OutlynSeven subjects are untouched. Three moved — and one of them moved a lot.
In the GATE 2027 CS syllabus, UDP, ARP, DHCP, ICMP, SMTP, FTP, framing, flooding, shortest-path routing, Ethernet bridging and the OSI and TCP/IP stacks are all gone from the printed Computer Networks syllabus. Digital Logic and Computer Organization gained no new areas — they gained names: Karnaugh maps, the tabular minimization method, and hardwired versus microprogrammed control unit design.
Verified against source — official GATE 2027 CS PDF (IIT Madras, Brochure v1.1, 23 July 2026) vs GATE 2026 (IIT Guwahati). Checked 29 July 2026. See the method.
01 · The map
All ten subjects, at a glance
The GATE 2027 CS paper still has the same ten sections in the same order. This table shows which ones IIT Madras rewrote.
| § | Subject | Status | What moved |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engineering Mathematics | Identical | No change to any of the four sub-areas |
| 2 | Digital Logic | Expanded | Minimization methods named; "design of" circuits added |
| 3 | Computer Organization & Architecture | Expanded | Control unit design split into hardwired and microprogrammed; memory interfacing and cache mapping added |
| 4 | Programming & Data Structures | Identical | — |
| 5 | Algorithms | Identical | — |
| 6 | Theory of Computation | Identical | — |
| 7 | Compiler Design | Identical | — |
| 8 | Operating System | Identical | — |
| 9 | Databases | Identical | — |
| 10 | Computer Networks | Cut back | 13 named topics removed, 1 added. The largest change in the paper. |
02 · The big cut
GATE 2027 Computer Networks syllabus: 13 topics removed
This is the change worth reorganising your plan around. In the GATE 2027 CS syllabus, IIT Madras replaced almost every clause of the Computer Networks section with a shorter one. Seven of the seven clauses were rewritten; thirteen previously named topics are gone.
| GATE 2026 | GATE 2027 | Net |
|---|---|---|
| Concept of layering: OSI and TCP/IP Protocol Stacks; | Principles of Layering; | -2 named topics lost |
| Basics of packet, circuit and virtual circuit-switching; | Basics of switching (circuit, packet and virtual circuit) and performance metrics; | +1 named topics gained |
| Data link layer: framing, error detection, Medium Access Control, Ethernet bridging; | Data link layer: error detection, Medium Access Control, Ethernet; | -2 named topics lost |
| Routing protocols: shortest path, flooding, distance vector and link state routing; | Distance vector and link state routing; | -2 named topics lost |
| Fragmentation and IP addressing, IPv4, CIDR notation, Basics of IP support protocols (ARP, DHCP, ICMP), Network Address Translation (NAT); | IPv4 - Fragmentation, CIDR Notation, Network Address Translation; | -4 named topics lost |
| Transport layer: flow control and congestion control, UDP, TCP, sockets; | TCP- flow control and congestion control, socket API; | -1 named topics lost |
| Application layer protocols: DNS, SMTP, HTTP, FTP, Email. | DNS and HTTP. | -2 named topics lost |
Removed · 13
- OSI protocol stack
- TCP/IP protocol stack
- framing
- Ethernet bridging
- shortest-path routing
- flooding
- IP addressing
- ARP
- DHCP
- ICMP
- UDP
- SMTP
- FTP
Newly named · 1
- performance metrics for switching
Removed from the printed syllabus
Thirteen topics that appeared by name in GATE 2026 do not appear anywhere in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus: the OSI protocol stack, the TCP/IP protocol stack, framing, Ethernet bridging, shortest-path routing, flooding, IP addressing as a general topic, ARP, DHCP, ICMP, UDP, SMTP and FTP (with “Email” as an application-layer topic).
Added
One addition: performance metrics for switching. The GATE 2027 CS syllabus now pairs circuit, packet and virtual-circuit switching with their performance characteristics, which points at transmission and propagation delay, throughput and efficiency comparisons across the three switching types.
Our read — this is judgement, not the official document
The pattern is consistent: IIT Madras kept the mechanisms you can compute with and dropped the ones you memorise. Distance vector and link state survive because they are algorithmic; flooding and shortest-path-as-a-listed-protocol do not. TCP survives because congestion control is quantitative; UDP does not. This suggests the Computer Networks questions in GATE 2027 will lean numerical rather than recall — which, if you are choosing what to drill, is the more useful signal than the deletions themselves.
