GATE IN Previous Year Question Papers, 2018–2026
Free PDFs of the GATE IN papers from 2018 to 2026. For 2018, 2020 and 2022–2026, the study library also has every question with its official answer, with 401 solved step by step.
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About this resource
Previous-year papers are the best guide to what GATE IN will ask. The exam is remarkably consistent from year to year in the concepts it tests and the way it phrases them, so a full set of past papers doubles as a syllabus-weighting map and a realistic mock series.
The papers cover the full Instrumentation syllabus — Network Theory, Control Systems, Analog & Digital Electronics, Measurements, Sensors, Signals & Systems, Process Control and Industrial Instrumentation — with Engineering Mathematics and General Aptitude. Working through them builds the accuracy and timing that separate a good score from a great rank.
What's included
- ✓Every GATE IN paper from 2018 to 2026 — nine years
- ✓The organising institute’s question paper for each year (for 2020, a printout of IIT Delhi’s GATE 2020 web page). For 2018, 2020 and 2022 the file also includes the official answer key, with the accepted answer for all 65 questions
- ✓Questions across all core Instrumentation subjects
- ✓Engineering Mathematics and General Aptitude sections
- ✓A clear sense of topic weightage and difficulty
- ✓Free PDFs, ready to download
How to use this resource
Sit each paper as if it were the real exam — full duration, no notes, no pausing. Building exam temperament matters as much as knowing the content, and papers are the only place you can practice it.
Then analyse every miss: trace it to a topic, revise, and re-test with the next year's paper. The topics that repeat across papers are where your marks are — revise those first, and your confidence and rank rise together.
Frequently asked questions
Do these GATE IN papers include answer keys or solutions?+
Three of them do. The 2018, 2020 and 2022 papers carry the organising institute’s own answer key, appended at the end of the question paper: a table giving, for all 65 questions, the question type, the section, and either the correct option or the accepted numerical range. That is the official key, not a coaching solution — it states the accepted answer and nothing more, so there are no worked steps or explanations in any Drive file. The remaining Drive files carry questions only. The study library has one page per paper for 2018, 2020 and 2022–2026, with each question's official answer and, where solved, its worked solution. They are linked from the year list above. The 2019 and 2021 files are scanned rather than digital text, so their contents cannot be searched — open them to see what they contain.
Which years of GATE IN papers are included?+
Nine papers, one for each year from 2018 to 2026, with no year missing from that span.
The GATE IN syllabus changed for 2027 — how much of an older paper still applies?+
Instrumentation changed in all ten of its sections. The 2027 PDF newly lists items in every section, such as Bayes' theorem in Section 1 and permanent magnet synchronous machines in Section 3, and seven sections have items no longer listed by name, including three phase induction motors. That means an older question can rest on wording the 2027 syllabus does not print — which is not a statement that the topic is out of scope, only that the 2026 wording is absent from the 2027 PDF. Check anything unfamiliar against the section-by-section comparison at /resources/gate-in-2027-syllabus-changes.
What marking scheme should I use on these papers?+
Mark yourself by the 2027 rules. A test paper runs three hours and carries 65 questions for 100 marks, of which General Aptitude is 10 questions and 15 marks — 5 one-mark and 5 two-mark questions; in IN the other 85 marks are the subject component, of which Engineering Mathematics carries 13 (brochure, pages 4 and 24). A wrong 1-mark MCQ deducts 1/3 and a wrong 2-mark MCQ deducts 2/3, MSQ and NAT carry no negative marking, and there is no partial marking for any question.
Are these IN papers free to download?+
Yes. Every year in the list above opens the question paper as a PDF in Google Drive — free, no sign-up, no form.
Want guidance beyond free papers?
Our GATE programmes come with mentor support, 1:1 sessions, and a structured curriculum, not just a PDF.