# Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering

The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an entrance examination conducted in India for admission to technical postgraduate programs that tests the undergraduate subjects of engineering and sciences. GATE is conducted jointly by the Indian Institute of Science and seven Indian Institutes of Technologies at Roorkee, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Chennai (Madras) and Mumbai (Bombay) on behalf of the National Coordination Board – GATE, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India.
The GATE score of a candidate reflects the relative performance level of a candidate. The score is used for admissions to various post-graduate education programs (e.g. Master of Engineering, Master of Technology, Master of Architecture, Doctor of Philosophy) in Indian higher education institutes, with financial assistance provided by MoE and other government agencies. GATE scores are also used by several Indian public sector undertakings for recruiting graduate engineers in entry-level positions. It is one of the most competitive examinations in India. GATE is also recognized by various institutes outside India, such as Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

## Financial assistance in post-graduate programs

The GATE is used as a requirement for financial assistance (e.g. scholarships) for a number of programs, though criteria differ by admitting institution. In December 2015, the University Grants Commission and MHRD announced that the scholarship for GATE-qualified master's degree students is increased by 56% from ₹8,000 (US$92) per month to ₹12,400 (US$140) per month.

## Eligibility

The following students are eligible to take GATE:
* Bachelor's degree holders in Engineering / Technology / Architecture (3 years after 10+2/ 10+2+3(ongoing)/ 10+2+4(ongoing)/ Post-B.Sc./ Post-Diploma) and those who are in the final year of such programs ( Also prefinal year of B.tech).
* Master's degree holders in any branch of Science/Mathematics/Statistics/Computer Applications or equivalent and those who are in the final year of such programs.
* Candidates in the second or
-year integrated master's degree programs (Post-B.Sc.) in Engineering / Technology.
* Candidates in the fourth or higher year of Five-year integrated master's degree programs or Dual Degree programs in Engineering / Technology.
* Candidates with qualifications obtained through examinations conducted by professional societies recognized by UGC/AICTE (e.g. AMIE by IE(India), AMICE by the Institute of Civil Engineers (India)-ICE(I), AMIETE By IETE(India)) as equivalent to B.E./B.Tech.
* A candidate who is currently studying in the 3rd or higher years of any undergraduate degree program OR has already completed any government approved degree program in
* Engineering / Technology / Architecture / Science / Commerce / Arts is eligible to appear for GATE 2022 examination. Those who have completed section A or equivalent of such professional courses are also eligible.
There is no age limit criterion defined by the exam conducting authority to appear in GATE.

## Disciplines, structure, syllabus, and marking scheme
### Disciplines

At present, GATE is conducted in the following 30 disciplines. A candidate can select any one or two of these subjects relevant to his/her discipline.
From 2022, 2 new papers were introduced: GE (Geomatics Engineering) and NM (Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering).
| GATE Paper | Code |
| Aerospace Engineering | AE |
| Instrumentation Engineering | IN |
| Agricultural Engineering | AG |
| Mathematics | MA |
| Architecture and Planning | AR |
| Biomedical | BM |
| Biotechnology | BT |
| Civil Engineering | CE |
| Petroleum Engineering | PE |
| Chemical Engineering | CH |
| Physics | PH |
| Computer Science and Information Technology | CS |
| Production and Industrial Engineering | PI |
| Chemistry | CY |
| Textile Engineering and Fiber Science | TF |
| Electronics and Communication Engineering | EC |
| Engineering Sciences | XE$^*$ |
| Electrical Engineering | EE |
| Life Sciences | XL$^{**}$ |
| Environmental Science and Engineering | ES |
| Humanities and Social Sciences | XH*** |
| Ecology and Evolution | EY |
| Statistics | ST |
| Geology and Geophysics | GG |
| Geomatics Engineering | GE |
| Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering | NM |
| Data Science and Artificial Intelligence | DA |
The paper sections under XE*, XL** and XH*** are defined by some dedicated codes which are mentioned in the following table-
| $^*$ Engineering Sciences (XE) Paper Sections (A and any 2 of B to H) | Code | $^{**}$ Life Sciences (XL) Paper Sections (P and any 2 of Q to U) | Code | Humanities and Social Sciences (XH) Paper Sections (B1 and any 1 of C1 to C6) | Code |
| Engineering Mathematics (Compulsory) | A | Chemistry (Compulsory) | P | Reasoning and Comprehension (Compulsory) | B1 |
| Fluid Mechanics | B | Biochemistry | Q | Economics | C1 |
| Materials Science | C | Botany | R | English | C2 |
| Solid Mechanics | D | Microbiology | S | Linguistics | C3 |
| Thermodynamics | E | Zoology | T | Philosophy | C4 |
| Polymer Science and Engineering | F | Food Technology | U | Psychology | C5 |
| Food Technology | G | | | Sociology | C6 |
| Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences | H | | | | |

