OutlynDecide what matters, build each week around a mock, then revise.
8 November is 90 days before the first possible GATE 2027 exam day, 6 February. Spend until 27 November deciding what to study and closing the biggest gaps. From 28 November, build each week around one full mock on Saturday. From 4 January, shift to full papers and an error log. In the last seven days, revise only.
Verified against source — Dates, ranks, qualifying marks and the score formula come from official GATE documents. The study plan is our own advice. Checked 2 November 2026. See sources.
This week
- Write down your target marks, using the table on this page.
- Rate all ten subjects and General Aptitude as strong, weak or not started.
- Read the 2027 syllabus changes, so you don't study topics that were removed.
- Pick the mock you will sit on 28 November.
01 · Calendar
The dates that matter
The official schedule says when GATE runs. The brochure says the full schedule by paper will be notified later on the GATE 2027 website, and we had no CS date to report when this page was last checked. Plan for 6 February: if your paper falls later, the extra days are a bonus.
- Paper 1, Outlyn All-India Mock Series
- City allotment notification (IIT Madras)
- Admit card download (IIT Madras)To be announced
- Paper 9, the last Outlyn mock
- GATE 2027 exam days (IIT Madras)
- Results (IIT Madras)
Always confirm dates on gate2027.iitm.ac.in. IIT Madras lists all of its dates as subject to change.
02 · Your target
What marks should you aim for?
Pick a target from real data, then let your mock scores tell you whether it is realistic. The table uses GATE 2026 CS figures, because 2027 figures don't exist yet.
| Marks | Approx. score | Official rank range |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 350 | Qualifying mark (General) |
| 40 | 467 | 7,662 to 18,337 |
| 50 | 584 | 3,189 to 7,514 |
| 60 | 701 | 366 to 1,157 |
| 70 | 818 | 85 to 360 |
Read this as a guide, not a prediction
- The rank ranges are official. The marks-to-score step is our calculation, using the official formula with the 2026 qualifying mark of 30 and top-performers' mean of 77.03.
- 60 marks sits at the edge of its band. A score of about 701 falls just inside the 700 to 799 band, so expect the weaker end, nearer rank 1,157 than 366.
- CS marks are normalised across sessions, so your raw marks and normalised marks can differ.
- The 2027 numbers will differ. Both the qualifying mark and the top-performers' mean depend on each year's paper and candidates.
The 2026 qualifying marks for CS were 30 for General, 27 for OBC-NCL/EWS and 20 for SC/ST/PwD candidates. Of 211,020 candidates who appeared, 40,661 qualified. See the official GATE 2026 cut-off page.
03 · The syllabus
What changed for 2027
Three of the ten subjects changed, and seven are word-for-word the same as 2026.
- Computer Networks has the biggest change. It names 18 topics, down from 31. UDP, ARP, DHCP, ICMP, SMTP, FTP, framing, flooding, shortest-path routing, Ethernet bridging and the OSI and TCP/IP stacks are no longer in the printed syllabus.
- Digital Logic and Computer Organization and Architecture now name six more topics between them.
If you’re using older notes or question banks, check them against the line-by-line comparison before spending time on a topic.
04 · 8 to 27 November
Decide what matters
You have 20 days and can't study everything equally, so choose by marks and by how far you are from ready.
| Subject | Usual marks |
|---|---|
| General Aptitude | 15 (fixed) |
| Engineering Mathematics | 12 to 15 |
| Programming and Data Structures | 11 to 15 |
| Computer Organization and Architecture | 8 to 12 |
| Operating System | 7 to 10 |
| Computer Networks | 7 to 10 |
| Theory of Computation | 6 to 9 |
| Algorithms | 5 to 8 |
| Databases | 5 to 8 |
| Digital Logic | 5 to 6 |
| Compiler Design | 4 to 5 |
Average marks per subject from the 2023 to 2025 CS papers. GATE publishes no fixed split, and any subject can move by a few marks in a given year. More detail in the full syllabus guide.
What to do
- Sort every subject into three lists: keep sharp, fix now and leave for later. A high-mark subject you're weak in goes first. Starting a low-mark subject from zero can wait, or may not be worth it at all.
- Work through two or three "fix now" subjects. Use previous years' questions (PYQs) from the start, not only at the end of a topic.
- Practise General Aptitude a little each week. It carries 15 fixed marks, and it needs less preparation than most technical subjects.
- Learn the marking now. A wrong 1-mark MCQ costs 1/3 mark and a wrong 2-mark MCQ costs 2/3 mark. MSQ and NAT questions have no negative marking. This should change when you guess.
05 · 28 November to 3 January
The Saturday routine
Each week now follows the same pattern. The review matters more than the score: a mock you don't review only tells you where you stand, not what to do next.
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| Saturday | Sit one full paper in exam conditions: 65 questions in 180 minutes, using only the on-screen calculator. |
| Sunday | Go through every question you got wrong, guessed or ran out of time on. Label each one: concept gap, careless error, time pressure or wrong guess. |
| Monday to Friday | Fix the two or three topics that cost you the most marks, then solve PYQs on them. Keep up General Aptitude and the rest of your "fix now" list. |
26 December has no Outlyn paper, so use that week to catch up. If you've missed a paper or fallen behind, close the gap here rather than adding new topics.
Which mock to use
This plan works with any full-length GATE CS mock on a fixed weekly schedule. Two free options:
- Outlyn All-India Mock Series (our own, so judge it accordingly): nine Saturdays from 28 November to 30 January, with morning (9:30 AM), afternoon (2:30 PM) and evening (5:00 PM) slots. Everyone sits the same paper and gets one rank across slots, with results and full solutions at 8:30 PM IST the same day.
- NPTEL GATE mock tests: weekly at 2 to 5 PM IST until 31 January, mostly on Sundays. From 2 to 30 January, Saturday dates are also listed. To sit both on a Saturday, take Outlyn’s morning slot.
The GATE brochure also says official mock links will be available on the GATE 2027 website. Take at least one when they are, because they show the real exam screen.
06 · 4 to 29 January
Full papers and an error log
City allotment is due on 4 January. Check yours, sort out your travel, and go back to work. Stop starting new subjects from here.
What to do
- Keep one error log. For each mistake, note the topic, the type of error and the correct idea in one line. Read it several times a week.
- Add full papers if you can review them properly. Weekly mocks continue, and an extra paper only helps if it gets the same review.
- Practise your order of attack. Decide when you'll attempt General Aptitude, when you'll move on from a stuck question, and how you'll handle MCQs you're unsure of. Then use the same approach in every mock.
- Download your admit card when it opens. The date hasn't been announced, so check the official site regularly from January.
07 · 30 January to your paper
The last seven days
If your paper is on 6 February, this week starts with the final Outlyn mock on 30 January. If your paper is later, repeat the full-paper routine until seven days before your date, then follow this list.
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| Saturday 30 January | Take your last full paper and review it over the next day. |
| Monday to Wednesday | Revise your error log, formulas and the "keep sharp" list. Don't start new topics. |
| Thursday and Friday | Do light revision only. Check your admit card, ID, exam centre and how you'll get there. |
| Exam day | Follow the instructions on your admit card and arrive early. |
08 · The fallback
If you're behind
Cut the plan down rather than abandoning it.
- If you've covered less than you hoped, drop your lowest-priority subjects. Put the time into General Aptitude, Engineering Mathematics and one or two technical subjects you already partly know.
- If you've missed mocks, don't try to catch up on all of them. Sit the next one and review it properly.
- If your mock scores are well below your target, adjust the target and keep going. Mock scores show how you're doing today, and clearing the qualifying mark is still a useful goal.
09 · Questions
Questions people are asking
What date is the GATE CS 2027 paper?
GATE 2027 runs on 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21 February 2027. The brochure says the full schedule by paper will be notified later on the GATE 2027 website, and we had no CS date to report when this page was last checked.
How many marks do I need to qualify in GATE CS?
The 2026 CS qualifying marks were 30 for General, 27 for OBC-NCL/EWS and 20 for SC/ST/PwD candidates. The 2027 marks will be set after that exam, so treat these as a guide.
What rank do 60 marks get in GATE CS?
On 2026 data, 60 marks works out to a score of about 701, which falls in the official band for ranks 366 to 1,157. It sits at the bottom of that band, so nearer 1,157. This is our calculation and 2027 will differ.
10 · Our method
Sources
Dates, ranks and the score formula on this page come from official GATE documents. Marks-to-score figures are our calculation, subject marks are averages from the 2023 to 2025 papers, and the study plan is our own advice. Outlyn is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with IIT Madras, IIT Guwahati or the GATE organising committee.
Found an error? Tell us and we will correct it publicly, with the date. Our corrections are published in public, with the date.
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras. GATE 2027 examination schedule. published . gate2027.iitm.ac.in/important_dates
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras. GATE 2027 Information Brochure. Revised version, published . gate2027ib.iitm.ac.in/GATE2027-IB.pdf
- Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. GATE 2026 Statistical and Performance Report. published . gate2026.iitg.ac.in/doc/report/GATE%202026%20Statistical%20And%20Performance%20Report%20Web%20Version.pdf
Last verified against source: 2 November 2026. This page is re-checked whenever IIT Madras revises the official documents.
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