GATE Computer Science and Information Technology (CS) Syllabus
GATE CS tests engineering mathematics, digital logic, computer organisation, programming and data structures, algorithms, theory of computation, compiler design, operating systems, databases, and computer networks, plus a general aptitude section common to all GATE papers.
11 subjects · 66 topics · 480 subtopics
Solved GATE CS previous year questions
130 questions with official answers and step-by-step solutions.
General Aptitude
Verbal Aptitude
- English Grammar (Tenses, Articles, Prepositions, Conjunctions)
- Verb-Noun Agreement & Parts of Speech
- Vocabulary (Words, Idioms, Phrases in Context)
- Reading Comprehension
- Narrative Sequencing
Quantitative Aptitude
- Data Interpretation (Bar, Pie, Graphs, Tables)
- Ratios, Percentages, Powers, Exponents & Logarithms
- Permutations & Combinations
- Series
- Mensuration & Geometry
- Elementary Statistics & Probability
- Simple & Compound Interest
- Alligation & Mixture
- Partnership
- Time & Work
Analytical Aptitude
- Deduction & Induction
- Analogy
- Numerical Relations & Reasoning
Spatial Aptitude
- Transformation of Shapes (Translation, Rotation, Scaling, Mirroring)
- Paper Folding, Cutting & Patterns
- 2D & 3D Patterns
Engineering Mathematics
Mathematical Logic
- Propositional Logic
- Truth Tables
- Predicate Logic & Quantifiers
- Logical Equivalence
- Normal Forms (CNF, DNF)
Sets & Combinatorics
- Sets, Relations & Functions
- Partial Orders & Lattices
- Groups, Rings & Fields
- Permutations & Combinations
- Pigeonhole Principle
- Inclusion-Exclusion Principle
- Generating Functions
- Recurrence Relations
Graph Theory (Math)
- Graph Terminology (Degree, Paths, Cycles)
- Trees & Spanning Trees
- Connectivity
- Planarity
- Graph Coloring
- Matching
- Euler & Hamiltonian Paths
Linear Algebra
- Matrices & Determinants
- Rank of a Matrix
- System of Linear Equations
- Eigenvalues & Eigenvectors
- Cayley-Hamilton Theorem
- Vector Spaces & Linear Maps
- LU Decomposition
Calculus
- Limits & Continuity
- Differentiation
- Mean Value Theorems
- Maxima & Minima
- Integration
- Sequences & Series
- Partial Derivatives
Probability & Statistics
- Sample Space & Events
- Conditional Probability
- Bayes' Theorem
- Random Variables
- Discrete Distributions
- Continuous Distributions
- Expectation & Variance
- Joint Distributions
- Markov Chains
Digital Logic
Boolean Algebra & Logic Gates
- Boolean Laws & Theorems
- De Morgan's Theorems
- SOP & POS Forms
- Minterms & Maxterms
- K-Map Minimization
- Quine-McCluskey Method
- Universal Gates (NAND, NOR)
Combinational Circuits
- Adders & Subtractors
- Carry Lookahead Adder
- Multiplexers & Demultiplexers
- Encoders & Decoders
- Comparators
- Priority Encoders
- Combinational Hazards
Sequential Circuits
- Latches (SR, D)
- Flip-Flops (JK, T, D)
- Flip-Flop Conversions
- Registers & Shift Registers
- Counters (Sync, Async)
- Moore & Mealy Machines
- State Minimization
- FSM Design
Number Systems & Arithmetic
- Number Base Conversions
- BCD, Gray & Excess-3 Codes
- Signed Number Representations
- Binary Arithmetic & Overflow
- IEEE 754 Floating Point
- Floating Point Arithmetic
Computer Organization & Architecture
Instructions & Addressing Modes
- Instruction Formats
- Instruction Types
- Addressing Modes
- RISC vs CISC
- Subroutine Call & Return
ALU & Datapath
- ALU Design
- Booth's Multiplication
- Restoring Division
- Non-Restoring Division
- Datapath & Register File
- Hardwired vs Microprogrammed Control
- Microprogramming
Instruction Pipelining
- Pipeline Stages & Throughput
- Speedup & Efficiency
- Data Hazards (RAW, WAR, WAW)
- Data Forwarding
- Pipeline Stalls
- Control Hazards
- Branch Prediction
- Structural Hazards
- Instruction-Level Parallelism
Memory Hierarchy & Cache
- Memory Technologies (SRAM, DRAM, ROM)
- Direct-Mapped Cache
- Set-Associative Cache
- Fully Associative Cache
- Cache Replacement Policies
- Write-Through vs Write-Back
- Cache Miss Types
- Cache Numericals
- Memory Interleaving
I/O Organization
- I/O Interfaces & Buses
- Programmed I/O (Polling)
- Interrupt-Driven I/O
- DMA (Operation & Types)
- Disk Structure & Access Time
- Disk Scheduling Algorithms