### Duration and examination type

The examination is of 3 hours duration, and contains a total of 65 questions worth a maximum of 100 marks. The examination for all the papers is carried out in an online Computer Based Test (CBT) mode where the candidates are shown the questions in a random sequence on a computer screen. The questions consist of some Multiple Choice Questions or MCQs (four answer options out of which only ONE is correct, which has to be chosen). Remaining questions may be of Multiple Select Questions or MSQs (four answer options out of which ONE or MORE than ONE is/are correct, hence correct options need to be chosen) and/or Numerical Answer Type questions or NATs (answer is a real number, to be entered via an on-screen keypad and computer mouse).

### Syllabus

* Verbal Ability: English grammar, sentence completion, verbal analogies, word groups, instructions, critical reasoning and verbal deduction.
* Numerical Ability: Numerical computation, numerical estimation, numerical reasoning and data interpretation.
* Engineering Mathematics (not for all Papers)
* Technical Ability: Technical questions related to the Paper chosen

### Questions and marking scheme

The examination will consist of totally 65 questions, segregated as One-mark and Two-mark questions. Out of 65 questions, 10 questions will be from General Aptitude (Verbal and Numerical ability) and 55 questions will be Technical, based on the Paper chosen. The General Aptitude section will have 5 One-mark questions and 5 Two-mark questions, accounting for about 15% of total marks. The Technical section and Engineering Mathematics section will combinedly have 25 One-mark questions and 30 Two-mark questions, accounting for about 85% of total marks. Further, all the sections may have some Multiple Choice Questions or MCQs, while remaining questions may be Multiple Select Questions or MSQs and/or Numerical Answer Type questions or NATs. The examination awards negative marks for wrong MCQ answers. Usually, 1/3rd of original marks will be deducted for wrong MCQ answers (i.e. -0.33 for wrong One-mark answers and -0.66 for wrong Two-mark answers) while there are no negative marks for MSQs and NATs. Also there is NO partial credit for MSQs and NATs.

## Result and test score

GATE results are usually declared about one month after the examinations are over. The results show the total marks scored by a candidate, the GATE score, the all-India rank (AIR) and the cut off marks for various categories in the candidate's paper. The score is valid for 3 years from the date of announcement of the GATE results. The score cards are issued only to qualified candidates.

