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Entrance exams: what is live
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Entrance Exams
PG Research
Postgraduate and research entrance exams reward depth in a chosen discipline, not broad general aptitude alone. GATE primarily supports postgraduate engineering admissions and is also used by some employers; IIT JAM supports admission to postgraduate science programmes.
Start with the programme and institutions you would join, confirm the paper code and eligibility at the official source, then study from that paper’s syllabus and recent papers.
Entrance exams · checked 19 September 2026
Entrance exams this month, from the official portals
Notifications, application windows, exam dates, answer keys and results as the conducting bodies published them, each with its source and a link to the exam guide.
2027 cycle
GATE 2027 and IIT JAM 2027: dates, fees and where each stands
Checked 15 September 2026 against gate2027.iitm.ac.in, gate2026.iitg.ac.in, jam.iitkgp.ac.in and jam2026.iitb.ac.in.
| Examination | Registration | Examination | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|
| GATE 2027 (IIT Madras) | GOAPS 2 September – 27 September 2026; extended to 5 October with late fee | 6–7, 13–14 and 20–21 February 2027, 3-hour sessions | Registration open; rectification 14–21 October; city allotment 4 January; results 19 March 2027; 30 papers including the new Robotics and Automation paper; DigiLocker mandatory |
| IIT JAM 2027 (IIT Kharagpur) | JOAPS 11 September – 12 October 2026 | Sunday 14 February 2027 — CY, GG, MA forenoon; BT, EN, MS, PH afternoon | Registration open; results 18 March 2027; about 3,000 seats; admission rounds from late May |
| Examination | Paper | Marking | Fee and 2026 cut-offs |
|---|---|---|---|
| GATE | 65 questions, 100 marks, 3 hours — General Aptitude 10 questions for 15 marks, subject 55 for 85; MCQ, MSQ and NAT | −1/3 on 1-mark and −2/3 on 2-mark MCQs; none on MSQ and NAT | ₹1,000 / ₹2,000 (women, SC, ST, PwD) or ₹2,000 / ₹4,000 for one / two papers, ₹500 more per paper after 27 September; 2026 General cut-offs CS 30, EC 26.4, EE 27.7, ME 25.2, CE 28.7 |
| IIT JAM | 60 questions, 100 marks, 3 hours — 30 MCQ, 10 MSQ, 20 NAT | −1/3 and −2/3 on MCQs; none on MSQ and NAT | 2026 fee ₹1,000 / ₹1,350 (women, SC, ST, PwD) or ₹2,000 / ₹2,700 for one / two papers; 2026 General cut-offs BT 42.3, CY 18.65, EN 40.63, GG 25.98, MA 12.65, MS 13.33, PH 12.04 |
Both papers are computer-based with three question types and a deduction only on multiple-choice answers, both are scored against paper-wise category cut-offs, and both feed admissions the organising institute does not run — COAP, CCMT and the PSUs for GATE; the JOAPS admission rounds and CCMN for JAM. The exam guides below carry the full pattern tables, dates, fees, eligibility, the 2026 cut-offs and statistics, the procedure from registration to admission and free mock tests on the current patterns.
Choose the right route
GATE and IIT JAM solve different admission goals
| Question | GATE | IIT JAM |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use | Postgraduate engineering and related opportunities | Postgraduate science admissions |
| Preparation base | Undergraduate engineering or science discipline plus aptitude | Undergraduate science discipline |
| First decision | Select the correct paper code and target programmes | Select the test paper and participating programmes |
| Best evidence | Current official brochure, syllabus and recent papers | Current official brochure, syllabus and recent papers |
Complete guides
GATE exam guide IIT JAM exam guide Previous-paper analysis method
Method
How a discipline paper is prepared, and why it differs from an aptitude test
GATE and IIT JAM examine a subject you have already studied for a degree. That makes them unusual among entrance tests: the work is not learning new material but rebuilding a large body of half-remembered material into something retrievable under a clock.
The sequence that fits a discipline paper
- Build a chapter-weight table from past papers before opening a textbook. Tag every past question to a specific chapter, count the tags, and rank them. The ranking will not match the order your degree taught the subjects in, and the degree order is not the one to follow.
- Rebuild each high-weight chapter onto a single page. Definitions, standard results, the formulas that actually appear, and the two or three question forms the papers set. One page per chapter is the deliverable, and it is written by hand.
- Write the formula sheet from memory on a schedule. Recall practice rather than review. Under an objective clock there is no time to derive, so the working set has to be immediate.
- Move to solving early and stay there. These papers reward fluency on standard problems. Reading a chapter a second time is almost always a worse use of an hour than solving thirty questions from it.
- Add the general aptitude component deliberately. Where the paper carries one, it is a small, reliable and highly drillable block of marks that discipline-focused candidates routinely concede.
Choose the paper code before anything else
Both examinations are set as several separate papers, and eligibility, syllabus and the programmes a score can be used for all follow from which paper you sit. That decision governs every subsequent month of preparation, and it is settled by the current official brochure for the examination and by the admission pages of the programmes you would actually join.
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PG Research — FAQs
When are GATE 2027 and IIT JAM 2027?
GATE 2027 is on 6–7, 13–14 and 20–21 February 2027 with results on 19 March; registration on gate2027.iitm.ac.in closes on 27 September 2026 and, with late fee, on 5 October. IIT JAM 2027 is on Sunday 14 February 2027 in two sessions with results on 18 March; registration on jam.iitkgp.ac.in closes on 12 October 2026.
Is there negative marking in GATE and IIT JAM?
Only on multiple-choice questions in both: one-third of a mark on a 1-mark MCQ and two-thirds on a 2-mark MCQ. Multiple-select and numerical-answer questions carry no deduction in either examination, so none of them should be left blank; a multiple-select question scores only when every correct option is chosen and no wrong one.
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