GATE Exam
Every year, the GATE exam is conducted jointly by IISc (Indian Institute of Science), Bangalore and any one of the IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee). Qualifying in GATE is a mandatory requirement to get admission and/or financial assistance to master’s programs and direct doctoral programs in Engineering/Technology/Architecture, and doctoral programs in relevant branches of Science, in the MHRD-supported institutions and other Government agencies.
In 2021, the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering will be conducted by IIT Bombay. The GATE 2021 examination will be held in the first and second week of February 2021. IIT-B commences the application process for GATE 2021 from 11th September 2020. Aspiring candidates will be required to fill in and submit the application forms on or before the deadline which is set for 8th October 2020.
GATE 2021 exam will be conducted in online mode (computer- based exam) for 25 papers in two sessions i.e. morning and evening shifts. After the successful conduct of the exam, the concerned authorities will release the GATE 2021 answer key. Candidates must note that the GATE 2021 scores will be valid for 3 academic years after the date of announcement. Also, there will be no common counselling and seat allotment process for admissions through GATE scores.
Aspirants seeking M.Tech admission will have to register themselves for counselling through COAP (Common Offer Acceptance Portal) whereas NITs and CFTIs conduct M.Sc admission for GATE qualified aspirants through CCMT (Centralized Counselling for M. Tech). Read this article to gain comprehensive information about GATE 2021.
Latest Update – As per the revised Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) scheme, the qualifying score for GATE exam has been changed to 650; earlier it was 750. Also, among the 25 institutions, NITs will also be eligible to grant the fellowship.
Latest Update- IIT Bombay has again extended the application deadline for the GATE 2021. The deadline for application is 8th October 2020 and the application correction window will be available from 28th October to 11th November 2020.
The official dates for GATE for the year 2021 were recently announced by the concerned authority. Given below is the official schedule schedule for the GATE 2021 (some dates are tentatively mentioned and will be updated soon as the governing authority of the GATE 2021 announces them).
Events | Expected Dates |
GATE official notification release | 7th August 2020 |
GATE 2021 registration through GOAPS window | 11th September 2020 |
Deadline for GATE registration | 8th October 2020 |
Deadline for GATE application form submission (by registered candidates) with additional late fee of Rs. 500 | 12th October 2020 |
GATE application form correction window | 28th October to 11th November 2020 |
Deadline to modify GATE exam paper choice | 13th November 2020 |
GATE application form defect rectification window | First week of December 2020 |
Change of GATE exam city | Second week of November 2020 |
GATE application form change in fields of Category/Gender/Nationality/PwD /Dyslexia or other similar learning disabilities | Third week of November 2020 |
GATE mock test release | First week of November 2020 |
GATE admit card release | 8th January 2021 |
GATE 2021 exam | 5th,6th,7th,12th,13th and 14th February 2021 |
GATE response sheet release | Second week of February 2021 |
GATE 2021 question paper publishing on official website | Third week of February 2021 |
GATE answer key release | Third week of February 2021 |
GATE answer key objection submission | Third week of February 2021 |
GATE final answer key release | Second week of March 2021 |
GATE result declaration | Second week of March 2021 |
Availability of GATE scorecard for download | Third week of March 2021 |
Before applying for the exam, the aspiring candidates must make sure that they satisfy the eligibility criteria for the GATE exam. If any candidate fails to fulfil the eligibility parameters, the concerned authorities hold all the rights to forfeit his/her admission. Ee have given the detailed course-wise eligibility criteria for the reference of the candidates below.
For candidates with B.E, B.Tech, and B.Pharma as qualifying degree:
For candidates with B.Arch as a qualifying degree:
For candidates with B.Sc (Research) and B.S courses as qualifying degrees:
For candidates with M.Sc, M.A, MCA, and equivalent courses as qualifying degrees:
For candidates with Integrated M.E and M.Tech (Post B.Sc.) as qualifying degrees:
For candidates with 5-year Integrated M.E and M.Tech or Dual Degree (after Diploma or 10+2) as qualifying education:
For applicants with Integrated M. Sc and Integrated B.S + M.S as qualifying degrees:
For candidates with Professional Society Examinations (equivalent to B.E, B.Tech, and B.Arch) as qualifying degree:
Candidates belonging to Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates are also eligible to apply for the GATE exam.
Aspirants belonging to these countries must fulfil the below mentioned criteria–
On 11th September 2020, the concerned authority commenced the GATE application process for the year 2021. Through the GATE Online Application Process (GOAPS), the registration was commenced. Candidates must go through the eligibility criteria thoroughly before registering for the exam. The application forms are to be filled and submitted on or before the last day of submission. Any forms submitted after the last day of submission will not be entertained and considered valid by the concerned authorities.
