Structure of the GATE Examination

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The GATE is held every year on the second Sunday of February, across the country in over 100 cities. At present nearly 60,000 students write GATE every year.

Examination Type
The GATE examination consists of a single paper of 3 hours duration, which contains 60 questions carrying a
maximum of 100 marks. The question paper will consist of only multiple choice objective questions. Each question
will have four choices for the answer. Only one choice will be correct. Candidates have to mark the correct choice
on an Optical Response Sheet (ORS) by darkening the appropriate bubble against each question. There will be
rd deduction for each wrong answers.

Examination Paper

A candidate can choose any one of the papers listed in Table

List of GATE Papers and corresponding codes
PAPER CODE PAPER CODE

Aerospace Engineering AE Mathematics MA
Agricultural Engineering AG Mechanical Engineering ME
Architecture & Planning AR Mining Engineering MN
Civil Engineering C E Metallurgical Engineering MT
Chemical Engineering C H Physics PH
Computer Science & Information Technology C S Production & Industrial Engineering PI
Chemistry C Y Pharmaceutical Sciences PY
Electronics & Communication Engineering E C Textile Engg. & Fibre Science TF
Electrical Engineering E E Engineering Sciences XE*
Geology & Geophysics G G# Life Sciences XL*
Instrumentation Engineering I N
#GG (Geology & Geophysics) paper will consist of two parts: Part A and Part B. Part A will be common to both
Geology and Geophysics candidates. Part B will contain two sections: Section 1 (Geology) and Section 2
(Geophysics). Geology candidates will attempt questions in Section 1 only. Geophysics candidates will attempt
questions in Section 2 only.
*XE (Engineering Sciences) and XL (Life sciences) papers are of general nature and will comprise the following
sections:
XE Paper SECTIONS CODE XL Paper SECTIONS CODE
Engineering Mathematics (Compulsory) A Chemistry (Compulsory) H
Fluid Mechanics B Biochemistry I
Materials Science C Biotechnology J
Solid Mechanics D Botany K
Thermodynamics E Microbiology L
Polymer Science and Engineering F Zoology M
Food Technology G
A candidate appearing in XE or XL paper will be required to answer three sections. Section A and Section H are
compulsory in XE and XL papers, respectively. The candidate can choose any two out of the remaining sections
listed against the respective papers.

The choice of the appropriate paper is the responsibility of the candidate. Some guidelines in this respect are
suggested below:
Candidate is expected to appear in a paper (one of the listed above) appropriate to the discipline of his/her
qualifying degree.
Candidate is, however, free to choose any paper according to his/her admission plan, keeping in mind the eligibility
criteria of the institutions in which he/she wishes to seek admission.