GATE 2026 Normalisation Process: How Scores are calculated?

GATE 2026 Normalisation Process: How Scores are calculated?

Team Careers360Updated on 25 Nov 2025, 12:36 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

GATE_2026_Normalisation_Formula

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

GATE_Score_Calucation_Formula

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.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Which IIT will set the GATE in 2026?
A:

IIT Guwahati will conduct the GATE 2026 exam.

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Questions related to GATE

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to GATE ?

Hello,

The link to the question paper is attached here. You can also find the answer key that will help you analyse your in-depth performance. Careers360 provides students with preparation tips that will help them utilise their time effectively in preparartion.

https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/gate-metallurgical-question-papers

Thank you

Hello,

Yes, you can get admission in M.Tech CSE without GATE .

  1. Through university entrance exams
    Many universities conduct their own M.Tech entrance exams. You have to qualify the test and sometimes attend an interview.

  2. Through JET for M.Tech
    JET (JAIN Entrance Test) is conducted by Jain University.
    It is

Hii

No  you cannot get admission to IIT for M Tech if your B Tech is not completed at the time of admission, even if you clear the GATE cutoff but Yes, you can appear for GATE 2028 in your 3rd year of B Tech even if your degree is

Hello,

The link to the question paper is attached here. You can access the question papers along with the answer key on the careers360 website. Careers360 also provides students with preparation tips that will help them in preparing and the mock test and analyse their in-depth performance.

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

Thank you.