GATE 2015 Paper Analysis for Electrical Engineering Exam by 2014 Topper

By Ankit Goyal

GATE 2015 Electrical Engineering(EE) exam was conducted on February 7, 2015 by IIT Kanpur. The exam was conducted in two sessions - one on 7th morning and the other on 7th evening. The general observation about the paper was that the level of paper was a bit more difficult than last year. So, the cut-off is expected to be a bit lower than last year and the ranks at same marks as last year are expected to be better.

GATE 2015 exam concluded on Feb 8, 2015. The exam commenced on Jan 31 and was further conducted till February 14, 2015 (January 31, 1, 7 and 8 February). According to the official website of GATE2015, the exam result is expected to be declared on March 12, 2015 at 5:00 pm.

Check GATE 2015 Analysis for Mechanical, Computer Science, Instrumentation Engineering here!

Here is an analysis on the level of each paper:

Paper-1

This paper had even distribution of Numerical Aptitude and Verbal Aptitude in the Aptitude Section. The questions except were one or two were of standard level. So it was expected that a student can secure 8-10 marks easily in this section. 

In 1 mark Technical Section 15 questions at-least were straight forward and rest of the questions were either lengthy or non-trivial. Basic understanding was required to attempt core questions as mostly the language had to be decoded and once that was done question was straight forward. The surprising thing to me was that there were a few straight forward theory questions and that too from the topics which most students neglect.

In 2 marks Technical Section 20 questions were based on straight concepts but many might have committed errors due to exam pressure or not reading the question properly. Machines had mostly DC Machines which had questions that looked tough on the outlook but once you go through the question statement the solution was easy. The level of Power Systems was a bit difficult as questions were mostly thinking based and non-trivial. What I felt while solving the paper was that there were some questions that were out of my league also (cannot say about you guys) so those questions even I would have probably left.

The paper was balanced among different subjects as you can see the pie-chart below so core subjects were not as dominant as they were expected to be. But definitely core had some of the most amazing questions that I have come across.

Session-1 Subject-wise Weightage

Session-2 Subject-wise Weightage

Paper-2

This paper also had even distribution of Numerical and Verbal Ability but some questions in this section were really outstanding. Still I believe if carefully attempted 8-10 marks can be scored in this section.

In 1 mark Technical Section 15 questions were very basic and required a straight and calm head. the other questions did involve some tricks or were based on the concepts that students mostly leave. Like I felt the questions based on Electric and Magnetic Fields required understanding of the concepts studied in 12th and many graduate students do forget those concepts. So they might have left those questions. But most of the questions tested the very basic understanding of the concepts that students mostly lack in lieu of solving more formula based questions. Machines had mostly DC Machines questions which could be done if you read the question carefully and did not have any hidden tricks in them.

In 2 mark Technical Section again 20 questions were very basic and could be done if you do it carefully and devote proper time to them. Again I liked the questions from Electric and Magnetic Fields here and one or two question were like that did not click even which chapter they were from. So I must say IIT Kanpur did keep the level of GATE exam pretty good and did not fall into mediocrity of formula based questions. An unusual thing that I noticed was the dominance of DC Machines in the paper though it is not the case mostly. 

Overall, the two papers were very balanced and were identical in terms of level. But second paper had more tricky problems but first one had some problems that most of the students would leave directly. The trick to doing well in the exam would have been to attempt the exam with a calm mind and trying to at least go through the entire paper once because questions are in a different pattern for each student and you never know that easiest question may be at last. But definitely the paper was better than last year so even if you guys have not performed as per your expectations do not lose hope yet.