Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an all India examination administered and conducted jointly by the Indian Institute of Science and seven Indian Institutes of Technology on behalf of the National Coordination Board - GATE, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India.The GATE committee, which comprises of representatives from the administering institutes, is the sole authority for regulating the examination and declaring the results.

Eligibility for GATE Examination 
The following categories of candidates are eligible to appear for GATE 2012:
  • Bachelor's degree holders in Engineering/Technology/ Architecture (4 years after 10+2) and those who are in the final year of such programmes.
  • Master's degree holders in any branch of Science/Mathematics/ Statistics/Computer Applications or equivalent and those who are in the final year of such programmes.
  • Candidates in the second or higher year of the Four-year Integrated Master's degree programme (Post-B.Sc.) in Engineering/Technology.
  • Candidates in the fourth or higher year of Five-year Integrated Master's degree programme or Dual Degree programme in Engineering/Technology.
  • Candidates with qualifications obtained through examinations conducted by professional societies recognized by UPSC/AICTE (e.g. AMIE by Institute of Engineers (India); AMICE by Institute of Civil Engineers (India)) as equivalent to B.E./B.Tech. Those who have completed section A or equivalent of such professional courses are also eligible.
  • Pre-final year students are not eligible to write GATE 2012.
Important Dates:


GATE Examination Schedule
GATE 2012 Examination will include both ONLINE and OFFLINE examinations as per the following schedule:


Gate Syllabus:
Code:
http://gate.iitd.ac.in/GATE/syllabi.php
GATE Score Card 
Details about the contents of GATE Scorecard will be made available in this website at an appropriate time. There is no provision for issue of Additional GATE scorecard.
The GATE 2012 Committee has the authority to decide the qualifying score for each GATE paper. In case any claim or dispute arises in respect of GATE 2012, it is hereby made absolutely clear that the Courts and Tribunals in New Delhi and New Delhi alone shall have the exclusive jurisdiction to entertain and settle any such dispute or claim.

What is New in GATE 2012?
Application Process: 
In GATE 2012, candidates need to register and fill the application ONLINE only by accessing the zonal GATE websites of IISc and seven IITs. The application process is complete only when a print out of the filled ONLINE application with the candidate's signature and a good quality photo affixed in the appropriate place is received by the respective GATE office along with necessary documents, if any, on or before 24 October 2011. Please note that sale of application forms through banks and GATE office counters has been discontinued.

Downloadable Admit Card: 
Sending Admit cards by post has been discontinued from this year. Admit cards can only be downloaded from the zonal GATE websites from 2nd January 2012. Bring the admit card to the test center along with at least one original (not photocopied / scanned copy) and valid (not expired) photo identification.

ONLINE examination in two additional papers: 
In GATE 2011, the papers with codes GG, TF, AE and MN had ONLINE examination. In GATE 2012, two additional papers, AR and AG, will also have ONLINE examination. The ONLINE examination will be conducted in two sessions on Sunday, January 29, 2012.

Forenoon session (09:00 hrs to 12:00 hrs): AR, GG and TF.
Afternoon session (14:00 hrs to 17:00 hrs): AE, AG and MN.

Numerical answer type questions in ONLINE papers: 
In the ONLINE papers (AE, AG, AR, GG, MN and TF), the question paper will consist of questions of multiple choice type and questions of numerical answer type. For multiple choice type questions, each question will have four choices for the answer. For numerical answer type questions, each question will have a number as the answer. The number of numerical answer type questions may vary between 5 and 10 in each question paper.

Pre-final year students: 
Pre-final year students are not eligible to write GATE 2012.

For more details visit the below link
Code:
http://gate.iitd.ac.in/GATE/index.php