GATE Overview

Many students may not be aware that there are several institutions in this country, offering specialized postgraduate programmes in various disciplines. Attractive scholarship / Assistantship for postgraduate courses in engineering / Technology / Architecture /Pharmacy at Engineering colleges / institutes in the country ,are available to those who qualify through GATE. Some Engineering colleges / institutes specify GATE as a mandatory qualification even for admission do students to post graduate programmes. The candidate is required to find the procedure of final selection and award of scholarship / Assistantship from the respective Institution to which the candidate seeks admission. GATE qualified candidates in Engineering subjects) will also be eligible for the award of junior research fellowship in CSIR Laboratories.

What is GATE ?

The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an all-India examination administered and conducted in eight zones across the country by the GATE Committee comprising faculty from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and seven Indian Institutes of Technology on behalf of the National Coordinating Board – GATE, Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), Government of India.

Objective

To identify meritorious and motivated candidates for admission to Post Graduate Programmes in Engineering, Technology, Architecture and Pharmacy at the National level. To serve as benchmark for normalisation of the Undergraduate Engineering Education in the country.

Why should we take GATE:

  1. M.Tech degree leads to specialization and furthering of interest in a certain area which may lead to Ph.D
  2. M.Tech degree is best for those wishing to apply for Faculty/Research positions in educational Institutes/R&D centers.

Important Dates:

  1. Availability of GATE forms: 3rd week of September
  2. Last Date for filling up forms:3rd week of October
  3. Online Examination Date: Last Sunday of January
  4. Offline Examination Date: 2nd Sunday of February
  5. GATE Exam Results: 15th March of the respective year

Examination Details:

  1. The examination is a single paper of 3 hours duration and consists of 65 Questions with Maximum of 100 Marks.
  2. You have to opt for your subject and study as per the syllabus mentioned in the GATE brochure.
  3. The subjects of interest for Biomedical Engineers are IN (Instrumentation Engineering), ECE(Electronics and Communication Engineering). GATE is not offered in Biomedical Engineering as of now. So students of Biomedical Engineering need to give gate in the above mentioned streams
  4. Results of qualified candidates in GATE will give All India Rank and indicate percentile score. For example, a percentile score of 99 means you are in the top 1% category of the candidates who appeared for GATE.
  5. Candidates who get less than 70 percentile get no score card.
  6. GATE scores are valid for 2 years. You may reappear the GATE exam if you are not satisfied with the earlier score and the new score (if better than the old one) will be used for admission purposes.

After the Exam, what next:

  1. After publication of GATE results, students must apply to individual Institutes to get their application forms.
  2. Institutes advertise M.Tech admissions in leading newspapers from 1st April till end July. However some Institutes do not advertise and therefore students have to get the forms themselves.
  3. In the application forms, you have to mention your GATE score alongwith other details.
  4. The concerned Institute may conduct written test and/or interview for the purpose of admission.
  5. General thumb rules: If your GATE score in Computer Science is 96 percentile or more then you can try for IITs, if between 85 – 96 percentile, then apply for top RECs, JADAVPUR, SHIBPUR, ROORKEE, etc. If less than 85, you have to look for appropriate institutes.

Scholarship:

During the pursuit of M.Tech, you are paid a scholarship of Rs. 8000.00 per month by the Government of India. This amount is enough for living expenses including purchase of books, etc. The scholarship is paid for the entire 24 months M.Tech period.

SPECIAL:

From this year onwards i.e 2013 GATE will be free for female candidates