GATE 2026 Books: Check Top-Rated GATE books for CS, ME, DA, EE, CE and more

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering 2025 ( GATE )

DeskCalelnderRegistration - 28 Aug '25 - 6 Oct '25

UPASANA PRADHAN
Updated on Sep 30, 2025 12:16 IST

By UPASANA PRADHAN, Assistant Manager- Editorial

GATE 2026 Books: IIT Guwahati is all set to start the GATE 2026 exam, and one thing we all can agree on is that a well GATE 2026 preparation comes with good books. The GATE 2026 exam dates are February 7, 8, 14, and 15, 2026.  Choosing the right GATE 2026 books for this year's preparation can save a lot of time, reduce confusion, and help you stay focused. Preparing for GATE 2026 demands more than just classroom knowledge- which is strategic approach, concept clarity, and consistent practice.

Candidates can check here the best available books for the GATE 2026 Exam. For smoother and more conceptualised preparation, referring to a standard and reference book is always advisable, followed by the previous year's question paper. Read below for more.

Latest Updates: GATE 2026 application form last date extended to October 6, apply now

 

Table of content
  • GATE 2026 Books for Computer Science (CS)
  • GATE 2026 Books for Aerospace Engineering (AE)
  • GATE 2026 Books for Electrical Engineering (EE)
  • GATE 2026 Books for Electronics and Communication Engineering (EC)
  • GATE 2026 Books for Mechanical Engineering (ME)
  • GATE 2026 Books for Civil Engineering (CE)
  • GATE 2026 Books for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DA)
  • GATE 2026 Books for Life Sciences (XL)
  • How to utilize the best GATE 2026 books during the last phase of preparation?
View More
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GATE 2026 Books for Computer Science (CS)

Candidates can check the best available options of GATE 2026 CSE Books for each section of Computer Science and Information Technology.

Section 

Topic 

Books 

Author 

Digital Logic 

 

  • Boolean algebra and Combinational and sequential circuits 

Digital logic and computer design 

M. Morris Mano 

Modern digital electronics 

R.P Jain

Computer Organisation and Architecture 

  • Machine instructions 
  • ALU 
  • Memory hierarchy 
  • I/O interface 

Computer Organization and Architecture 

William Stallings 

Computer organization 

Carl Hamacher 

Programming and Data Structures 

  • Programming in C 

The C programming language   

 

Dennis M.Ritchie 

C: The complete reference 

Herbert Schildt 

  • Data Structure 

 

Fundamentals of data structure 

Sartaj Sahni 

Data structures and algorithms MADE EASY  

Narasimha Karumanchi 

Algorithms 

  • Algorithm design techniques 
  • Dynamic programming 

Introduction to algorithms 

Thomas H.Cormen 

Fundamentals of computer algorithms  

Rajasekaran, Sahni, Horowitz 

Theory of Computation 

  • Regular expressions and finite automata 
  • Turing machines and undecidability 

An introduction to formal languages and automata 

Peter Linz 

Automata theory, languages and computation 

John E Hopcroft, Jeffrey D. Ullman 

Compiler Design 

  • Lexical & liveness analysis 
  • Intermediate code generation 

Compilers' principles, techniques and tools  

Alfred Aho and Jeffrey Ullman   

Principles of Compiler Design  

Alfred Aho and Jeffrey Ullman 

Databases 

 

  • ER-model 
  • Relational model 
  • SQL 

Database System Concepts 

Henry Korth 

Fundamentals of database system 

Elmasri Navathe 

Computer Networks 

  • Concept of layering 
  • Fragmentation and IP addressing 

Data communication and networking  

Behrouz A. Forouzon 

Computer networks 

Andrew S. Tanenbaum, 

David J. Wetherall 

 

 

Q&A Icon
Commonly asked questions
Q:   Which books should I follow for GATE General Aptitude section?
Q:   What are some important topics in GATE Computer Science and Engineering?
Q:   Can you suggested some good books for GATE CS?
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GATE 2026 Books for Aerospace Engineering (AE)

