GATE Electrical Engineering Exam

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is a kind of examination that basically tests the thorough understanding and the caliber of students of various subjects that are taught to undergraduates in engineering. GATE is conducted jointly by the Indian Institute of Science and seven Indian Institutes of Technologies on behalf of the National Coordination Board – GATE, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development , Government of India.

Eligibility for GATE Electrical Exam

Qualifying Degree of the applicant – B.E /B.Tech
Applicant Type– An applicant who has completed B.E or B. Tech in Engineering and those who are in the final year of such programs with no backlog are eligible to apply for this exam.
There is No Age limit.

Cut-Off for GATE Electrical Exam

Year	General	OBC	SC/ST/PH
2017	25.20	25.20	16.70
2016	25.21	22.5	16.7
2015	25	22.5	16.67
2014	25	22.5	16.67

SYLLABUS FOR ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING


GENERAL APTITUDE	SECTION 1	Verbal Ability and Numerical Ability
Electric Circuits	SECTION 2	Network graph, KCL, KVL, Node and Mesh analysis, Transient response of dc and ac networks, Sinusoidal steady‐state analysis, Resonance, Passive filters, Ideal current and voltage sources, Thevenin’s theorem, Norton’s theorem, Superposition theorem, Maximum power transfer theorem, Two‐port networks, Three phase circuits, Power and power factor in ac circuits.
Electromagnetic Fields	SECTION 3	Coulomb’s Law, Electric Field Intensity, Electric Flux Density, Gauss’s Law, Divergence, Electric field and potential due to point, line, plane and spherical charge distributions, Effect of dielectric medium, Capacitance of simple configurations, Biot‐Savart’s law, Ampere’s law, Curl, Faraday’s law, Lorentz force, Inductance, Magnetomotive force, Reluctance, Magnetic circuits, Self and Mutual inductance of simple configurations.
Signals and Systems	SECTION 4	Representation of continuous and discrete‐time signals, Shifting and scaling operations, Linear Time Invariant and Causal systems, Fourier series representation of continuous periodic signals, Sampling theorem, Applications of Fourier Transform, Laplace Transform and z-Transform.
Electrical Machines	SECTION 5	Single phase transformer: equivalent circuit, phasor diagram, open circuit and short circuit tests, regulation and efficiency; three phase transformers: connections, parallel operation; Auto‐transformer, Electromechanical energy conversion principles, DC machines: separately excited, series and shunt, motoring and generating mode of operation and their characteristics, starting and speed control of dc motors; Three phase induction motors: principle of operation, types, performance, torque-speed characteristics, no-load and blocked rotor tests, equivalent circuit, starting and speed control; Operating principle of single phase induction motors; Synchronous machines: cylindrical and salient pole machines, performance, regulation and parallel operation of generators, starting of synchronous motor, characteristics; Types of losses and efficiency calculations of electric machines.
Power Systems	SECTION 6	Power generation concepts, ac and dc transmission concepts, Models and performance of transmission lines and cables, Series and shunt compensation, Electric field distribution and insulators, Distribution systems, Per‐unit quantities, Bus admittance matrix, Gauss- Seidel and Newton-Raphson load flow methods, Voltage and Frequency control, Power factor correction, Symmetrical components, Symmetrical and unsymmetrical fault analysis, Principles of over‐current, differential and distance protection; Circuit breakers, System stability concepts, Equal area criterion.
Control systems	SECTION 7	Mathematical modelling and representation of systems, Feedback principle, transfer function, Block diagrams and Signal flow graphs, Transient and Steady‐state analysis of linear time invariant systems, Routh-Hurwitz and Nyquist criteria, Bode plots, Root loci, Stability analysis, Lag, Lead and Lead‐Lag compensators; P, PI and PID controllers; State space model, State transition matrix.
Electrical and Electronic Measurements	SECTION 8	Bridges and Potentiometers, Measurement of voltage, current, power, energy and power factor; Instrument transformers, Digital voltmeters and multimeters, Phase, Time and Frequency measurement; Oscilloscopes, Error analysis.
Analog and Digital Electronics	SECTION 9	Characteristics of diodes, BJT, MOSFET; Simple diode circuits: clipping, clamping, rectifiers; Amplifiers: Biasing, Equivalent circuit and Frequency response; Oscillators and Feedback amplifiers; Operational amplifiers: Characteristics and applications; Simple active filters, VCOs and Timers, Combinational and Sequential logic circuits, Multiplexer, Demultiplexer, Schmitt trigger, Sample and hold circuits, A/D and D/A converters, 8085Microprocessor: Architecture, Programming and Interfacing.
Power Electronics	SECTION 10	Characteristics of semiconductor power devices: Diode, Thyristor, Triac, GTO, MOSFET, IGBT; DC to DC conversion: Buck, Boost and Buck-Boost converters; Single and three phase configuration of uncontrolled rectifiers, Line commutated thyristor based converters, Bidirectional ac to dc voltage source converters, Issues of line current harmonics, Power factor, Distortion factor of ac to dc converters, Single phase and three phase inverters, Sinusoidal pulse width modulation.