In order to fill in the GATE application form 2021, the candidates will be required to follow the steps given below-
Categories | Application Fee | Late Application Fee |
For UR and other category candidates | INR 1500 | INR 2000 |
For ST, SC, PwD, and Female candidates | INR 750 | INR 1250 |
Countries | Application Fee | Late Application Fee |
Singapore and Dubai | US $100 | US $120 |
Addis Ababa, Kathmandu, Colombo and Dhaka | US $50 | US $70 |
The concerned authorities will announce the syllabus for the GATE exam online on the official website. Check out the below mentioned subject-wise detailed syllabus (based on the previous year’s notification) for the reference of the candidates. In case any changes are made in the GATE syllabus 2021, we will update this page.
AEROSPACE ENGINEERING:
AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING:
ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING:
BIOTECHNOLOGY:
CIVIL ENGINEERING:
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING:
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
CHEMISTRY:
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING:
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING:
GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS:
INSTRUMENTATION ENGINEERING:
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING:
METALLURGICAL ENGINEERING:
MINING ENGINEERING:
PETROLEUM ENGINEERING:
Petroleum engineering
PHYSICS:
PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING:
STATISTICS:
Statistics
TEXTILE ENGINEERING AND FIBRE SCIENCE:
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION:
XE ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS:
XE FLUID MECHANICS:
XE MATERIALS SCIENCE:
XE SOLID MECHANICS:
Solid mechanics
XE THERMODYNAMICS SYLLABUS:
XE POLYMER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING:
Polymer science and engineering
XE FOOD TECHNOLOGY:
XE ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC SCIENCES:
Atmospheric and Ocean science
XL CHEMISTRY:
XL BIOCHEMISTRY:
Biochemistry
XL BOTANY:
Botany
XL MICROBIOLOGY:
Microbiology
XL ZOOLOGY:
Zoology
XL FOOD TECHNOLOGY:
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING:
Along with the syllabus, the candidates must also get well acquainted with the GATE exam pattern . In order to avoid any confusion while preparing and writing the exam, the candidates must go through the exam pattern and syllabus thoroughly.
As per the GATE Exam Pattern 2021 –
Sections | Number of Questions and Marks per part | Number of Questions | Maximum Marks |
General Aptitude (GA) | 5 questions of 1 mark each and 5 questions of 2 mark each | 10 | 15 |
Question Papers other than GG, XE and XL | 25 questions of 1 mark each and 30 questions of 2 mark each | 55 | 85 |
Sections | Number of Questions and Marks per part | Number of Questions | Maximum Marks | |
Question Paper GG (Geology and Geophysics) | PART A (Compulsory Section) | PART B | 55 | 85 |
25 questions of 1 mark each | Section I (Geology) and Section II (Geophysics) (Attempt any 1 question): 30 questions of 2 mark each |
Sections | Number of Questions and Marks per part | Number of Questions | Maximum Marks | ||
XE Paper (Engineering Sciences) | General Aptitude (15 marks) | Section A Engineering Mathematics (Compulsory): | Sections B to H: (Attempt Any Two) | 55 | 85 |
7 questions of 1 mark each and 4 questions of 2 marks each | 9 questions of 1 mark each and 13 questions of 2 marks each |
Sections | Number of Questions and Marks per part | Number of Questions | Maximum Marks | ||
XL Paper (Life Sciences) | General Aptitude (15 marks) | Section P Chemistry (Compulsory Section): | Sections Q to U: (Attempt Any 2) | 55 | 85 |
5 questions of 1 mark each and 10 questions of 2 marks each | 10 questions of 1 mark each and 10 questions of 2 marks each |
To ensure that no topic is left untouched, the candidates must refer to all the important books while preparing for the GATE exam. The candidates can refer to the below mentioned books for efficient and effective preparations for the exam.
ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS
THEORY OF COMPUTATION
COMPUTER ORGANIZATION & ARCHITECTURE
PROGRAMMING & DATA STRUCTURES
DIGITAL LOGIC
COMPUTER NETWORKS
ALGORITHMS
COMPILER DESIGN
DATABASES
DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS
Machine design – V.B. Bhandari
ENGINEERING MECHANICS
FLUID MECHANICS
HEAT TRANSFER
STRENGTH OF MATERIALS
Strength of Materials by Gere and Timoshenko, B C Unamia, Sadhu Singh, Ramamrutham
INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
Industrial Engineering by O P Khanna, Buffa and Sarin
MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING
Production Technology: Manufacturing Processes, Technology and Automation by R.K. Jain
STRENGTH OF MATERIALS
Strength of Materials – Gere & Timoshenko
THEORY OF MACHINES
Theory of Machines by Ratan
THERMAL SCIENCE
Engineering Thermodynamics by P.K. Nag
THERMODYNAMICS
VIBRATIONS
Mechanical Vibration by Grover
ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS
Advanced Engineering Mathematics by E.Kreyszig
NETWORKS
Engineering Circuit Analysis by Hayt & Kemmerly
SIGNAL AND SYSTEMS
ELECTRICAL MACHINE
Electrical Machinery by P.S.Bimbhra
CONTROL SYSTEM
Control Systems Engineering by Nagrath & Gopal
MEASUREMENT
Electrical and Electronic Measurement & Instrumentation by AK Sawhney
CIRCUIT ANALYSIS
Transient Analysis of Electric Power Circuits by Arieh L Shenkmann and also Chakraborty
ANALOG
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory by Boylestad
DIGITAL CIRCUITS
Digital Design by M.Morris Mano
ELECTRO MAGNETICS
POWER ELECTRONICS
POWER SYSTEM
GENERAL APTITUDE
CONTROL SYSTEM
NETWORK
ELECTRONIC DEVICES
SIGNAL SYSTEMS
ANALOG CIRCUITS
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
DIGITAL SYSTEM
ELECTROMAGNETICS
THEORY OF STRUCTURE
THEORY OF ELASTICITY
THEORY OF STRUCTURE
STRENGTH OF MATERIALS/MECHANICS OF STRUCTURE
SOIL MECHANICS
STEEL DESIGN
REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES DESIGN (RCC)
RAILWAY ENGINEERING
Subhash and Satyapal
PRE-STRESSED CONCRETE
Krishna Raju
REINFORCED CONCRETE
Ashok K Jain
WATER RESOURCES
S K Garg
TRANSPORTATION
Justo Khanna
GEO-TECH ENGINEERING
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
Khanna
CPM-PERT/ CONSTRUCTION TECH
FLUID MECHANICS & MACHINES
HIGHWAY/ PAVEMENT & TRAFFIC
SURVEYING
BUILD MATERIALS
IRRIGATION
SK Garg
MATHEMATICS
Advanced Engineering Mathematics by Erwin Kreyszig
NETWORK THEORY
Engineering Circuit Analysis by Steven M. Durbin, Jack E. Kemmerly, William H. Hayt
TRANSDUCERS
Introduction to Measurements and Instrumentation by Arun K Ghosh
SIGNALS AND SYSTEMS
COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Modern Digital and Analog Communication System by B P Lathi
ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC MEASUREMENTS
A Course in Electrical and Electronic Measurements And Instrumentation by A K Sawhney
ANALOG ELECTRONICS
CONTROL SYSTEM
Automatic Control Systems by B C Kuo
PROCESS CONTROL
Process Control: Modeling, Design, and Simulation by B. Wayne Bequette
The concerned authorities will release the mock test for GATE exam in online mode on the official website. Adding mock tests as a part of their preparations will help the candidates to get an idea of the difficulty level and types of questions asked in the exam and evaluate their preparations accordingly. Also, while taking the mock tests, candidates will be able to understand the colour palette status of questions determined by the university for ‘answered’, ‘unanswered’, and ‘marked for review’. Aspirants will be able to navigate between sections using specific symbols. This will help them to avoid any kind of confusion during the actual exam.
10-15 days prior to the day of exam, the university will release the GATE admit card 2021 on the official website in online mode. It will be mandatory for all the candidates to carry the admit card on the day of exam. Aspirants failing to present the admit card along with a government ID at the allotted exam centre will not be allowed to sit in the exam. We have given the detailed list of the exam centres for GATE in India below.