Candidates can check the best GATE 2026 Aerospace Engineering (AE) books here -

Section Topics Book Author
Aerodynamics
  • Basic Fluid Mechanics
  • Measurement and Visualisation Techniques
  • Compressible Flows
Fundamentals of Aerodynamics John D. Anderson, Jr
Aerodynamics of Engineering Students E.L Houghton, P.W. Carpenter
Gas Dynamics E. Rathakrishnan
Flight Mechanics
  • Airplane performance
  • Static Stability
Aircraft Performance and Design John D. Anderson, Jr
Introduction to Flight John D. Anderson, Jr
Airplane Performance, Stability, and Control Perkins and Hage
Propulsion
  • Turbomachinery
  • Axial Turbines
  • Aerothermodynamics of aircraft engines
Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Propulsion Hill & Peterson
Gas Turbines V Ganesan
Elements of Rocket Propulsion George P. Sutton
Engineering Mathematics
  • Linear Algebra
  • Calculus
  • Differential Equations
  • Complex Analysis
Advanced Engineering Mathematics Erwin Kreyszig
Advanced Engineering Mathematics HK Dass
Advanced Engineering Mathematics RK Jain, SRK Iyengar
Structures
  • Strength of Materials
  • Structural Dynamics
A Textbook of Strength of Materials RK Bansal
Strength of Materials Stephen Timonshenko
Aircraft Structures for Engineering Students THG Megson
Q&A Icon
Commonly asked questions
Q:   Who was the GATE 2025 Aerospace Engineering Topper?
Q:   What was the GATE 2025 cutoff for Aerospace Engineering branch?
Q:   What are some good books for GATE Aerospace Engineering (AE)?
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GATE 2026 Books for Electrical Engineering (EE)

Candidates can check GATE Electrical Engineering (EE) books here

Section 

 Topics  

Book  

Author  

Electric circuits 

  • Network Elements 
  • DC and AC networks 

Fundamentals of Electric Circuits 

Charles. K.  Alexander 

Engineering Circuit Analysis 

WH Hayt, SM Durbin 

Circuit Theory: Analysis & Synthesis 

Abhijit Chakraborti 

Electromagnetic Fields 

  • Electromagnetism 
  • EM Waves 
  • Induction 

Engineering Electromagnetics 

W H Hayt, John A Buck 

Electromagnetic waves and Radiating Systems 

Edward C. Jordan, Keith G. Balmain 

Signals and Systems 

  • LTI Systems 
  • Z-Transform and Laplace Transform 
  • Fourier Representation of Signals 

Signals And Systems  

Oppenheim Alan V, W Alan, NS Hamid 

Signals and Systems 

A. Anand Kumar 

Signals and Systems 

Simon Haykin, Barry Van Veen 

Electrical Machines 

  • Transformer  
  • AC-DC Machines  
  • Motors 

Electric Machinery fundamentals 

Stephen J. Chapman 

Electric Machinery 

P.S. Bimbhra 

Electric Machinery 

Fitzgerald and Kingsley 

Power Systems 

  • Power Generation Concepts 
  • Load Flow Methods, Bus Impedance and 
  • Admittance Matrices 
  • Symmetrical and unsymmetrical fault analysis 
  • System stability concepts 

Elements of Power System Analysis 

William D Stevenson 

Electrical Power Systems 

 C.L. Wadhwa   

Electrical Power Systems by 

 Ashfaq Hussian   

Power System Engineering  

 D.P. Kothari and J. Nagrath  

Control Systems 

 

  • Feedback principle 
  • Linear time-invariant systems 
  • Nyquist and Bode Plots 
  • P, PI & PID controllers 
  • Routh Hurwitz Criteria 

Control Systems Engineering   

I.J. Nagrath, M. Gopal 

Automatic Control Systems   

B.C. kuo, Farid Golnaraghi 

Modern Control Engineering 

 Katsuhiko Dgata 

Principles of linear system and signals 

BP Lath 

Electrical and Electronic Measurements 

  • Bridges and Potentiometers 
  • Measurement 

Electrical and Electronic Measurements and Instrumentation 

AK Shawhey 

 

