GATE - Structure of the Examination
 

The GATE is held every year on the second Sunday of February, across the country in over 100 cities. Candidates can choose a single paper of 3 hours duration to appear in GATE from the discipline papers shown in the following Table.

Papers XE and XL are general in nature and comprise of the following sections: 
Candidates appearing in XE or XL papers are required to answer
Three Sections, one compulsory as indicated below: 

GATE RESULTS
The GATE result is declared every year on 31 st March and the score of the qualified candidates shows their All India Rank and Percentile Score in the discipline paper chosen by the candidates. 
GATE Score Card

• Score card will be sent only to the qualified candidates. No information will be sent to candidates who are not qualified.
• The GATE score card is a valuable document. Care should be taken to preserve it. Additional Score Cards, (upto a maximum of two) will be issued on payment basis only once.
• The Score Card cannot be treated as a proof of category.
• The score card of the Qualified Candidates will include GATE Score, Percentile Score and Rank.

GATE Score
The GATE SCORE of a candidate is a statistical performance index in the range 0 to 1000. It reflects the ability of a candidate, irrespective of the paper or year in which he/she has qualified. Candidates with same GATE SCORE from different disciplines and/or years can be considered to be of equal ability.
  where,

m = marks obtained by the candidate.

a = average of marks of all candidates who appeared in the paper mentioned on this scorecard, in the current year.

s = standard deviation of marks of all candidates who appeared in the paper mentioned on this scorecard, in the current year.

K1 and K2 are determined respectively from the mean and standard deviation of marks of all candidates across all papers and years since GATE 2002.

A typical qualitative interpretation of the GATE SCORE, for example, can be as follows:
    

• Percentile Score

The percentile score is not the same as percentage of marks. The percentile score of a candidate shows what percentage of candidates, who appeared in the same paper in GATE 2005, scored less marks than him/her. It is calculated as follows: Let N be the total number of candidates appearing in that paper and nc be the number of candidates who have the same all India rank c in the same paper (there can be bunching at a given all India rank). Then all the candidates, whose all India rank is r, will have the same percentile score P, where

The percentile score in each paper is calculated as follows: Let N be the total number of candidates appearing in that paper, and nc be the number of candidates who have the same all India rank c in the same paper (there can be bunching at a given all India rank), then all the candidates, whose all India rank is r, will have the same percentile score P, where 

P = {(no. of candidates securing marks less than the candidate concerned)/N}x100

• The evaluation of the ORS is carried out by a computerized process using scanning machines, with utmost care. Requests for revaluation of the answer script and re-totaling of marks will not be entertained.
• The GATE result and particulars of the qualified candidates will be made available to interested organizations (educational institutions, R and D laboratories, industries etc.) in India and abroad based on written request by the organization and on payment. Details can be obtained from GATE Chairmen of IITs / IISc.