One caution before you delete anything: the 2026 PDF was authored by IIT Guwahati and the 2027 PDF by IIT Madras. Some of this rewrite is a change in house style — “Concept of layering” becoming “Principles of Layering” almost certainly is. But dropping four named protocols and an entire transport protocol is not a stylistic edit.
03 · Sharpened
GATE 2027 Digital Logic syllabus: three minimization methods named
Digital Logic did not gain new territory in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus. It gained names. Where GATE 2026 said “Minimization” and left the methods implicit, GATE 2027 lists all three.
| GATE 2026 | GATE 2027 | Net |
|---|---|---|
| Boolean algebra. Minimization. | Boolean algebra and minimization – algebraic technique, Karnaugh map, tabular method. | +3 named topics gained |
| Combinational and sequential circuits. | Design of combinational and sequential circuits. | 0 named topics unchanged |
| Number representations and computer arithmetic (fixed and floating point). | Number representation and arithmetic (fixed and floating point). | 0 named topics unchanged |
Newly named · 3
- algebraic technique
- Karnaugh map
- tabular method
Newly named
Three minimization techniques are now explicit in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus: the algebraic technique, the Karnaugh map, and the tabular method — the last of which is taught almost everywhere as Quine–McCluskey. GATE 2026 covered all three implicitly under the single word “Minimization”, so nothing became examinable that was not before. What changed is that the tabular method now has the same standing on paper as K-maps.
The second edit is small and easy to miss: “Combinational and sequential circuits” became “Design of combinational and sequential circuits”. The same verb, “Design of”, appears three times in the rewritten Computer Organization section.
Our read — this is judgement, not the official document
Quine–McCluskey is the topic most GATE CS candidates skip, on the reasonable historical grounds that K-maps carried the marks. That calculation is now weaker. Naming it costs IIT Madras nothing if they never ask it, so the naming is cheap evidence — but it is the only evidence available, and the topic takes about two hours to learn properly. That is a good trade at this odds.
04 · Sharpened
GATE 2027 Computer Organization syllabus: control unit design split in two
The same pattern as Digital Logic, applied harder. The GATE 2027 CS syllabus breaks “ALU, data-path and control unit” into two design topics and adds specificity to the memory line.
| GATE 2026 | GATE 2027 | Net |
|---|---|---|
| Machine instructions and addressing modes. | Instruction set and addressing modes. | 0 named topics unchanged |
| ALU, data-path and control unit. | Design of arithmetic and logic unit (ALU). Design of control unit – hardwired and microprogrammed. | +2 named topics gained |
| Memory hierarchy: cache, main memory and secondary storage; | Memory interfacing and hierarchy: performance, cache memory mapping. | +1 named topics gained |
| I/O interface (interrupt and DMA mode). | I/O interface (interrupt and DMA). | 0 named topics unchanged |
| Instruction pipelining, pipeline hazards. | Instruction pipelining, pipeline hazards. | 0 named topics unchanged |
Removed · 2
- data-path
- secondary storage
Newly named · 5
- hardwired control unit design
- microprogrammed control unit design
- ALU design
- memory interfacing
- cache memory mapping
Newly named
- Design of the control unit — hardwired and microprogrammed. GATE 2026 named the control unit as a component; GATE 2027 names both implementation styles and asks for their design.
- Design of the ALU. Promoted from a list item to its own clause with a design verb.
- Memory interfacing. New wording, not present in GATE 2026.
- Memory performance and cache memory mapping. GATE 2026 said “Memory hierarchy: cache, main memory and secondary storage”. GATE 2027 replaces the storage list with performance and mapping — direct, associative and set-associative mapping, hit ratio and average memory access time.
Quietly dropped
Two terms disappear: data-path as a named topic, and the explicit mention of main memory and secondary storage. Secondary storage was already a rare source of GATE CS questions, and its removal is consistent with the shift toward cache performance.
