GATE Previous Year’s Question Papers

As CircuitsToday had discussed before, the General Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) exam will be held on the 29^th of January 2012, and also on the 12^th of February, 2012. The former will be an online exam and the latter is an offline exam. The details about the GATE examination structure and the various centres where the exams will be conducted all over India can be known by clicking on the link – GATE Exam, Schedule, and Centres.

Since all the eligible candidates are busy studying for the exam, we are providing some GATE solved exam papers and details about the question pattern for all streams.

First of all, let us start with the GATE 2012 syllabus. Exams will be constructed for the following streams.

A candidate can apply for only one paper among twenty one. All the papers are listed with their short forms below.

1. Aerospace Engineering – AE
2. Agricultural Engineering – AG
3. Architecture and Planning – AR
4. Bio-Technology – BT
5. Civil Engineering – CE
6. Chemical Engineering – CH
7. Computer Science – CS
8. Chemistry – CY
9. Electronics and Communication Engineering – EC
10. Electrical Engineering – EE
11. Geology and Geophysics – GG
12. Instrumentation Engineering – IN
13. Mathematics – MA
14. Mechanical Engineering – ME
15. Mining Engineering – MN
16. Metallurgical Engineering – MT
17. Physics – PH
18. Production and Industrial Engineering – PI
19. Textile Engineering and Fibre Science – TF
20. Engineering Sciences – XE
21. Life Sciences – XL

All the candidates will have to attend a common General Aptitude (GA) paper that carries 15 marks. Out of these twenty one papers Engineering Sciences (XE) and Life Sciences (XL) have sub-papers as well. They are listed below.

Engineering Sciences (XE)

• Engineering Mathematics (Must be written)
• Fluid Mechanics
• Materials Science
• Solid Mechanics
• Thermodynamics
• Polymer Science and Engineering
• Food Technology

Life Sciences (XL)

• Chemistry (Must be written)
• Bio-chemistry
• Botany
• Microbiology
• Zoology
• Food Technology

Thus, a candidate who has applied to write the exam for either XE or XL will have to write any of the three sub-papers, out of which Engineering Mathematics is compulsory for XE and Chemistry is compulsory for XL. Apart from the three papers, h will also have to attend the GA test.

There are mainly three types of questions asked in a GATE exam. They are

1. Multiple Choice Type – In this type, each question will have four options, out of which you will have to choose the right one. All the questions in this section will be from the basic principles and ideas he/she has studied earlier.
2. Common Data Type – A common data question problem may be given from which you will have to answer three or four questions. All the answers can be obtained from the same data and will not be dependent on the previous questions.
3. Linked Answer Type – In this type, a problem will have to be solved to obtain two or three answers. The answer to the second question will also depend on the answer of the first question. Thus, you will have to be real sure that the first answer is correct. Or you might get all the answers wrong. Each question carries two marks.

For papers like AE, AG, AR, GG, MN and TF, you will have all the three types of questions. For all papers other than the above said, you will only have multiple type questions. You will have to solve almost 65 questions within 3 hours. That leaves you with an average of 3 minutes and 15 seconds for each answer. So, you will have to be quick in answering. Try to reserve the questions that you find hard for the end.

GATE Mark Distribution

Multiple choice questions can either 1 mark or 2 marks. Each answer of the linked answer type carries 2 marks. If the 1 mark answer is wrong 1/3 marks will be deducted. If 2 mark multiple choice types is wrong 2/3 marks will be deducted. For linked answer type questions, 2/3 mark will be deducted for a wrong answer to the first question only. There is no negative marking for wrong answer to the 2^nd question of the linked answer question type. If the first question in the linked pair is wrongly answered or is not attempted, then the answer to the second question in the pair will not be evaluated. Since there is no mark deduction for numerical answer type questions, you must try to answer all of them

GATE Syllabus

The admit card for the GATE Exam 2012 can be downloaded by all candidates from their official site from 2^nd of January, 2012. Their old policy of sending the admit card via post card has been stopped. Take along a photo identification card as well – election card, driving license, or passport will do.

GATE Results

GATE results will be published on the 15^th of March at 10:00 O’ clock. You can see your results at the official IIT or IISc website. The score you obtain will have a validity of 2 years, starting from the date of announcement of results.

Note:- This is out dated version. We will add newer versions.