### Normalized GATE Score (new procedure)

Calculation of "normalized marks" for subjects held in multiple sessions (CE, CS, EC, EE and ME):
From 2014 onward, examination for CE, CS, EC, ME and EE subjects is being held in multiple sessions. Hence, for these subjects, a suitable normalization is applied to take into account any variation in the difficulty levels of the question sets across different sessions. The normalization is done based on the fundamental assumption that "in all multi-session GATE papers, the distribution of abilities of candidates is the same across all the sessions". According to the GATE committee, this assumption is justified since "the number of candidates appearing in multi-session subjects in GATE 2014 is large and the procedure of allocation of session to candidates is random. Further it is also ensured that for the same multi-session subject, the number of candidates allotted in each session is of the same order of magnitude."
Based on the above, and considering various normalization methods, the committee arrived at the following formula for calculating the normalized marks, for CE, CS, EC, EE and ME subjects:
Normalized mark (︿M$_{ij}$) of jth candidate in ith session, is given by
${\hat {M}}_{ij}={\frac {{\bar {M}}_{t}^{g}-M_{q}^{g}}{M_{ti}-M_{iq}}}(M_{ij}-M_{iq})+M_{q}^{g}$ where,
    M$_{ij}$ is the actual marks obtained by the jth candidate in the ith session,
    M$^g$$_t$ is the average marks of the top 0.1 % candidates in all sessions of that subject,
    M$^g$$_q$ is the sum of mean and standard deviation of marks of all candidates in all sessions of that subject,
    M$_{ti}$ is the average of marks of top 0.1 % candidates in the ith session of that subject,
    M$_{iq}$ is the sum of mean and standard deviation of marks of all candidates in the ith session of that subject.
After evaluation of the answers, normalized marks based on the above formula will be calculated using the raw (actual) marks obtained by a candidate in the CE, CS, EC, EE or ME subject. The "score" will be calculated using these normalized marks. For all other subjects (whose tests are conducted in a single session), the actual marks obtained by the candidates will be used in calculating the score.
Calculation of GATE Score for all subjects (single-session and multiple-session):
From GATE 2014 onward (and year 2014-15 of the 2-year validity period of GATE 2013 score), a candidate's GATE score is computed by the following new formula.
$S=S_{q}+(S_{t}-S_{q}){\frac {M-M_{q}}{{\overline {M}}_{t}-M_{q}}}$
where,
    S = Score (normalized) of a candidate,
    M = Marks obtained by a candidate ("normalized marks" in case of multiple-session subjects CE, CS, EC, EE and ME),
    M$_q$ = Qualifying marks for general category candidates in that subject (usually 25 or μ + σ, whichever is higher),
       μ = Average (i.e. arithmetic mean) of marks of all candidates in that subject,
       σ = Standard deviation of marks of all candidates in that subject,
    M$_t$ = Average marks of top 0.1 % candidates (for subjects with 10000 or more appeared candidates) or top 10 candidates (for subjects with less than 10000 appeared candidates),
    S$_t$ = 900 = Score assigned to M$_t$,
    S$_q$ = 350 = Score assigned to M$_q$.
Percentile:
A candidate's percentile denotes the percentage of candidates scoring lower than that particular candidate. It is calculated as:
Percentile = ( 1 - ⁠All India rank/ No. of candidates in that subject⁠ ) x 100%

### Old formula

Till GATE 2012 (and year 2013-14 of the 2-year validity period of GATE 2013 score), the score was calculated using the formula:
GATE score = $10(a_{g}+s_{g}{\frac {m-a}{S}})$
where,
    m = Marks obtained by the candidate,
    a = Average of marks of all candidates who appeared in that subject, in that year, with marks less than zero converted to zero,
    S = Standard deviation of marks of all candidates who appeared in that subject, in that year, with marks less than zero converted to zero,
    a$_g$ = Global average of marks of all candidates who appeared across all subjects in current and past 5 years (i.e. 2010 to 2013 for GATE 2013), with marks less than zero converted to zero,
    s$_g$ = Global standard deviation of marks of all candidates who appeared across all subjects in current and past 5 years (i.e. 2010 to 2013 for GATE 2013), with marks less than zero converted to zero.

## Qualifying marks

The rules for qualifying marks have varied from year to year. The qualifying marks (out of 100) are different for different subjects as well as categories.
| Category | Qualifying mark (out of 100) |
| General (GN) | 25 or 25+, whichever is higher. |
| Other backward classes (OBC) | 90% of general category's qualifying mark. |
| Scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST) | 2/3 (i.e., 66.67%) of general category's qualifying mark. |
Here μ is the average (i.e., arithmetic mean) of marks of all candidates in the subject (with negative marks converted to zero) and σ is the standard deviation of all marks in that subject.
Usually, the general category's qualifying mark is in the 25 to 50 range.
The Government of India implemented reservations for other backward classes in college admissions and public sector job recruitment in the year 2008. Before that, all OBC candidates were included in the "general" category. There was no separate OBC category then.

