GATE Chemistry Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

IIT Madras's pattern page puts CY in the group whose 85 subject marks are split as 13 of "Engineering Mathematics" and 72 of core subject. For a science paper that line comes from a table built for the engineering papers. Plan for 15 marks of General Aptitude and 85 of chemistry.

Question types

MSQ gives no partial credit: you need every correct option and no wrong one. An on-screen virtual calculator is provided; physical calculators aren't allowed.

Two papers

You can sit two papers from a published list of pairs. With CY as the first, the second can only be XE or XL.

From the official GATE 2027 CY syllabus published by IIT Madras.

Section 1: Physical Chemistry

Structure: postulates of quantum mechanics; operators; commutation relations and expectation values; the wave function and its absolute square; time-dependent and time-independent Schrodinger equations; the Born interpretation; Dirac bra-ket notation; model solvable systems.

Particle in a box: solutions and interpretation for finite length and infinite potential barrier; tunnelling; 1D, 2D and 3D boxes and their applications.

Harmonic oscillator: exact wave functions, properties of Hermite polynomials, eigenvalues in one dimension; expectation values of potential and kinetic energy; harmonic and anharmonic potentials.

Rotational motion: orbital and spin angular momentum operators; spherical harmonics and their properties.

Hydrogen and hydrogen-like atoms: atomic orbitals; radial and angular distribution functions; atomic units. Multi-electron atoms: the orbital approximation; electron spin; the Pauli exclusion principle; Slater determinants; the variational method and secular determinants; first order non-degenerate perturbation theory.

Molecular structure and chemical bonding: the Born-Oppenheimer approximation; valence bond treatment of the hydrogen molecule; LCAO-MO theory; hybridization and hybrid orbitals; applications to H₂⁺ and H₂; MO theory of homo- and heteronuclear diatomics; Huckel theory and small conjugated pi systems.

Group theory: symmetry elements and operations; group postulates and multiplication tables; classes, reducible and irreducible representations; classification and labelling of molecular point groups; symmetry-based selection rules in electronic and vibrational spectroscopy; internal coordinates and symmetry labelling of vibrational modes; symmetry-adapted LCAO; construction of hybrid orbitals from point group symmetry.

Spectroscopy: atomic spectroscopy, Russell-Saunders coupling, term symbols and the origin of selection rules; rotational, vibrational, electronic and Raman spectroscopy of diatomic and simple polyatomic molecules; line broadening and line widths, Gaussian and Lorentzian line shapes; absorbance, the Beer-Lambert law, the Einstein coefficient, the Jablonski diagram; the transition moment integral in relation to molar extinction coefficient and oscillator strength; basic NMR (gyromagnetic ratio, chemical shift, nuclear coupling).

Equilibrium: laws of thermodynamics; standard states; thermochemistry; thermodynamic functions and their relationships (Gibbs-Helmholtz and Maxwell relations, the Gibbs-Duhem and van't Hoff equations); criteria of spontaneity and equilibrium; absolute entropy; partial molar quantities; thermodynamics of mixing; chemical potential; fugacity, activity and activity coefficient; chemical equilibria and the dependence of the equilibrium constant on temperature and pressure.

Solutions: ideal and non-ideal solutions; Raoult's and Henry's laws.

Electrochemistry: standard electrode potential and electrochemical cells; the Nernst equation and its applications; the relation between electrode potential and thermodynamic quantities; potentiometric and conductometric titrations; ionic mobility and conductivity; Kohlrausch's law, the Debye-Huckel limiting law and the Debye-Huckel-Onsager equation.

Phase equilibria: the phase rule; the Clausius-Clapeyron equation; one-component phase diagrams (CO₂, H₂O, S); two-component systems (liquid-vapour, liquid-liquid and solid-liquid); fractional distillation; azeotropes and eutectics.

Statistical thermodynamics: micro-canonical, canonical and grand canonical ensembles; the Boltzmann distribution; partition functions and thermodynamic properties; statistical mechanics of non-interacting systems; ideal monatomic and diatomic gases; translational, rotational, vibrational and electronic partition functions.

Kinetics and reaction dynamics: elementary, parallel, opposing and consecutive reactions; the steady state approximation; mechanisms of complex reactions; unimolecular reactions; potential energy surfaces and classical trajectories; saddle points; transition state theory and the Eyring equation; kinetics of polymerization; catalysis and enzyme catalysis; kinetic isotope effects; fast reaction kinetics by relaxation and flow methods; diffusion controlled reactions; unimolecular and bimolecular photophysical processes, quantum yield, static and dynamic quenching.

