STUDY MATERIAL · GATE EC · EE · IN
GATE Network Theory: questions and notes
Networks (Electric Circuits), also known as Network Theory. Networks (Electric Circuits) questions from 21 GATE papers (2018–2026) with the official answers, 122 of 123 solved step by step, plus notes for each topic, a formula sheet and practice questions.
- previous-year questions
- 123previous-year questions
- solved step by step
- 122solved step by step
- GATE papers, 2018–2026
- 21GATE papers, 2018–2026
- topics with notes
- 7topics with notes
TOPICS
Seven topics, in the order they are taught
Taken from the official GATE 2027 syllabus. Each topic has notes, the formulas you need, its previous-year questions with the official answers, most of them solved step by step, and practice questions.
Circuit laws, sources, and node and mesh analysis
This topic covers what every circuit problem is built from: the V-I laws and stored energy of R, L, C and coupled inductors; ideal, practical and dependent sources; Kirchhoff's laws; series-parallel and star-delta reduction; and the two standard solution methods, nodal analysis (with supernodes) and mesh analysis (with supermeshes).
25 previous-year questions · 34 marks · 5 practice questions
Network theorems
Network theorems let you replace all or part of a linear circuit with something simpler.
16 previous-year questions · 27 marks · 5 practice questions
Transients in RL, RC and RLC circuits
Transient analysis finds how the voltages and currents of a circuit with inductors and capacitors move from one steady state to another after a switch operates or a source is applied.
20 previous-year questions · 33 marks · 5 practice questions
Sinusoidal steady state, AC power and resonance
Sinusoidal steady-state analysis replaces the differential equations of an RLC circuit with complex algebra: every source and response becomes a phasor and every element an impedance, so nodal, mesh and the network theorems apply unchanged.
34 previous-year questions · 52 marks · 6 practice questions
- GATE EE · IN only
Magnetically coupled circuits
Two coils are magnetically coupled when the changing current in one induces a voltage in the other through shared flux; the mutual inductance M, the coupling coefficient k and the dot convention fix the size and the sign of that voltage.
6 previous-year questions · 11 marks · 6 practice questions
Two-port networks
A two-port network is any linear circuit reached through two pairs of terminals, described by four parameters that relate its two port voltages to its two port currents.
11 previous-year questions · 18 marks · 5 practice questions
- GATE EE only
Balanced three-phase circuits
A balanced three-phase circuit is three equal sinusoidal sources 120° apart feeding identical impedances in every phase, so it can be solved one phase at a time: the other two phases follow by rotating the result through ± 120°, and the total power is three times the per-phase power.
11 previous-year questions · 19 marks · 5 practice questions
QUESTIONS BY TOPIC AND YEAR
123 questions, by topic and year
How many questions each topic had in the EC, EE and IN papers of each year. This shows what was asked, not what will be asked. We placed each question under a topic ourselves; the exam paper does not label topics. Every question links back to its paper.
| Topic | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laws & node/mesh | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 25 |
| Theorems | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 16 |
| Transients | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 20 |
| AC, power & resonance | 8 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 34 |
| Coupled circuits | · | · | · | 1 | 2 | 3 | · | 6 |
| Two-port | 2 | 1 | · | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Three-phase (EE) | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | · | 11 |
GATE ECE question papers with solutions: 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2020, 2018
GATE EE question papers with solutions: 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2020, 2018
GATE IN question papers with solutions: 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2020, 2018
The 2019 and 2021 papers are not included yet: the copies we host are image scans without the official key.
Network Theory formulas by topic
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THE OFFICIAL SYLLABUS
What each paper lists under Networks (Electric Circuits)
From the GATE 2027 syllabus PDFs. Each paper places the subject differently: EC as the circuit half of Section 2, “Networks, Signals and Systems”; EE as Section 2, “Electric circuits”; IN as the circuits part of Section 3, “Electrical Circuits and Machines”. Balanced three-phase circuits are listed only in EE’s circuits section. IN mentions three-phase AC circuits only for the measurement of power, in Section 8, Measurements. EC’s syllabus nowhere names mutual inductance or coupled coils. That is why those two topics are not marked for every branch. IN papers have still set five three-phase questions (in 2020, 2022 and 2025), three of them on measuring power with wattmeters; we placed them under that topic.
GATE EC
Circuit Analysis: Node and mesh analysis, superposition, Thevenin's theorem, Norton’s theorem, reciprocity. Sinusoidal steady state analysis: phasors, complex power, maximum power transfer. Time and frequency domain analysis of linear circuits: RL, RC and RLC circuits, solution of network equations using Laplace transform. Linear 2-port network parameters, wye-delta transformation.
GATE EE
Network Elements: Ideal voltage and current sources, dependent sources, R, L, C, M elements; Network solution methods: KCL, KVL, Node and Mesh analysis; Network Theorems: Thevenin’s, Norton’s, Superposition and Maximum Power Transfer theorem; Transient response of DC and AC networks, sinusoidal steady-state analysis, resonance, two port networks, balanced three phase circuits, star-delta transformation, complex power and power factor in AC circuits.
GATE IN
Electrical Circuits: Independent, dependent, ideal and practical sources; V-I characteristics of practical current and voltage sources, battery, solar cell, resistor, inductor, coupled inductor, capacitor; transient analysis of RC, RL, LC, RLC circuits; power and energy consumption, power rating of components, efficiency and losses. Kirchhoff’s laws, mesh and nodal analysis, star-delta transformation, superposition, Thevenin’s, Norton’s, Miller’s, maximum power transfer and reciprocity theorems. Peak, average and rms values of AC quantities; apparent, active and reactive powers, power factor; phasor analysis, impedance and admittance; series and parallel resonance, locus diagrams, realization of basic filters with R, L, and C elements; transient analysis of RLC circuits with AC excitation. Analysis of one-port and two-port networks with controlled voltage and current sources, driving point impedance and admittance, open and short circuit parameters.
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