## Statistics

Sources:
The following line chart shows the number of candidates registered, appeared, and qualified (total of all subjects).
| Year | Registered | Appeared | Qualified | Percentage of appeared that qualified |
| 2006 | 184,308 | 170,252 | 33,813 | 19.86% |
| 2007 | 168,917 | 153,822 | 44,387 | 28.86% |
| 2008 | 184,672 | 166,027 | 31,694 | 19.09% |
| 2009 | 230,341 | 212,130 | 35,273 | 16.63% |
| 2010 | 460,541 | 420,596 | 59,853 | 14.23% |
| 2011 | 612,568 | 558,480 | 96,239 | 17.23% |
| 2012 | 777,134 | 686,614 | 108,526 | 15.81% |
| 2013 | 1,200,728 | 984,855 | 136,699 | 13.88% |
| 2014 | 1,033,625 | 889,156 | 149,694 | 16.84% |
| 2015 | 927,580 | 804,463 | 121,060 $_{[13,874generalcategorycandidateswhoscoredabovetheOBC(NCL)qualifyingmark,butbelowthegeneralcategoryqualifyingmark,receivedscorecards.Buttheydidnotqualify.]}$ | 15.05% |
| 2016 | 971,831 | 818,850 | 135,392 | 16.53% |
| 2017 | 922,167 | 787,148 | 129,149 | 16.00% |
| 2018 | 934,461 | 781,854 | 132,245 | 16.91% |
| 2019 | 927,616 | 770,681 | 140,955 | 18.28% |
| 2020 | 858,890 | 685,088 | 129,000* | 18.80% |
| 2021 | 882,684 | 711,542 | 126,813 | 17.82% |
| 2022 | 845,432 | 597,030 | 112,678 | 18.87% |
| 2023 | 670,000* | 517,000* | 93,000* | 18.00*% |
| 2024 | 826,239 | 653,292 | TBD | TBD |
$^*$ Precise figures unavailable right now.
The following line chart shows the variation of the number of candidates appeared in the 5 subjects with the largest numbers of appeared candidates, since GATE 2010:
| Year | Electronics and Communication Engineering | Computer Science and Information Technology | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Civil Engineering | Others | Total |
| 2010 | 104,291 | 107,086 | 59,338 | 52,246 | 19,406 | About 72,000$^*$ | About 415,000$^*$ |
| 2011 | 137,853 | 136,027 | 81,175 | 72,680 | 29,347 | About 96,000$^*$ | About 553,000$^*$ |
| 2012 | 176,944 | 156,780 | 112,320 | 110,125 | 36,156 | 94,289 | 686,614 |
| 2013 | 256,135 | 224,160 | 165,814 | 152,381 | 67,472 | 118,893 | 984,855 |
| 2014 | 216,367 | 155,190 | 185,578 | 141,799 | 90,872 | 99,350 | 889,156 |
| 2015 | 172,714 | 115,425 | 185,758 | 125,851 | 101,429 | 103,286 | 804,463 |
| 2016 | 183,152 | 131,803 | 234,727 | 146,293 | 118,147 | 4728 | 818,850 |
| 2017 | 152,318 | 108,495 | 197,789 | 125,859 | 119,873 | 82814 | 787,148 |
| 2018 | 125,870 | 107,893 | 194,496 | 121,383 | 153,078 | | |
| 2022 | 54,292 | 77,257 | 89,567 | 69,734 | 100,043 | | 597,030 |
| 2023 | 45,833 | 75,679 | 63,489 | 55,292 | 83,187 | | |
| 2024 | 63,092 | 123,967 | 65,546 | 59,599 | 85,869 | 255,219 | 653,292 |
$^*$ Precise figures unavailable right now.

