GATE 2026 Admit Card Out LIVE: IIT Guwahati issues MTech exam hall ticket; shift timings, test pattern

In GATE 2026, some test papers may be conducted in multiple sessions. For such papers, a suitable normalization is applied to take into account any variation in the difficulty levels of the question papers across sessions. 

The normalization is done based on the assumption that in multi-session GATE papers, the distribution of abilities of candidates is the same across the sessions. 

This assumption is reasonable since the number of candidates appearing in multi-session papers will be large and the procedure for allocation of candidates to sessions is random. 

Further, the number of candidates allotted in each session of the multi-session paper is comparable. Based on these considerations, the following formula is used for calculating the normalized marks for the multi-session papers.

After evaluating the answers, the actual (raw) marks obtained by a candidate will be considered for computing the GATE score. For multi-session test papers, the raw marks obtained by the candidates in different sessions will be converted to normalized marks for that particular test paper. Thus, raw marks (for single session test papers) or normalized marks (for multi-session test papers) will be used for computing the GATE score, based on the qualifying marks.

The GATE 2026 admit card can be downloaded through the official website at gate2026.iitg.ac.in. All test papers of GATE 2026 will be of the duration of three hours (four hours in case of candidates availing compensatory time), consisting of 65 questions for a total of 100 marks. 

After the examination duration has elapsed, the examination will terminate automatically. Candidates will be permitted to occupy their allotted seats 40 minutes before the scheduled start of the examination. 

Candidates can login and start reading the instructions 20 minutes before the start of examination. A candidate will NOT be permitted to login after 30 minutes from the scheduled start of the examination. Candidates will NOT be permitted to leave the examination hall before the scheduled end of the examination.

The question paper will be conducted in English and includes questions on Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), Multiple Select Questions (MSQs), and Numerical AnswerType (NAT) questions.

“In MSQs, one or more than one out of four options is/are correct; and for NAT questions, the answer must be keyed in using a virtual keypad. The candidates must use only the on-screen virtual calculator provided for their calculations,” the official notification reads. 

GATE 2026 will be conducted for admission to MTech, MS and PhD admissions at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and all 24 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). 

Candidates who will qualify for GATE 2026 will be able to seek admission with possible financial assistance to Master's programs, and Direct Doctoral programs in Engineering/Technology/Architecture; and Doctoral programs in relevant branches of Engineering/Technology/Architecture/Science/ Humanities, in institutions supported by Ministry of Education (MoE) and other Government agencies.

GATE score is also used by some colleges and Institutions for admission to postgraduate programs without MoE scholarship. Several Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) have also been using GATE score for recruitment.

Candidates can download the GATE 2026 admit card from the official website at gate2026.iitg.ac.in using the login credentials such as enrollment ID and password. 

The GATE 2026 college entrance test for admission to MTech, MS, and PhD programmes will be conducted on February 7, 8, 14, and 15, 2026 at more than 200 centres across India.

The entrance test will be held in two shifts. The forenoon session will be conducted from 9:30 am to 12:30 noon, while the afternoon session will take place from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.