Surfaces and interfaces: physisorption and chemisorption; Langmuir, Freundlich and BET isotherms; surface catalysis and the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism; surface tension; viscosity; self-assembly and the physical chemistry of colloids, micelles and macromolecules.

Section 2: Inorganic Chemistry

Main group elements: shapes and structures by VSEPR; hydrides, halides, oxides, oxoacids, nitrides and sulfides, their shapes and reactivity; structure and bonding of boranes, carboranes, silicones, silicates, boron nitride, borazine and phosphazenes; electron counting in polyhedral boranes; the isolobal analogy; allotropes of carbon, phosphorus and sulfur; industrial synthesis of NH₃, H₂SO₄ and HNO₃; noble gases and interhalogen compounds; acid-base concepts (Lewis, Bronsted, HSAB) and acid-base catalysis.

Transition metals: coordination chemistry: structure and isomerism; theories of bonding (VBT, CFT, MOT); metal-metal multiple bonds; energy level diagrams in various crystal fields, CFSE, applications of CFT, Jahn-Teller distortion; electronic spectra: spectroscopic term symbols, selection rules, Orgel and Tanabe-Sugano diagrams, the nephelauxetic effect and the Racah parameter, charge-transfer spectra; magnetic properties; Ray-Dutt and Bailar twists; reaction mechanisms, including kinetic and thermodynamic stability, associative and dissociative substitution, redox reactions.

Lanthanides and actinides: recovery; periodic, spectral and magnetic properties.

Organometallics: the 18-electron rule; metal-alkyl, metal-carbonyl, metal-olefin and metal-carbene complexes and metallocenes; fluxionality; types of organometallic reaction; homogeneous catalysis (hydrogenation, hydroformylation, methanol to acetic acid, olefin metathesis, Wacker oxidation); heterogeneous catalysis (Fischer-Tropsch, Ziegler-Natta polymerization).

Bioinorganic chemistry: Na⁺ and K⁺ transport; oxygen binding, transport and utilization; electron transfer reactions; nitrogen fixation; metalloenzymes containing magnesium, molybdenum, iron, cobalt, copper and zinc.

Solids: crystal systems and lattices; Miller planes; crystal packing; crystal defects; Bragg's law; ionic crystals; structures of AX, AX₂ and ABX₃ compounds; spinels; band theory; metals and semiconductors; zeolites and their applications.

Instrumental methods of analysis: UV-visible, fluorescence and FT-IR spectrophotometry; NMR and ESR spectroscopy; mass spectrometry; atomic absorption spectroscopy; Mossbauer spectroscopy (Fe and Sn); X-ray crystallography; electroanalytical methods (cyclic voltammetry, ion-selective electrodes); thermo-analytical methods (TGA, DTA, DSC).

Section 3: Organic Chemistry

General concepts: structure dependence of properties such as basicity and acidity; the role of aromatic stability in physical properties.

Stereochemistry: chirality and symmetry with and without chiral centres, determination of absolute configuration and optical purity; relative stereochemistry with more than one stereogenic centre; homotopic, enantiotopic and diastereotopic atoms, groups and faces; conformational analysis of acyclic and cyclic compounds; geometrical and optical isomerism; configurational and conformational effects, atropisomerism, and neighbouring group participation on reactivity and selectivity; stereoselective and stereospecific synthesis; enantiomeric excess.

Reaction mechanisms: mechanistic concepts and energy profile diagrams; kinetic versus thermodynamic control; Hammond's postulate and the Curtin-Hammett principle; determining mechanisms through kinetics, product identification, intermediates and isotopic labelling; solvent effects in substitution and elimination; linear free-energy relationships: the Hammett and Taft equations.

Types of reaction: nucleophilic and electrophilic substitution, aromatic and aliphatic; addition to carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom multiple bonds; elimination; reactive intermediates (carbocations, carbanions, carbenes, nitrenes, arynes, free radicals); molecular rearrangements; Barton decarboxylation, Barton-McCombie and Hunsdiecker reactions.

