in the numerical questions. It is also advisable to be well prepared in aptitude questions since they have 15 marks allotted which is a significant number considering the qualification cutoff will be only 25-30 marks.
Admission Process after GATE
Once the initial hurdle (GATE) is cleared, an aspirant is faced with another – that of the admission process of various colleges. Each department of each college has a different selection procedure which often creates confusion and indecisiveness in the mind of the aspirant. For example, the ME program at the IISc has direct admission whereas the M.Tech program has a written test followed by an interview and the MS program has only an interview. Hence a candidate has to prepare for all processes thoroughly. Also, one has to apply to each department separately since there is no common counseling procedure. Hence each candidate has to judiciously select departments where he has the best chance of getting admission, given his GATE rank. A rank of below 100 would pose no problems as it would guarantee a seat in either the IISc or top IITs, but if you have secured a rank above 100, the options get confusing, especially while choosing the combination of institute and specialization and also in cases of inter disciplinary admissions. This is where a student will do well to take expert guidance. (Please visit www.gateforum.comfor a comprehensive post GATE admission guide)
The last date for application to some institutes such as IISc and few IITs is only a few days after the GATE results are announced. Therefore students will have to start research on where to apply even before the GATE results are announced, especially if they are expecting good ranks.
The top institutes which offer admission based on GATE score are IISc Bangalore and seven IITs. There are several other good colleges that take students for masters program through GATE - The 20 NITs located across the country, the university colleges such as Jadhavpur University, Anna University, IT BHU, Osmania University, Delhi Technological University. All the private colleges offering M.Tech in India admit students based on the GATE score.
The approximate cutoffs for admission to various institutes is given below
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| IISc | IITs | NITs | University Colleges |
| AIR | Upto AIR 200 | Upto AIR 500 | Upto AIR 1500 | Upto AIR 3000 |
