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The GATE DA exam analysis is among the most anticipated resources on exam day for candidates who have just completed the paper. In the hours after the exam, before any official answer key is released, the analysis provides candidates with a structured way to estimate their score, understand how their performance compares to the broader candidate pool, and decide what steps to take next.
This page publishes the GATE DA exam analysis on the day of the examination, covering overall difficulty, section-wise question distribution, question type breakdown, good attempt recommendations by category, expert-predicted qualifying cutoff, and comparison with the previous year's paper. Historical analysis data from past GATE DA exams (2024, 2025, 2026) is also maintained here for candidates currently preparing who want to use past patterns to calibrate their preparation.
For the complete GATE DA exam guide, visit the GATE DA Complete Guide.
A well-conducted GATE DA exam analysis is not just a difficulty rating. It covers multiple dimensions that together paint a complete picture of the paper and its implications:
Overall difficulty rating: An aggregate expert assessment of the paper's difficulty level — Easy, Moderate, or Hard — based on conceptual depth, calculation intensity, and the proportion of tricky questions across sections.
Section-wise question and marks distribution: How many questions and total marks each section contributed to the paper in that year. This is based on memory-based question reconstruction from candidates immediately after the exam.
Question type breakdown: The count of MCQ, MSQ, and NAT questions across sections. This matters because NAT questions carry no negative marking and their distribution affects optimal attempt strategy.
Difficulty per section: Whether specific sections were easier or harder than usual in that year. A section rated "Easy" means most questions were direct concept tests; "Hard" means multi-step reasoning or computation was required across most questions.
Good attempt range: A recommendation of how many questions a well-prepared candidate should ideally have attempted, accounting for negative marking risk on uncertain MCQs.
Expected qualifying cutoff prediction: A marks range prediction for the General, OBC-NCL, and SC/ST/PwD qualifying cutoffs based on difficulty assessment and comparison with past year trends.
Year-on-year comparison: Whether the current paper was harder or easier than the previous year, which helps interpret the cutoff prediction in context.
The full analysis for the current exam year will be published on this page within a few hours of each session ending on exam day.
The analysis is built from:
The analysis will be available in two formats:
Bookmark this page and return on exam day for the live analysis.
Understanding how to read and use the analysis requires knowing how GATE DA's sections interact.
Unlike GATE CS where section difficulty tends to be more uniform, GATE DA's interdisciplinary nature means that difficulty can vary significantly across sections in the same paper. A paper where Probability questions are straightforward but Machine Learning questions are computation-heavy has very different implications for different candidate profiles compared to a paper where the reverse is true.
Candidates who come from a Mathematics or Statistics background will experience ML-heavy and programming-heavy questions very differently from those with a CS background who are strong in algorithms but weaker in statistical inference. The section-wise analysis helps each candidate type understand whether the paper played to or against their strengths.
The good attempt recommendation is not simply "attempt as many as possible." It accounts for:
For a Moderate-difficulty GATE DA paper, a typical good attempt recommendation might be 50 to 56 questions out of 65. This means attempting all 10 GA questions, all NAT questions across sections, and the clearest MCQs while skipping uncertain MCQs where option elimination was not possible.
The good attempt range differs by category because candidates targeting higher scores (General category with IIT ambitions) should attempt more questions with higher accuracy, while candidates targeting only the qualifying cutoff need fewer correct answers.
The analysis data from available GATE DA exam years is preserved here for candidates currently preparing. Historical patterns are invaluable for setting preparation priorities and calibrating expectations.
