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Key to GATE

About GATE All Engineering Aspirants and Graduated Engineers will be much aware of GATE, The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). As the name suggests, it’s a real gate for many entries. Obtaining the key for this GATE is interesting. Not all the toppers will be able to open this GATE. This examines the comprehensive understanding of various undergraduate subjects in engineering and science. 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 Human Resources Development (MHRD), Government of India.

What after GATE

With my last 9 years of experience in the field of GATE training I noticed that many are joining for the training without any awareness of the GATE exam. 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 MHRD and other government agencies. Recently, GATE scores are also being 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.

How to prepare

Many aspirants are joining for the GATE training courses only for the sake of enjoyment after their 4 years of degree course. Since they get a chance to move to the major cities in India like Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore. But those who really utilise this time period gets a chance to rework their knowledge for many exams including competitive exams coming up in the next couple of years. There are many who crack GATE exams even without going for any training. It is not that mandatory that one must go for training. Even without going for training one can do miracles. But as many of us will be doing jobs in parallel with the preparation for the tests, they won’t be able to concentrate for the test. The preparation time may take a period of 8 months. The main area to be focused while preparing for the GATE is to make the basics of the subjects and to know the subjects included for GATE. Not all subjects were necessary to get prepared. This can be done in one month. The remaining 7 months can be used for the actual preparation for the exam. There are students who crack the GATE in their final year even though they didn’t cleared the subjects studied in his college. Sometimes who have more back papers will be getting cleared in GATE. This is because that person has studied same subjects more times than the topper has studied.

Do’s and Don’ts

Leaving the unknown questions from answering is as important as studying for the exam. Leaving the unknown questions and moving to the next is a big barrier. Maybe while reading this you may feel what’s that big barrier. Usually every person who faces an exam with multiple choice will skip to the next question very fast if they don’t know the answer, keeping in mind about the time remaining. But once we reach the last question and if a lot of time is remaining then we start looking around, which makes us feel that others are doing something great. For the good luck the MCQ now are online and are not as before, marking in OMR. When we see others marking a lot of answers then we may start reviewing from the 1st and while reading the questions for the second time while going through the options it feels that we know the answers for those which we haven’t marked in the first round. This makes us mark all those which we left. This marking depends on the remaining time. If the time available is more we may end up the exam marking all the questions even forgetting about the negative marks. This makes your marks scored from the correct answer to go even below zero due to the negative marking.

Things to know

Type – Computer-based standardized test Duration – 3 hours Score / grade range – Marks (unscaled) out of 100, in 0.33 point increments. Score (scaled) out of 1000, in 1 point increments. Offered – Once every year (usually in February). Countries / regions – Over 660 centres in India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and United Arab Emirates. Prerequisites / eligibility criteria – Final year student or graduate of Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in engineering/ architecture or Master’s degree (or equivalent) in science, computer applications, etc Fee – INR ₹ 750 for Indian female, SC, ST, and physically challenged candidates. INR ₹ 1500 for all other Indian candidates. US $ 50 for international candidates.

Eligibility 

The following students are eligible to take GATE: Bachelor’s degree holders in Engineering / Technology / Architecture (4 years after 10+2/ Post-B.Sc./ Post-Diploma) and those who are in the final year of such programs. 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 higher year of Four-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(i), AMICE(i) by the institute of Civil Engineers (India)-iCE(i), AMIETE By IETE(India)) as equivalent to B.E./B.Tech. Those who have completed section A or equivalent of such professional courses are also eligible.

Important dates

Application – August – September Admit card download – January Exam – February Results – March

Author

Er. Jithin K Jose is currently working as Assistant Professor, in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Jyothi Engineering College, Cheruthuruthy, Thrissur. A passionate trainer for GATE, he had taught in various Gate coaching centres in South India. He is an active member and volunteer of IEEE and various IEEE Societies.