### Gate Statistics by Years

GATE 2012 statistics :
The three hour test in 21 papers was conducted in 860 centers and 170 cities/towns across the country on two days: the computer based online exam in six papers on 29 January 2012 and the offline exam in the remaining fifteen papers on 12 February 2012. A total of 7,77,134 candidates registered for GATE 2012 and 6,86,614 candidates appeared for the exam. Nearly 81% of the total number of candidates who appeared for GATE 2012 were from four papers: Electronics and Communication Engineering (1,76,944), Computer Science and Information Technology (1,56,780), Mechanical Engineering (1,12,320) and Electrical Engineering (1,10,125).
Subject-wise distribution of the 686,614 appeared candidates in GATE 2012
Electronics and Communication Engineering (EC) (25.77%)
Computer Science and Information Technology (CS) (22.83%)
Mechanical Engineering (ME) (16.34%)
Electrical Engineering (EE) (16.04%)
Civil Engineering (CE) (5.27%)
Instrumentation engineering (IN) (3.13%)
Chemical Engineering (CH) (1.66%)
Other (8.96%)
Category-wise distribution of the 108,526 qualified candidates in GATE 2012
General category (GN) (50.19%)
Other backward classes (OBC) (27.91%)
Scheduled castes (SC) and Scheduled tribes (ST) (21.9%)
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
Appeared
Qualified
  Male
  Female
MaleFemaleTotal
RegisteredNANA777,134
Appeared501,416185,198686,614
Qualified85,63022,896108,526
Percentage of appeared that qualified17.08%12.36%15.81%
SubjectNo. of candidates appeared
Electronics and Communication Engineering176,944
Computer Science and Information Technology156,780
Mechanical Engineering112,320
Electrical Engineering110,125
Civil Engineering36,156
Instrumentation engineering21,509
Chemical Engineering11,407
Others61,373
Total686,614
The total number of candidates qualified in GATE 2012 is 1,08,526. This year, 30,294 OBC candidates qualified in the test, while 23,765 SC/ST and 447 physically challenged candidates qualified. Out of 1,85,198 female candidates who appeared in GATE 2012, 22,896 candidates qualified.
The IIT Delhi zone topped among the other zones with 18,927 candidates figuring in the list of qualified candidates, followed by IIT Madras (17,343), IIT Kharagpur (15,735), IISc Bangalore (14,379), IIT Kanpur (12,469), IIT Roorkee (12,328), IIT Bombay (12,287), and IIT Guwahati (5,058). :
GATE 2013 statistics :
| Subject | Appeared | Qualified | Percentage of appeared that qualified |
| Electronics and Communication Engineering (EC) | 256135 | 36394 | 14.21% |
| Computer Science and Information Technology (CS) | 224160 | 17440 | 7.78% |
| Mechanical Engineering (ME) | 165814 | 24573 | 14.82% |
| Electrical Engineering (EE) | 152381 | 25342 | 16.63% |
| Civil Engineering (CE) | 67472 | 11920 | 17.67% |
| Instrumentation Engineering (IN) | 28249 | 3376 | 11.95% |
| Biotechnology (BT) | 16159 | 3424 | 21.19% |
