For GATE Electrical Engineering (EE) aspirants, previous-year papers are one of the most useful ways to understand how questions are distributed across the syllabus. An analysis of the 2024, 2025 and 2026 GATE EE question papers shows that the weightage of individual subjects can change significantly from one year to another.
The GATE paper carries 100 marks, including 15 marks for General Aptitude and 85 marks for the selected subject. For EE, the 85-mark subject component includes Engineering Mathematics.
The following distribution is based on counting the questions in the 2024, 2025 and 2026 question paper and assigning each question to the closest GATE syllabus section.
| Topic | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 3-year average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering Mathematics | 13 | 13 | 18 | 14.7 |
| Power Systems | 10 | 9 | 12 | 10.3 |
| Power Electronics | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| Electrical Machines | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8.7 |
| Analog & Digital Electronics | 9 | 10 | 7 | 8.7 |
| Signals & Systems | 11 | 9 | 4 | 8 |
| Control Systems | 9 | 9 | 6 | 8 |
| Electric Circuits | 7 | 4 | 12 | 7.7 |
| Electromagnetic Fields | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5.7 |
| Measurements | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3.3 |
What does the three-year trend show?
Engineering Mathematics emerges as the largest block in the three-paper analysis, averaging about 14.7 marks. Power Systems and Power Electronics follow with averages of around 10 marks each.
Electrical Machines remained comparatively consistent, carrying 8–9 marks across the three papers. This makes it one of the more stable sections in the analysis.
However, the year-to-year variation is important. Electric Circuits increased from 4 marks in 2025 to 12 marks in 2026, while Signals and Systems fell from 11 marks in 2024 to 4 marks in 2026.
Topics that reappeared across the three papers
Some concepts appeared repeatedly in different forms:
Economic Load Dispatch — Power Systems
Buck/Boost and converter-based problems — Power Electronics
State-space analysis — Control Systems
Load-flow and bus-related problems — Power Systems
Wheatstone bridge/measurement concepts — Measurements
The 2026 paper, for example, included questions on Z-transform, sampling, power-system load flow, transformers, induction machines, converters, state-space analysis and economic load dispatch.
The three-year trend suggests that no major EE section can safely be ignored. A subject that carries fewer marks in one year can become significantly heavier the next year.
A practical approach is to first complete the entire syllabus, then give additional practice to Engineering Mathematics, Power Systems, Power Electronics, Electrical Machines, Analogue & Digital Electronics, Signals and Control. At the same time, students should use PYQs to identify recurring concepts rather than preparing only according to a predicted weightage.
The official GATE syllabus covers all these sections, including circuits, electromagnetic fields, signals, machines and power systems.