Organic synthesis: synthesis, reactions, mechanisms and selectivity for alkenes, alkynes, arenes, alcohols, phenols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, nitriles, halides, nitro compounds, amines and amides; reagents based on Mg, Li, Cu, B, Zn, P, S, Sn and Si; carbon-carbon bond formation through coupling: Heck, Suzuki, Stille, Sonogashira, Negishi, Kumada, Hiyama and Tsuji-Trost; olefin metathesis, McMurry coupling and Buchwald-Hartwig amination; Baylis-Hillman, Henry, Ritter, Sakurai, Tebbe olefination, Pauson-Khand and Nazarov cyclization; multistep synthesis: retrosynthetic analysis, strategic disconnections, synthons and synthetic equivalents; atom economy and green chemistry; umpolung reactivity; chemo-, regio- and stereoselectivity; protection and deprotection; asymmetric synthesis: resolution including enzymatic, desymmetrization, chiral auxiliaries and organocatalysis; bond formation through enolates including boron enolates, enamines and silyl enol ethers; stereoselective addition to C=O groups (Cram, Prelog, Felkin-Anh models); asymmetric aldol reactions, Evans and proline catalyzed.

Oxidation: oxidation of alcohols with chromium, manganese, DMSO and hypervalent iodine reagents; peracid oxidation of alkenes and carbonyls; alkenes to diols with manganese and osmium reagents; alkenes to carbonyls with bond cleavage (ozonolysis) and to alcohols or carbonyls without cleavage (hydroboration-oxidation); asymmetric epoxidation (Sharpless and Jacobsen) and Sharpless asymmetric hydroxylation.

Reduction: catalytic homogeneous and heterogeneous hydrogenation; metal-based reductions using Li or Na in liquid ammonia, magnesium, zinc, titanium and samarium; hydride transfer reagents: NaBH₄, L-selectride, K-selectride, Luche reduction, LiAlH₄ and DIBAL-H.

Pericyclic reactions and photochemistry: electrocyclic, cycloaddition and sigmatropic reactions; the Diels-Alder reaction; Claisen and Cope rearrangements and their synthetic applications; FMO analysis; the Woodward-Hoffmann rules; photochemistry of alkenes, arenes and carbonyl compounds; photo-oxidation and photo-reduction; di-pi-methane rearrangements; Norrish type I and II reactions; the Paterno-Buchi reaction; photo-Curtius and Wolff rearrangements; Barton and Hofmann-Loffler-Freytag reactions.

Heterocyclic compounds: nomenclature of mono- and bicyclic and mono- and di-heteroatomic compounds; structure, preparation, properties and reactions of furan, pyrrole, thiophene, pyridine, indole, quinoline and isoquinoline.

Biomolecules: structure, properties and reactions of mono- and disaccharides; physicochemical properties of amino acids; chemical synthesis of peptides; structure determination of peptides and proteins; structural features of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, steroids, terpenoids, carotenoids and alkaloids.

Experimental techniques: polarimetry; thin-layer, column, HPLC and GC chromatography; UV-visible, IR, NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry in structure determination.

General Aptitude (15 marks, common to every paper)

Verbal: grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, narrative sequencing. Quantitative: data interpretation, ratios, percentages, logarithms, permutations, series, mensuration, statistics and probability. Analytical: deduction, induction, analogy, numerical reasoning. Spatial: transformation of shapes, paper folding and cutting, patterns in 2 and 3 dimensions.

Qualification

You must be in the 3rd or higher year of any undergraduate degree, or already hold a government-approved degree in Engineering, Technology, Architecture, Science, Commerce, Arts or Humanities.

That includes B.E., B.Tech., B.Pharm., B.Arch., three-year B.Sc./B.A./B.Com., M.Sc./M.A./MCA, professional degrees such as MBBS, BDS and B.V.Sc., and professional society exams recognised as equivalent to B.E./B.Tech./B.Arch. With an international degree you must be in the 3rd year or higher, or hold a bachelor's degree of at least three years.

Not required

• No age limit.
• No limit on attempts.
• Your degree doesn't have to match the paper.

Fee, per paper

Two papers cost double: Rs 2,000 / Rs 4,000 in the regular window, Rs 2,500 / Rs 4,500 in the extended one. Every woman pays the concessional fee, whatever her category.

The portal

Apply through GOAPS, linked from gate2027.iitm.ac.in. GATE 2027 adds live facial verification and DigiLocker to registration. A paid rectification window after the closing date lets you correct details already submitted; it isn't a second chance to register.

Admission

GATE scores are used for M.Tech, M.E., M.S. and direct PhD admission at the IITs, IISc, NITs, IIITs and many central and state institutions, and for MoE assistantships.