Our read — this is judgement, not the official document
“Design of control unit – hardwired and microprogrammed” is the single most under-prepared line in the new syllabus. Most GATE CS candidates can compute a cache hit ratio in their sleep and have never drawn a microprogrammed control unit's control word format. If you budget one week to the changes across all three subjects, spend two days of it here.
05 · Every change
Every change, one by one
14 changes across 3 subjects. Each one carries the GATE 2026 wording, the GATE 2027 wording and the source document, so you can check any single claim without reading the rest of the page.
UDP is gone
Is UDP removed from the GATE 2027 CS syllabus?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — Transport layer: flow control and congestion control, UDP, TCP, sockets;
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — TCP- flow control and congestion control, socket API;
UDP is no longer named in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus. The GATE 2026 transport-layer clause read “flow control and congestion control, UDP, TCP, sockets”. The GATE 2027 clause reads “TCP- flow control and congestion control, socket API”. UDP appears nowhere else in the GATE 2027 Computer Science syllabus.
What it means: Stop drilling UDP header and UDP-vs-TCP comparison questions.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.4
ARP, DHCP and ICMP dropped
Are ARP, DHCP and ICMP still in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — Fragmentation and IP addressing, IPv4, CIDR notation, Basics of IP support protocols (ARP, DHCP, ICMP), Network Address Translation (NAT);
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — IPv4 - Fragmentation, CIDR Notation, Network Address Translation;
No. GATE 2026 explicitly listed “Basics of IP support protocols (ARP, DHCP, ICMP)”. That phrase does not appear in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus. The GATE 2027 network-layer clause is limited to IPv4 fragmentation, CIDR notation and Network Address Translation.
What it means: Three protocols' message formats and header fields come off the drill list.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.4
The OSI and TCP/IP stacks are no longer named
Is the OSI model removed from GATE 2027 CS?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — Concept of layering: OSI and TCP/IP Protocol Stacks;
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — Principles of Layering;
The OSI and TCP/IP protocol stacks are no longer named in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus. GATE 2026 read “Concept of layering: OSI and TCP/IP Protocol Stacks”. GATE 2027 reads only “Principles of Layering”. Layering itself remains examinable; the two named reference stacks do not appear in the printed syllabus.
What it means: Seven-layer memorisation and layer-mapping questions lose their basis.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.4
SMTP, FTP and Email are out; DNS and HTTP remain
Are SMTP and FTP still in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — Application layer protocols: DNS, SMTP, HTTP, FTP, Email.
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — DNS and HTTP.
No. The GATE 2026 application-layer clause named “DNS, SMTP, HTTP, FTP, Email”. The GATE 2027 clause reads “DNS and HTTP.” only. SMTP, FTP and Email as an application-layer topic are not named anywhere in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus.
What it means: Three of five application-layer protocols come off the syllabus.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.4
Framing and Ethernet bridging dropped
Is framing still in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — Data link layer: framing, error detection, Medium Access Control, Ethernet bridging;
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — Data link layer: error detection, Medium Access Control, Ethernet;
No. The GATE 2026 data link layer clause named “framing, error detection, Medium Access Control, Ethernet bridging”. The GATE 2027 clause reads “error detection, Medium Access Control, Ethernet”. Framing and Ethernet bridging are both dropped from the printed syllabus.
What it means: Bit stuffing, byte stuffing, character count and spanning tree come off the list.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.4
Flooding and shortest-path routing dropped
Is flooding still in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — Routing protocols: shortest path, flooding, distance vector and link state routing;
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — Distance vector and link state routing;
No. GATE 2026 listed “Routing protocols: shortest path, flooding, distance vector and link state routing”. GATE 2027 lists “Distance vector and link state routing” only. Flooding and shortest path as named routing protocols are removed; the two algorithmic routing families remain.
What it means: The two algorithmic routing families survive; the descriptive ones do not.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.4
Switching performance metrics added
What was added to the GATE 2027 Computer Networks syllabus?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — Basics of packet, circuit and virtual circuit-switching;
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — Basics of switching (circuit, packet and virtual circuit) and performance metrics;
One topic was added: performance metrics for switching. The GATE 2027 CS syllabus reads “Basics of switching (circuit, packet and virtual circuit) and performance metrics”, where GATE 2026 read “Basics of packet, circuit and virtual circuit-switching”. This is the only addition to Computer Networks.