Programming & Data Structures
C Programming
- Data Types & Operators
- Control Flow
- Functions & Recursion
- Pointers & Pointer Arithmetic
- Function Pointers
- Arrays & Strings in C
- Structures & Unions
- Dynamic Memory Allocation
- Storage Classes
- Preprocessor & Macros
Arrays & Strings
- Array Operations (1D, 2D)
- Matrix Operations
- String Pattern Matching (Naive)
- Sparse Matrix Representation
Linked Lists
- Singly Linked Lists
- Doubly Linked Lists
- Circular Linked Lists
- List Reversal
- Cycle Detection (Floyd's)
- Skip Lists
Stacks & Queues
- Stack Operations
- Expression Evaluation
- Balanced Parentheses
- Next Greater Element
- Queue & Circular Queue
- Deque
- Priority Queue
Trees
- Binary Tree Properties
- Tree Traversals
- Binary Search Trees
- BST Successor & Predecessor
- AVL Trees
- Red-Black Trees
- B & B+ Trees
- Segment & Fenwick Trees
- Trie
- Expression Trees
Heaps
- Min-Heap & Max-Heap
- Heapify & Build-Heap
- Heap Insert & Extract
- K-way Merge
- Median with Two Heaps
Graphs (Data Structure)
- Adjacency Matrix & List
- BFS Traversal
- DFS Traversal
- Connected Components
- Strongly Connected Components
- Bipartite Detection
Hashing
- Hash Functions
- Chaining
- Open Addressing
- Load Factor & Rehashing
- Hashing Performance
Algorithms
Asymptotic Analysis
- Asymptotic Notations
- Best, Worst, Average Case
- Substitution Method
- Recursion Tree Method
- Master Theorem
- Amortized Analysis
- Space Complexity
Sorting
- Comparison Sort Lower Bound
- Bubble, Insertion, Selection Sort
- Merge Sort
- Quick Sort
- Heap Sort
- Counting, Radix, Bucket Sort
- Sorting Stability
- External Sorting
Searching
- Linear Search
- Binary Search & Variants
- Interpolation Search
- Selection (Order Statistics)
Greedy Algorithms
- Activity Selection
- Huffman Coding
- Fractional Knapsack
- Job Scheduling
- Kruskal's MST
- Prim's MST
- Exchange Argument
Dynamic Programming
- Optimal Substructure
- Memoization vs Tabulation
- Longest Common Subsequence
- Longest Increasing Subsequence
- 0/1 Knapsack
- Matrix Chain Multiplication
- Edit Distance
- Coin Change & Subset Sum
- Optimal BST
- Floyd-Warshall
- Bellman-Ford
- DP on Trees & Intervals
Divide & Conquer
- D&C Paradigm
- Merge Sort (D&C)
- Quick Sort (D&C)
- Binary Search (D&C)
- Strassen's Multiplication
- Closest Pair of Points
- Karatsuba Multiplication
Graph Algorithms
- BFS Shortest Path
- DFS Edge Classification
- Topological Sort
- Cycle Detection
- Dijkstra's Algorithm
- Bellman-Ford Algorithm
- Floyd-Warshall
- Max Flow (Ford-Fulkerson)
- Bipartite Matching
- Articulation Points & Bridges
- SCC (Kosaraju, Tarjan)
String Algorithms
- KMP Algorithm
- Rabin-Karp Algorithm
- String Hashing
- Suffix Arrays & Trees
Complexity Theory
- P, NP, NP-Complete
- Polynomial Reductions
- NP-Complete Problems
- Approximation Algorithms
Theory of Computation
Finite Automata & Regular Languages
- DFA
- NFA
- NFA to DFA (Subset Construction)
- Regular Expressions
- RE to NFA (Thompson's)
- DFA to RE
- DFA Minimization
- Pumping Lemma (Regular)
- Closure Properties (Regular)
- Decision Problems (Regular)
Context-Free Languages
- Context-Free Grammars
- Parse Trees & Derivations
- Ambiguity
- Chomsky Normal Form
- Greibach Normal Form
- Pushdown Automata (PDA)
- DPDA vs NPDA
- CFG-PDA Conversion
- Pumping Lemma (CFL)
- Closure Properties (CFL)
- CYK Algorithm
- Decision Problems (CFL)
Turing Machines & Computability
- Turing Machines
- TM Variants
- Church-Turing Thesis
- Recursive & RE Languages
- Halting Problem
- Rice's Theorem
- Post Correspondence Problem
- Undecidability Reductions
- Chomsky Hierarchy
Compiler Design
Lexical Analysis
- Tokens & Lexemes
- Regular Expressions for Tokens
- Lexer Construction (DFA/NFA)
- LEX Tool
- Input Buffering
Syntax Analysis
- CFGs for Parsing
- Parse Trees
- Left Factoring
- Left Recursion Elimination
- First & Follow Sets
- Recursive Descent Parsing
- LL(1) Parsing
- LR(0) & SLR(1)
- CLR(1) & LALR(1)
- Parsing Conflicts
- YACC Tool
Semantic Analysis
- Attribute Grammars
- S- & L-Attributed Grammars
- Syntax-Directed Translation
- Type Checking
- Symbol Tables
- Scoping (Static, Dynamic)
Intermediate Code Generation
- Three-Address Code
- DAG for Expressions