Anantapur | Kurnool | Bhimavaram | Eluru | Kakinada |
Rajahmundry | Tadepalligudem | Tirupati | Srikakulam | Vijayawada |
Visakhapatnam | Angamaly | Kannur | Kasaragod | Kozhikode |
Malappuram | Palakkad | Thrissur | Thiruvananthapuram | Payyanur |
Vadakara | Bagalkot | Ballari | Belagavi | Bengaluru |
Bidar | Davanagere | Hassan | Hubballi | Kalaburagi |
Kolar | Mangaluru | Manipal | Mysuru | Shimoga |
Tumakuru | Hyderabad | Warangal | Port Blair | Ahmedabad |
Anand | Bhavnagar | Bhuj | Gandhinagar | Mehsana |
Rajkot | Surat | Vadodara | Ahmednagar | Amravati |
Aurangabad | Baramati | Jalgaon | Kankavali | Kolhapur |
Mumbai | Nagpur | Nanded | Nashik | Navi Mumbai |
Pune | Ratnagiri | Sangli | Satara | Solapur |
Thane | Goa | Ajmer | Alwar | Bikaner |
Jaipur | Jodhpur | Kota | Sikar | Udaipur |
Chittorgarh | Bahadurgarh | Faridabad | Gurugram | Hisar |
Karnal | Palwal | Ambala | Kurukshetra | Panipat |
Sonepat | Yamuna Nagar | Rohtak | Greater Noida | Mathura |
Agra | Aligarh | Allahabad | Bareilly | Gorakhpur |
Lucknow | Varanasi | Ghaziabad | Meerut | Moradabad |
Muzaffarnagar | Noida | Kanpur | Indore | Ujjain |
Bhopal | Gwalior | Jabalpur | Jammu | Samba |
New Delhi | Agartala | Asansol | Burdwan | Kalyani |
Siliguri | Hooghly | Kharagpur | Kolkata | Durgapur |
Dhanbad | Jamshedpur | Ranchi | Bokaro Steel City | Dibrugarh |
Guwahati | Jorhat | Silchar | Tezpur | Gangtok |
Imphal | Muzaffarpur | Patna | Arrah | Purnea |
Shillong | Balasore | Berhampur | Bhubaneshwar | Cuttack |
Rourkela | Sambalpur | Bhilai | Bilaspur | Raipur |
Tiruchirappalli | Tirunelveli | Vellore | Viluppuram | Virudhunagar |
Amritsar | Bathinda | Jalandhar | Khanna | Ludhiana |
Mohali | Pathankot | Patiala | Sangrur | Baddi |
Hamirpur | Shimla | Una | Bhimtal | Dehradun |
Haldwani | Roorkee | Itanagar |
Soon after the conduct of the GATE exam, the concerned authorities will release the provisional answer key on the official website in online mode. In case any candidate finds any discrepancy in the answer key released, or are not satisfied with the answers released, they will get a chance to challenge the answer key. After rectifying all the challenges, the concerned authorities will release the final answer key. Using the answer key and the marking scheme for the exam, the candidates will be able to calculate their probable scores.
Through GOAPS, the concerned authorities will announce the GATE result 2021 in online mode. Aspirants will be able to check their results by logging in the online portal using their registered email ID and date of birth. After the declaration of the result, the concerned authorities will release the score card. It must be noted that the score card will be released for only those candidates who will score equal or more marks than the qualifying cut off. The score cards will be available for download till a specific date. If any candidate fails to download their score card within the deadline, they will be required to pay INR 500. The following details will be mentioned on the GATE score card 2020 –
GATE cut off scores will be the minimum marks required by the candidates to score in order to be eligible for admissions. Candidates will be required to score more or equal marks than the last cut off rank in order to grab a seat on the basis of their GATE scores. We have given the previous years’ cut off for the reference of the candidates below. The authorities will consider the number of students appearing, qualifying students, difficulty level of the exam, availability of seats, and previous year’s cut off trends while determining the GATE cut off 2021.
Paper Name | Paper Code | SC/ST/PwD |
Aerospace Engineering | AE | 18.1 |
Agricultural Engineering | AG | 17.5 |
Architecture and Planning | AR | 23.2 |
Biomedical Engineering | BM | 16.6 |
Biotechnology | BT | 20.4 |
Chemical Engineering | CH | 23.8 |
Chemistry | CY | 17.8 |
Civil Engineering | CE | 21.9 |
Computer Science and Information Technology | CS | 19.0 |
Ecology and Evolution | EY | 28.1 |
Electrical Engineering | EE | 22.2 |
Electronics and Communication Engineering | EC | 19.2 |
Engineering Sciences Minor | XE | 17.3 |
Geology | GG | 25.6 |
Geophysics | GG | 34.6 |
Instrumentation Engineering | IN | 23.0 |
Life Sciences | XL | 21.1 |
Mathematics | MA | 16.7 |
Mechanical Engineering | ME | 22.6 |
Metallurgical Engineering | MT | 32.8 |
Mining Engineering | MN | 21.8 |
Petroleum Engineering | PE | 26.5 |
Physics | PH | 24.8 |
Production and Industrial Engineering | PI | 24.4 |
Statistics | ST | 16.6 |
Textile Engineering and Fibre Science | TF | 24.7 |
Paper Name | Paper Code | General |
Aerospace Engineering | AE | 27.2 |
Agricultural Engineering | AG | 26.3 |