| Chemical Engineering (CH) | 14835 | 2887 | 19.46% |
| Life Sciences (XL) | 12920 | 2675 | 20.70% |
| Chemistry (CY) | 11768 | 2362 | 20.07% |
| Physics (PH) | 7497 | 1000 | 13.34% |
| Mathematics (MA) | 4963 | 800 | 16.12% |
| Aerospace Engineering (AE) | 4523 | 843 | 18.64% |
| Production and Industrial Engineering (PI) | 3871 | 679 | 17.54% |
| Geology and Geophysics (GG) | 2765 | 629 | 22.75% |
| Architecture and Planning (AR) | 2718 | 580 | 21.34% |
| Metallurgical Engineering (MT) | 2663 | 635 | 23.85% |
| Engineering Sciences (XE) | 2476 | 501 | 20.23% |
| Others (4 subjects) | 3486 | 639 | 18.33% |
| Total (22 subjects) | 984855 | 136699 | 13.88 % |
GATE 2014 statistics :
| Subject code | Subject | No. of candidates appeared | Qualifying marks | Qualifying marks | Qualifying marks |
| Subject code | Subject | No. of candidates appeared | General category | Other Backward Classes (Non-creamy layer) | Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes / Persons with disabilities |
| AE | Aerospace Engineering | 4559 | 25.00 | 22.50 | 16.67 |
| AG | Agricultural Engineering | 1168 | 25.00 | 22.50 | 16.67 |
| AR | Architecture and Planning | 3087 | 32.50 | 29.25 | 21.67 |
| BT | Biotechnology | 10719 | 25.84 | 23.26 | 17.23 |
| CE | Civil Engineering | 90872 | 26.57 | 23.91 | 17.71 |
| CH | Chemical Engineering | 15844 | 35.14 | 31.62 | 23.43 |
| CS | Computer Science and Information Technology | 155190 | 25.00 | 22.50 | 16.67 |
| CY | Chemistry | 7932 | 29.87 | 26.88 | 19.91 |
| EC | Electronics and Communication Engineering | 216367 | 25.56 | 23.01 | 17.04 |
| EE | Electrical Engineering | 141799 | 25.00 | 22.50 | 16.67 |
| EY | Ecology and Evolution | 652 | 42.89 | 38.60 | 28.59 |
| GG | Geology and Geophysics | 2659 | 36.33 | 32.70 | 24.22 |
| IN | Instrumentation Engineering | 22367 | 25.00 | 22.50 | 16.67 |
| MA | Mathematics | 3840 | 25.00 | 22.50 | 16.67 |
| ME | Mechanical Engineering | 185578 | 28.86 | 25.97 | 19.24 |
| MN | Mining Engineering | 1140 | 33.67 | 30.30 | 22.44 |
| MT | Metallurgical Engineering | 3586 | 49.87 | 44.88 | 33.25 |
| PH | Physics | 6132 | 31.72 | 28.55 | 21.15 |
| PI | Production and Industrial Engineering | 3316 | 25.00 | 22.50 | 16.67 |
| TF | Textile Engineering and Fibre Science | 1290 | 25.71 | 23.14 | 17.14 |
| XE | Engineering Sciences | 2532 | 29.18 | 26.26 | 19.45 |
| XL | Life Sciences | 8527 | 31.04 | 27.93 | 20.69 |
| - | Total | 889156 | - | - | - |
GATE 2015 statistics :
| | Male | Female | Other | Total |
| Registered | | | | 927,580 |
| Appeared | 567,111 | 237,235 | 117 | 804,463 |
| Received scorecard | | 24,545 | | 134,934 |
| Category | No. of qualified candidates | Percentage of total |
| General category | 61,450 | 50.76% |
| Other Backward Classes (Non-creamy layer) | 39,538 | 32.66% |
| Scheduled castes | 15,861 | 13.10% |
| Scheduled Tribes | 4,211 | 3.48% |
| Total | 121,060 | 100% |