What it means: Points at transmission and propagation delay, throughput and efficiency across the three switching types.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.4
Quine–McCluskey, on paper for the first time
Is Quine–McCluskey (the tabular method) in the GATE 2027 syllabus?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — Minimization.
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — Boolean algebra and minimization – algebraic technique, Karnaugh map, tabular method.
Yes, explicitly. The GATE 2027 Digital Logic section reads “Boolean algebra and minimization – algebraic technique, Karnaugh map, tabular method”. GATE 2026 said only “Minimization”. The tabular method, taught almost everywhere as Quine–McCluskey, is named in the printed CS syllabus for the first time.
What it means: ≈ 2 hours to learn properly, including prime implicant charts.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.3
“Design of” added to combinational and sequential circuits
Did the GATE 2027 Digital Logic circuits topic change?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — Combinational and sequential circuits.
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — Design of combinational and sequential circuits.
The wording changed from “Combinational and sequential circuits” in GATE 2026 to “Design of combinational and sequential circuits” in GATE 2027. The same verb, “Design of”, appears three times in the rewritten Computer Organization section, which suggests a deliberate shift toward design questions.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.3
Microprogrammed control unit design, named explicitly
Is microprogrammed control unit design in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — ALU, data-path and control unit.
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — Design of control unit – hardwired and microprogrammed.
Yes. The GATE 2027 Computer Organization section reads “Design of control unit – hardwired and microprogrammed”. GATE 2026 said only “ALU, data-path and control unit”. Both implementation styles are now named in the printed syllabus, with a design verb attached to them.
What it means: The single most under-prepared line in the new syllabus. Budget two days.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.3
ALU design promoted to its own clause
Is ALU design in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — ALU, data-path and control unit.
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — Design of arithmetic and logic unit (ALU).
Yes. The GATE 2027 Computer Organization section reads “Design of arithmetic and logic unit (ALU)” as a standalone clause. In GATE 2026 the ALU appeared only as one item in the list “ALU, data-path and control unit”, with no design verb attached.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.3
Memory interfacing and cache mapping replace the storage list
Did the GATE 2027 memory hierarchy topic change?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — Memory hierarchy: cache, main memory and secondary storage;
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — Memory interfacing and hierarchy: performance, cache memory mapping.
Yes. GATE 2026 read “Memory hierarchy: cache, main memory and secondary storage”. GATE 2027 reads “Memory interfacing and hierarchy: performance, cache memory mapping”. Memory interfacing is new wording, and the secondary-storage list is replaced by performance and cache mapping.
What it means: Direct, associative and set-associative mapping; hit ratio and average memory access time.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.3
Data-path and secondary storage quietly dropped
Was anything removed from GATE 2027 Computer Organization?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — ALU, data-path and control unit. Memory hierarchy: cache, main memory and secondary storage;
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — Design of arithmetic and logic unit (ALU). Memory interfacing and hierarchy: performance, cache memory mapping.
Two terms were removed. “Data-path” is no longer a named topic, and the explicit mention of main memory and secondary storage is gone from the memory hierarchy clause. Secondary storage was already a rare source of GATE CS questions.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.3
Pipelining unchanged, but relocated
Did instruction pipelining change in GATE 2027?
GATE 2026 wording: 2026 — Instruction pipelining, pipeline hazards.
GATE 2027 wording: 2027 — Instruction pipelining, pipeline hazards.
No. “Instruction pipelining, pipeline hazards” is word-for-word identical in GATE 2026 and GATE 2027. The clause moved from the middle of the Computer Organization section to the end, which is a formatting change rather than a syllabus change.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Information Brochure v1.1, 23 Jul 2026 · p.3
06 · Untouched
The seven subjects that did not change
Seven of the ten sections of the GATE 2027 CS syllabus are identical to GATE 2026, character for character. If a coaching institute tells you their material is stale, this is the part where they are wrong — roughly 70% of the paper’s syllabus text was not touched.
See all seven, with their full official textNo change
- §1 Engineering Mathematics — Discrete Mathematics, Linear Algebra, Calculus, Probability and Statistics. All four sub-sections unchanged, including generating functions, LU decomposition and Bayes' theorem.