Modern Electronic Instrumentation and Measurement Technique 

AD Helfrick 

William D. Cooper 

 

Analog and Digital Electronics 

  • Amplifiers: characteristics and applications 
  • Boolean Algebra and K-Map 
  • A/D and D/A converters 
  • Combinatorial and sequential logic circuits 

Integrated Electronics   

Jacob Millman Christos C Halkias 

Digital Logic and Computer Design   

M Morris Mano 

Electronic Devices and Circuit     

Robert L. Boylestad Louis Nashelsky 

Power Electronics 

  • Characteristics of Semiconductor Devices 
  • Rectifiers 
  • Principles of Choppers 
  • Principles of Inverters 

Power Electronics 

P.S. Bimbhra 

Devices, Circuits and applications  

Muhammad H. Rashid 

Check below -

Q&A Icon
Commonly asked questions
Q:   What was the GATE EE cutoff last year?
Q:   What are some good books for GATE EE and EC?
Q:   Who was the GATE 2025 EE topper?
GATE Logo

GATE 2026 Books for Electronics and Communication Engineering (EC)

Candidates can check GATE 2026 EC Books here;

Section  

Topic  

Books  

Author  

Networks, Signals and Systems 

  • Circuit Analysis 
  • Continuous-time Signals 
  • Discrete-time Signals 

Fundamentals of Electric Circuits 

Charles K. Alexander & Matthew N.O. Sadiku 

Engineering Circuit Analysis   

William H. Hayt 

 

Network Analysis 

Mac Van Valkenburg 

 Electronic Devices 

  • Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors 
  • Carrier Transport 
  • P-N junction 

Semiconductor Physics and Devices 

Donald A Neaman & Dhrubes Biswas 

Solid State Electronic Devices 

Ben G. Streetman and Sanjay Banerjee 

Semiconductor Devices 

S. M. Sze 

Analog Circuits 

 

 

  • Diode Circuits 
  • BJT and MOSFET Amplifiers 
  • Op-amp Circuits 

Integrated Electronics 

 

Jacob Millman Christos C Halkias 

Electronic Devices and Circuit 

Robert L. Boylestad Louis Nashelsky 

Micro Electronics circuit  

Sedra & Smith 

Digital Circuits 

 

 

 

  • Number Representations
  • Sequential Circuits
  • Data Converters
  • Semiconductor Memories
  • Computer Organization

Digital Electronic Principles and Applications 

Ronald J. Toccii 

Digital Logic and Computer Design 

M Morris Mano 

Modern Digital Electronics 

R.P. Jain 

Control Systems 

  • Feedback principle 
  • Linear time-invariant systems 
  • Nyquist and Bode Plots 
  • P, PI & PID controllers 
  • Routh Hurwitz Criteria 

Control Systems Engineering   

I.J. Nagrath, M. Gopal 

Automatic Control Systems   

B.C. kuo, Farid Golnaraghi 

Modern Control Engineering 

 Katsuhiko Dgata 

Principles of linear system and signals 

BP Lath 

Communications 

  • Random Processes 
  • Analog Communications 
  • Information Theory 
  • Digital Communications 

Analog and Digital Communication Systems 

Simon Haykin 

 

Principle of Communication System 

 

Taub& Schillings 

Modern digital and analog Communications system 

BP Lathi 

 

Electromagnetics 

Maxwell's Equations 

Plane Waves and Properties 

Transmission Lines 

Principles of Electromagnetics  

Matthew N.D. Sadiku & 

S.V. Kulkarni 

Elements of Electromagnetics   

Matthew N.O. Sadiku 

Engineering Electromagnetics 

William Hayt 

 

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GATE 2026 Books for Mechanical Engineering (ME)

Candidates can check GATE ME Books;

