GATE 2026 Normalisation Process: How Scores are calculated?

GATE 2026 Normalisation Process: How Scores are calculated?

Ongoing Event

GATE Application Date:28 Aug' 25 - 28 Sep' 25

Team Careers360Updated on 22 Aug 2025, 01:34 PM IST

GATE Normalisation Process: How Scores are Calculated - IIT Guwhati has released the details of the GATE 2026 Normalisation process on the official website, gate2026.iitg.ac.in. Candidates can check the GATE Normalisation process on this page. The GATE exam is a national-level exam conducted by the Indian Institute of Science and seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) on behalf of the National Coordination Board (NCB)-GATE, under Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India. The exam evaluates the aptitude of engineering and science graduates in various subjects for admission to postgraduate programs like M.E, M.Tech, MS, and direct Ph.D. programs in IITs, NITs, and other institutions across India.

This Story also Contains

  1. GATE Marks Vs Score
  2. How GATE Normalised Scores are Calculated?
  3. GATE Score Card 2026
GATE 2026 Normalisation Process: How Scores are calculated?
GATE 2026 Normalisation Process

Since the exam is conducted in multiple sessions across various centres, normalisation is used to ensure that the scores of candidates are comparable across different sessions. The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) normalisation marks calculator takes into account the relative performance of all the candidates who appeared for the GATE 2026 exam in that particular session. The scores obtained by the candidates are then normalised based on the mean and standard deviation of the raw scores in their respective sessions. This helps to account for any variations in the difficulty level of the different sets of question papers and ensures a fair evaluation of the candidates' performance. To know more information about how to calculate gate score from marks read the entire article.

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GATE Marks Vs Score

The candidates seeking how GATE score is calculated out of 1000, must know GATE score of a candidate is obtained using a formula out of 1000 while the marks of a candidate is the actual number secured by a candidate in the exam out of 100. The GATE result of qualified candidates indicates both GATE score and marks obtained by candidates. GATE 2026 scores are used by institutes to offer admission in PG engineering courses and also by Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) for shortlisting candidates to offer employment.

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How GATE Normalised Scores are Calculated?

The GATE conducting institute uses formulas for converting the marks of candidates to scores. Since some papers are conducted in multiple sessions, to arrive at a normalized score for these multiple-session papers, a suitable normalization formula is applied to take into account any variation in the difficulty levels of the question papers across different sessions.

The normalization is done based on the fundamental assumption that "in all multi-session GATE papers, the distribution of abilities of candidates is the same across all the sessions". This assumption is justified since the number of candidates appearing in multi-session papers in GATE is large and the procedure for allocation of sessions to candidates is random.

Further, it is also ensured that for the same multi-session paper, the number of candidates allotted in each session is of the same order of magnitude. Hence, the following GATE normalized marks calculator formula is used to calculate the GATE normalized score,

GATE Normalisation Formula

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How GATE scores are calculated

For all papers for which there is only one session, actual marks obtained by the candidates are used for calculating the GATE Score. For papers in multi-sessions, normalized marks are used for calculating the GATE score. The following formula is used to calculate the GATE exam score.

GATE Score Calculation Formula

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In GATE 2026, the qualifying marks (?q) for the general category candidate in each subject will be Qualifying marks for GENERAL category =max(25, min(40, ?? + ??))

where ?? is the mean and ?? is the standard deviation of marks of all the candidates who appeared for the test paper.

The qualifying marks for other categories may be calculated as per the standard ratio:

Qualifying marks for OBC-NCL/EWS categories = (9/10) × Qualifying marks for GENERAL category

Qualifying marks for SC/ST/PwD categories = (2/3) × Qualifying marks for GENERAL category

GATE Score Card 2026

Candidates who will qualify in the GATE exam 2026 by securing a minimum score will be issued the GATE 2026 score card. Students will be able to download their GATE 2026 scorecard on its official website. GATE 2026 scorecard is the official document confirming the qualification of candidates in the exam. GATE score card 2026 is used while applying for M.Tech admission or in PSU recruitment through GATE.

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Questions related to GATE

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to GATE ?

To take GATE mock tests, first choose a reliable source like GATE official portal, NPTEL, Made Easy, or ACE Engineering. Sign up or register online to access the full-length tests. Simulate the actual 3-hour exam with proper timing and no distractions. Attempt complete tests to practice time management and exam strategy. After each test, analyze your performance to identify weak areas and revise. Regularly taking 1–2 mocks per week helps improve speed, accuracy, and confidence.



For GATE Life Sciences question banks, you can go for GATE past year's papers to understand the exam style, and you can buy online test series from a coaching site for lots of new practice questions.

you can get question book one from publishers like IFAS or GKP. Also use free online resources like NPTEL and EasyBiologyClass for extra practice and study materials. Good luck!

Here are GATE exam aptitude topics from high to low weightage:

1. English Comprehension & Vocabulary

2.Numerical Ability and Arithmetic

3.Logical Reasoning & Analytical Ability

4.Data Interpretation

5.Geometry & Mensuration basic

6.Algebra basic

7.Probability and Statistics

8.General Knowledge and Miscellaneous Verbal like  odd one out, analogy, word usage.


If you are needed to prepare for gate exam from ece batch there 65 questions in exam pattern total marks is 100 here 15% is aptitude general questions then 15% mathematics engineering questions , 70% core subjects you need to concentrate on more core related subject like controls system , signals and system , digital circut these topics covers most of the basics but you need to prepare more topics in core subjects and create a structure plan for yourself dialy attend mock test with time duration these steps will help to prepare very easily.