GATE 2026 Paper Analysis for CE by APSEd - Check Here

GATE 2026 Civil Engineering Paper Analysis by APSEd

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati will conduct the GATE 2026 Civil Engineering (CE) exam in two sessions. The forenoon session is scheduled from 09:30 AM to 12:30 PM, while the afternoon session will take place from 03:00 PM to 06:00 PM.

Previous Year GATE Civil Engineering

Candidates can check the previous year civil engineering for GATE exam below.

GATE 2022 Civil Engineering Forenoon Session

GATE 2021 Civil Engineering Paper Analysis by APSEd

APSEd has analysed the GATE 2021 paper. The key highlights of the CE papers are-

• Both the forenoon and afternoon papers were more of concepts. The numerical part was more but those were completely conceptual.

• Multiple select questions(MSQ) was a newly added question type in GATE 2021. But. in both the papers, they asked 2 to 3 multiple select questions. MSQs were of ESE standards and not at all lengthy. These questions were of 'are Correct' and 'are Not Correct' types.

• There were more NATs as compared to the previous year. On average 16 NATs were asked in the exam.

• Structural analysis, SOM, MOM and Steel Structures questions were a bit lengthy and tricky in both papers. The students who solved these questions will have a high chance to score higher, as other subjects' questions can be solved by anyone.

• GATE 2021 taught us one important thing we can not ignore any subject. This time they asked 4 to 5 questions from construction technology. This was not at all expected, keeping an eye on the previous years' papers.

• The difficulty level of both papers was more or less the same as last year's paper. But, unlike the previous year papers, the one and two-mark questions were mixed and jumbled. This is a new trend observed in GATE 2021.

GATE 2021 CE Paper 1 Vs Paper 2

Overall, both the GATE 2021 CE papers were moderate. And taking the students' opinions on paper 2 was relatively lengthy, so time time-consuming as compared to paper 1.

• Surveying questions were easy in both papers. They also asked one MSQ from surveying in paper 1 based on fore and back bearing. These questions were below standard.

• Geotechnical engineering and environmental engineering questions were easier on paper 2 than in paper 1.

• In both the papers, 4-5 construction materials and management(building materials inclusive) questions were asked. Every year they used to ask a maximum of 2 questions from this subject. So, this time the trend was lost. We can never ignore a subject in GATE, they change the trend every year. The question on 'network system', asked in paper 1 was not easy.

• Transportation engineering questions were easy, these were even easier than the previous year papers.

• RCC questions were balanced in both papers. In both the papers, there was no one-mark question. There were 2, two marks questions in both papers. Out of these two, one was damn easy, and the other was a standard one.

• In paper 1 there were no questions from hydrology and there were 1-2 questions from irrigation. Whereas in paper 2, there were questions from infiltration, phi-index, hydrographs, duty and delta.

• Structural analysis and steel were lengthy in paper 2 as compared to paper 1.

GATE 2021 CE Analysis by APSEd- Subject-wise Weightage

Environmental carried the most weightage in paper 1 and Geotech carried the most weightage in paper 2 out of the CE subjects. Around 12% of the total questions were asked from environmental engineering. Transportation was next to this, in both the papers around 7 questions were asked from the same.

Transportation and Geotechnical engineering carried around the same weightage in this paper. The least number of the questions was asked from Steel Structures, Surveying and Hydrology Irrigation. Construction materials, management and build materials saw a sudden rise in weightage this year.

Geotechnicals carried the most weightage in paper 2 after general aptitude and engineering mathematics. Around 14% of the total questions were asked from Geotechnical engineering in this paper. Transportation and Surveying combinedly carried the same weightage as Geotechnical engineering.

The least number of the questions were asked from Steel Structures, Surveying and Fluid Mechanics in paper 2. There were comparatively more questions on building materials and construction technology in this paper.

The inner donut chart represents paper 1 whereas the outer represents paper 2.

GATE 2026 CE Cutoff

Based on the paper analysis, and the previous year's GATE paper, experts at APSEd have predicted the cut-off for GATE Civil Engineering. Considering the cutoff trends of previous years and based on normalisation, the predicted cutoff for OC may vary from 29.2 marks, for OBC it may vary from 26.2 marks and for the SC/ST category it may vary from 19.4 marks.

One thing to notice, there is a new category EWS. For this category, the cutoff will remain the same as the Open Category(General), as quoted by IIT Bombay.

Disclaimer: The highlights, paper analysis, subject weightage and cutoff are memory-based and based on students who appeared for GATE 2026.