Section 

Topics 

Book 

Author 

Applied Mechanics and Design 

  • Engineering Mechanics 

Engineering Mechanics- New Age International 

S S Bhavikatti 

An Introduction to Mechanics 

Daniel Kleppner and Robert Kolenkow 

  • Mechanics of Materials 

Strength of Materials 

Timoshenko & Gere 

Mechanics of Materials 

RC Hibbeler 

  • Theory of Machines 

The Theory of Machines 

SS Ratan 

  • Vibrations 

Mechanical Vibrations 

G K Grover 

  • Machine Design 

Designs of Machine elements 

VB Bhandari 

Fluid Mechanics 

  • Fluid Mechanics 

A Textbook of Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulic Machines 

RK Bansal 

Fluid Mechanics  

Frank White 

1000 Solved Problems in Fluid Mechanics 

K Subramanya 

 

Thermal sciences 

  • Heat Transfer 

Heat & Mass Transfer 

JP Holman & S Bhattacharyya 

  • Thermodynamics 

Engineering Thermodynamics 

P.K. Nag 

Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach 

 

Yunus A. Cengel, Michael A. Boles 

  • Applications of Thermodynamics

Refrigeration & Air Conditioning  

C.P. ARORA 

Internal Combustion Engines 

V. Ganesan 

Power Plant Engineering 

P.K. Nag 

Materials, Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering 

  • Engineering Materials 
  • Casting, Forming and Joining Processes 

Material Science and Metallurgy 

OP Khanna 

Callister's Materials Science and Engineering 

 

R. Balasubramaniam 

 

  • Machining and Machine Tool Operations 
  • Metrology and Inspection 
  • Computer Integrated Manufacturing 
  • Production Planning and Control 
  • Inventory Control 
  • Operations Research 

Industrial Engineering and Management 

O. P. Khanna 

 

Industrial Engineering and Organization Management 

S. K. Sharma 

Savita Sharma 

 

Industrial Engineering and Production Management 

Telsang Martand 

 

GATE Logo

GATE 2026 Books for Civil Engineering (CE)

Candidates can check the GATE 2026 CE books here;

Section 

Topic 

Book  

Author  

Structural Engineering. 

  • Structural Analysis 

Structural Analysis 

RC Hibbler 

Basic Structural Analysis 

CS Reddy 

  • Construction Materials and Management 

Construction Project Management 

K.N. Jha 

 

Construction Planning Management 

B. C. Punamia 

  • Concrete Structures 

RCC. Design 

A. K. Jain & S N Sinha 

Reinforced Concrete Design 

Pillai & D. Menon 

Prestressed Concrete 

NK Raju 

  • Steel Structures 

Design Of Steel Structures 

SK Duggal 

  • Solid Mechanics 

Strength of Materials 

BC Punamia 

Mechanics of Structure 

S.B. Junnarkar 

Dr. H.J. Shah 

Geotechnical Engineering 

  • Soil Mechanics 
  • Foundation Engineering 

Basic and Applied Soil Mechanics 

Gopal Ranjan  

ASR Rao 

Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering 

S. K. Garg 

Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering 

 

KR Arora 

Geomatics Engineering 

  • Surveying, leveling & photogrammetry 

Surveying (vol. I & II) 

BC Punamia 

Surveying (vol. I & II) 

SK Duggal 

Water Resources Engineering 

  • Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulics 

Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulic Machines 

RK Bansal 

 

Fluid Mechanics & Fluid Machines 

K Subramanyam 

Hydraulics and Fluid Mechanics 

Dr. P.N. Modi & Dr. S.M Seth 

  • Hydrology 

Hydrology 

K. Subramanya 

  • Irrigation engineering 

Irrigation Water Resources and Waterpower Engineering 

Dr. PN Modi 

Irrigation Engineering and Hydraulic Structures 

S. K. Garg 

Environmental Engineering 

  • Water and Wastewater Quality and Treatment 
  • Air Pollution 
  • Municipal Solid Wastes 

Environmental Engineering (vol. I & II) 

 

S. K. Garg 

 

Environmental Engineering (vol. I & II) 

 BC Punamia 

Environmental Engineering 

Peavy & Rowe 

Transportation Engineering 

  • Transportation Infrastructure 

Railway Engineering  

S.C. Saxena & S.P. Arora 

Airport Engineering 

S. K. Khanna & M. G. Arora 

  • Highway Pavements 
  • Traffic Engineering 

Highway Engineering 

Khanna & Justo 

Highway Engineering 

L.R. Kadiyali. 