GATE Electrical Engineering Preparation Tips

Electrical Engineering being one of the fields in engineering deals with the study and application of electricity. This stream has now divided into further sub topics which include digital computers, electronics, telecommunications, control systems, radio frequency engineering, instrumentation, signal processing and microelectronics. The main topics that are focused on are semiconductors and microprocessors. All core subject basics are asked in the exam; hence the preparation should be up to the standards.

1. To start with, candidates must be aware of the GATE exam pattern for electrical engineering completely

It consists of 65 questions out of which 35 questions are of 2 marks and 30 questions are of 1 mark with a total of 100 marks. Candidates must know that there are only two types of questions, multiple choice questions and numerical answer type.
They should be aware that there will be 2/3^rd negative marking in 2 markers and 1/3^rd negative marking in 1 markers whereas there is no negative marking in Numerical answer type questions hence only they can get the maximum numbers in the test.

2. Know the syllabus of Electrical engineering and the weightage

It is suggested that the candidate goes through the complete syllabusbefore starting the preparation. Match your knowledge with the exam syllabus and plan your preparation with known subjects.
Highlight the important topics in the syllabus based upon the previous year papers and focus more on these topics during the course of your preparation.

3. Choose good books & study materials related to electrical engineering for the preparation

Selection of appropriate and concise study material is very important before starting the preparation.
Read at one book apart from the study material which is provided by your institution and your class notes.
Nowadays the whole package is available online in the form of video lectures, course materials PDF, so you can pursue best study material.

4. Study smartly during the preparation

Analyse important topics and pattern of questions from the previous year papers which have been provided with for reference.
Prepare each topic in three steps. Understand the concept, practice related questions and revise regularly. This will help you to analyse your preparation and also boost your confidence.
Most of the questions are conceptual & numerical, so you must try to improve your solving ability and time management to score a good rank.

5. Prepare the study plan to complete the syllabus

The first step in the preparation is to start with easy subject and important one that has been mentioned below. Segregate whole subject into smaller topics and prepare topic wise
After completing the subject, make short notes for that subject which should include definitions, important formulas etc. This will help during the time of revision.
Clearing all the doubts during the preparation is essential.
Identify weak areas while practising tests and try to revise and practice those topics.

6. Proper revision plan

It is not just sufficient enough to prepare revision notes, but also to revise them regularly.
Read the revision notes on a weekly basis to recall the concepts of prepared subjects.
Each time you revise the same topic/ subject, your revision time will reduce to recall the concepts.

7. Mock tests and practice papers

Mock tests play an important role.
Firstly, it gives you an exam like interface. This is very important for any aspirant, to have idea and thorough practice on exam like interface.
They provide All India ranking, so you know where you stand.
Test analysis about how you performed in exam and how toppers have performed, which helps you to analyse and understand how much more preparation is required and on which area.
You also get to keep a check on which question was easy and you couldn’t attempt, but attempted a tough question which was expected to be left. And how much extra time have you given to that particular question.
Comprehensive explanation to every single question coupled with smart tricks/intuitive approach in the form of text, Images or both.
From mock tests, you get to know your strength and weaknesses in a well-defined manner.
Tests in general are important. They help not only in the assessment of your preparation for exams, but also regular test attempts help you memorize better.

IMPORTANT BOOKS & TOPICS

Books play the major role when it comes to imparting knowledge. Hence the books that we refer, especially for competitive examinations should be good enough and contain detailed information regarding the subject. As we know, the syllabus is vast there are some important topic which need more emphasis as per an analysis made from the question pattern of previous years. So there is a list of important topics and few good books which will help you with your preparation.

S.No	TOPICS	BOOKS
1.	Engineering Mathematics	Advanced Engineering Mathematics by E.Kreyszig
2.	Networks	Engineering Circuit Analysis by Hayt and Kemmerly
3	Signal and systems	Signals and Systems by Oppenheim and WilskySignals and Systems- Nagoor Kani
4.	Electrical Machine	Electrical Machinery by P.S.Bimbhra
5.	Power system	Power Systems Engineering by Nagrath and Kothari Power Systems by Jb Guptha & CL Wadhwa
6.	Power Electronics	For Beginners- Power Electronics by MH Rashid Power Electronics by P.S.Bimbhra
7.	Control system	Control Systems Engineering by Nagrath and Gopal
8.	Measurement	Electrical and Electronic Measurement and Instrumentation by AK Sawhney
9.	Analog	Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory by Boylestad
10.	Digital Circuits	For Digital Electronics, refer to Digital Design by M.Morris Mano
11.	ElectroMagnetics	Mathew N. O. SADIKU-Elements of Electromagnetics William .H.Hayt – Engineering Electromagnetics
12.	For Problem Solving	GATE Electrical by RK Kanodia