GATE DA 2027 Exam Pattern and Marking Scheme

The GATE DA paper is 65 questions for 100 marks in three hours. Fifteen marks are General Aptitude and 85 are technical, and the paper mixes three question types with different marking rules. This guide explains the frame that held in all three DA papers so far, then shows with a worked score how the marking rules turn answers into marks.

Key takeaways

• All three counted DA papers (2024, 2025, 2026) had 65 questions, 100 marks, 30 one-mark and 35 two-mark questions.
• Questions 1 to 10 were General Aptitude for exactly 15 marks; questions 11 to 65 were technical for 85.
• MCQ carries negative marking: one third of the question's marks. MSQ and NAT carry none.
• MSQ has no partial credit. You score only by ticking every correct option and no wrong one.
• MSQ counts were 12, 18 and 14 a paper; NAT counts were 16, 12 and 18. Every MSQ and NAT was technical.
• The frame held under three different organising institutes. Still, confirm the 2027 pattern in the official notification.

The three question types, defined

A multiple-choice question (MCQ) has four options and exactly one is correct. A multiple-select question (MSQ) has four options and one or more are correct. A numerical-answer question (NAT) has no options; you type a number, and the key accepts a stated range.

Each question carries one mark or two. The type and the marks together decide what a right or wrong answer is worth.

The frame that held in every DA paper

The GATE DA 2027 book counted every question of the three papers against the official answer keys. Each paper closed on the same frame.

So the one-mark questions give $30 \times 1 = 30$ marks and the two-mark questions give $35 \times 2 = 70$. The technical block is $25 + 60 = 85$.

The three papers were set by IISc Bengaluru (2024), IIT Roorkee (2025) and IIT Guwahati (2026). GATE 2027 is organised by IIT Madras, which has never set a DA paper. The frame surviving three changes of organiser is the safest thing to plan on, but it is not a promise.

Remember: The frame has been fixed. The split of the 85 technical marks between sections has not.

How the question types were distributed

The counts below cover the whole paper of 65 questions.

All thirty General Aptitude questions across the three papers were MCQs. That puts every MSQ and every NAT inside the technical 85 marks. Across the three papers, 44 of the 165 technical questions were MSQs, a little over a quarter.

Some sections lean harder on MSQ than others. Linear Algebra had 8 MSQs in 19 questions, and Calculus and Optimization had 6 in 14. Those two sections reward knowing properties exactly.

The marking rules

These are the rules the official keys apply, and they are common to every GATE paper. The marking scheme guide, which applies to every GATE paper including DA, covers them in more detail.

Two consequences follow. A blank NAT can never beat a guessed NAT, because a wrong NAT costs nothing. And a blank MSQ can never beat an attempted one, for the same reason.

Trap: MSQ has no negative marking, but it is still the harshest format. One extra tick, or one missing tick, turns a full answer into zero.

Worked example: turning answers into a score

Here is a made-up attempt, chosen to use every rule once. The candidate attempts 49 questions.

Step 1: the MCQ marks

The MCQ score is the marks for right answers minus one third of the marks of each wrong one:

Step 2: the MSQ and NAT marks

Only fully right answers count, and wrong ones cost nothing. The MSQ score is $2 \times 1 + 3 \times 2 = 8$. The NAT score is $3 \times 1 + 5 \times 2 = 13$.

Step 3: the total

Notice where the loss sits. The seven wrong MCQs cost 3.67 marks. The seven wrong MSQs and NATs cost nothing directly, but they also earned nothing.

What the record says about MSQ and NAT

Three MSQs in the counted record had exactly one correct option in the official key: 2025 (Q27), 2026 (Q23) and 2026 (Q51). So "select all that apply" can mean one. Judge each option as a separate true-or-false statement.

The NAT key prints a range. In 2026 (Q59), a tuple count whose answer is a whole number, the key accepted 2 to 3. Do not round early, and read the precision a question asks for. The virtual calculator guide helps you avoid slips in the numerical questions.

How the marks become a GATE score

Your raw marks are converted into a GATE score using the official formula. When a paper runs in more than one session, normalisation also applies. DA has been held as a single session each year so far; the score calculation guide explains both formulas.

The book's ten mock tests follow this exact frame, with the MSQ and NAT counts varied inside the 12-to-18 range the real papers used. This guide gives you the rules; the GATE DA 2027 book gives you full papers to practise them under time.

What to confirm for 2027

The duration, question count, mark split and negative marking above are what the counted papers and the official GATE pattern show. Anything specific to the 2027 DA paper, including the number of each question type, is not announced in advance. Check the current notification on the official portal and read the instructions on the exam screen.

Quick revision

1. 65 questions, 100 marks, three hours; 30 one-mark and 35 two-mark questions.
2. Q1 to Q10 General Aptitude (15 marks); Q11 to Q65 technical (85 marks).
3. MCQ wrong answer: minus one third of its marks.
4. MSQ and NAT: no negative marking, so never leave one blank.
5. MSQ: no partial credit; one correct option is possible.
6. MSQ counts so far 12, 18, 14; NAT counts 16, 12, 18; all technical.
7. All 30 General Aptitude questions so far were MCQs.