GATE 2019 is the premier engineering entrance exams open to engineering graduates across the country. Every year, thousands, or even lakhs of students appear for the exam. In the following post, we would be talking about the GATE Exam Pattern. Every year, a lot of students have a lot of questions about the exam pattern. So, in this article, we would take a look at all the GATE Pattern.
GATE Exam Pattern 2019 – An Overview
Let us take a quick look at the exam itself to undertand the GATE Total Marks as well as the GATE Marking Scheme. The following table gives the details:
| Feature | Description |
| Duration of Exam | 3 hours (180 minutes) |
| Total Number of Questions | 65 |
| Total Marks | 100 |
| Type of Question | Two types of questions asked:
· Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) · Numerical Answer Type (NAT) Questions |
| Sections | GATE 2019 question paper will consist of three sections:
· General Aptitude · Engineering Mathematics (for XL papers it is Chemistry) · Subject – Specific section |
| General Aptitude Section | The paper will consist of a mandatory General Aptitude (GA) section which will have 10 questions. 5 of the questions will be of 1 mark and the remaining 5 will be of 2 marks. Therefore, the total marks for this section will be 15 marks. |
| Marking Scheme | · 1 mark MCQs – 1/3 mark will be deducted for every wrong answer.
· 2 marks MCQs – 2/3 mark will be deducted for every wrong response. · Zero marks will be awarded for unattempted questions · No negative marking will be done for Numerical Answer Type (NAT) questions |
GATE Question Pattern 2019
There are two types of questions that can be expected by the candidates for GATE 2019. The different categories of questions are:
- Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) – The questions are objective in nature and have a set of four options out of which one will be the correct answer.
- Numerical Answer Type (NAT) – The answer to the questions will be a real number which the candidates will have to use to enter a mouse and virtual keyboard. The answers can either be an integer (3, 7, 21 and more) or a number with decimals (for example 10.1) or even a decimal number. No choices will be provided for these type of questions.
GATE Exam Pattern – Paper Codes
You need to know about the Paper Codes for GATE Exam Pattern. The following table gives the details of the paper code:
| Paper | Code | Paper | Code |
| Architecture and Planning | AR | Geology and Geophysics | GG |
| Biotechnology | BT | Mathematics | MA |
| Aerospace Engineering | AE | Physics | PE |
| Agricultural Engineering | AG | Engineering Sciences | XE* |
| Chemical Engineering | CH | Life Sciences | XL** |
| Civil Engineering | CE | Instrumentation Engineering | IN |
| Computer Science and Information Technology | CS | Mining Engineering | MN |
| Electronics and Communication Engineering | EC | Mechanical Engineering | ME |
| Electrical Engineering | EE | Textile Engineering and Fiber Science | TF |
| Chemistry | CY | Production and Industrial Engineering | PI |
| Ecology and Evolution | EY | Petroleum Engineering | PE |
| Statistics | ST | Metallurgical Engineering | MT |
GATE 2019 Paper Codes for XE and XL
| XE Paper Sections | Code | XL Paper Sections | Code |
| Engineering Mathematics (Compulsory) | A | Chemistry (Compulsory) | P |
| Fluid Mechanics | B | Biochemistry | Q |
| Materials Science | C | Botany | R |
| Solid Mechanics | D | Microbiology | S |
| Thermodynamics | E | Zoology | T |
| Polymer Science and Engineering | F | Food Technology | U |
| Food Technology | G | ||
| Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences | H |
GATE Exam Pattern for Different Codes
Now, let us look at the actual GATE Exam Pattern for Different Codes. The GATE Pattern changes depending on the codes that you are appearing for. The following table gives you the details:
| Paper Code | Exam Pattern |
| CE, CS, EC, AE, AG, BT, CH, ME, MN, MT, EE, IN, TF, XE, PE, ST and PI | · GA (General Aptitude) – 15%
· Engineering Mathematics – 15% · Subject of the Paper – 70% |
| AR, CY, GG, EY, XL, PH and MA | · GA (General Aptitude) – 15%
· Subject of the Paper – 85% |
GATE Marking Scheme
Let us now take a look at the GATE Marking Scheme. Like the exam pattern, the GATE Marking Scheme also changes according to the code of the paper that you are replying for.
| Paper Code | General Aptitude Marks | Subject Marks | Total Marks | Negative Marking |
| CS, CY, EC, EE, CE, CH, AR, AE, AG, EY, BT, GG, IN, ME, MA, PH, PI, TF, MN, MT, PE, ST | 15 | 85 | 100 | · 1/3rd Mark will be deducted for 1 mark question
· 2/3rd Mark will be deducted for 2 mark question |
| XE (Section A +
any two sections) |
15 | 15+2*35 | 100 | |
| XL (Section P +
any two sections) |
15 | 25+2*30 | 100 |
Additional Information on GATE Marking Scheme 2019
- GATE papers with the codes AE, AG, BT, CE, CH, CS, EC, EE, IN ME, MN, MT, PE, PI, TF and XE will include a compulsory sections of Engineering mathematics (15% of total marks) and General Aptitude (15% of total marks). The rest of the paper (70%) will be based on the subject selected by the candidate.
- However, GATE papers with the codes AR, CY, EY, GG, MA, PH, ST and XL will consist of the compulsory section of General Aptitude (15% of the total marks) and the remaining 85% will be for the selected subject.
GATE Engineering Sciences Paper Pattern
| Section | Type of Question | Number of Question | Sub-total (Marks) |
| Section A (Compulsory) | 1 Mark Question | 7 | 7 |
| 2 Marks Question | 4 | 8 | |
| Section B to H
|
1 Mark Question | 9 | 9 |
| 2 Marks Question | 13 | 26 |
Life Sciences (XL)
- The compulsory section for this paper is Chemistry (Section P) which consists of 15 questions of total 25 marks. Numerical answer type questions are also asked in this section.
- General Aptitude section of total 15 marks also has to be solved.
- Apart from Chemistry, the candidates will have to select one section from Q to U. Each section will consist of 20 questions of a total of 30 marks
GATE Life Sciences Paper Pattern
| Section | Type of Questions | Number of Questions | Sub-Total (Marks) |
| Chemistry Section or Section P (Compulsory) | 1 mark questions | 5 | 5 |
| 2 mark questions | 10 | 20 | |
| Sections Q to U | 1 mark questions | 10 | 10 |
| 2 mark questions | 10 | 20 |
These were the details of the GATE Exam Pattern. We hope that this article was of help to you. To know more about the GATE Exam2019, click on the link below:
