GATE DA 2027 Roadmap

A 19-week plan from Saturday 26 September 2026 to the February exams. It covers the full official syllabus and ends with past papers and mocks. Tick topics off as you finish them.

134days

to the first exam day, 6 Feb 2027

Register first. Regular GATE registration closes on 27 September 2026. With a ₹500 late fee you have until 5 October. gate2027.iitm.ac.in

Your progress

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Key dates

Your DA paper's exact day and shift are listed in the admit card. Plan to peak by 6 Feb.

Paper pattern

Duration: 3 hours, computer-based
Questions: 65 for 100 marks
Aptitude: 10 questions, 15 marks
Core DA: 55 questions, 85 marks
Types: MCQ, MSQ (multiple correct), NAT (numerical)
Negative: MCQ only: −⅓ on 1-mark, −⅔ on 2-mark. MSQ and NAT have none, so attempt all of them.

Score targets (General)

Good IIT AI/DS M.Tech	60+ · AIR <250
Newer IITs, top NITs	50+ · AIR <1,000
Qualifying cutoff 2026	26.4

Estimates from 2025–26 trends. Institutes admit by GATE score, so check each one's closing score on COAP.

Week by week

Where the marks are

Python, DSA	16–21 · avg 18
Probability & Statistics	11–18 · avg 15
General Aptitude	15
Machine Learning	11–16 · avg 14
DBMS & Warehousing	8–18 · avg 12
Linear Algebra	8–17 · avg 12
Calculus & Optimisation	8–9 · avg 8
Artificial Intelligence	3–11 · avg 7

Range across the 2024, 2025 and 2026 papers, from coaching-institute analyses; IIT Madras does not publish a split. The mix swings a lot: DBMS jumped to 18 marks in 2026.

A normal study day

2.5 hThis week's main topic: learn it, then solve problems on it the same day.

1.5 hThe side track: Python and DSA in weeks 1–7, then practice questions.

30 minGeneral Aptitude: 5–10 questions every day.

30 minRevise yesterday's notes and update your formula sheet.

SundayTimed test on the week's topics, then redo every wrong answer. Weekends are 7–8 hours.

Free resources

Official DA papers 2024–26 and syllabus: GATE 2027 site
Linear algebra: MIT 18.06 (Gilbert Strang) and 3Blue1Brown
Probability: Harvard Stat 110 (Joe Blitzstein) lectures on YouTube
ML intuition: StatQuest; depth: NPTEL "Introduction to Machine Learning" (IIT Madras)
AI search, Bayes nets, sampling: Berkeley CS188
Extra practice: GATE CS past papers on probability, linear algebra, calculus, DSA and DBMS. Those topics are the same in both papers.

Rules that save marks

Keep an error log: every wrong question, why you got it wrong, and the fix.
Keep a single formula sheet and read it every Sunday.
Practise with the GATE virtual calculator, not a phone calculator.
For DA, math and ML questions are numeric. Practise getting exact answers under time pressure.