- Backpatching
- Translation of Expressions
- Translation of Arrays
Code Optimization
- Basic Blocks & Flow Graphs
- Common Subexpression Elimination
- Constant Folding & Propagation
- Dead Code Elimination
- Loop Optimizations
- Liveness Analysis
- Reaching Definitions
- Register Allocation
Runtime Environments
- Activation Records
- Stack Allocation
- Heap & Garbage Collection
- Parameter Passing
Operating System
OS Structure & System Calls
- OS Functions & Structure
- System Calls
- User vs Kernel Mode
- Interrupts & Traps
Processes & Threads
- Process States & PCB
- Process Creation (fork, exec)
- User vs Kernel Threads
- Multithreading Models
- POSIX Threads
- Context Switching
Process Scheduling
- Scheduling Criteria
- FCFS & SJF
- SRTF (Preemptive SJF)
- Priority Scheduling
- Round Robin
- Multilevel Feedback Queue
- Scheduling Numericals
Process Synchronization
- Race Conditions & Critical Section
- Peterson's Algorithm
- Test-and-Set & CAS
- Mutex & Spinlocks
- Semaphores
- Producer-Consumer
- Readers-Writers
- Dining Philosophers
- Monitors
Deadlocks
- Coffman's Conditions
- Resource Allocation Graph
- Deadlock Prevention
- Banker's Algorithm
- Deadlock Detection
- Deadlock Recovery
- Deadlock Numericals
Memory Management
- Contiguous Allocation
- Fragmentation
- Paging & Address Translation
- Multilevel & Inverted Page Tables
- Segmentation
- Segmentation with Paging
- Demand Paging
- Page Replacement Algorithms
- Thrashing & Working Set
- TLB & EAT
- Memory-Mapped Files
File Systems
- File Concepts & Operations
- Directory Structures
- File Allocation Methods
- Inode & Unix FS
- Free Space Management
- File System Mounting
- RAID Levels
Inter-Process Communication
- Shared Memory
- Message Passing
- Pipes & FIFOs
- Sockets
- Signals
Databases
ER Model
- Entities & Attributes
- Keys
- Relationships
- Cardinality & Participation
- Weak Entities
- Enhanced ER (Generalization)
- ER to Relational Mapping
Relational Model
- Relations & Domains
- Keys (Super, Candidate, Foreign)
- Selection & Projection
- Set Operations
- Joins
- Division
- Tuple Relational Calculus
- Domain Relational Calculus
SQL
- DDL Commands
- DML Commands
- Grouping & Ordering
- SQL Joins
- Subqueries
- Aggregate Functions
- Views
- Triggers & Procedures
- NULL & Three-Valued Logic
- Query Optimization
Normalization
- Functional Dependencies
- Armstrong's Axioms
- Attribute Closure
- Canonical Cover
- Candidate Keys from FDs
- 1NF, 2NF, 3NF
- BCNF
- 4NF & MVDs
- Lossless Decomposition
- Dependency Preservation
Indexing & File Organization
- Primary & Secondary Indexes
- Dense vs Sparse Indexes
- Multi-Level Indexing
- B-Tree Operations
- B+ Tree Operations
- B+ Tree Numericals
- Static & Dynamic Hashing
- ISAM
Transactions & Concurrency
- ACID Properties
- Transaction States
- Serial vs Non-Serial Schedules
- Conflict Serializability
- View Serializability
- Recoverability
- Lock-Based Protocols
- Two-Phase Locking
- Timestamp Protocols
- MVCC
- Log-Based Recovery
Computer Networks
Network Fundamentals
- Network Types (LAN, WAN, MAN)
- OSI Model
- TCP/IP Model
- Switching Techniques
- Transmission Media
- Shannon & Nyquist Theorems
Data Link Layer
- Framing
- Error Detection (Parity, CRC)
- Error Correction (Hamming)
- Stop-and-Wait
- Go-Back-N
- Selective Repeat
- Efficiency Numericals
Medium Access & LANs
- ALOHA (Pure, Slotted)
- CSMA/CD
- CSMA/CA
- Token Ring & Polling
- Ethernet & MAC
- Switches & STP
- VLANs
Network Layer: Addressing
- IPv4 Addressing
- Subnetting & CIDR
- VLSM
- IPv4 Packet & Fragmentation
- IPv6 Addressing
- ARP & RARP
- DHCP
- ICMP
- NAT
Network Layer: Routing
- Distance Vector Routing
- Link State Routing
- RIP
- OSPF
- BGP
- Hierarchical Routing
- Multicast Routing
- Longest Prefix Match
Transport Layer
- Multiplexing & Reliability
- UDP
- TCP Handshake
- TCP Teardown
- TCP Segment Format
- TCP Reliable Transfer
- TCP Flow Control
- TCP Congestion Control
- Fast Retransmit & Recovery
- TCP vs UDP
- Socket Programming
Application Layer
- DNS
- HTTP & HTTPS
- FTP
- SMTP, POP3, IMAP
- Symmetric & Asymmetric Encryption
- Digital Signatures & Certificates
- Firewalls & Proxies
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