- §4 Programming & Data Structures — Programming in C. Recursion. Arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists, trees, binary search trees, binary heaps, graphs.
- §5 Algorithms — Searching, sorting, hashing. Asymptotic worst case time and space complexity. Greedy, dynamic programming, divide-and-conquer. Graph traversals, minimum spanning trees, shortest paths.
- §6 Theory of Computation — Regular expressions and finite automata. Context-free grammars and push-down automata. Regular and context-free languages, pumping lemma. Turing machines and undecidability.
- §7 Compiler Design — Lexical analysis, parsing, syntax-directed translation. Runtime environments. Intermediate code generation. Local optimisation, data flow analyses.
- §8 Operating System — System calls, processes, threads, IPC, concurrency and synchronization. Deadlock. CPU and I/O scheduling. Memory management and virtual memory. File systems.
- §9 Databases — ER-model. Relational algebra, tuple calculus, SQL. Integrity constraints, normal forms. File organization, indexing (B and B+ trees). Transactions and concurrency control.
07 · Your move
What to drop, and what to add
A syllabus diff is only useful if it changes what you do this week. Two lists, both short. Everything below is our judgement rather than IIT Madras's instruction — the official document tells you what is examinable, not how to spend your time.
≈ 6–8 hoursStop drillingreclaimed
- ARP, DHCP and ICMP message formats and header fields
- UDP header, UDP-vs-TCP comparison questions
- SMTP, FTP, POP3/IMAP protocol mechanics
- Ethernet bridging, spanning tree, transparent bridges
- Framing methods — bit stuffing, byte stuffing, character count
- Flooding and standalone shortest-path routing questions
- OSI seven-layer memorisation and layer-mapping questions
≈ 10–12 hoursStart coveringneeded
- Quine–McCluskey tabular minimization, including prime implicant charts
- Microprogrammed control unit design — control word format, horizontal vs vertical microcode
- Hardwired control unit design and its comparison to microprogrammed
- Switching performance metrics — end-to-end delay for circuit vs packet vs virtual circuit
- Cache mapping numericals: direct, associative, set-associative; AMAT and hit ratio
- Memory interfacing — address decoding, chip selection
The honest caveat
Removal from the printed syllabus is a strong signal, not a guarantee. Some removed topics remain prerequisites for topics that stayed: you cannot reason about NAT without understanding IP addressing, and TCP congestion control makes most sense against UDP as a contrast. Read the removed topics once for understanding. Stop solving past questions on them.
We will re-check this page against the official brochure after each revision IIT Madras publishes, and change the date at the top when we do.
08 · Logistics
Beyond the syllabus: what else changed for GATE 2027
The syllabus diff is the study-plan story. These five changes are the logistics story — and two of them affect what you do during the 27 August – 27 September registration window.
1 · A new Robotics & Automation paper — and CS can pair with it
IIT Madras added Robotics and Automation (RA) as the 30th GATE paper. It has a compulsory Part A (Engineering Mathematics, mechatronics basics, robotics principles — 60 marks) and a choice of Part B, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering (25 marks), selectable during the exam itself. What matters for CS aspirants: CS + RA is now a permitted two-paper combination, joining the existing options — the CS secondary list covers DA, EC, GE, MA, PH, ST and now RA. Two things to weigh before adding it: both papers are scored and ranked completely independently, so a weak second paper cannot hurt your CS rank — but the RA syllabus leans heavily on Mechanical and Electrical material that a CS candidate has never studied. CS + DA remains the natural pairing for most CS aspirants; CS + RA only makes sense with a genuine EE/ME background.
2 · Registration now runs through DigiLocker, with live facial verification
The application process itself changed. Indian nationals register through a verified DigiLocker account, and candidates provide live facial details during registration — the same face is then matched at the exam centre. The practical consequence: set up and verify your DigiLocker account before 27 August, with Aadhaar linked and your name matching your degree documents exactly. Name mismatches between Aadhaar and college records are the new failure mode this cycle, and fixing Aadhaar details takes days to weeks — not something to discover on 26 September.
