GATE Normalization Process: It is a process used for converting raw marks into scores. After the evaluation of answers, the raw marks (actual marks obtained in GATE) will be considered for calculating GATE Score based on qualifying marks. Read the following article to know more about GATE Normalization Process, Calculation of Scores and Qualifying Marks.  

• GATE Result 2020 will be announced in the month of March at GOAPS website for all the 24 papers. 
• Login to GOAPS portal with Registration Number and Password to check your qualifying status. Check GATE Score Calculation
• After the declaration of exam result, all the candidates who will successfully qualify the exam are called for counselling process through which they will get admission in their desired Institute or college. Check GATE Counselling
• All the participating Institutes will release their separate GATE Cutoff. Students have to secure equal or more than cut off marks to get admission in their desired Institute. 

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What is GATE Normalization Process? 

As GATE being a major exam, lacs of candidates appear for it and it is not possible to conduct the exam in one go. So, GATE exam is held in multiple sessions. Therefore, it is quite natural that there will be variations in the level of difficulty of the exam. To arbitrate the difference in the level of difficulty, the normalization process is applied. 

The following papers in GATE 2020 will be conducted in multiple sessions- 

• Computer Science (CS) 
• Civil Engineering (CE)
• Electrical Engineering (EE)
• Electronic Engineering (EC)
• Mechanical Engineering (ME)

The basic presumption behind the concept of normalization is that "in all multi-session GATE papers, the distribution of abilities of candidates is the same across all the sessions". Now, based on the following parameters, and taking into account various normalization methods, the committee has arrived at the following formula for calculating the normalized marks for the multi-session papers.

Normalization mark of J^th candidate in the ith session M̂_ij

Here,

M_ij :   is the actual marks secured by the j^th candidate in the i^th sessions

M̅^g_t :  is the average marks of the top 0.1% of the candidates considering all sessions

M^g_q : is the sum of mean and standard deviation marks of the candidates in the paper considering all sessions

M̅_ti :  is the average marks of the top 0.1% of the candidates in the i^th sessions

M_iq :  is the sum of the mean marks and standard deviation of the i^th session

Further, the graph can help understand the relationship between the two scores better.

Graph showing the linear relationship between "actual marks" and "normalized marks" of a candidate, in a multiple-session subject (CE, EE, ME, EE or CE) of GATE.

Once the answers are checked and assessed, the normalized marks of a candidate will be calculated corresponding to the actual marks secured by the candidate in the examination and the GATE 2020 Scorecard will be devised based on the normalized marks. The papers which are actually conducted in a single session only, the actual marks secured by the candidate will be used for calculating the GATE 2020 score.

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Calculation of GATE Scores for all Papers

After the normalization of marks, the final GATE 2020 score will be calculated using the following formula;

  

In this formulae,

 M : marks secured by the candidate in the individual papers (actual marks for single session papers and normalized marks for multi-session papers)

 M_q : is the qualifying marks for general category candidate in the paper

 M̅_{t :} is the mean of marks of top 0.1% or top 10 (whichever is larger) of the candidates who appeared in the paper (in case of multi-session papers including all sessions)

 S_q: 350, is the score assigned to M_q

 S_t: 350, is the score assigned to M̅_t

In the GATE 2020 formula, M_q is normally 25 marks (out of 100) or +σ, whichever is larger. In this case, μ is the mean and σ is the standard deviation of marks of all the candidates who appeared in the paper.

GATE 2020 scorecards can be downloaded by candidates from different categories after the declaration of results.

• All SC/ST/PwD candidates whose marks are greater than or equal to the qualifying mark designated for SC/ST/PwD candidates in their respective papers,
• All other candidates whose marks are greater than or equal to the qualifying mark designated for OBC (NCL) candidates in their respective paper.

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GATE 2020 Qualifying Marks

The candidates should have a brief idea about the qualifying marks for different streams and papers in GATE 2020 on the basis of previous year’s cut off. The cut off marks for individual papers have not varied too much for individual papers in last few years.

However, with no.of candidates varying in every session, there is no fixed pattern or margin for  GATE score. The table below contains a separate cut off list for different categories.

As expected the qualifying marks are higher for the general candidates for all the subjects thus requiring them to score better marks in GATE 2020 in order to get qualified in all the individual subjects.

GATE 2018 Stream wise Cut offs

Stream and Category Wise Qualifying Cut-Off for GATE 2015

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FAQs

Q.1. How is the difficulty level determined for all the papers of the same stream in GATE 2020?

Ans: The difficulty level for all the papers is determined by analyzing density functions of that particular stream. So if we assume that the distribution of marks is denser in the region 50-60 for session 1 for a certain paper and in the same paper for session 2 it is 40-50, then, in that case, the session two will be considered easier.

However, the students should not worry as the marks get normalized through a pre-defined method to calculate individual score and rank. One can, therefore, say that the calculation of score is genuinely fair irrespective of the difficulty level of different sessions.

Q.2. Are the normalized marks always greater than the actual mark obtained for a relatively difficult paper when compared to other sessions of same stream?

Ans: Yes, it is true. In case a candidate has appeared for the easier session then their normalized marks will be lesser than the actual marks they had secured.Similarly, If they have appeared for the difficult session then their normalized marks will be greater than the marks they have actually secured. Let’s take an example:

 M_ij : is the actual marks secured by the j^th candidate in the i^th session

 M̅^g_t :is the average marks of the top 0.1% of the candidates considering all sessions

 M^g_q :is the sum of mean and standard deviation marks of the candidates in the paper considering all sessions

 M̅_ti :is the average marks of the top 0.1% of the candidates in the i^th session

 M_iq :is the sum of the mean marks and standard deviation of the i^th session

Average marks of all the candidates in all the sessions (of a particular subject, say CSE) is 30, average marks of top 0.1% is 80, assuming that the candidate has appeared in the easier session, average marks of top 0.1% in that session is 85, average marks of all candidates in your session is 35 and if candidate has secured 70 marks, then:

Q.3. How much does the difficulty level of question papers vary among different sessions of the GATE 2020 exam?

Ans: The difficulty level does vary to a certain extent and that is the reason some of the students prefer a difficult session as there are chances of getting additional marks for an individual paper after the marks are normalized and vice-versa.

However, the selection of candidates for a particular slot is done through a computerized random process and hence beyond the control of any individual.So the aspirants should focus on preparation for individual papers rather than worrying about the difficulty level since it is completely a matter of fate.

Q.4. What will be the range of reduction for a particular paper that would be held during multiple sessions in GATE 2020?

Ans: Min limit: (0.9)*your marks; Max limit: (1.15)*your marks. However, there is no predefined limit. Therefore one cannot presume that if someone is getting an easier set, then their marks are going to be decreased by 10%. It also depends on the other factors/variables in that section. The above formulas are meant to provide a rough boundary only.

Q.5. What is GATE Percentile? How is it calculated?

Ans: A candidate’s percentile indicates the percentage of candidates scoring lower than that individual candidate in the GATE exam. It is calculated through this formula:

AIR RANK= It is the all India rank of a particular candidate.

N= It is the total no.candidates appearing in that particular stream.