The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering is held for admission to varied M.Tech admissions in most of the institutes of national repute. Scoring high in Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is a pre-requisite not only for NITs, IITs but also for several private-owned institutions across the country. Not only this, while conducting interviews for admission, 70% of weightage is given to GATE score and 30% is meant for academic merit by most of the premier institutes.
All the institutions declare the minimum percentage of marks required and GATE score is essential for almost all of these institutes. Hence, GATE is the way for all those who are looking for admission to M.Tech or post-graduate programme with scholarship or assistantship from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). For all those who have already tried for admissions in M.Tech must be aware that there are numerous colleges that specify GATE score as a mandatory qualification even for admission without MHRD scholarship.
Although only GATE qualification does not guarantees admission in the top level institutes like IITs, where only those candidates are eligible who score high in GATE. As per the MHRD regulations, the post-graduate scholarship or assistantship is valid for a maximum time period of 24 months for master’s degree in engineering, technology, architecture or pharmacy.
Additionally, GATE- qualified candidates are also entitled for Junior Research Fellowship in the projects and laboratories of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). There are many government organizations today, who prescribe GATE qualification as a requirement for applying to the posts of scientists or engineers.
Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an All-India examination which is conducted by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as well as the seven IITs on behalf of the Co-ordinating board- Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India. As of now, by and large coordination and responsibility of conducting GATE-2009 lies with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorke (designated as the organizing institute for GATE-2009).
As far as the exam is related, it comprises of a single exam paper of 3 hour duration and with maximum marks being 150. This generally consists of 2 sections- Section A (objective) with 75 marks and Section B (Problem Type) which is of 75 marks. Students can opt for the subject and study as per the syllabus of GATE. The result of qualified candidates is given in terms of All India Rank and signifies percentile score. For example, a percentile score of 99 means that one in the top 1% category of the candidate who appeared for GATE.
As mentioned above, GATE score are valid for 2 years and so if the student is not satisfied with the earlier score, they can reappear in the GATE exam get a new score that can be used for admission purposes.