Twelve lakh aspirants took the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) examination on February 12. GATE is conducted jointly by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for admission to postgraduate programmes in engineering, technology, architecture and pharmacy at national level.
GATE 2012 largely followed the pattern of last year’s paper, as previously announced in the GATE prospectus. The paper consisted of 65 questions with a maximum score of 100 marks. The questions were MCQ type with four options. Every wrong answer incurred a negative marking of 1/3.
The question-wise breakup of the paper was as follows:
• Engineering mathematics: 15 marks
• General aptitude (verbal ability & numerical ability): 15 marks
• Core engineering subjects: 70 marks
Cut-offs this year are likely to be marginally higher for both the papers (keeping in view the large number of students appearing in GATE 2012). Overall, it was a scoring paper for students with strong fundamentals.
CS / IT
This paper was marginally tougher compared to GATE ‘11. A majority of the questions were from DBMS and data structure and algorithm and computer network whereas very few questions were seen from compiler design. There were no questions from software engineering. In terms of the difficulty level, questions from TOC and DMGT were the toughest and questions on DBMS and data structure were the easiest.
GATE 2012 saw the weight-age allotted to computer networks increase from six percent to 13%, while the weight-age allotted to computer organisation decreased from 16% to three percent as compared to last year. There was very change in the weighting of subjects like maths, compiler design and digital.
Mechanical engineering
In general, the difficulty level of this paper was similar to that of the last year. GATE ‘12 saw the weight-age allotted to manufacturing and production engineering increase from 12 % to 16%, while the weight-age allotted to thermodynamics decreased from 19% to 13%. There was very little change in the weight-age of subjects like maths, general aptitude and applied mechanics and design.
About 21% questions were from manufacturing section whereas very few questions were seen from thermal science, which includes thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer. In terms of the difficulty level, questions from mechanics and design were the toughest.
Electronics and Communication Engineering
A majority of the questions were from Electromagnetic Field Theory (EMT) whereas very few questions were seen from EDC. In terms of the difficulty level, questions from Electronics Devices & circuits (EDC), Analoq, EMT, Communication were tougher. One surprise was that there were no questions from 'microprocessors' this year.
Instrumentation Engineering
A majority of the questions were from Transducers and Networks whereas very few questions were seen from Analog and Digital Electronics. In terms of the difficulty level, questions from Networks and Transducers were tougher than last year's paper which had Analog and Control Systems as its toughest subject.
Electrical Engineering
A majority of the questions were from Math and Networks whereas very few questions were seen from Electromagnetic Theory (EMT). In terms of the difficulty level, questions from Analog, Â Network, EMT were tough as compared to last year which had Analog as its toughest subject. GATE 2012 saw the weight-age allotted to Network increase from 7% to 13%, while the weight-age allotted to Power System decreased from 11% to 6% as compared to last year.
(The analysis was conducted by the CL GATE Aspire team)
