GATE 2017 was conducted on 4th Feb,2017 in 2 slots with ME as the major dicipline. It covered 5 Streams viz. ME,AR,TF,AG,GG. As known already, earlier ME used to be conducted in 3 Slots, but this year it was conducted in 2 Slots only. The exam went off smoothly with no major issues being reported from students across cities.

As per the usual format of GATE exam, the online exam consisting of questions on Technical Stream-wise Concepts, Engineering Maths & General Aptitude, was to be completed in a total time of 180 minutes. There was no problem reported as such for the online portal and the exam interface as everything went on smoothly.

Analysis of the Exam

Question Pattern

A higher proportion of Numerical Questions appeared in ME Stream and it was also observed that there were more Numerical Answer Type (NAT) questions in comparison to last year. Both the above factors made the exam slightly tricky as there were lesser number of direct Theoretical questions and Multiple-Choice-Questions(MCQ's), which are usually easier to attempt than Fill-in-the-blank questions.

Exam Interface

The exam interface for GATE’17 was similar to last year. With the Virtual Calculator already being put on GATE 2017 website, students who had had sufficient practice of the calculator on the website were at a slight advantage.

Overall the user interface of GATE’17 was mostly similar to the one provided in the Mock GATE exams provided by T.I.M.E. where a student gets a complete view of his attempted questions along with questions marked for review.

Exam Analysis

Mechanical Engg.

(a) Forenoon Slot: There were good no.of questions from Strength of Materials, Thermodynamics &Fluid Mechanics, but substantial weightage was given to Manufacturing Technology. Questions from Design Part were moderate in number as well as the complexity.Level of questions in Engg. Maths & Aptitude was easy and most of the questions could be easily answered.

Overall, the paper was between Moderate to Difficult as compared to that of last year.

Distribution of Marks:

(b) Afternoon Slot: More or Less Equal weightage has been given for core subjects in the exam conducted in the Noon Slot. The no.of MCQ's and NAT Questions are approximately equal in number. However in terms of marks wise NAT Questions has little more weightage compared to MCQ's.This time answers for NAT type questions can be typed from computer keyboard also.Overall the paper was found to be Moderate.

Distribution of Marks:

(a) Session-3, 05th Feb, 2017, Fore Noon Slot, 09:00 AM -12:00 PM

Most of the questions were tested on fundamentals of Electronics and Communications Engineering. General Aptitude is easy to answer. Questions from Engg.Mathematics are little difficult in this paper and has more weightage ( viz. 16 Marks) compared to previous papers.

Questions from Fourier Transforms, LTI systems, DTFT, Z Transforms are covered from Signals & Systems. Questions from Networks were mostly from Transient analysis & RLC circuits.

Difficulty Level of Questions from Electronic Devices was very high as most of them were appeared from the concepts of Transport of carriers, Device Physics, Capacitance of junctions, Built in potential of junctions, MOSFET currents. Analog Electronics questions were easy to solve as they were from OP-Amp, Small signal analysis of BJT, Feedback amplifiers.

Microprocessors, K maps, FSM topics were covered in Digital Electronics.Most of communications questions were from Digital Communications topics.In Electromagnetics, questions were asked from Antennas, Wave propagation. In Control Systems most of the questions were asked from Frequency analysis. Overall questions from Signals &Systems, Engineering Mathematics, Electronic Devices, Communications subjects were found to be difficult as the framing of questions from these subjects was little tricky.

Out of 65 questions 24 are Numerical Answer Type (NAT) and 41 are Multiple Choice Questions(MCQ's). 60% of the questions similar to previous year models.

The question paper has no changes compared to previous year, It look same as Mock test given in GATE 2017 Website.The calculator is same as given in website, but students should practice more on the online calculator before GATE exam, as it is not like scientific calculator students used in classroom.

Overall Paper was little Difficult.

Distribution of Marks:

Total No.of Questions

No. of Questions Based on Level of Difficutly

(b) Session-4, 05th Feb, 2017, After Noon Slot, 02:00 PM - 05:00 PM

The Exam Conducted in the After Noon Slot was Easy compared to the one in the Fore Noon Slot.

Most of the Questions tested the Fundamental Concepts of Engineering.One who is strong with his Basics & Fundamentals Concepts of Electronics & Communication Engineering can attempt the questions without difficulty.

Questions from Networks covered areas like Transient analysis, RLC circuits and Theorems. However majority of questions from EDC were asked from advanced topics like MOSFET Design Techniques, Opto electronics etc. In Analog, questions are from Diode circuits and Op Amp.

Questions from Control Systems were majorly asked from State Space Analysis, RH criteria and Nyquist plots & most of the questions from Signals and Systems were asked from Transforms and Filter concepts.

In Digital electronics, the questions are from MUX, ADDERS, State Diagram and PLA. Majority of the questions from Communications are from AM, FM, PCM and Information theory. In EMF most of the questions are from Electrostatic fields, Transmission lines and Wave guides.

Overall Paper was Moderate.

Distribution of Marks:

Subject-wise Level of Difficutly

(a) Session-5, 11th Feb, 2017, Fore Noon Slot, 09:00 AM -12:00 PM:

This time also more weightage has been given for core subjects viz.Electrical Machines,Power Systems,Power Electronics.Most of the Questions from these areas were Moderate Only.Apart from Core Areas good weightage has been given for Control Systems and most of the questions from this subject were from fundamental concepts only. One who has good command on fundamentals can easily attempt most of the questions.

Overall, Paper was Moderate.

Distribution of Marks:

(b) Session-6, 11th Feb, 2017, After Noon Slot, 02:00 PM -05:00 PM:

Good weightage has been given for Core Subjects in the A/N Slot Exam too.Questions from Power Systems has been asked from particular areas of that subject only viz.Load Frequency Control,Transmission Lines & Load Flow Studies only. Questions from Power Electronics were bit tough. As Expected most of the questions were NAT Type only.Even though questions were easy but it involved lengthy calculations. There were couple of questions which were too practical.

Overall, Paper was Moderate.

Distribution of Marks:

(a) Session-5, 11th Feb, 2017, Fore Noon Slot, 09:00 AM -12:00 PM:

Questions from Technical Areas were asked from Fundamentals and Concept Building Topics of Computer Science Engineering.They were moderate.Surprisingly one Match the Following Question was asked from Algorithms Topic.No Changes were observed compared to last year in terms of Exam Pattern as well as the complexity. In terms of distribution of marks, all subjects were balanced properly.

Overall, Paper was Moderate.

Distribution of Marks: