GATE 1983 vs 2027: How India’s flagship engineering exam evolved

Robotics and Automation or Data Science and Artificial Intelligence did not exist as GATE papers when the examination was introduced in 1983, following recommendations of the Nayudamma Review Committee on Postgraduate Engineering Education.

Even Humanities and Social Sciences and Commerce now find a place in an examination that was originally conceived largely around postgraduate engineering education. That contrast captures how far the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) has travelled in more than four decades.

Read | GATE 2027 registration, and more details The first GATE, held on February 26, 1983, was a two-paper examination designed primarily to select students for postgraduate programmes at five IITs and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.

GATE 2027, to be conducted by IIT Madras, will offer 30 test papers, allow eligible candidates to choose up to two papers, and introduce Robotics and Automation as a new test paper. The official GATE 2027 website has made the original 1983 GATE brochure available, offering a glimpse into how the examination has changed over more than four decades.

The inaugural examination comprised two broad streams — Engineering and Science. For engineering candidates, Paper I was General Engineering Sciences, while Paper II was a discipline-specific paper. Paper I carried 40% weightage and Paper II carried 60%.

Candidates in the Engineering stream could choose from disciplines including Aeronautical, Agricultural, Architecture, Chemical, Civil, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Electronics, Electronics and Communication, Mechanical, Metallurgical, Mining, Naval Architecture, Production and Industrial Engineering, and Textile Engineering Fibre Science and Technology.

The examination was conducted on a single day. Paper I was scheduled from 9 am to 11 am, followed by Paper II from 1 pm to 4 pm. The difference in the application process is perhaps one of the clearest markers of GATE's transformation.

In 1983, candidates had to request an application form, for which they were asked to send a Rs 5 Indian Postal order and a self-addressed stamped envelope. The completed application then had to be accompanied by a Rs 45 registration fee through a demand draft and physically sent to the concerned IIT/IISc.

Candidates also received their admit cards by post. If an admit card had not arrived by February 15, 1983, candidates were instructed to contact the concerned GATE chairman. GATE 2027, by contrast, uses the GATE Online Application Processing System (GOAPS).

Candidates submit applications online, upload their photograph and signature digitally, and track application status through the portal. The original GATE structure required candidates to choose one discipline-specific Paper II.

GATE 2027 gives candidates more flexibility, especially after the National Education Policy 2020. A candidate can appear for one or up to two test papers, subject to the permitted two-paper combinations. Both papers have to be included in a single application.

The structure of sectional papers has also evolved. GATE 2027 has revised the codes and sections for Engineering Sciences (XE), Humanities and Social Sciences (XH), and Life Sciences (XL).