All you need to know about GATE
Here’s the low-down on the paper pattern and why it helps to take this test
The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, the organising institute for the Graduate Aptitute Test in Engineering 2013, recently introduced some changes in the implementation, scores, exam fee for the exam. This exam, conducted jointly by seven IITs and the Indian Institute of Science, primarily checks the students’ comprehensive understanding of various undergraduate subjects in engineering and technology.
Fifteen of the 21 papers will now be online. Out of 21 papers in GATE, 15 will be conducted online this year. Students should not consider this a hurdle, as most of them have attempted other online entrance exams. They will have access to the actual GATE interface with sample questions several weeks before the actual exam.
The six papers that interest nearly 90% of the total applicants—computer science, electronics and communication engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, production and industrial engineering and instrumentation engineering —are still conducted offline on the second Sunday of February, as usual.
This year, female candidates are exempt from paying the application fee.
Until now, the formula used for score calculation took the average
and standard deviation of all student scores into account. From this
year, the average and standard deviation won’t refer to the entire
population, but to specific ability levels (qualification marks and top
0.1% of students).
The number of GATE applicants have quadrupled from 1.8 lakh applicants in 2008 to 7.7 lakh in 2012. This growth is primarily due to the multiple benefits GATE offers in addition to the opportunity to pursue higher education. With the introduction of the aptitude section from 2010, focused preparation for the test comes handy in other exams of public sector undertakings such as CIL, SAIL and GAIL, as well as in campus recruitment interviews. Test scores are considered as a merit criterion by organisations such as Powergrid, BHEL, IOCL and NTPC, for recruitment of executive and management trainees. Also, the scores are accepted by premier institutions like Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre for selecting students with a penchant for research.
The three-hour test has 65 questions (30 of one mark and 35 of two marks) carrying a total of 100 marks with questions from core subjects, engineering maths and general aptitude. Questions from the core engineering subjects far outweigh the other two areas with 70% weightage. But general aptitude and engineering maths, with 15 marks each, play a vital role in maximising the score. A good performance in aptitude and maths ensures the minimum quailification marks in GATE. Offline papers have only multiple choice type questions. But online papers will have numerical answer type questions, in addition to multiple choice questions, which account for 15 marks. In these questions the answer will be a specific number instead of an answer choice.
Unlike the civil services exam in which only 50% of applicants finally appear on D-day, nearly 90% take the GATE. This gives a glimpse into the competition for it.
Students should prepare strategically, by attempting previous papers and analysing the weightages for various topics.
The number of GATE applicants have quadrupled from 1.8 lakh applicants in 2008 to 7.7 lakh in 2012. This growth is primarily due to the multiple benefits GATE offers in addition to the opportunity to pursue higher education. With the introduction of the aptitude section from 2010, focused preparation for the test comes handy in other exams of public sector undertakings such as CIL, SAIL and GAIL, as well as in campus recruitment interviews. Test scores are considered as a merit criterion by organisations such as Powergrid, BHEL, IOCL and NTPC, for recruitment of executive and management trainees. Also, the scores are accepted by premier institutions like Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre for selecting students with a penchant for research.
The three-hour test has 65 questions (30 of one mark and 35 of two marks) carrying a total of 100 marks with questions from core subjects, engineering maths and general aptitude. Questions from the core engineering subjects far outweigh the other two areas with 70% weightage. But general aptitude and engineering maths, with 15 marks each, play a vital role in maximising the score. A good performance in aptitude and maths ensures the minimum quailification marks in GATE. Offline papers have only multiple choice type questions. But online papers will have numerical answer type questions, in addition to multiple choice questions, which account for 15 marks. In these questions the answer will be a specific number instead of an answer choice.
Unlike the civil services exam in which only 50% of applicants finally appear on D-day, nearly 90% take the GATE. This gives a glimpse into the competition for it.
Students should prepare strategically, by attempting previous papers and analysing the weightages for various topics.
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