Exam Pattern for GATE Civil Engineering

GATE EXAM PATTERN

The duration of the GATE will be 3 hours and will be conducted as a computer-based test. This online test consists of a total of 65 questions and is divided into 3 sections. All candidates who are appearing for GATE must answer the general aptitude section.

The paper pattern includes multiple-choice and numerical answer type questions; no negative marking for numerical answer type section. All disciplines in GATE exam consist of 3 sections except for AR, CY, GG, EY, XL, PH, and MA.

The paper code for civil engineering is CE and below is the marks distribution for each section.

1. General Aptitude – 15% of the total marks

2. Engineering Mathematics – 15% of the total marks

3. Subject Questions (Civil Engineering) – 70% of the total marks

TYPES OF QUESTIONS

As mentioned earlier, for the GATE exam – the first 2 sections include multiple choice and numerical answer type questions. The multiple-choice questions consist of 4 options, out of which only one is correct. In the case of numerical type questions, candidates need to enter a numerical value as the answer. Candidates must use the mouse and virtual keyboard to answer these kinds of questions.

Below are the various types of questions candidates are expected to answer:

1. Recall: These questions are based on known facts, principles, formulae or laws of the civil engineering discipline. Candidates are expected to answer either by recollecting from his/her memory or from a one-line computation.

2. Comprehension: These questions are included to test the candidate’s understanding of the civil engineering discipline. In this section, candidates are expected to derive simple conclusions from fundamental ideas.

3. Application: In this section, candidates are expected to apply their knowledge either through logical reasoning or by computation.

4. Analysis and Synthesis: These questions can be in a linked format, where the answer to the 1st question of the pair is mandatory in order to answer its sequence or successor question. Candidates can also expect common data questions, where two questions share the same data but are independent of each other.

5. Common Data Questions: Here multiple questions would be linked to a common data problem or a passage. Based on the given data, 2 or 3 questions can be formed. Each question is independent and solution for each question can be derived separately. In this section, each question carries 2 marks.

6. Linked Answer Questions: Questions in this section are of a problem-solving type. Candidates can find a problem statement followed by which they need to answer 2 questions. These questions are linked to each other, meaning the second question depends on the solution for the first question. In this section, each question carries 2 marks.

PAPER WEIGHTAGE

General Aptitude

SECTION 1: Engineering Mathematics

SECTION 2: Structural Engineering

SECTION 3: Geotechnical Engineering

SECTION 4: Water Resources Engineering

SECTION 5: Environmental Engineering

SECTION 6: Transportation Engineering

SECTION 7: Geomatics Engineering

MARKING SCHEME

In Objective Type questions:

• 1 & 2 marks for each correct answer according to the assigned marks.
• -1/3 & -2/3 mark for each incorrect answer according to the assigned marks.

There is no negative marking for Numerical Answer Type (NAT) Questions.