The IITs and IISc admit through COAP; NITs and IIITs through CCMT. Each needs its own registration. A GATE score alone doesn't admit you anywhere.

Recruitment

GATE Chemistry is used mainly for M.Sc., M.Tech. and PhD admission and MoE assistantships. PSU advertisements that recruit on GATE usually name engineering papers, so check each advertisement's eligibility list before assuming chemistry is accepted.

GATE runs at centres across India and a few abroad. You list preferred cities in the application; the allotted city is announced on 4 January 2027, before the admit card. Preference is followed where capacity allows but isn't guaranteed. The centre address is on the admit card.

GATE 2027, organised by IIT Madras.

The opening date moved twice, from 14 August 2026 to 27 August and then to 2 September, so check the official dates page. There are six exam days this time against four in GATE 2026, because of 30 papers and the new Robotics and Automation paper.

Download it from GOAPS with your enrolment ID or email and password. The exam city comes first, on 4 January 2027; IIT Madras hasn't fixed the admit card date yet.

Bring the admit card and the original photo ID whose details you entered in the application. A different ID or a photocopy isn't accepted.

• Marks out of 100: what you scored in your session.
• GATE Score out of 1000: normalised against the qualifying mark and the top scorers. This is the number institutes and employers compare.

Papers held in more than one session are normalised across sessions. The score is valid for three years from the result.

The response sheet and provisional answer key come out before the result, with a paid challenge window. The final key can differ from the provisional one.

GATE publishes a qualifying mark for each paper and category, set each year from that year's results. It gets you a scorecard, nothing more.

The score needed for an IIT M.Tech seat or a PSU call is far higher, and each institute or PSU sets its own in its admission round or advertisement.

1. Three sections means nowhere to hide. Physical, Inorganic and Organic each carry roughly a third of the 85 subject marks. You can't write one off.
2. Answer every MSQ and NAT. No penalty. Physical Chemistry throws up numerical answers (partition functions, Nernst calculations, rate constants) where NAT is common.
3. Learn the named reactions as a set. The syllabus lists the couplings (Heck, Suzuki, Stille, Sonogashira, Negishi, Kumada, Hiyama, Tsuji-Trost) plus Baylis-Hillman, Henry, Ritter, Sakurai, Tebbe, Pauson-Khand and Nazarov by name. That makes them predictable ground.
4. Get group theory solid. Point groups, irreducible representations and selection rules turn up inside spectroscopy and bonding questions too.
5. Don't leave instrumental methods for last. UV-visible, FT-IR, NMR, ESR, mass spectrometry, AAS, Mossbauer, X-ray crystallography, cyclic voltammetry, TGA, DTA and DSC all sit inside Inorganic.
6. Don't give up General Aptitude. 15 marks, no chemistry needed.
7. Practise on a virtual calculator. Physical Chemistry carries the arithmetic.
8. Solve the past CY papers. IIT Madras posts papers back to 2007 and keys for recent years on its downloads page.
9. If you add a second paper, XL is the natural one, since its compulsory XL0 section is chemistry. The fee doubles.

• GATE 2027, IIT Madras
• CY syllabus (PDF)
• All papers and syllabi
• Previous papers (2007 to 2026) and answer keys (2021 to 2026)
• Question paper pattern
• Two-paper combinations
• Eligibility
• Application fees
• Important dates

Which IIT is conducting GATE 2027?

IIT Madras. The organising institute rotates each year among IISc Bangalore and the seven older IITs.

How is the CY paper's 100 marks divided?

General Aptitude 15 and Chemistry 85, spread across Physical, Inorganic and Organic Chemistry.

How many sections does the syllabus have?

Three: Physical, Inorganic and Organic. Each carries roughly a third of the subject marks.

Is there an age limit or a limit on attempts?

Neither, and your degree doesn't have to match the paper.

Which questions carry negative marking?

Only MCQs: 1/3 for a wrong 1-mark question, 2/3 for a wrong 2-mark one. MSQ and NAT have no penalty.

Can I sit two papers?

Yes. With CY first, the second can only be XE or XL. The fee doubles.

Are previous CY papers available?

Yes, on the GATE 2027 downloads page, with answer keys for recent years.

How long is a GATE score valid?

Three years from the result.

Does qualifying GATE get me a seat?

No. It gets you a scorecard. Admission runs through COAP or CCMT, each a separate registration, and seats go at scores well above the qualifying mark.

Can third-year students apply?

Yes, from the 3rd year of any undergraduate degree.