GATE 2026 Marking Scheme Explained - Negative Marking & Total Marks

GATE 2026 Marking Scheme Explained - Negative Marking & Total Marks

Team Careers360Updated on 24 Nov 2025, 05:24 PM IST

GATE Marking Scheme 2026 - IIT Guwahati has published the GATE 2026 marking scheme on the official website, gate2026.iitg.ac.in. Candidates can check the GATE marking scheme 2026 on this page. The marking scheme includes details such as the total number of questions, section-wise questions, and mark distribution. In MCQs, incorrect answers will incur a penalty: 1/3 mark for 1-mark questions and 2/3 mark for 2-mark questions, with no negative marking for MSQs or NATs. The GATE exam will consist of a total of 65 questions: 10 questions from General Aptitude (GA) and 55 subject-specific questions. Each question will carry either 1 or 2 marks. The GATE 2026 exam will be held on February 7, 8, 14, and 15, 2026.

This Story also Contains

  1. GATE 2026 Marking Scheme Highlights
  2. GATE 2026 Marking Scheme Question Distribution
  3. GATE 2026 Exam Pattern
GATE 2026 Marking Scheme Explained - Negative Marking & Total Marks
GATE 2026 Marking Scheme Explained - Negative Marking & Total Marks

Students can also attempt the GATE 2026 mock test to understand the marking scheme. The exam will be conducted for 30 test papers. Read this article carefully to better understand the GATE 2026 marking scheme.

GATE 2026 Marking Scheme Highlights

Below is the marking scheme for GATE 2026. Check the number of questions and their mark distribution:

GATE 2026 Marking Scheme

Particulars

Details

Total Numbers of Questions

65

Exam Sections

General Aptitude: 10 Questions

Subject Component: 55 Questions

Marks Carry

1 or 2

Type of Questions

MCQ: Multiple Select Questions

MSQ: Multiple Choice Questions

NAT: Numerical Answer Type

Negative Marking

1 Mark MCQ: 1 for correct attempt and -⅓ for wrong attempt.

2 Mark MCQ : 2 for correct attempt and -⅔ for wrong attempt.

In test papers AE, AG, BM, BT, CE, CH, CS, EC, EE, ES, IN, ME, MN, MT, NM, PE, PI, and TF

  • 15 marks for GA

  • 85 marks for Subject Questions.

  • Including 13 marks for Engineering Mathematics.

In test papers AR, CY, DA, EY, GE, GG, MA, PH, ST, XH, and XL

  • 15 marks for GA

  • 85 marks for Subject Questions.

  • No mathematics questions.

XE has a common compulsory section

XE-A(Engineering mathematics) carry 15 marks

GATE 2026 Marking Scheme Question Distribution

Below is the section wise question distribution for all GATE 2026 papers. There will be a total of 30 papers.

GATE 2026 Marking Scheme

GATE Paper Code

General Aptitude(GA)

Subject Questions

Total Marks

AE, AG, BM, BT, CE, CH, CS, EC, EE, ES, IN, ME, MN, MT, NM, PE, PI, and TF


15

85

100

AR [Part A + Part B (B1: Architecture or B2: Planning)]

15

60 + 25

100

GE [Part A + Part B (Section I or Section II)

15

55 + 30

100

GG [Part A + Part B (Section 1: Geology or Section 2: Geophysics)]

15

25 + 60

100

XE (Section A + Any TWO Sections)

15

15 + (2 x 35)

100

XH (Section B1 + Any ONE Section)

15

25 + 60

100

XL (Section P + Any TWO Sections)

15

25 + (2 x 30)

100

CY, DA, EY, MA, PH

15

85

100

GATE 2026 Exam Pattern

Candidates must understand the GATE exam pattern and GATE 2026 syllabus before starting the GATE exam preparation. Check the latest exam pattern as well.

GATE Exam Pattern

Particulars

Details

Examination Mode

Computer based Exam(CBT)

Language

English

Exam Duration

3 Hours (180 minutes)

Numbers of Questions

65

Marks Carry

1 or 2

Type of Questions

MCQ : Multiple Select Questions

MSQ : Multiple Choice Questions

NAT : Numerical Answer Type

Negative Marking

1 Mark MCQ : 1 for correct attempt and -⅓ for wrong attempt.

2 Mark MCQ : 2 for correct attempt and -⅔ for wrong attempt.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: What is the marking scheme in GATE 2026?
A:

Most 1-mark questions carry 1 mark each, and 2-mark questions carry 2 marks each. Wrong attempts will  have negative marking.

Q: How much is the negative marking in GATE 2026?
A:

For 1-mark MCQs, ⅓ mark is deducted; for 2-mark MCQs, ⅔ mark is deducted. No negative marking for MSQ and NAT questions.

Q: What is the total marks and duration of GATE 2026?
A:

GATE 2026 will be for 100 marks with a duration of 3 hours.

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Questions related to GATE

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to GATE ?

Hello,

Other than the GATE exam, admission to MTech programs in Data Science/AI for 2026 includes university-specific entrance tests like VITMEE, BITS HD Entrance Test, and SRMJEEE PG, as well as state-level common entrance tests such as Karnataka PGCET and TS PGECET.

I hope it will clear your query!!

Hello

https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/gate-da-data-science-and-artificial-intelligence-question-papers

Just visit the link I am attaching below, so that it will help you to download and practice the papers, so that you can practice well and score well.

Hope it will help you!!!

Hello dear candidate,

You will not receive another rectification mail unless and until there is still an error in your reuploaded signature. if everything is okay your status will change to accepted on the GATE portal.

My advice is that you should keep checking your application status on the official website of GATE 2026.

Thank you.

Hello,

Visit the below website to download the previous 15 years question paper of GATE exam.

https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/last-15-years-gate-papers-solutions

You'll also get the solutions from it. These question papers will help you a lot in your preparation.

All the best.

This is likely a temporary portal or validation issue, not something you did wrong. When candidates try to change category from GEN to OBC-NCL during the GATE correction window, the system checks required fields and sometimes a supporting certificate or fee is needed. If any required data or document is missing, or the server is busy, the portal can show Something went wrong, please try again. Explain to them that first they should log into the GATE portal, open the Correction tab and confirm which fields are editable and whether a payment or document upload is required for category change. Tell them to clear browser cache or try a different browser/device and retry. If the error persists, advise contacting GATE support or the zonal office with a screenshot and timing of the error so officials can check server logs.