GATE 2011 Notification, Eligibility & Forms

GATE-2011 Notification just came out yesterday and the dates exactly tallied with what I had forecasted about the same through the exam date-trend analysis in my previous blog post titled: GATE-2011 Exam Date Notification on 13th June, 2010. In that same blog article, I have even forecasted GATE 2012 exam date to be on 12th February, 2012! Let us see whether even that comes correct.

This blog post is being made to sum up the GATE-2011 notification and also to tell you how to apply for the same along with the required GATE eligibilities. Click here to download the GATE-2011 Notification-cum- Information Brochure in pdf format.

GATE-2011 Important dates:
Offline Form issue/Online form submission starts: 21/09/2010(Tue)

Last date of Issue of application forms:
From bank counters: 27/10/2010 (Wed)
From GATE office counters: 29/10/2010 (Fri)

Last date of submission of forms:
Online Submission (website closure): 27/10/2010 (Wed).
Receipt of completed Offline/Online Application Form at respective zonal GATE Office: 02/11/2001 (Tue)

Last date for change of examination city with fee: 31/12/2010 (Fri)
Last date for receipt of GATE Admit cards by candidates: 20/01/2011 (Online) & 31/01/2011 (Offline).

Date of GATE-2011 exam:
Online GATE exam for GG & TF paper: 30/01/2011 (Sun) 09.00 hrs–12.00 hrs.
Online GATE exam for AE & MN paper: 30/01/2011 (Sun) 14.00 hrs–17.00 hrs.
Offline GATE exam for AR, BT, CE, CH, CS, ME, PH & PI: 13/02/2011 (Sun) 09.00 hrs–12.00 hrs.
Offline GATE exam for AG, CY, EC, EE, IN, MA, MT, XE & XL : 13/02/2011 (Sun) 14.00 hrs–17.00 hrs.

Date of GATE-2010 exam result: 15/03/2011 (Tue)

GATE-2011 Eligibility:
Before applying for GATE-exam, you should check if you meet the GATE eligibility as given below:
a) Bachelor’s degree holders in Engineering/Technology/Architecture (4 years after 10+2) and those who are in the final or pre-final year of such programmes.
b) Master’s degree holders in any branch of Science/Mathematics/Statistics/Computer Applications or equivalent and those who are in the final or pre-final year of such programmes.
c) Candidates in the second or higher year of the Four-year Integrated Master’s degree programme (Post-B.Sc.) in Engineering/Technology or in the third or higher year of Five-year Integrated Master’s degree programme and Dual Degree programme in Engineering/Technology.
d) Candidates with qualifications obtained through examinations conducted by professional societies recognized by UPSC/AICTE (e.g. AMIE by IE(I), AMICE(I) by the Institute of Civil Engineers (India)-ICE(I)) as equivalent to B.E./B.Tech. Those who have completed section A or equivalent of such professional courses are also eligible.

GATE-2011 Fee:
Offline application fee: Rs. 1000 for General/OBC and Rs. 500 for others,
Online GATE application fee: Rs. 800 for General/OBC and Rs. 400 for others.

GATE-2011 Forms - How to apply:
There are two ways to apply for GATE exams: Online & Offline.

Offline GATE application process:
You can procure the GATE Offline forms from two sources:
1.0 From Zonal GATE Offices.
2.0 From GATE designated banks.
Click on above links to know how to apply offline for GATE-2011 in detail.

Online GATE application process:
An elaborate blog post titled "GATE 2011 Online Application Form: How to apply" would be made post 21st September, 2010 when the online GATE 2011 form becomes available. May be you would love to visit the same.

Which is the best way of applying for GATE exam – online or offline?
My personal opinion is online application. Why?
1.0 You can apply comfortably from anywhere till 27/10/2010.
2.0 Online application fee is Rs. 800/= for General/OBC and Rs.400/= for others while Offline application fee is Rs. 1000/= for General/OBC and Rs.500/= for others. Money matters, is not it?
3.0 There is least chance of your application data getting wrong, as you fill the data yourself in the GATE database. While when you apply offline in the OCR page, there are chances that OCR-software (used to read the OCR page) may interpret the data wrongly!