GATE Humanities & Social Sciences Exam Pattern 2026 (Out): Marking Scheme, Total Marks, Exam Duration

GATE Humanities & Social Sciences Exam Pattern 2026 (Out): Marking Scheme, Total Marks, Exam Duration

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Team Careers360Updated on 13 Oct 2025, 03:11 PM IST

GATE 2026 Humanities & Social Sciences Exam Pattern: Candidates can have the detailed GATE 2026 Humanities & Social Sciences exam pattern on this page. The conducting body has released the GATE 2026 Humanities & Social Sciences exam pattern with the brochure. The exam pattern consists of three sections in the GATE exam. These sections include General Aptitude, a compulsory paper, Reasoning and Comprehension (B1) and a third section in which candidates can choose from five optional subjects. The GATE 2026 exam will be conducted on February 7, 8, 14 and 15, 2026.

This Story also Contains

  1. GATE Humanities & Social Sciences Exam Pattern 2026
  2. GATE Humanities & Social Sciences Marking Scheme 2026
  3. GATE Humanities & Social Sciences Syllabus 2026
  4. GATE 2026 Humanities & Social Sciences Best Books
GATE Humanities & Social Sciences Exam Pattern 2026 (Out): Marking Scheme, Total Marks, Exam Duration
GATE Humanities & Social Sciences Exam Pattern

The GATE Exam Pattern for each subject, including GATE XH (Humanities and Social Sciences) will be available online. The GATE XH question paper will be structured according to the GATE 2026 XH syllabus. It is crucial for aspirants to familiarize themselves with the GATE XH exam pattern to effectively begin their exam preparation.

GATE Humanities & Social Sciences Exam Pattern 2026

IIT Guwahati released the exam pattern of GATE Humanities & Social Sciences 2026 on the official website. Candidates willing to appear for the exam are advised to check the GATE Humanities & Social Sciences 2026 exam pattern so that they are aware of the paper pattern in advance and hence can perform well in the examination.

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ParticularsDetails
Mode of ExaminationComputer Based Test
SectionsThere will be three sections—
Section 1- General Aptitude
Section 2—Reasoning and Comprehension (B1) (Compulsory)
Section 3- 1 Optional from:
  • Economics (C1)
  • English (C2)
  • Linguistics (C3)
  • Philosophy (C4)
  • Psychology (C5)
  • Sociology (C6)
Duration of Exam3 hours
Type of QuestionsMultiple Choice Questions, MSQs, and NATs
Total number of Questions65
Total Marks100 marks
Marking SchemeFor a wrong answer chosen in MCQs, there will be negative marking as follows:
For 1-mark MCQ, 1/3 mark will be deducted for a wrong answer.
For the 2-mark MCQ, the 2/3 mark will be deducted for a wrong answer.
There will be no negative marking for MSQs & NATs.

Related links:

GATE Humanities & Social Sciences Marking Scheme 2026

Before appearing for the exam, candidates must check the marking scheme of GATE Humanities & Social Sciences 2026 to avoid any sort of confusion during the exam. The GATE 2026 Humanities & Social Sciences exam pattern will consist of the marking scheme for all the papers. Knowing the detailed GATE Humanities & Social Sciences marking scheme 2026 helps candidates to analyse how many questions should be attempted, in how many questions should one take risk so that they do not miss the cutoff of GATE 2026.

GATE Previous Year Question Paper's
Download GATE previous year question papers to understand exam pattern and difficulty level. Practice with these papers to boost your preparation and improve your score.
Check Now
SubjectTotal No. of QuestionsMarks Allotted
General Aptitude1015
Reasoning and Comprehension (B1)
  • 1 Optional subject
5585 (25 + 60)
Total65100

GATE Humanities & Social Sciences Syllabus 2026

The syllabus consists of given sections

  • General Aptitude
  • Reasoning and Comprehension (B1)
  • 1 optional subject from C1 - C6
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Optional SubjectsPaper code
EconomicsC1
EnglishC2
Linguistics
C3
PhilosophyC4
Psychology
C5
SociologyC6

Candidates who wish to appear for the GATE Humanities & Social Sciences 2026 are advised to check the syllabus of GATE 2026. The GATE syllabus 2026 and exam pattern is available on the official website of GATE.

GATE 2026 Humanities & Social Sciences Best Books

Candidates can check the books listed below to prepare for the exam. Candidates should not follow the market trend; instead, they must buy the books that suit their needs at the moment.

Book TitleAuthor Name
Logical Reasoning Theory Book 2022 for GATE, ESE, MAT, SSC, BANK(PO), NDA, CDS, and other Competitive ExamsICE GATE Institute.
Aptitude & Reasoning for GATE and ESE 2022 (Prelims) – Theory, Practices Questions and Previous Year Solved PapersOnlineVerdan and Hemant Jain
GATE-2023 General AptitudeACE Engineering Publications
Microeconomics | Eighth EditionRobert Pindyck and Daniel Rubinfeld.
MacroeconomicsH. L. Ahuja.
Classical Indian Philosophy: A History of Philosophy Without Any GapsPeter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri
Cognitive Psychology: In and Out of the Laboratory.Kathleen M Galotti
Advanced Engineering MathematicsRK Jain, SRK Iyengar
Literary Theory: Introduction Pearson: From Structuralism to EcocriticismNayar
The Phonetics and Phonology of Contrast: The Case of the Romanian Vowel System (Phonology and Phonetics [PP] Book 19)Margaret E. L. Renwick.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: When is the GATE 2026 XH exam?
A:

The authority will conduct the GATE 2026 exam in online mode on February 7, 8, 14 and 15, 2026.

Q: How many sections will the GATE Humanities & Social Sciences question paper 2026 have?
A:

GATE 2026 question paper will consist of three sections - 

  • General Aptitude 

  • Reasoning and Comprehension (B1)

  • 5 optional subjects

Q: What will be the total duration of the GATE Humanities & Social Sciences 2026 exam?
A:

The total time duration of GATE Humanities & Social Sciences 2026 will be for 3 hours.

Q: Where can I check the syllabus for GATE Humanities & Social Sciences 2026?
A:

Candidates can check syllabus for GATE Humanities & Social Science 2026 on the official website.

Q: What is the syllabus for the 2026 GATE Humanities & Social Sciences exam?
A:

The syllabus consists of given sections: 

  • General Aptitude (GA)

  • Reasoning and Comprehension (B1)

  • 1 optional subject from C1 - C6:

    • Economics (C1)

    • English (C2)

    • Linguistics (C3)

    • Philosophy (C4)

    • Psychology (C5)

    • Sociology (C6)

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Questions related to GATE

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to GATE ?

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.

Hello,

The GATE 2026 Agricultural Engineering (AG) paper will have a total of 100 marks. Out of this, 15 marks are for General Aptitude and 85 marks are for core Agricultural Engineering subjects.

The marks are generally distributed among major topics like Engineering Mathematics (12–13 marks), Farm Machinery (10–11), Farm Power (14–15), Soil & Water Conservation (12–13), Irrigation & Drainage (10–12), Agricultural Process Engineering (10–12), and Dairy & Food Engineering (9–10 marks).

The official qualifying marks for GATE 2026 are not yet released. However, based on previous years, the cutoff for the Agricultural Engineering paper is expected to be around 25 marks for General, 22.5 for OBC/EWS, and 16.6 for SC/ST/PwD candidates.

Hope it helps !

Hello dear candidate,

No, you application of GATE 2026 will not get rejected.

Under scrutiny, rectification done means they have got your correction and are checking it. If everything matches your application will be accepted soon.

I hope you find thie helpful. Thank you.