GATE is a crucial entrance test for aspirants who want to study engineering after the undergraduate level. This article discusses how, the actual marks received on the test, by the examinees are converted into a final “score”, which decides the eventual GATE result.
As hundreds of thousands of candidates apply for this test each year, the test is conducted in several sessions so it becomes cumbersome to host it, just in one day. When the test is conducted multiple times, the level of difficulty in each session varies slightly.
A candidate scores his/her actual marks out of 100. But the final score is determined out of 1000, using a special formula devised for this very purpose, by the IITs. This process is known as the “normalization” of the GATE marks. Check GATE Rank Predictor for predicting the college based on scores obtained.
There are several engineering papers in which the GATE test is conducted multiple times. These papers are:
- Mechanical Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Electronics and Communication Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Computer Science Engineering
Once the final scores are computed, the GATE cut off is released and the scorecard of each candidate is prepared. These are then released on the official GOAPS portal. GATE scores are required in applying to plenty of M.Tech courses, hence it would be wise for the candidates to download these as soon as they appear on the GOAPS portal.
Parameters for arriving at the GATE score:
In the case of GATE papers which are held in several sessions, 3 parameters are used to determine the score. These are:
- Actual GATE marks
- Normalized GATE marks
- GATE score
In the case of papers which are held on a single session, 2 parameters are used for determining the GATE score, which are:
- Actual GATE marks
- GATE score
How are the GATE “normalization marks” calculated?
This is done, based on a few assumptions. It is assumed that candidates with the same level of aptitude, is evenly distributed across each of the multiple sessions. This is the universal assumption used as, the number of students appearing for the test is vast and they are randomly allocated a test session.
Thus the normalization of the actual marks attained by the jth candidate in ith session is Mij.
This is calculated as can be seen from the following formula:
In the following graph-
The linear relationship between the “actual marks” and the formula-based “normalized marks” of a candidate, in a multiple-session GATE test paper, is deduced.
Mgt = average marks of top 0.1 % candidates in all sessions of that subject.
Mgq = mean + standard deviation, of marks of all candidates in all sessions of that subject.
Mti = average marks of top 0.1 % candidates in the ith session of that subject.
Miq = mean + standard deviation, of marks of all candidates in the ith session of that subject.
How is the GATE score calculated?
In the case of GATE papers which are held in just one session, only the actual marks attained by the candidate are used for calculating the final GATE score. This is done with the help of the following formula –
Here, “M” stands for actual marks received in single session papers and normalized marks received in multi-session papers.
“Mq” stands for the Qualifying marks for general category candidates who sat for the GATE papers.
“Mt” stands for, mean of marks of the top 0.1% or top 10 (whichever is larger) of candidates who appeared for GATE (in the case of multi-session papers including all sessions)
“Sq” stands for 350, which is the score assigned to Mq
“St” stands for 900, which is the score assigned to Mt
Qualifying Marks:
The organizers of GATE have set different marks as the qualifying marks for different subjects. Also, the qualifying marks also differ based on the category, the candidate belongs to. This can be further understood from the following table –
| Candidate’s Category | Qualifying Marks (out of 100) |
| General (GEN) | 25 or μ + σ, whichever is higher |
| Other backward classes (OBC) | 90% of the general category’s qualifying marks |
| Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (SC/ST) | 66.67% of the general category’s qualifying marks |
As the qualifying marks for each subject and candidate category vary, if often so happens that a person with a high All India Rank (AIR), attains a lower final GATE score than the one who has a lower All India Rank, but a higher GATE score.
For example, a person with an AIR rank of 60 can get a GATE score of 770, whereas, someone with an AIR rank of 95 may get a GATE score of 850.
Thus, the GATE score is the merit determining factor and not the AIR rank.
Difference between GATE Marks, Scores, Ranks, and Percentile:
GATE marks – In the case of the test, there are 65 total questions. The total marks of the test is 100, so a candidate shall score out of a 100.
GATE score – This is calculated by the normalization of the actual marks and is out of 1000.
GATE AIR rank – This is calculated on the basis of the GATE score and is influenced by the subject and the category, the candidate belongs to.
GATE cut off – The GATE cut off marks are needed in the case of admission to M. Tech and Ph. D programs. These scores are also important in the case of recruitment to certain PSU and Group A government jobs.
The cut off marks are based on the following factors:
- The number of candidates appearing for the test.
- The number of vacant seats.
- The level of difficulty of the test.
- The category the candidate is seeking admission under.
We hope this piece of information could help you in determining the GATE result.
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