3 · Six exam days across three weekends
GATE 2026 ran on four days across two weekends. GATE 2027 runs on six days across three weekends — 6–7, 13–14 and 20–21 February — with two shifts each day. The paper-to-date mapping is not yet published; the CS paper's date will be announced closer to the exam. If you take two papers, they will sit in different sessions, possibly on different weekends, and possibly at a different centre in the same city.
4 · Fees are unchanged — and doubled for two papers
Per the official notification, the fee structure carries over from 2026: ₹1,000 per paper for women, SC, ST and PwD candidates (₹1,500 in the extended window), and ₹2,000 for everyone else including foreign nationals (₹2,500 extended). Two papers cost exactly twice the single-paper fee for your category. Fees are non-refundable, except where IIT Madras itself withdraws a paper combination.
5 · The DA syllabus did not change at all
For anyone weighing CS + DA as their two-paper combination, or deciding between the two papers: the GATE 2027 Data Science & AI syllabus is identical to GATE 2026. All of the syllabus movement this cycle is on the CS side, and within CS it is concentrated in the three sections diffed above.
One myth worth killing
Several posts circulating on Telegram claim that third-year BTech eligibility is “new for GATE 2027”. It is not — students in the third year or above of a bachelor's degree have been eligible for several cycles, and that continues unchanged. There is also still no age limit and no cap on attempts. If you are in your third year, you were eligible last year too; what is new this cycle is the registration process, not who can register.
09 · Questions
Questions people are asking
Has the GATE 2027 CS syllabus changed?
Yes. IIT Madras changed 3 of the 10 subjects in the GATE 2027 Computer Science and Information Technology syllabus: Digital Logic, Computer Organization and Architecture, and Computer Networks. The other seven subjects are word-for-word identical to GATE 2026.
Which subject changed the most?
Computer Networks, by a wide margin. The GATE 2027 CS syllabus names 18 Computer Networks topics where GATE 2026 named 31. Thirteen named topics were removed and one — performance metrics for switching — was added. Digital Logic and Computer Organization both grew, but by adding precision rather than new areas.
Is UDP removed from the GATE 2027 CS syllabus?
UDP is no longer named. The GATE 2026 transport-layer line read “flow control and congestion control, UDP, TCP, sockets”. The GATE 2027 line reads “TCP- flow control and congestion control, socket API”. UDP does not appear anywhere else in the GATE 2027 Computer Science syllabus.
Are ARP, DHCP and ICMP still in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus?
No. GATE 2026 explicitly listed “Basics of IP support protocols (ARP, DHCP, ICMP)”. That phrase does not appear in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus. The GATE 2027 network-layer clause is limited to IPv4 fragmentation, CIDR notation and Network Address Translation.
Is the OSI model removed from GATE 2027 CS?
The OSI and TCP/IP protocol stacks are no longer named. GATE 2026 read “Concept of layering: OSI and TCP/IP Protocol Stacks”. GATE 2027 reads only “Principles of Layering”. Layering itself remains examinable; the two named reference stacks do not appear in the printed syllabus.
Is Quine–McCluskey (the tabular method) in the GATE 2027 syllabus?
Yes, explicitly. The GATE 2027 Digital Logic section reads “Boolean algebra and minimization – algebraic technique, Karnaugh map, tabular method”. GATE 2026 said only “Minimization”. The tabular method, taught almost everywhere as Quine–McCluskey, is named in the printed CS syllabus for the first time.
Is microprogrammed control unit design in the GATE 2027 CS syllabus?
Yes. The GATE 2027 Computer Organization section reads “Design of control unit – hardwired and microprogrammed”. GATE 2026 said only “ALU, data-path and control unit”. Both implementation styles are now named, with a design verb attached.
Should I still study the Computer Networks topics that were removed?
Treat them as low priority, not zero. Some removed items are prerequisites for retained ones — you cannot reason about NAT without IP addressing, or about TCP congestion control without understanding what UDP does differently.
Read them once for understanding. Stop drilling past questions on ARP, DHCP, ICMP, SMTP, FTP, flooding and Ethernet bridging as standalone topics.
Is my Made Easy or ACE material still valid for GATE 2027?
Mostly, with one exception. Material for the seven unchanged subjects is fully valid — that is roughly 70% of the syllabus.
