GATE Exam Pattern 2026 – IIT Guwahati released the exam pattern of GATE 2026 along with the official notification. GATE 2026 Exam Pattern consist of the duration of the test, marking scheme, segregation of marks, type of questions and more. According to the GATE paper pattern, the test duration will be of 3 hours. Candidates have to solve 65 questions including multiple choice type and numerical answer type questions. General Aptitude section is mandatory for all candidates.
The subject-specific questions will be asked as per the candidates’ preference. GATE 2026 Examination will be of total 100 marks. Candidates should prepare according to the GATE exam pattern 2026. GATE 2026 will be conducted on February 7, 8, 14 and 15, 2026 for 31 papers. Read the article to get complete information on GATE 2026 exam pattern.
GATE Exam Pattern 2026- Highlights
- The test duration will be of 3 hours (180 minutes).
- The question paper will consist 65 questions of 100 Marks.
- There will be 2 type of questions asked in the GATE paper i.e Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) and Numerical Answer Type (NAT) questions
- General Aptitude section is mandatory for all candidates.
- For 1 mark MCQs – 1/3 mark will be deducted for every wrong answer.
- For 2 mark MCQs – 2/3 mark will be deducted for every wrong response.
- No mark will be deducted for un-attempted questions
- There will be no negative marking for Numerical Answer Type (NAT) questions.
- Engineering Mathematics is mandatory for all XE (Engineering Science) papers.
- Chemistry is mandatory for all XL (Life Science) papers.
GATE Exam Pattern 2026 –Type of Questions
In GATE 2026 question paper, there will be two types of questions i.e MCQ type and NAT Type.
- Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) – These questions will of objective type and have 4 options and candidates have to select the right answer among them.
- Numerical Answer Type (NAT) – In these type of questions, candidates have to enter the real number by using a mouse and virtual keyboard. The answers can be integral numbers or decimal numbers. No choice will be given to candidates.
GATE Exam Pattern 2026– Design of Questions
The questions will be created to evaluate the below mentioned abilities of a candidate-
- Recall – The questions will be created on important facts, principles, formula or laws of the particular paper. Candidates have to answer these questions from his/her memory of the subject.
- Comprehension – These questions will be formed to test the basic understanding of the candidates in his/her field of the subject by drawing conclusions from fundamental ideas.
- Application – In these questions, candidates have to solve the answers by implementing his/her computational and logical reasoning skills.
- Analysis and Synthesis – These questions will be asked on the basis of data, diagrams and images provided. Candidates have to analyse the given facts in order to give an appropriate response.
GATE 2026 Exam Pattern for General Aptitude Section
In all paper, General Aptitude section will contain 10 questions carrying a total 15 Marks.
| S.No | Number of Questions | Total Marks |
| 1 | 5 Questions | 01 Marks |
| 2 | 5 Questions | 02 Marks |
| Total | 10 Questions | 15 Marks |
GATE Exam Pattern for All Sections (Except GG, XE and XL)
In all remaining papers, except GG, XE and XL, will contain 55 questions carrying a total 85 Marks.
| S.No | Number of Questions | Total Marks |
| 1 | 25 Questions | 01 Marks |
| 2 | 30 Questions | 02 Marks |
| Total | 55 Questions | 85 Marks |
GATE Exam Pattern for GG (Geology and Geophysics) Paper
The Geology and Geophysics (GG) paper contain General Aptitude section and two parts, Part A and Part B. Part A is common for all candidates while Part B comprises two sections: Section 1 (Geology) and Section 2 (Geophysics).
| Section | Number of Question | Marks/ question |
| Section A (Compulsory for all) | 25 | 1 Mark |
| Section B- Geology or Geophysics | 30 | 2 Marks |
GATE Exam Pattern for XE (Engineering Sciences) Paper
Along with General Aptitude of 15 Marks, below is the question and marks distribution of other 2 sections.
| Section | Number of Question | Marks/ question |
| Section A- Engineering Mathematics (Compulsory) | 7 | 1 Mark |
| 4 | 2 Marks | |
| Section B to H | 9 | 1 Mark |
| 13 | 2 Marks |
GATE Exam Pattern for XL (Life Sciences) paper
The General Aptitude section of 15 Marks is mandatory. Apart from that below is the question and marks distribution of remaining 2 sections.
| Section | Type of Questions | Number of Questions | Marks/ question |
| Chemistry (Compulsory) | 1 mark questions | 5 | 1 Mark |
| 2 mark questions | 10 | 2 Marks | |
| Sections Q to U | 1 mark questions | 10 | 1 Mark |
| 2 mark questions | 10 | 2 Marks |
GATE 2026 Negative Marking
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
These questions are objective in nature and each question will have a choice of four answers, out of which the candidate has to mark the correct answer. Each question carries 1 or 2 marks questions in all the sections. Below is the negative marking scheme according to the total mark of a question
| Negative Marking | ||
| Questions Type | Marks | Negative Marking |
| Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) | 1 mark | 1/3 |
| 2 marks | 2/3 | |
Numerical Answer Questions– There will be no negative marking in NAT questions.
GATE 2026 Paper Codes
| GATE Paper | Code | GATE Paper | Code |
| Aerospace Engineering | AE | Instrumentation Engineering | IN |
| Agricultural Engineering | AG | Mathematics | MA |
| Architecture and Planning (New Pattern) | AR | Mechanical Engineering | ME |
| Biomedical Engineering | BM | Mining Engineering | MN |
| Biotechnology | BT | Metallurgical Engineering | MT |
| Civil Engineering | CE | Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (New Paper) | NM |
| Chemical Engineering | CH | Petroleum Engineering | PE |
| Computer Science and Information Technology | CS | Physics | PH |
| Chemistry | CY | Production and Industrial Engineering | PI |
| Electronics and Communication Engineering | EC | Statistics | ST |
| Electrical Engineering | EE | Textile Engineering and Fibre Science | TF |
| Environmental Science & Engineering | ES | Engineering Sciences | XE |
| Ecology and Evolution | EY | Humanities & Social Sciences | XH |
| Geomatics Engineering (New Paper) | GE | Life Sciences | XL |
| Geology and Geophysics | GG | Data Science & Artificial Intelligence | DA |
GATE 2026 Paper Codes for XE (Engineering Sciences) and XL (Life Sciences)
| XE Paper Sections | Code | XH Paper Sections | Code | XL Paper Sections | Code |
| Engineering Mathematics (Compulsory) (15 marks) | A | Reasoning and Comprehension (Compulsory) (25 marks) | B1 | Chemistry (Compulsory) (25 marks) | P |
| Any TWO optional Sections (2×35 = 70 marks) | Any ONE optional Section (60 marks) | Any TWO optional Sections (2×30 = 60 marks) | |||
| Fluid Mechanics | B | Economics | C1 | Biochemistry | Q |
| Materials Science | C | English | C2 | Botany | R |
| Solid Mechanics | D | Linguistics | C3 | Microbiology | S |
| Thermodynamics | E | Philosophy | C4 | Zoology | T |
| Polymer Science and Engineering | F | Psychology | C5 | Food Technology | U |
| Food Technology | G | Sociology | C6 | – | – |
| Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences | H | – | – | – | |
| Energy Science | I | ||||
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