GATE CS Syllabus and Weightage
The GATE 2026 CS paper is done — GATE 2027 is the live cycle, with the exam on 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21 February 2027. Treat this as a reference and follow the GATE CS 2027 study plan. Syllabus, key dates, topic quizzes, and previous-year papers live on the GATE CS prep hub.
GATE CS (Computer Science and Information Technology) is a 100-mark, 65-question, 3-hour CBT. Roughly 15 marks are General Aptitude (shared across papers), and the rest are Engineering Mathematics plus core CS. Marks below are typical ranges from recent years, not a promise for any single session.
For a month-by-month plan that uses this weightage, read the GATE CS 2027 study plan. Free subject tutorials and quizzes live on the GATE hub.
Paper shape (what does not change much)
- MCQ — negative marking (−1/3 for 1-mark, −2/3 for 2-mark)
- MSQ — one or more correct; no negative marking
- NAT — numerical answer; no negative marking
Recent papers put more weight on MSQ/NAT, so recognition-only prep fails more often than it used to.
Subject checklist and typical marks
Engineering Mathematics (~10–15 marks)
Linear algebra (matrices, determinants, eigenvalues), calculus, probability & statistics, discrete mathematics (sets, combinatorics, graphs, logic), numerical methods.
Prep note: Discrete + probability show up often; treat them as Tier-1 math, not “later.”
Digital Logic (~3–8 marks typical recently; older papers higher)
Boolean algebra, K-maps, combinational circuits (adders, mux, decoder), sequential circuits (flip-flops, counters), number systems / 2’s complement / floating-point basics.
Computer Organization & Architecture (~8–12 marks)
Instruction formats, addressing modes, ALU/control, pipelining and hazards, cache hierarchy, virtual memory, I/O (interrupts, DMA).
Programming & Data Structures (~8–15 marks — often the largest core block)
C-style programming (pointers, recursion), arrays, linked lists, stacks/queues, trees (BST/AVL ideas), graphs (representation, BFS/DFS), hashing.
Algorithms (~5–12 marks)
Asymptotic analysis, sorting, divide-and-conquer, greedy, dynamic programming, graph algorithms (shortest paths, MST), basic string matching when asked.
Theory of Computation (~6–9 marks)
Regular languages / FA, CFGs / PDA, Turing machines, decidability and closure properties.
Compiler Design (~4–8 marks)
Lexical analysis, parsing (FIRST/FOLLOW, LL/LR ideas), SDT basics, intermediate code, simple optimizations.
Operating Systems (~7–12 marks)
Processes/threads, CPU scheduling, synchronization, deadlock, memory management and page replacement, file systems.
Databases (~5–8 marks)
ER/relational model, keys and FDs, normalization, SQL, transactions and concurrency, indexing.
Computer Networks (~6–11 marks)
Layering, IP (addressing, fragmentation), routing, TCP/UDP, sliding windows / utilization, application protocols when tested.
General Aptitude (15 marks — fixed)
Verbal and quantitative. Same paper for every GATE branch. Do not leave it for the last weekend.
How to use this list
- Print or copy the subjects into a tracker with done / weak / not started.
- Start with Programming & DS, Discrete, OS, Networks, and COA if your time is limited — see the weightage analysis.
- After each subject, solve that subject’s PYQs before moving on.
- Confirm any official change on the organising institute’s brochure for the year you are writing — the CS outline above has been stable, but you still verify once.
Topic-level “what usually appears” detail is in the PYQ topic-wise analysis. Formula recall before mocks: revision notes.