GATEWAY TO A GREAT JOB- GATE 2013

Online Exam : Jan 20, 2013
Offline Exam : FEB 10, 2013

GATE scores are used not only for admission to major institutions but also for recruitment in many PSUS, says

This is a good time to be an engineering graduate. With many public sector undertakings now recruiting through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), science and engineering graduates in the country can look forward to secure and lucrative jobs. GATE is conducted for admission to postgraduate programmes in engineering and science at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology and other engineering colleges in the country.

The all-India examination conducted jointly by the IISc and seven IITs, including IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee. It primarily tests the comprehensive understanding of various undergraduate subjects in engineering and technology.

 All about GATE 2013 

GATE 2013 will be a threehour exam with 65 questions (30 one-mark questions and 35 two-mark questions) totalling up to 100 marks with questions from core subjects, engineering maths and general aptitude. “Questions from the core engineering subjects far outweigh the other two areas with 70% weightage. General aptitude and engineering maths with 15 marks each, however, play a vital role in maximising the score. A good performance in aptitude and maths ensures the minimum qualification marks in GATE,” says Prudhvi Reddy, course director of GATE at TIME. IIT Bombay is the organising institute for GATE 2013. One-third of the marks allotted to each question are deducted in case of a wrong answer. 

How GATE can help you

Along with a chance to pursue higher education, GATE comes with multiple benefits. With the introduction of the aptitude section from 2010, focused preparation for GATE comes handy for other PSU exams such as Coal India Limited, Steel Authority of India Limited, GAIL India Ltd etc and also campus recruitment interviews. GATE scores are considered as the merit criterion by organisations such as Powergrid, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, IndianOil Corporation Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, HECL and National Thermal Power Corporation, for recruitment to the posts of executive trainees and management trainees. “In the last five years, it has more than quadrupled from 1.8 lakh applicants in 2008 to 7.7 lakh applicants in 2012. Out of the total applicants, only 15-20% of the applicants manage to qualify in GATE. This means that it is highly competitive,” says Reddy. The GATE score is valid for two years. Since GATE is also the entrance test for MTech/ME/direct PhD courses in India, it has other advantages too.

“It gives great research and development opportunities. All GATE qualified students pursuing a masters programme at any college are eligible for a financial assistance of R8000 per month from the ministry of human resource development,” says Abhijit Chaudhury, director, GATE Forum.

GATE-2013 to get tougher

The increasing interest in higher education among the technical graduates in the country is a direct reflection of the growing number of aspirants for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). The aspirants have grown from a mere 1.8 lakh in 2008 to 7.7 lakh in 2012.

The GATE-2013 will see more numbers and certainly be tougher for two reasons. Due to sluggish recruitment in the IT industry more students are likely to appear while on other hand Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) are recruiting in large numbers and GATE qualification is mandatory for most of those jobs.

Moreover, nearly 90 per cent of the applicants take the test unlike the Civil Services where about 50 per cent of applicants actually appear.

The GATE-2013 to be conducted by the IIT Bombay will also see several changes. Out of 21 papers in GATE 15 papers will be conducted in online mode this year. Last year only six papers were online while the previous year only four papers were in the online mode. However, this may not be a concern as GATE aspirants are used to online test like AIEEE or BITSAT.

Another change brought in for the exam includes exemption of application fee for female candidates to attract more number of girl students. The fee will be Rs. 1,200 for general and OBC candidates and Rs. 600 for SC, ST and Physically Challenged boys.

Till last year GATE score calculation used method of average and standard deviation of marks scored by all students. In the new formula to be applicable from this year, the average and standard deviation terms do not refer to the entire population, but to specific ability levels (qualification marks and top 0.1% of students). The score will be valid for two years.

The three-hour exam with 65 questions (30 one-mark questions and 35 two-mark questions) summing up to 100 marks will have questions from core subjects, engineering maths and general aptitude. “Questions from the core engineering subjects far outweigh the other two areas with 70 per cent weightage. But, General Aptitude and engineering maths with 15 marks each, play a vital role in maximising the score,” says Prudhvi Reddy, Course Director of GATE at TIME institute.

Mr. Reddy feels good performance in aptitude and Maths ensure the minimum qualification marks. “Offline mode will have only multiple choice questions. But, online mode exams will also have numerical answer type questions accounting for 15 marks.” Questions are likely to test the applicants’ grip on basic concepts and the ability to apply them in problems. The GATE notification issued gives an overview of the areas where applicants will be tested. These can be broadly categorised in to four types - recall, comprehension, application and Analysis and Synthesis. “Most of the recall based questions will be in the one mark category. Thorough knowledge of fundamentals and extensive practice are the only two factors that can bring success here,” Mr. Reddy says. The GATE trainers advice that candidates should plan their preparation strategically. Attempting previous papers and analysing the weightage given for various topics are crucial elements.

However, aspirants will face tough competition for six papers - CSE, ECE, EEE, ME, PI and IN that account for 90 per cent of the applicants. All these will be in the offline mode on second Sunday of February 2013.