GATE 2014: All Streams of GATE will be conducted Online
Till 2013, GATE exam for popular streams was conducted in pen and paper method. But from 2014, all streams of GATE will be conducted in online methods. Most public sector undertakings are recruiting candidates based on GATE score which increased the number of candidates appearing for GATE.
Mumbai: All streams of GATE 2014 exams will be computer based exams. Since previous year, the streams for which only few candidates were writing the exam were conducted in online method. There were around 15 subjects for which online tests were conducts. But from this year, exam for all the 22 streams including the Ecology and Evolution subject that is just introduced, computer based exam will be conducted. It is expected that nearly one and half lakh will appear for GATE 2014 from Andhra Pradesh.
GATE is being conducted since a very long time, number of students who were appearing for the exam was less. Thus GATE score was only useful for admission into IIT and NITs for MTech or PhD. Since the last two years, public sector undertakings are calling candidates for interviews based on GATE score which increased the number of GATE applicants. In the year 2012, 6.86 lakh appeared for the exam and in 2013, 9.84 lakh candidates wrote GATE. Among these 13.8 percent candidates qualified. Fourteen public sector undertakings already made agreement with IIT, Kharagpur to recruit students based on GATE score. Among these theare are BHEL, Visakha Steel, NTPC, GAIL, BARC, Bharat Petroleum and Power Grid. More PSUs are expected to tie up with IITs to recruit candidates with GATE as the criteria.
General category candidates who scored below 400 ranks will only be called for the interview. Since most of the people are giving importance to job security, demand for PSU jobs increased. Starting salary in PSUs ranges from Rs. 6.5 lakhs to Rs. 12 lakhs per annum. It is expected that more than 11 lakh will appear for GATE 2014.
GATE exams for popular streams such as computer science, electrical, electronics, products and industrial and instrumentation and mechanical were conducted in pen and paper method. But from 2014, all the papers will be conducted online. IIT Kharagpur is conducting the exam.