Exam Date: February 2026
Overall Difficulty: Moderate
Section-wise Distribution and Difficulty:
| Section Questions (Approx.) Marks (Approx.) Difficulty | |||
| General Aptitude | 10 | 15 | Easy to Moderate |
| Probability and Statistics | 9 to 11 | 14 to 17 | Moderate |
| Linear Algebra | 6 to 8 | 10 to 13 | Moderate |
| Calculus and Optimization | 5 to 7 | 8 to 11 | Moderate |
| Machine Learning | 9 to 12 | 14 to 18 | Moderate to Hard |
| Programming and DSA | 7 to 9 | 11 to 14 | Easy to Moderate |
| Databases and Warehousing | 3 to 5 | 5 to 8 | Easy to Moderate |
| Artificial Intelligence | 3 to 5 | 5 to 7 | Moderate |
Question Type Distribution:
Key observations from 2026:
Good Attempt Range:
Expected Qualifying Cutoff (at time of analysis):
Access the 2026 paper: GATE DA 2026 Questions
Exam Date: February 2025
Overall Difficulty: Moderate
Section-wise Distribution and Difficulty:
| Section Questions (Approx.) Marks (Approx.) Difficulty | |||
| General Aptitude | 10 | 15 | Easy |
| Probability and Statistics | 9 to 10 | 13 to 16 | Moderate |
| Linear Algebra | 6 to 8 | 10 to 12 | Easy to Moderate |
| Calculus and Optimization | 5 to 6 | 8 to 10 | Moderate |
| Machine Learning | 9 to 11 | 13 to 17 | Moderate |
| Programming and DSA | 7 to 9 | 11 to 14 | Easy to Moderate |
| Databases and Warehousing | 4 to 5 | 6 to 8 | Easy |
| Artificial Intelligence | 3 to 5 | 5 to 7 | Moderate |
Key observations from 2025:
Good Attempt Range:
Expected Qualifying Cutoff (at time of analysis):
Access the 2025 paper: GATE DA 2025 Questions
Exam Date: February 2024
Overall Difficulty: Moderate to Slightly Challenging
Section-wise Distribution and Difficulty:
| Section Questions (Approx.) Marks (Approx.) Difficulty | |||
| General Aptitude | 10 | 15 | Easy to Moderate |
| Probability and Statistics | 8 to 10 | 13 to 16 | Moderate to Hard |
| Linear Algebra | 6 to 8 | 10 to 13 | Moderate |
| Calculus and Optimization | 5 to 7 | 8 to 12 | Moderate |
| Machine Learning | 8 to 11 | 12 to 17 | Moderate |
| Programming and DSA | 7 to 9 | 11 to 14 | Moderate |
| Databases and Warehousing | 3 to 5 | 5 to 8 | Easy to Moderate |
| Artificial Intelligence | 3 to 5 | 5 to 8 | Moderate |
Key observations from 2024:
Good Attempt Range:
Expected Qualifying Cutoff (at time of analysis):
Access the 2024 paper: GATE DA 2024 Questions
Reviewing three years of analysis data shows consistent patterns that should directly inform preparation priorities.
In all three available years, Machine Learning and Probability and Statistics together contributed the highest marks to the paper and were rated at or above Moderate difficulty. This is not coincidental — these two sections are the most distinguishing features of GATE DA and reflect the paper's primary testing intent.
Preparation implication: These two sections deserve the most study time, the deepest conceptual preparation, and the most regular PYQ practice. Candidates who approach them as secondary subjects consistently underperform.
Across all available years, NAT questions have comprised approximately 16 to 20 of the 65 total questions. Since NAT questions carry no negative marking, they represent a risk-free scoring opportunity — candidates who are reasonably comfortable with the calculation but not fully certain should still attempt them.
Preparation implication: Building NAT-specific computation speed in Statistics (distribution calculations, hypothesis test statistics), Linear Algebra (eigenvalue computation, matrix operations), and ML (gradient computation, loss function evaluation) is high-value preparation.
General Aptitude has been rated Easy or Easy to Moderate in all three available years. Combined with its 15-mark contribution, this makes GA the highest return-on-time section in the paper.
Preparation implication: 3 to 4 weeks of focused GA practice toward the end of preparation is likely to yield 13 to 15 marks, which is proportionally one of the best investments in the entire syllabus.
All three available GATE DA papers have been rated Moderate, with minor variations in specific sections. There has not been a dramatically hard or dramatically easy paper in the available history.
Preparation implication: Expect a moderate-difficulty paper and prepare accordingly. Over-preparing for an extreme difficulty scenario or under-preparing expecting an easy paper both carry unnecessary risk.