## Admission to post-graduate programs

Unlike undergraduate admissions in India, candidates must apply individually to each institute after the institute has published its M.Tech. notification (usually in the month of March). There is no separate counselling held. For admissions in NITs and IIITs, CCMT is held every year and the notification is released around April of each year.
Some institutions specify GATE qualification as mandatory even for admission of self-financing students to postgraduate programs. GATE qualified candidates are also eligible for the award of Junior Research Fellowship in CSIR Laboratories and CSIR sponsored projects. Top rank holders in some GATE papers are entitled to apply for "Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Fellowship" awarded by CSIR. Some government organizations prescribe GATE qualification as a requirement for applying to the post of a Scientist/Engineer.
In recent years, various academics have recognized GATE as being one of the toughest exams in its category. Some non-Indian universities like the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and some technical universities in Germany also identify GATE score as a parameter for judging the quality of the candidates for admission into their Masters and Ph.D. programs.
Most Indian institutes do not specify cut-off marks for previous years. But in the recent years IIT Kharagpur and IIT Guwahati have been specifying last year cut-off mark list. Typically the Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institutes of Technology are the most selective followed by BITS Pilani, National Institutes of Technology and others. Even within the top institutes, the selection criteria varies widely across departments and programs depending on expertise areas.

### CSIR's JRF - GATE fellowship

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) introduced the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) - GATE scheme in 2002 to allow GATE-qualified engineering graduates and GPAT-qualified pharmaceutical graduates to pursue research through suitable Ph.D. programs at CSIR laboratories.
Stipend and tenure:
The fellowship amount is ₹31,000 (US$350) per month plus HRA (house rent allowance). In addition, contingency grant of ₹20,000 (US$230) per annum (calculated on pro-rata basis for fraction of a year) is also provided. On completion of 2 years as JRF - GATE, the fellowship may be upgraded to SRF (Senior Research Fellowship) - GATE and stipend may be increased to ₹35,000 (US$400) per month in the subsequent years, on the basis of assessment of CSIR JRF-NET guidelines.
The total duration of the fellowship is 5 years, within which the candidate is expected to complete the Ph.D. degree.

## Recruitment

Public sector undertakings (PSUs) in India, for long, have had troubles conducting their recruitment processes with more than 100,000 students taking the exams for less than 1000 jobs (a selection rate of less than 1%). After sensing the exponential rise in the number of engineering graduates in India who wish to get a PSU job, the PSUs have decided that a GATE score shall be the primary criteria for initial shortlisting. This change was the primary cause for the rapid increase in applicants for GATE 2012.
Indian Oil Corporation was the first PSU which successfully tested out this system and was followed two years later by National Thermal Power Corporation, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bharat Electronics & PowerGrid Corporation of India.
Usually these companies release their recruitment notifications right after GATE notification, indicating that candidates have to take GATE to be considered for a job in their organizations.

### List of companies

Many companies have signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the GATE organizing committee, for using the GATE score as a screening tool for recruiting engineers at entry-level positions.
* Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
* Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
* Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
* National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd.
* Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.
* Mazagon Dock Ltd.
* Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd.
* Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
* Central Electronics Ltd.
* Coal India Ltd.
* National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd.
* Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd.
* THDC Ltd.
* Odisha Power Generation Corporation
* Ircon International Ltd.
* Bharat Broadband Network Limited
* National Highways Authority of India
* Airport Authority of India
* Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
* Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited
* West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company
The syllabus for the GATE exam and its preparation remains the same, irrespective of whether one is applying for a job at a PSU or seeking admission for post-graduation in engineering.

