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GATE 2026 Exam Details: Date, Pattern, Merit List, Old Question Pages, and Answer Keys

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Last Updated on 12th December 2024

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering

GATE Exam Details Overview

The GATE Exam 2026 will be organised by IIT Guwahati, and will be conducted in February, 2026. The GATE 2026 Exam Notification was released on 5th August 2025. Some of the important dates concerning GATE Exam 2026 are displayed in the table below:

Events 

Important Dates

GATE 2026 Notification 

5th August, 2025

GOAPS Portal Opens

25th August, 2025

GATE 2026 Last Date 

25th September, 2025

GATE 2026 Application Correction 

November, 2025 (Third Week)

GATE Admit Card Release

January, 2026

GATE 2026 Exam Date

7th, 8th, 14th and 15th February, 2026

GATE 2026 Response Sheet Availability

February, 2026

GATE 2026 Answer Key Release

February, 2026

GATE 2026 Result Declaration

19th March, 2026


GATE 2026: Exam Day Guidelines

Students must follow certain guidelines to avoid last minute hassle at the exam center while preparing for GATE exam 2026. The below mentioned are some basic exam-day guidelines that are to be followed at the exam center. 

  • Candidates must bring a valid photo ID proof like Aadhaar, Passport, Voter ID, or Driving License.
  • Students should avoid bringing digital gadgets like mobile phones, calculators, and smartwatches.
  • Students should avoid wearing any unnecessary and prohibited accessories like jewellery at the time of exam.
  • Students must reach the exam centre on time, ideally 1-hour before. If the centre is too far candidates should consider reaching a day before.

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering

GATE Exam Pattern

The GATE exam pattern includes Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), Multiple Select Questions (MSQs), and Numerical Answer Type (NAT) Questions. A total number of 65 questions are asked in the exam for which 3 hours are allocated to the student. The table below shows the detailed exam pattern of GATE exam 2026.

Particulars 

Details

Exam Format 

Computer Based Examination

Exam Duration 

3-Hours

Total Marks 

100

Type of Questions

  • Multiple Choice Questions
  • Multiple Select Questions 
  • Numerical Answer Type Questions

Marking Scheme

1 mark or 2 marks questions with negative marking for incorrect answers (1/3 mark for 1-mark questions, 2/3 mark for 2-mark questions). 

Paper Combination 

Candidates can choose a maximum of 2 papers (a primary and secondary)

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering

Download GATE Old Question Papers

Students can refer to the table below to download the year wise previous year question papers from the link provided below.


GATE Exam 2024 Subject-wise Previous Year Question Papers

The Table below shows the GATE Exam 2024 Subject-wise Question papers.

Subject Code

GATE 2024 Question Paper

AE

Aerospace Engineering 

AG

Agriculture Engineering 

AR

Agriculture And Planning

BM

Biomedical Engineering 

BT

Biotechnology 

CE

Civil Engineering 

CH

Chemical Engineering

CS

Computer Science and Information technology 

CY

Chemistry 

DA

Data Science and Artificial Intelligence 

EC

Electronics and Communication Engineering 

EE

Electrical Engineering 

ES

Environmental Science and Engineering 

EY

Ecology and Evolution 

GE

Geomatics Engineering

GG 

Geology and Geophysics 

IN

Instrumentation Engineering 

MA

Mathematics

ME

Mechanical Engineering 

MN

Mining Engineering 

MT

Metallurgical Engineering 

NM

Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering 

PE

Petroleum Engineering 

PH

Physics 

PI

Production and Industrial Engineering

ST

Statistics

TF

Textile Engineering and Fiber Sciences 

XE

Engineering Science 

Note: To bulk download the GATE Exam Previous year question papers students can click here

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering

Download GATE Answer Key

The GATE exam answer key 2026 will be released by IIT Guwahati. The answer key is expected to be released in February 2026 after the GATE Examination 2026. Candidates may raise objections on the provisional answer key based on which the GATE exam final answer key will be prepared. The following is the step-by-step process to download GATE 2026 answer key.

  • Visit the GATE 2026 exam’s official website.
  • Navigate to the “GATE Exam 2026 Answer Key” tab in the latest notification area.
  • Download and print the answer for reference.

Students can use the Gate 2026 Answer key to provisionally calculate their scores.

AcronymGraduate Aptitude Test in Engineering
Conducting BodyOther
Mode and TypeOnline (Computer Based Test (CBT))
Application ModeOnline
Frequency-
Languages-
Test Takers-
Duration-
Total Marks-
Marking Scheme-
Application Fee-
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