Set a realistic good attempt target for mock tests. The historical good attempt range of 48 to 58 questions gives a concrete benchmark. In the GATE DA Test Series full-length mocks, target achieving at least 50 to 55 good attempts with high accuracy rather than attempting all 65 with lower accuracy.
Prioritize sections based on difficulty-to-marks ratio. Machine Learning and Probability have both high marks and moderate-to-hard difficulty — mastering these provides the greatest competitive advantage because many candidates struggle here. GA has easy difficulty and significant marks — it should be fully captured.
Use the analysis to identify syllabus blind spots. If a section consistently rated as Moderate produced incorrect answers in mock tests, it indicates that the preparation level for that section is not meeting the exam's actual requirements. Use the GATE DA Syllabus Tracker to revisit uncovered or under-practiced topics.
Compare mock test scores against good attempt ranges. If mock tests consistently produce good attempts below 45, focus on recognizing solvable questions faster and improving NAT coverage. If good attempts are above 55 but accuracy is low, focus on reducing careless errors and managing negative marking better.
For candidates who have just taken the exam, the analysis serves several immediate purposes.
Score estimation: Cross-reference the questions attempted with the analysis's good attempt recommendation. If the number of attempted questions is within the good attempt range and accuracy was reasonable, the score is likely competitive.
Cutoff comparison: Compare the expected qualifying cutoff from the analysis with the estimated score. If the estimated score is comfortably above the cutoff, waiting for results is straightforward. If the estimated score is near the boundary, it is worth noting that expert cutoff predictions are usually accurate within 1 to 2 marks, and official normalization can shift the cutoff slightly.
Admission planning: If the estimated score meets the cutoff for a target IIT or NIT program, begin reviewing that institute's admission notification and timeline. Many institutes open their applications within 2 to 4 weeks of GATE results. Refer to the GATE DA Cutoff page for institute-specific thresholds.
Next year planning: If performance was below expectation, use the analysis to identify which sections contributed most to the shortfall. Build the next preparation cycle around those specific weaknesses rather than a generic full-syllabus re-study.
Q. When is the GATE DA exam analysis published? The quick summary (difficulty, good attempts, expected cutoff) is published within 2 hours of the session ending. The detailed section-wise analysis is published within 4 to 6 hours. Both are available on this page on exam day.
Q. Is the expected cutoff in the analysis the same as the official cutoff? No. The expected cutoff is an expert prediction based on paper difficulty and past trends. The official cutoff is computed by the GATE committee using the final answer key and official normalization formula, announced with the result in March. Expert predictions are usually accurate within 1 to 2 marks.
Q. Can the analysis be trusted for score estimation? The analysis gives a directionally accurate picture of paper difficulty and approximate cutoff. Individual score estimation requires knowing personal answer accuracy, which only the individual candidate knows. Combine the analysis difficulty data with personal recall of performance for a reasonable estimate.
Q. What if the analysis says the paper was harder than expected? A harder paper means a lower qualifying cutoff, which benefits all candidates. If personal performance felt poor on a hard paper, the lower cutoff partially compensates. The official cutoff announcement with results will clarify the exact threshold.
Q. Where can official answer keys be found after the exam? Official provisional answer keys are published on the GATE organizing institute's official portal approximately 1 to 2 weeks after the exam. Links will be posted on the GATE DA Information page as soon as they are available.
More questions answered on the GATE DA FAQ page.
GATE DA exam analysis is published on this page on exam day, covering section-wise difficulty, question distribution, good attempts, and expected cutoff. Historical analyses from 2024 to 2026 show that Machine Learning and Probability and Statistics consistently dominate the paper at Moderate or higher difficulty, General Aptitude remains accessible, and NAT questions form a significant portion of the paper.
Use this historical data to calibrate preparation priorities, set realistic mock test targets in the GATE DA Test Series, and benchmark performance against actual exam standards. Access all past papers through the GATE DA PYQ Master Bank and year-wise at 2024, 2025, and 2026.
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