## Changes in recent years

| Year | Changes |
| 2009 | The Information Technology and Computer Science tests were merged into a single Computer Science and Information Technology test (code "CS"). The GATE score was valid only for one year but later the GATE committee made it valid for two years in 2010. |
| 2010 | Pharmacy was no longer a GATE subject, with the Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (conducted by the All India Council for Technical Education) as the replacement. The Biotechnology section of the Engineering Sciences GATE paper had been removed and a separate Biotechnology test (code "BT") was started. An additional section of General Aptitude was introduced in GATE. Ten questions carrying 15 marks make up this section of the GATE Exam. |
| 2011 | Based on a trouble-free pilot project in 2010, four of the GATE papers in GATE 2011 were run using computer-based online mode. The four online papers for 2011 were Aerospace Engineering (code "AE"), Geology and Geophysics (code "GG"), Mining Engineering (code "MN") and Textile Engineering and Fiber Science (code "TF"). GATE was held in the morning (9:00 to 12:00) session for some papers and afternoon (14:00 to 17:00) session for others. Also, the computer-based tests were held on a different date. |
| 2012 | Only final year students and passed-out candidates were declared eligible to take GATE. Pre-final year B.E./B.Tech. students, who were eligible till 2011, were no longer eligible. The application process was made completely online. Candidates could view their responses to the ORS and also GATE Office released official solutions for GATE papers. The admit card was made downloadable from the application website. Sending admit cards by post was discontinued. The exam mode was changed from paper-based to "online" (i.e. computer-based) for 2 additional subjects: Agricultural Engineering (code "AG") and Architecture and Planning (code "AR"). The use of pencils to darken the bubbles in the answer sheet was discontinued. Candidates could use only black ink ballpoint pens for darkening of the bubbles in the answer sheet. |
| 2013 | Female candidates were exempted from paying the application fee. Candidates were required to upload a scanned copy of photograph and signature. Print-out of the completed application form was to be mailed to the institute by post. The application fee was increased from ₹ 1000 to ₹ 1200. The GATE score formula was changed. Scores calculated using the old formula were effective during the year 2013–14. Scores calculated using the new formula were effective during the year 2014–15. |
| 2014 | A new subject of Ecology and Evolution (code "EY") was introduced. Examinations for all 22 subjects were conducted by an online Computer-Based Test (CBT). The online examination contained some questions for which numerical answers must be keyed in by the candidate using the "virtual" (i.e. on-screen) keypad. The rest of the questions were of Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) type. Female candidates were required to pay some fee for application, a change introduced due to many raising complaints about a large portion of female candidates who registered but did not appear for the exam in 2013. Application fee was increased from ₹ 1200 to ₹ 1500 for general category, OBC male/other candidates, and ₹ 750 for all female candidates and SC, ST male/other candidates. GATE score's validity is increased from 2 years to 3 years. Examinations were held during forenoon and afternoon sessions on alternate weekends (Saturday and Sunday) between 1 February 2014 and 2 March 2014. Examination for the subjects ME, EE, EC, and CS was held in multiple sessions due to the large numbers of registered candidates. |
| 2015 | The entire application process is made online. All required documents have to be scanned and uploaded on the online application system. Candidates no longer have to send anything by post. Printed (i.e. hard-copy) scorecards are no longer sent to candidates. Only a digital (i.e. soft-copy) scorecard can be downloaded by qualified candidates from the official GATE website. |
| 2016 | Candidates are not permitted to bring their own calculators. An online virtual (i.e. on-screen) calculator will be available during the examination. The syllabus has been revised for some subjects. A new subject of Petroleum Engineering (code "PE") has been introduced. After completion of all test sessions, an Answer Key will be provided for candidates to check. Candidates can challenge the GATE 2016 Answer Key on a nominal fee for a specified time period. |
| 2017 | A New Section has been introduced in the Engineering Sciences (XE) Paper. This section is the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (section H). International students from countries namely Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and United Arab Emirates are now eligible to apply for GATE 2017. |
| 2018 | While choosing the exam centers for GATE 2018, the candidates will have to select their first two choices from the same GATE zone. The third choice can be from any other GATE zone. Candidates are not required to upload the scanned image of their thumb impression while filling the GATE online application. GATE will be held across 200 cities in India. GATE 2018 will also be held in the following international cities- Addis Ababa, Colombo, Dhaka, Kathmandu, Dubai, and Singapore. |
| 2019 | GATE 2019 introduces a new paper "Statistics" with a code of "ST". Candidates who fail to apply by 21 September 2018 can still apply till 1 October 2018 by paying a late fee of ₹ 500. The late fee in the case of foreign centers is US$20. |
| 2020 | GATE 2020 introduces a new paper "Biomedical Engineering" with a code of "BM". |
| 2021 | Two new subjects - Environmental Science and Engineering (ES) and Humanities and Social Science (XS) have also been added to the GATE exam 2021. There was a relaxation in minimum eligibility for applying to GATE 2021 due to the COVID-19 situation. As per the announcement, candidates in their third year of undergraduate degree would be eligible for GATE 2021. |
| 2022 | Two new subjects - Geomatics Engineering (GE) and Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (NM) were added to the GATE exam 2022. |
| 2024 | GATE 2024 introduced a new paper Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DA). |

## Year and Organizing Institute

Each year's GATE is organized by any one of 8 institutes: IISc and 7 IITs. The overall coordination and responsibility of conducting GATE lies with this institute, which is designated as the Organizing Institute (OI) for GATE of that year. GATE coaching institutes often make speculations regarding the topics to focus upon depending upon the institute that is the OI of that year.
| Institute | GATE editions organized |
| Indian Institute of Science | 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, 2008, 2016, 2024. |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Madras | 1983, 1985, 1991, 1997, 2003, 2011, 2019, 2027. |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi | 1986, 1992, 1998, 2004, 2012, 2020, 2028. |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay | 1987, 1993, 1999, 2005, 2013, 2021, 2029. |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur | 1988, 1994, 2000, 2006, 2014, 2022, 2030. |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur | 1989, 1995, 2001, 2007, 2015, 2023. |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee | 2009, 2017, 2025. |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati | 2010, 2018, 2026. |