Highway Engineering 

S. K. Sharma 

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GATE 2026 Books for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DA)

Candidates can check GATE DA Books here;

Section 

Topic 

Books 

Author 

Programming, Data Structures and Algorithms 

  • Basic data structures 
  • Search algorithms 
  • Graph algorithms theory 

Fundamentals of Data Structures in 

 

Horowitz & Sahani. 

Classic Data Structures  

Debasis Samanta 

  • Programming in Python 

Python Programming – An Introduction to Computer Science 

John M Zelle   

Database Management and Warehousing 

  • ER-model 
  • SQL 
  • Data types and transformation 
  • Data warehouse modelling 

Database Management Systems  

 

Raghu Ramakrishnan. 

 

Fundamentals of Database System 

Navathe 

Database System Concepts 

Korth and Sudarshan 

Machine Learning 

  • Supervised Learning 
  • Unsupervised Learning 

Mathematics for Machine Learning 

Marc Peter Deisenreth, A. Alde Faisal 

Hands-on Machine Learning with Scikit- Learn, Keras & TensorFlow 

Aurélien Géron 

Machine Learning: A Probabilistic Perspective 

Kevin Murphy 

Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning 

Christopher Bishop 

Artificial Intelligence 

  • Search & Logic 
  • Reasoning under uncertainty topics 
  • Approximate inference through sampling 

Artificial Intelligence by Example 

Denis Rothman 

Artificial Intelligence Basics 

Tom Taulli 

Artificial Intelligence 

Stuart Russell & Peter Norvig 

Also read:

GATE 2025 Syllabus

GATE 2025 Exam Pattern

GATE Logo

GATE 2026 Books for Life Sciences (XL)

Best Books for XL-P (Chemistry) 

Section 

Topic 

Books 

Author 

Atomic Structure and Periodicity 

  • Atomic models 
  • Periodic Tables & properties 

Inorganic Chemistry  

J. E. Huheey 

Concise Inorganic Chemistry 

J. D. Lee 
 

Structure and Bonding 

  • Chemical bonding 
  • Bonding theories and other properties 

Concise Inorganic Chemistry 

J. D. Lee 
 

Inorganic Chemistry  

Meissler & Tarr 

s, p and d Block Elements 

  • Oxides, halides and hydrides of alkali, alkaline earth metals 

Concise Inorganic Chemistry 

J. D. Lee 
 

Chemical Equilibria  

  • Conditions for Chemical Equilibrium and effects 

Chemical Kinetics and Catalysis  

Richard Mishel 

Chemical Kinetics  

Keith J Laidler 

Electrochemistry 

  • Electrochemistry 

 

An Introduction to Electrochemistry   

Samuel Glasstone 

A Textbook of Physical Chemistry (3rd Vol)  

K L Kapoor 

Reaction Kinetics 

  • Order of reaction 
  • Catalyst 
  • Enzyme reactions 

A Textbook of Physical Chemistry (5th Vol) 

– K. L. Kapoor 

Chemical Kinetics and Catalysis  

Richard Mishel 

Thermodynamics 

  • Fundamental concepts 
  • Laws of Thermodynamics 

Physical Chemistry  

Thomas Engel & Philip Reid 

A Textbook of Physical Chemistry (2nd Vol)  

K L Kapoor 

Structure-Reactivity Correlations and Organic Reaction Mechanisms 

  • Acids and bases 
  • Stereochemistry 
  • Other concepts 

Stereochemistry of Organic 

Compounds  

E. L. Eliel 

Organic Chemistry  

Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers 

Chemistry of Biomolecules 

  • Amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids and nucleotides  
  • Lipids, DNA, and more 

Organic Synthesis the disconnection approach 

Stuart Warren 

Modern Methods of Organic Synthesis  

William Carruthers, Iain Coldham 

Read more
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How to utilize the best GATE 2026 books during the last phase of preparation?

