Should I opt for Thapar to pursue PG? I am a B.Tech ECE graduate and GATE qualified with AIR 6941. I am currently working for HCL.

The GATE normalisation process is mainly done for the papers which is conducted in multiple sessions, to ensure fairness across different difficulty level. The GATE normalisation process uses the formula based on mean and standard deviation of marks from all sessions. 

The normalisation process

Considering the past year's trends and experts analysis, GATE CSE, ECE, and EE papers are considered as the toughest papers in GATE exam. Here's why -

• Complex technical concepts and fundamentals

• Heavy mathematics

• Branch popularity and number of registered candidates are more.

No, GATE official question paper is not released yet. The question paper for respective subjects will be made available along with answer key and GATE 2026 response sheet. The expected release date is last week of February.

No, it is not compulsory to attempt all questions asked in GATE question paper. Since there is negative marking for incorrect answers, students are advised to answer those questions which they are confident of.

The following IITs have the lowest GATE cutoffs -

• IIT Mandi
• IIT Palakkad
• IIT Tirupati and 
• IIT Dharwad

These IITs mostly offer admission with GATE AIR between 3000 - 5000 ranks (approx) for computer Science and engineering.