IIT Roorkee (2025)
GATE CS Syllabus 2025
Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering — Computer Science
GATE CS 2025 covers core Computer Science Engineering subjects. Unlike JEE/NEET, GATE has a General Aptitude section mandatory for all streams. CS has the highest number of applicants among all GATE papers.
Key Highlights
- 65 questions: 10 GA + 55 subject-specific
- Duration: 3 hours
- Marking: 1-mark and 2-mark questions; -1/3 and -2/3 negative marking
- Score valid for 3 years for PSU recruitment and M.Tech admissions
- One attempt per year
Topic-by-Topic Breakdown
Engineering Mathematics
- Discrete Mathematics: Propositional and first order logic, sets, relations, functions
- Graph Theory: Connectivity, matching, colouring
- Combinatorics: Counting, recurrences, generating functions
- Linear Algebra: Matrices, determinants, eigenvalues
- Calculus: Limits, continuity, differentiation, integration
- Probability and Statistics
Digital Logic
- Boolean algebra, minimization of Boolean functions
- Logic gates, combinational and sequential circuits
- Computer arithmetic
Computer Organization and Architecture
- Machine instructions and addressing modes
- ALU, data-path and control unit
- Instruction pipelining, pipeline hazards
- Memory hierarchy: cache, main memory, secondary storage
- I/O interface
Programming and Data Structures
- C programming: recursion, pointers, arrays, structures
- Abstract data types: stack, queue, linked list, trees, heaps, graphs
- Sorting and searching algorithms
- Hashing
Algorithms
- Asymptotic worst case analysis, recurrences
- Greedy algorithms, Dynamic programming
- Divide and conquer algorithms
- Graph search and shortest path algorithms
- Minimum spanning tree algorithms
- NP-completeness
Theory of Computation
- Regular expressions and finite automata
- Context-free grammars and pushdown automata
- Regular and context-free languages
- Turing machines and undecidability
Compiler Design
- Lexical analysis, parsing, syntax-directed translation
- Runtime environments, intermediate code generation
Operating System
- System calls, processes and threads, inter-process communication
- Concurrency and synchronisation
- Deadlock, CPU and I/O scheduling
- Memory management and virtual memory
- File systems
Databases
- ER-model, relational model
- Integrity constraints, normal forms
- File organisation, indexing (B and B+ trees)
- Transactions and concurrency control
- SQL
Computer Networks
- OSI and TCP/IP layers, switching
- IPv4/IPv6, routing algorithms
- TCP/UDP, congestion control
- Application layer protocols: DNS, SMTP, POP, FTP, HTTP
General Aptitude
- Verbal aptitude: reading comprehension, English grammar, analogies
- Quantitative aptitude: numerical computation, data interpretation
- Analytical aptitude: logic, graph reading
- Spatial aptitude
High-Priority Topics
- Algorithms + Data Structures (combined ~25% weight)
- Operating Systems
- Databases and SQL
- Theory of Computation
- Computer Networks
- Engineering Mathematics (Discrete Maths + Linear Algebra)
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