GATE Electrical Engineering: 40 Years of Patterns
Data analysis of every GATE Electrical Engineeringquestion 1987-2026. What's tested year after year, what shifted, what to focus on.
Top 20 most-tested topics
Sorted by total question count. The "appeared in" column shows recurrence — topics in 30+ different years are near-guarantees for the next exam.
| Topic | Total Qs | Years appeared | First → Last | Recurrence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Generation & Transmission | 77 | 26 | 1992 → 2025 | 65% |
| Synchronous Machines | 74 | 31 | 1992 → 2026 | 78% |
| Induction Motors | 70 | 28 | 1993 → 2026 | 70% |
| Linear Algebra (EE) | 69 | 24 | 1994 → 2025 | 60% |
| Calculus (EE) | 69 | 23 | 1994 → 2025 | 57% |
| Transformers | 61 | 28 | 1992 → 2026 | 70% |
| DC Machines | 57 | 27 | 1992 → 2025 | 68% |
| Signal Basics | 47 | 23 | 1992 → 2025 | 57% |
| Steady-State AC (EE) | 46 | 24 | 1995 → 2025 | 60% |
| Measurements | 46 | 22 | 1992 → 2025 | 55% |
| Fault Analysis | 39 | 23 | 1994 → 2025 | 57% |
| Probability & Stats (EE) | 36 | 17 | 2005 → 2025 | 43% |
| State-Space-EE | 31 | 20 | 1993 → 2025 | 50% |
| Electrostatics-EE | 31 | 22 | 1992 → 2025 | 55% |
| Stability-EE | 30 | 21 | 1991 → 2022 | 53% |
| Laplace (EE) | 30 | 17 | 1995 → 2024 | 43% |
| Converters | 30 | 18 | 1993 → 2024 | 45% |
| Stability | 29 | 19 | 1993 → 2022 | 48% |
| Fourier (EE) | 28 | 16 | 2005 → 2025 | 40% |
| Instruments | 28 | 18 | 1992 → 2018 | 45% |
Recurrence ≥ 80% means the topic appears in at least 32 of 40 years — functionally guaranteed.
The NAT shift: 0% → 28%
2010-2013
0%
NAT share (pre-shift era)
2014-2020
35%
NAT introduced
2021-2026
33%
NAT entrenched
Numerical Answer Type (NAT) questions did not exist in GATE Electrical Engineering before 2014. Today they make up roughly a quarter of every paper. Aspirants studying from pre-2014 textbooks are training for an exam that no longer exists.
Question type mix by year
| Year | MCQ | NAT | MSQ/MTF | % NAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 49 | 13 | 0 | 20% |
| 2025 | 75 | 36 | 2 | 31% |
| 2024 | 62 | 33 | 6 | 32% |
| 2023 | 50 | 41 | 4 | 42% |
| 2022 | 26 | 14 | 0 | 34% |
| 2021 | 24 | 14 | 1 | 36% |
| 2020 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50% |
| 2019 | 49 | 26 | 0 | 34% |
| 2018 | 141 | 75 | 0 | 33% |
| 2017 | 34 | 25 | 0 | 42% |
| 2016 | 25 | 17 | 0 | 40% |
| 2015 | 33 | 22 | 0 | 39% |
| 2014 | 64 | 31 | 0 | 33% |
| 2013 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0% |
Why this matters
- Data Structures has appeared in 35different years. That's a near-guarantee, not a probability.
- 5 sub-topics under Discrete Mathematicsall appear 80%+ years. Treating Discrete Math as one chapter is a mistake — it's 5 separate guaranteed topics.
- NAT now ≈ 30% of paper. Anyone preparing only MCQs is losing 30 marks before they walk in.
- General Aptitude grew 10× — from 10 Qs (2010-2015) to 107 Qs (2021-2026). Coaching books that ignore GA are obsolete.
- Topics absent for 5+ years tend to return.Spectrum of what's overdue: Instruments