GATE general aptitude syllabus
General Aptitude is the same section in every GATE paper and it carries 15 of the 100 marks from just ten questions. No technical section is guaranteed that much.
It also sits well below the technical sections in difficulty, which makes it the best marks per minute anywhere in the paper. The GATE CS syllabus hub page covers the rest.
Pattern
| Component | Marks | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| General Aptitude | 15 | Five one mark and five two mark questions |
| Engineering Mathematics | 13 | Paper specific, inside the subject component |
| Rest of the CS subject | 72 | Across the nine technical sections |
| Total | 100 | 65 questions in three hours |
GATE publishes no weighting for this section. The only published splits are General Aptitude 15 marks, Engineering Mathematics 13 marks and the remaining 72 marks across the nine technical sections. Any per section percentage quoted elsewhere is counted from past papers rather than published by GATE.
| Question type | Negative marking | Partial marking |
|---|---|---|
| MCQ, one mark | One third deducted | Not applicable |
| MCQ, two marks | Two thirds deducted | Not applicable |
| MSQ | None | None |
| NAT | None | None |
Nothing is deducted for a wrong MSQ or NAT answer, so every one of those should be attempted. Nothing is awarded for a partially correct MSQ either.
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Topics
- Verbal Aptitude: basic English grammar covering tenses, articles, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, verb noun agreement and other parts of speech
- Verbal Aptitude: basic vocabulary, being words, idioms and phrases in context
- Verbal Aptitude: reading and comprehension, narrative sequencing
- Quantitative Aptitude: data interpretation from bar graphs, pie charts and other data graphs, two and three dimensional plots, maps and tables
- Quantitative Aptitude: numerical computation and estimation covering ratios, percentages, powers, exponents and logarithms, permutations and combinations, series
- Quantitative Aptitude: mensuration and geometry, elementary statistics and probability
- Analytical Aptitude: logic covering deduction and induction, analogy, numerical relations and reasoning
- Spatial Aptitude: transformation of shapes by translation, rotation, scaling, mirroring, assembling and grouping, paper folding, cutting and patterns in two and three dimensions
Spatial Aptitude is the area candidates most often skip, because it has no counterpart in the technical sections and looks like puzzle material rather than engineering.
What is not in the syllabus
- No subject knowledge. General Aptitude is common to every GATE paper
- No advanced mathematics. The quantitative content sits well below Engineering Mathematics
- No essay or descriptive writing
- No published split of the ten questions across the four areas
How to spend the time
Do this section first. Fifteen marks at a difficulty well below the rest of the paper is the cheapest block of marks available, and it is routinely left to the last twenty minutes.
The five two mark questions are where the section is won. They are usually data interpretation or a multi step numerical estimate, and they take longer than the one mark items without being harder.
Spatial Aptitude rewards an afternoon of drilling because the transformations are finite: translation, rotation, scaling, mirroring, assembly and paper folding. Browse the available GATE CS practice papers.
Common mistakes
- Leaving the section until the final minutes of the three hours
- Skipping Spatial Aptitude because it does not look like engineering
- Guessing blind on two mark aptitude MCQs at two thirds of a mark each
- Preparing quantitative aptitude at Engineering Mathematics level, which is far above what this section asks
- Treating narrative sequencing and reading comprehension as unpreparable
General Aptitude against the technical sections
| Feature | General Aptitude | Technical sections |
|---|---|---|
| Marks | 15, published | 85, with only Engineering Mathematics published separately at 13 |
| Questions | 10, published as five and five | Fifty five, split not published |
| Difficulty | Below the technical sections | Degree level |
| Common across GATE papers | Yes, identical in every paper | No, paper specific |
| Preparation time needed | Low | High |
Frequently asked questions
How many General Aptitude questions are in GATE?
Ten, being five of one mark and five of two marks, for 15 marks in total.
Is General Aptitude the same in every GATE paper?
Yes. The section and its syllabus are common to all papers.
What are the four General Aptitude areas?
Verbal Aptitude, Quantitative Aptitude, Analytical Aptitude and Spatial Aptitude.
Is there negative marking here?
On MCQ questions, yes, at one third and two thirds of the question value. MSQ and NAT questions carry no penalty anywhere in the paper.
How are the ten questions split across the four areas?
GATE does not publish that split.
Is Spatial Aptitude really tested?
Yes. It is named in the official syllabus, covering shape transformations, paper folding and cutting, and patterns in two and three dimensions.
How hard is the quantitative content?
Well below Engineering Mathematics. It covers ratios, percentages, powers, logarithms, permutations and combinations, series, mensuration, geometry, elementary statistics and probability.
Should I do this section first or last?
First, in most plans. It is the highest marks per minute in the paper.
Does General Aptitude count toward the qualifying mark?
Yes. The qualifying mark is calculated on the paper total of 100, which includes these 15 marks.
Is there an essay or writing task?
No. The whole paper is objective.