Over 12 lakh GATE aspirants took the examination on Sunday. The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an all-India examination conducted jointly by theIndian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and the seven Indian Institutes of Technology ( IITs) for admission to post graduate programs in engineering, technology, architecture and pharmacy at national level.GATE 2012 - morning session (9am-12 pm) Common GATE 2012 largely followed the pattern of last year's paper, as previously announced in the GATE 2012 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 - engineering mathematics: 15 marks; general aptitude (verbal ability and numerical ability): 15 marks; core engineering subjects: 70 marks.
However, this year cut-offs are likely to be slightly 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.
According to CL Gate Aspire CS / IT - Analysis in general, this paper was slightly tougher as compared to GATE 2011. 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. Surprisingly, 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 6% to 13%, while the weight-age allotted to computer organisation decreased from 16% to 3% as compared to last year. There was very change in the weight-age of subjects like maths, compiler design and digital.
Mechanical Engineering - Analysis In general, the difficulty level of this paper was similar to that of the last year. GATE 2012 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.
