Continuing our series on detailed GATE exam analysis from 2005 to 2015, we now present GATE Civil Engineering Exam. We hope this article provides you with some useful pointers for GATE (CE) Civil Engineering Exam 2016.
Every year, GATE committee conducts exam for Civil Engineering wherein student is tested for his core engineering knowledge. Several PSUs and Institutes take GATE scorecard as qualifying criteria for the jobs and admission respectively.
Analysis of GATE Civil Engineering Exam (2005-2015)
Civil Engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction and maintenance of the physically and naturally built environment including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, buildings.
This year, IISC Bangalore is conducting GATE 2016 between 30th Jan to 7th Feb on Saturdays & Sundays. The exam is in accordance with the pattern specified in the exam prospectus. The paper consists of 65 Questions with a maximum score of 100 marks.
The Question-wise breakup is as follows:
Name of the Section | Marks |
Engineering Mathematics | 15 |
General Aptitude ( Verbal & Non- Verbal Ability) | 15 |
Core Engineering Subjects | 70 |
Total Marks | 100 |
Subject wise weightage in GATE Civil Engineering Examination Paper
Based on previous year GATE CE papers, Geo-Technical, Environmental & Transportation Engineering, Fluid Mechanics are having weightage more than 50 marks. So prioritizing these subjects may get you more marks.
So prioritizing these subjects may get you more marks.
GATE Civil Engineering Exam Paper Analysis (2010-2015)
Name of the Subject | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
Geo-Technical Engineering | 17 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 10 | 15 |
Engineering Mathematics | 15 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 13 |
Environmental Engineering | 9 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
Transportation Engineering | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulics | 7 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
Concrete Structures | 5 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 6 |
Hydrology & Irrigation | 5 | 13 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 5 |
Mechanics | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
Structural Mechanics | 3 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 3 |
Steel Structures | 4 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 4 |
Surveying | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
General Aptitude (GA) | – | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |

GATE Civil Engineering Exam Paper Analysis (2005-2009)
Name of the Subject | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
Geo-Technical Engineering | 24 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 16 |
Engineering Mathematics | 16 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 15 |
Environmental Engineering | 20 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 14 |
Transportation Engineering | 14 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 6 |
Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulics | 17 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 7 |
Concrete Structures | 14 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 6 |
Hydrology & Irrigation | 14 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 7 |
Mechanics | 10 | 18 | 12 | 3 | 8 |
Structural Mechanics | 10 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 2 |
Steel Structures | 9 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
Surveying | 0 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 5 |
General Aptitude (GA) | – | – | – | – | – |
GATE requires students to be strong in fundamentals to do well and the same trend has been observed over the years.
GATE CE Exam 2016: Important Topics from each subject
The questions from these topics are frequently asked and hence, these topics are important in getting good score in GATE.
We will focus on the main topics to help civil engineers to develop their engineering skills for cracking GATE EXAM. The topics are:
Geo-Technical Engineering | Soil Mechanics (Consolidation, Permeability, Slope Stability, Index properties) Foundation Design,Concrete Technology |
Environmental Engineering | Quality standards,Domestic wastewater treatment, air pollution meteorology |
Transportation Engineering | Highway Engineering, Transportation Infrastructure,Geometric design of railway track |
Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulics | Fluid statics, Kinematics, Dynamics, Laminar-Turbulent Flow, Pipe Flow, Open Channel Flow Hydraulics |
Concrete Structures | Working stress, Limit state and Ultimate load design concepts; Design of beams, Bond and development length; Pre-stressed concrete |
Hydrology & Irrigation | Hydrologic cycle, ground water hydrology -steady state well hydraulics,Canal regulatory works, cross-drainage structures, |
Mechanics | System of forces, free-body diagrams,Euler’s equations of motion; |
Structural Mechanics | Statically determinate and indeterminate structures by force/ energy methods; Method of superposition; Analysis of trusses |
Steel Structures | Working stress and Limit state design concepts; Design of tension and compression members, Connections – simple and eccentric, Plastic analysis of beams and frames. |
Surveying | Basics of Geographical information system (GIS) and Geographical Positioning system (GPS). |
We recommend you focus more on the above mentioned topics to score better in GATE Exam 2016.
How to prepare for GATE Civil Engineering Exam 2017
Time management, familiarity with the computers and online test pattern definitely plays a role in the candidate’s success to some extent. So candidates are advised to enroll for some online test series or practice through mock tests.
S. No. | Name of the Book | Authors |
1. | Pre-stressed Concrete | Krishna Raju |
2. | Railway Engineering | Subhash and Satyapal |
3. | RCC Design | Krishna Raju and PC Verghese |
4. | Reinforced Concrete | Ashok K. Jain |
5. | Soil Mechanics | Gopal Ranjan & Rao, Venkat Ramaiha and S.K. Garg, B.C. Punamia and V.N.S. Murthy |
6. | Steel Design | Kazimi Zindal to improve concepts; L.S. Negi for numericals and S.K. Duggal for other topics. |
7. | Strength of Materials/ Mechanics of Structure | Gare & Timoshenko, E. Popove, L. Singer, B.C. Punamia and Rammamrutham |
8. | Theory of Elasticity | Timoshenko & Gere |
9. | Theory of Structure | CK Wang, S. Rammamrutham, L.S. Negi & Jangit, Wilbur & Norris |
10. | Transportation | Justo Khanna |
11. | Water Resources | S. K. Garg |
It is always advisable to start early when it comes to competitive examinations like GATE. If there are any queries regarding GATE Civil Engineering Exam Analysis, please mention in the comments section below.
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