Does Solving GATE Previous Years’ Question Papers Help?

Around 8.5 tech enthusiasts appear for the GATE exam every year, mainly for getting admission into some of the very best universities offering courses for M.Tech/ M.E, Master’s courses. The GATE scores play a major role for these programs in IITs, IIITs, NITs, and CFITs. But that’s not the only reason why candidates appear for this examination.

The General Aptitude Test for Engineering (GATE) is one of the most prestigious exams in India. It acts as a channel for recruitment in PSUs, admission in the best universities for Ph.D. programs and is also an important criterion for other entrance examinations like DRDO, ISRO, etc. As a result, the competition is way too high, and the difficulty level only escalates every year.

Are you also an aspirant looking forward to cracking this examination with the best score? Then you might want a commendable study plan, now that GATE 2022 exams are closer. Are you wondering about the exam pattern, difficulty levels, coverage of syllabus, type of questions, etc.? You can get an answer to all such queries in one source – GATE previous year question paper. Yes, a candidate must cover the entire syllabus and solve as many sample papers as possible. But question papers from past years will not only give you a better idea about the exams, they will also boost your confidence over time. Let us understand how.

Which Years To Target?

The GATE exam was first conducted in 1983. And it is a no brainer that solving the question paper from that year would do you no good. For starters, technology has evolved drastically over the years, various theories and formulas are no longer in use, and the overall arena of science and tech does not support the fundamentals supported back then. As a result, the syllabus has changed a lot.

We can draw a similar anomaly for the question papers that are more than five years old. We have, obviously, come a lot ahead in the past five years, and the papers from 2016 will be of no use. Thus, we would advise you to practice GATE previous year question paper from the following years:

GATE 2021
GATE 2020
GATE 2019
GATE 2018
GATE 2017

You can also skip the last two years. Solving question papers from the past three years would be more than enough. This brings us to the next question.

Is Solving Question Papers Enough?

Not at all!

Sure, the papers will give you a better idea about the exam, in general. But you cannot rely on it if you want to score well in GATE 2022. It would be safe to say that following the syllabus and solving the question papers from the past five years would help you in cracking the exam. But it will be a hit or miss. You HAVE TO refer to various other sources, as discussed below.

Other Resources

Apart from question papers from the past 3-5 years, a candidate must also have the following resources handy:

GATE Syllabus to narrow down the available study material in hand.
GATE online and offline study materials from reliable sources to avoid any errors or confusion with the concepts.
GATE notes from candidates and running notes to help clarify doubts.
GATE difference between and full-form articles to dive deeper into individual concepts and sub-topics.
GATE sample papers and practice papers to gauge the current preparation for the subjects.
GATE mock tests to practise for the upcoming exam in a simulated environment.

Candidates may tend to skip solving the GATE previous year question paper, and we understand how overwhelming it might be. But it will only help you prepare for the upcoming examination. Nevertheless, if you are a tech geek aspiring to crack the GATE exam in 2022, we would advise you to follow all the resources mentioned in this article. Let’s start studying and crack it! All the best for your future.