It’s equally important is to know what topics make frequent appearances in the exam you plan to appear for. Being familiar with the types of questions that appear frequently in exams and the areas they pertain too can help you tremendously in your preparation.
It will help you allocate your time and channel your efforts towards those topics that are deemed important by the GATE exam setters. It will also help eliminate the study bias where you end up spending excess time on your favorite topics or those that you find most difficult.
With a new set of parameters, those decoded from the GATE setters’ own minds, you can prepare a streamlined study plan. Target the more frequent topics first and revise them regularly.
Here is a topic-wise break-up of the number of questions appearing in the GATE exam over the years. The table doesn’t show Engineering Mathematics and General Aptitude, both of which constitute 15% each towards the total marks. For Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Mathematics and General Aptitude constitute upto 30% of total marks.
Subject wise mark weightage – Electrical Engineering
(The total marks of the paper are indicated below the year in [ ])
Subject | 2013 [100] | 2012 [100] | 2011 [100] | 2010 [100] | 2009 [100] | Avg. |
Electric Circuits and Fields | 11 | 19 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 14 |
Language Skills | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | - | 6 |
Analytical Skills | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | - | 9 |
Signals and Systems | 8 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 8 |
Electrical Machines | 7 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 21 | 11 |
Power Systems | 7 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 10 |
Control Systems | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 10 |
Electrical and Electronic Measurements | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
Analog and Digital Electronics | 13 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 |
Power Electronics and Drives | 12 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 8 |
Total | 87 | 90 | 89 | 87 | 91 | 89 |
Subject wise mark weightage – Electronics and Communications
Subject | 2013 [100] | 2012 [100] | 2011 [100] | 2010 [100] | 2009 [100] | Avg. |
Analog Circuits | 14 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 11 |
Analytical Skills | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | - | 9 |
Communications | 12 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 14 | 11 |
Control Systems | 9 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 10 |
Digital circuits | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 9 |
Electromagnetics | 6 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
Electronic Devices | 3 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 7 |
Language Skills | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | - | 6 |
Networks | 15 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 11 |
Signals and Systems | 10 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 11 |
Total | 90 | 89 | 92 | 88 | 91 | 93 |
Subject wise mark weightage – Mechanical Engineering
Subject | 2013 [100] | 2012 [100] | 2011 [100] | 2010 [100] | 2009 [100] | Avg |
Engineering Mechanics | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Fluid Mechanics | 6 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 8 | 8 |
Language Skills | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | - | 6 |
Analytical Skills | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | - | 9 |
Heat-Transfer | 10 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 7 |
Strength of Materials | 6 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Theory of Machines | 9 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 9 |
Thermodynamics | 9 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
Applications | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Design | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
Total | 63 | 67 | 67 | 65 | 54 | 63 |
Subject wise mark weightage – Computer Science and Information Technology (CS)
Subject | 2013 [100] | 2012 [100] | 2011 [100] | 2010 [100] | 2009 [100] | Average |
Digital Logic | 3 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 |
Computer Organization and Architecture | 11 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 8 |
Programming And Data Structures | 10 | 12 | 7 | 13 | 7 | 10 |
Algorithms | 8 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 9 |
Theory of Computation | 8 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 8 |
Compiler Design | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
Operating System | 12 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 16 | 10 |
Databases | 7 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 8 |
Information Systems and Software Engineering | 3 | - | 7 | - | 6 | 3 |
Computer Networks | 7 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 8 |
Total | 87 | 84 | 86 | 84 | 84 |