Digital Logic and Computer Organization material is valid but thin on the newly named topics, particularly the tabular minimization method and microprogrammed control unit design. Computer Networks material printed before July 2026 covers roughly 13 topics that are no longer in the syllabus, and does not cover switching performance metrics at all.
Did the GATE 2027 exam pattern change too?
The CS paper structure is unchanged: 3 hours, 100 marks, 65 questions, General Aptitude worth 15 marks and the subject worth 85. What changed around it: the exam now runs six days across three weekends instead of four days across two, GATE 2027 adds a new Robotics and Automation paper, and registration introduces DigiLocker and live facial verification. None of this affects the CS paper format.
Can I take CS and Robotics & Automation (RA) together in GATE 2027?
Yes. GATE 2027 introduces Robotics and Automation as a new paper, and CS + RA is a permitted two-paper combination, alongside CS with DA, EC, GE, MA, PH and ST. Both papers are scored and ranked independently, so the second paper cannot affect your CS rank. Note that the RA syllabus draws heavily on Mechanical and Electrical Engineering; for most CS aspirants, CS + DA remains the more natural pairing.
Has the GATE 2027 DA (Data Science & AI) syllabus changed?
No. The GATE 2027 DA syllabus is identical to GATE 2026. All of this cycle's syllabus changes are in the CS paper, concentrated in Digital Logic, Computer Organization and Computer Networks. DA aspirants — and CS aspirants taking DA as a second paper — can continue with existing material unchanged.
What is the GATE 2027 application fee?
₹1,000 per paper for women, SC, ST and PwD candidates, and ₹2,000 per paper for all other candidates, including foreign nationals. In the extended window (28 September – 5 October 2026) the fees rise to ₹1,500 and ₹2,500 respectively. Taking two papers costs twice the single-paper fee for your category. Fees are unchanged from GATE 2026 and are non-refundable.
10 · Calendar
GATE 2027 key dates
Published by IIT Madras on 20 July 2026, with the Information Brochure v1.1 following on 23 July. The registration window was revised in August 2026 — the dates below are the revised ones.
- Registration opens on GOAPS
- Registration closes (regular fee)
- Extended registration closes (late fee)
- Application rectification window
- Exam — six days, two shifts each
- Results
Always confirm dates on gate2027.iitm.ac.in. Registration windows have been extended in past years — this one already was.
11 · Our method
Method and sources
We publish our method because a syllabus diff is only worth reading if you can check it.
- Both official PDFs were extracted to plain text — the GATE 2026 CS syllabus (IIT Guwahati) and the GATE 2027 CS syllabus (IIT Madras, Information Brochure v1.1).
- Each section was split at clause boundaries — full stops and semicolons — rather than diffed as whole paragraphs, because a paragraph-level diff on a rewritten section reports “everything changed” and tells you nothing.
- Clauses were aligned by subject matter, not by position, so that a moved clause (pipelining, in Computer Organization) reads as a move rather than as a deletion plus an insertion.
- Named topics were counted as distinct entities — “ARP, DHCP, ICMP” counts as three, not one — which is where the 31 → 18 figure for Computer Networks comes from.
- Everything on this page marked as fact is quoted or counted from those two documents. Everything marked “our read” is judgement, and we have labelled it so you can disagree with it separately from the diff.
Found an error? Tell us and we will correct it publicly, with the date. Our full correction log lives on the the correction log.
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras. GATE 2027 Syllabus — CS: Computer Science and Information Technology. Information Brochure v1.1, published . gate2027.iitm.ac.in
- Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. GATE 2026 Syllabus — CS: Computer Science and Information Technology. published . gate2026.iitg.ac.in
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras. GATE 2027 examination schedule. published . gate2027.iitm.ac.in
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras. GATE 2027 application fees. published . gate2027.iitm.ac.in/application_fees
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras. GATE 2027 Syllabus — GA: General Aptitude. published . gate2027.iitm.ac.in/exam_papers_and_syllabus
- Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. GATE 2026 eligibility criteria. published . gate2026.iitg.ac.in/eligibility-criteria.html
- Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. GATE 2026 photograph and signature specifications. published . gate2026.iitg.ac.in/photograph-and-signature.html
Last verified against source: 29 July 2026. This page is re-checked whenever IIT Madras publishes a brochure revision.
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