GATE 2022 to be held in February; here’s what toppers suggest for last-week preparation

GATE tests the science and engineering students for admission into various postgraduate and doctoral programs in engineering, science, arts, commerce courses. It also offers direct recruitment to various PSUs.

GATE 2022 entrance ticket was released on the official website after an unprecedented delay that led to speculation that the exam would be postponed. Registered candidates who have not yet downloaded their hall ticket must do so at the earliest.

As the exam approaches, candidates can use past year’s papers and previous years’ papers. GATE answer key thoroughly revised. Below are some last minute prep tips curated from the top picks that would prove essential:

1. The papers of recent years are the most important sources. Check out GATE’s official website — gate.iitkgp.ac.in. Candidates can find the GATE 2022 papers from previous years, fake papers, etc. there.
2. GATE 2021 top performer, Amit Sharma advises candidates to focus on the concepts that carry more weight but are easy to understand and try. This can be different for each candidate, so come up with topics that are easy and make them your strong point.
3. According to Rajat Gupta, who secured AIR 8 in GATE 2021, Mechanical Engineering, GATE 2022 Pilot Tests and YouTube videos were an important part of his preparation. There are plenty of teachers, top performers from the past year, etc. who upload videos on YouTube. Candidates can use these to clear up any doubts.
4. Rajat Gupta also mentions that candidates often take the General Proficiency section lightly. It is common to all papers regardless of the subject chosen by the candidate. It has a weight of 15 percent, therefore candidates should strategically prepare for this session by considering the most frequently asked concepts and the type of questions.
5. Most of the GATE toppers emphasize the importance of consistency in the preparation and for that one needs to be aware of the GATE 2022 exam pattern and syllabus. In these final weeks, candidates should allocate more time to review the topics they have already prepared and write mock tests to manage the time effectively.

The GATE exam is administered online in computer format, with a total of 65 questions to be answered in three hours. Candidates can try any of 29 subjects/papers, based on their educational background. Each paper consists of two sections – General Aptitude (GA) and the subject-specific section according to the GATE 2022 Syllabus. The GA section is common to all newspapers; it consists of 10 questions with a maximum of 15 points. The subject section consists of 55 questions with a total of 85 points.

There are three types of questions asked in the GATE exam: Multiple Choice (MCQ), Multiple Choice (MSQ), and Numeric Answer (NAT) type questions. 1-point MCQs have a negative point mark and 2-point MCQs have a ⅔ point negative mark. There is no negative marking for MSQ and NAT questions.

Candidates can also review previous years GATE limits and scale up their preparations accordingly. The cut-offs are usually high, due to the popularity of the exam among the academic fraternity. Candidates should note that the GATE response keys will be released in the last week of February 2022, after which an objection window will open. After the answer keys are released, candidates can challenge an answer by paying a fee of Rs 500 GATE 2022 results will then be declared on March 17, 2022, along with the release of the final answer keys.