To effectively utilize the best GATE books during the last phase of your preparation, aspirants can follow the following strategies -

  • Revise and focus on learning the concepts
  • Check important formulas, terms, derivations, and shortcut tricks.
  • Go through the textbooks and solve the questions to improve accuracy. 
  • Refer to high-weightage topics
  • Solve previous year's question papers and take mock tests regularly. 
Read more
Q&A Icon
Commonly asked questions
Q:   Is it enough to rely on the college text books for GATE 2026 preparation?
Q:   What is the main objective of the GATE question paper?
Q:   Will GATE 2026 be tougher GATE 2025?
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GATE Exam

Student Forum

chatAnything you would want to ask experts?
Write here...

Answered 2 weeks ago

The factors that determine the GATE cutoff are -

  • Availability of seats (the total seat intake varies every year for NITs, IIITs, and IIT admission)
  • Number of registered applicants
  • The difficulty level of the examination - (GATE is conducted on multiple days, however, the paper difficulty varies for eve

...Read more

I

Indrani Uniyal

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 2 weeks ago

Based on the previous year's trends, the GATE 2026 expected cutoff for computer Science and engineering can be checked below- 

  • For General category it might go around 30 to 31.0

However, the GATE cutoff varies every year, depending on the difficulty level, number of applicants appearing for the exam,

...Read more

U

UPASANA PRADHAN

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 2 weeks ago

No, a duplicate GATE 2026 admit card will not be provided at the test center. Candidates must carry their own admit card along with the mentioned documents and items to the GATE exam center. IIT Guwahati will release the GATE admit card on January 2. 

P

Piyush Shukla

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 2 weeks ago

Candidates will get only one scribble pad at a time. They must write their name and registration number before using it. If the rough sheet gets filled, then they can ask for another one scribble pad after returning the previous one to the invigilator. After the exam concludes, candidates must retur

...Read more

B

Bhumika Uniyal

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 2 weeks ago

Yes, candidates will get a scribble pad in the GATE exam 2026 to do the rough work. Candidates have to write their name and registration number on the scribble pad before using it. However, the rough sheet must be returned after the completion of the exam. 

S

Sumridhi Sinha

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 2 weeks ago

The barcode present in the GATE admit card 2026 carries the candidate's information. It is required for a faster verification process and fraud prevention. So, make sure it does not get tampered. Carry multiple copies in case your GATE 2026 hall ticket is torn or tampered. 

T

Taru Shukla

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 2 weeks ago

Applicants must carry the following documents and items to the center along with the GATE 2026 admit card -

  • Photo ID proof (as uploaded in the application form)
  • Passport-size photograph
  • Transparent water bottle
  • Pen (blue or black)

It is advised to carry two to three copies of the GATE admit card to avoid

...Read more

A

Aishwarya Uniyal

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 2 weeks ago

Candidates must provide their enrollment ID and password (created at the time of registration) to download their GATE admit card. The admit card will be made available on the GOAPS portal at the GATE candidate login. The GATE 2026 hall ticket release date is January 2 as mentioned in the information

...Read more

H

Himanshi Choudhury

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 2 weeks ago

Well,  

As such, the GATE authorities have not mentioned anything regarding the black and white or colour printout of the GATE admit card to be carried or not. But it is better to carry a colour printout of the hall ticket to the exam centre Also, the admit card of GATE must be in A4 size format. 

S

Shiksha Hazarika

Contributor-Level 7

Answered 2 weeks ago

If there are any details missing in the GATE admit card, then he/she must contact the GATE zone helpline centre. The candidate must raise their concern, mentioning the issue they are facing with the hall ticket. They will have to provide complete details regarding the information that are missing in

...Read more

S

Shiksha Gaurav

Contributor-Level 7

2052 Institutes accepting GATE

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    College of
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