GATE XL Cut Off 2026: IIT Guwahati will release the GATE 2026 cutoff for XL on the official website, gate2026.iitg.ac.in . Meanwhile, aspirants can check this page for the expected GATE Life Sciences cutoff. Based on the previous year’s GATE cutoff data, the XL branch is expected to have a cutoff percentile of 30 to 33, for general category. Last year, the GATE qualifying marks for Life Sciences was 31.3 for the general, 20.1 for the SC/ST branch and 28.1 for the OBC. The GATE cutoff percentile for XL might be different this year, since it is entirely based on the difficulty level of the exam and the number of participants. It is the minimum score that candidates need to get to clear the exam. The GATE exam 2026 for XL was held on February 7.
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Also, check the GATE score predictor to find out the best GATE colleges based on the exam scores. Read the article below to find the completed details on the GATE XL cutoff 2026.
Candidates can speculate on the expected cutoff for the GATE 2026 exam based on the latest trends. Knowing the expected cutoff trends will help candidates plan exam preparation and set a realistic exam score. It will help students to estimate their admission chances in top GATE accepting institute or recruitment in Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). Check below the expected GATE Cutoff 2026 for the Life Sciences paper in different categories as provided the GATE result:
Category | Expected GATE Cutoff |
GEN | 36.3 |
OBC-NCL/EWS | 32.6 |
SC/ST | 24.1 |
Students must be aware that raw marks don’t reflect the relative performance due to the normalisation process in every exam session. Therefore, candidates must check the GATE marks vs ranks to finalise their GATE performance. Here, the expected GATE marks vs raks has been calculated based on the latest trends.
Rank | GATE Score (Out Of 100) |
1-10 | 85-90 |
10-50 | 82-87 |
50-100 | 80-85 |
100-200 | 78-83 |
200-500 | 76-81 |
500-1000 | 74-79 |
1000-2000 | 72-77 |
2000-5000 | 70-75 |
5000-10000 | 60-65 |
To have a better understanding of the upcoming GATE XL cutoff, candidates can check out the previous year’s cutoff trends. The cutoff trends vary across the different categories. Tabulated below are the GATE cutoff percentiles for the life sciences paper from 2022 to 2025.
GATE Exam Year | Qualifying Marks for GATE Life Sciences (XL paper) | ||
Cut-off (GEN) | Cut-off (OBC-NCL/EWS) | Cut-off (SC/ST/PwD) | |
2025 | 31.3 | 28.1 | 20.8 |
2024 | 29.3 | 26.3 | 19.5 |
2023 | 32.9 | 29.6 | 21.9 3 |
2022 | 33.9 | 30.5 | 22.5 |
Candidates can check the toppers' raw marks out of 100 vs their scores out of 1000 in the GATE Life Sciences paper.
Test Paper Year | Name of the Candidate | Raw Marks (out of 100) | GATE Score (out of 1000) |
2025 | YUGANSH BHATIA | 78.67 | 1000 |
2024 | SIDDHANT BHARDWAJ | 77.33 | 1000 |
2023 | ADVITA SHARMA | 73.33 | 1000 |
2021 | SOURANKUR CHAKRABARTI | 74.33 | 983 |
The exam authority calculates the candidate's GATE raw score by using the normalisation formula. The normalisations of marks are done across all the exam sessions with the idea in mind that candidates' abilities are distributed equally in all exam sessions. This allows exam authorities to maintain fairness while calculating scores of each session. Check below the formulas for calculating the actual GATE scores and the normalised GATE score.


To calculate their GATE cutoff, candidates must have an overall idea of the GATE marking scheme. Check the table for the marking scheme process.
Question Type | Marks | Negative Marking |
Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) | 1 marks | For a 1-mark MCQ, 1/3 mark will be deducted for a wrong answer. |
Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) | 2 marks | For a 2-mark MCQ, 2/3 marks will be deducted for a wrong answer. |
Multiple Select Question (MSQ) | 1 or 2 marks | There is no negative marking for wrong answer(s) to MSQ or NAT questions. |
Number Answer Type (NAT) |
Candidates must note that the GATE cutoff trends is not consistent every year. There are many factors in play the affects the GATE cutoff. Find below the pointer affecting the GATE XL cutoff.
Exam Difficulty Level
Candidates can expect the GATE cutoff to be low if the paper is difficult and the GATE cutoff to be higher if the exam paper is easy.
Number of GATE participants
The total number of students participating in the GATE exam also affects the GATE cutoff trends. If there is higher registration for the GATE exam, the cutoff rises, and competition also increases.
Candidate Performance
The GATE cutoff trends will shift dynamically based on candidates' performance in the GATE exam. Note that if the overall performance of the candidates is higher thet GATE cutoff will rise, and if the performance drops, the cutoff trend also falls.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The expected GATE XL cutof 2026 is 30 to 33 for the general category.
The final GATE XL cutoff will be released after the exam.
The GATE Life Sciences paper was held on February 7, 2026.
On Question asked by student community
Hi,
Your scholarship eligibility depends on whether your GATE 2026 score meets the General category qualifying cutoff. If your category could not be changed after the correction window, then you are usually treated as a General category candidate during admission and scholarship processing.
Generally:
• If your score is equal
Hi,
With a GATE score of 426, you do have a chance of getting MTech Data Science in some NITs , especially through later counselling rounds or in comparatively less competitive NITs. For top NITs, though, Data Science seats can still be quite competitive since it is a popular specialisation.
Hello Bhaskar
You can check you Admission chances from the link given below:
https://engineering.careers360.com/gate-college-predictor
Hope it helps.
Hello, yes, you can apply for some PSU jobs through your GATE EEE score even if you are studying ECE, but it depends on the eligibility criteria of each PSU recruitment. Some PSUs allow both ECE and EEE candidates for certain posts.
You can check the latest PSU recruitment updates
Check the syllabus first - https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/gate-data-science-and-ai-syllabus . Understand where you stand with your knowledge. Check out any past question papers for this and see the question types.
Start preparing on those lines, take up free mock tests and series. There are plenty available on reddit and telegram and other social
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