The Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineer (GATE), 2022 is being conducted by IIT Kharagpur for various engineering and science streams. The exam started on February 5 and will continue till tomorrow, i.e. February 13, 2022.
The Civil Engineering (CE1) examination was conducted in the forenoon shift from 9 am to 12 pm. The CE2 paper is scheduled to be held in the afternoon session from 2:30 to 5:30 pm. The level of complexity for both the papers is said to be from intermediate to low, with some questions testing the theoretical concepts of the students.
The question paper is comprised of 65 questions and the total mark is 100. According to the reports, the overall difficulty measure of the CE exam was moderate, with some tricky questions. Geotechnical and Environmental Engineering held the most weightage with 11 marks questions from each topic. There were 7 Multiple Select Questions (MSQ), 35 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ), and 23 Numerical Ability (NAT) Questions. The emphasis was on calculation and mathematics, and questions asked from the ‘General Aptitude’ and ‘Mathematics’ were of high difficulty level. There were eight 1-marked questions and nineteen 2-marked questions. An unexpected question from ‘Highway Engineering’ was prompted but was relatively easy. The topic of ‘SOM modular ratio’ had one question from it. In the first session, the difficulty level of the paper was overall moderate.
The paper was highly numerical, though GA and Maths sections were relatively easy. There were only 1 or 2 MCQs, more emphasis was on NATs and MCQs. Questions were more concept-based. MCQs were mostly related to theoretical knowledge.
The decreasing order of subject wise percentage weightage of the CE syllabus is as follows:
- General Aptitude (15%),
- Engineering Mathematics (14%),
- Environmental Engineering (12%),
- Geotechnical Engineering (11%),
- Transportation (11%),
- Fluid Mechanics OCF (8%),
- Structural Analysis (8%),
- Mechanics of Material (5%),
- Reinforced Concrete Cement (3%),
- Irrigation and Hydrology (3%),
- Surveying (3%),
- Steel Structure (3%),
- CMM (3%),
- Engineering Mechanics (1%)
In total, questions from the civil engineering subjects were 45, and the total no. Of marks from the section were 72. The official answer key and the question paper (in the pdf format) of GATE CE 2022 will be tentatively released by IIT Kharagpur on February 21, 2022. Meanwhile, unofficial answer keys have been released by several educators and exam experts.
Click to check GATE CE1 2022 answer keys
The expected cut-off is expected to be between 27 to 29 marks. The cut-off for the previous year i.e. 2020 was 32.9 for general candidates, 29.6 for OBC, and 21.9 for SC/ST/PH students. The cut-off for the GATE CE exam is expected to be published on March 17, 2022. The candidates who qualify can go for Master’s in Civil Engineering or they can be recruited to Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) organizations.