Architecture and Planning | AR | 34.8 |
Biomedical Engineering | BM | 25.0 |
Biotechnology | BT | 30.7 |
Chemical Engineering | CH | 35.7 |
Chemistry | CY | 26.7 |
Civil Engineering | CE | 32.9 |
Computer Science and Information Technology | CS | 28.5 |
Ecology and Evolution | EY | 42.2 |
Electrical Engineering | EE | 33.4 |
Electronics and Communication Engineering | EC | 28.8 |
Engineering Sciences Minor | XE | 26.0 |
Geology | GG | 38.4 |
Geophysics | GG | 51.9 |
Instrumentation Engineering | IN | 34.6 |
Life Sciences | XL | 31.7 |
Mathematics | MA | 25 |
Mechanical Engineering | ME | 34.0 |
Metallurgical Engineering | MT | 49.2 |
Mining Engineering | MN | 32.7 |
Petroleum Engineering | PE | 39.8 |
Physics | PH | 37.2 |
Production and Industrial Engineering | PI | 36.6 |
Statistics | ST | 25 |
Textile Engineering and Fibre Science | TF | 37.1 |
Paper Name | Paper Code | OBC (NCL) |
Aerospace Engineering | AE | 24.4 |
Agricultural Engineering | AG | 23.6 |
Architecture and Planning | AR | 31.3 |
Biomedical Engineering | BM | 22.5 |
Biotechnology | BT | 27.6 |
Chemical Engineering | CH | 32.1 |
Chemistry | CY | 24.0 |
Civil Engineering | CE | 29.6 |
Computer Science and Information Technology | CS | 25.6 |
Ecology and Evolution | EY | 37.9 |
Electrical Engineering | EE | 30.0 |
Electronics and Communication Engineering | EC | 25.9 |
Engineering Sciences Minor | XE | 23.4 |
Geology | GG | 34.5 |
Geophysics | GG | 46.7 |
Instrumentation Engineering | IN | 31.1 |
Life Sciences | XL | 28.5 |
Mathematics | MA | 22.5 |
Mechanical Engineering | ME | 30.6 |
Metallurgical Engineering | MT | 44.2 |
Mining Engineering | MN | 29.4 |
Petroleum Engineering | PE | 35.8 |
Physics | PH | 33.4 |
Production and Industrial Engineering | PI | 32.9 |
Statistics | ST | 22.5 |
Textile Engineering and Fiber Science | TF | 33.3 |
The counselling and seat allotment process for GATE 2021 will be conducted in online mode. It must be noted that no common counselling will be conducted by the authorities. Aspirants will be required to apply individually for admissions at their preferred and desired institutes. Counselling for IIT institutes will be conducted by COAP, and CCMT will be conducted for NITs, IIEST Shibpur, and some IIITs and GFTIs.
Common Offer Acceptance (COAP) is a common admission platform stated in 2017 by all the IITs to offer admissions to the aspiring candidates. COAP will be used as the portal for the IIT aspirants to accept or withdraw their admissions during the counselling and seat allotment process. Though the candidates will be required to apply individually for the IIT admissions, they can still get to know about the admission offered on this portal. Also, candidates will be able to reject and accept the admissions through COAP portal only.
Centralized Counselling for M.Tech, M.Arch, and M.Plan admissions (CCMT) is conducted for admissions into NITs, IIEST Shibpur, and some IIITs and GFTIs. Through CCMT portal, candidates will be able to fill in their preferred institutes and courses.
The counselling and seat allotment process will be concluded after the document verification round. The candidates will be required to present the following documents –
Every year, any one of the seven IITs and IISc jointly conduct the GATE exam. In the year 2021, IIT Bombay will be the responsible for conducting the GATE exam.
On 7th August 2020, IIT Bombay released an official notification on their official website regarding the scheduling of the GATE 2021. The application process will commence from 11th September 2020, deadline of which is 8th October 2020.
Candidates willing to apply for the GATE exam must have qualified their bachelors’ degree, integrated degree, or diploma in the concerned specification from any recognized institute or university. It must be noted that no passing percentage has been specified by the concerned authorities.
GATE exam is conducted in online mode, i.e. it is a computer-based exam. The exam will be conducted for 25 papers in two sessions (morning and evening).
The GATE counselling process will be conducted in online mode via COAP and CCMT portals for IITs and NITs respectively. GATE qualifiers will also be considered eligible to avail PSUs recruitments on the basis of their scores in the exam.
The PSUs (Public Service Undertakings) operating under any of the Maharatna, Navratna, Mini-Ratna or Miniratna Category-II CPSEs recruit candidates on the basis of their GATE score. Over 100 PSUs in India consider GATE scores for recruitments at various levels.
Stay tuned to Buddy4Study to get the latest updates and news on GATE 2021.
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