IIT GATE 2026 Registration Begins: New subjects added since 2021 – one rivals Computer Science in popularity

GATE 2026 Registration: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati has on August 28 opened the registration window for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2026 on August 28. This year, the Energy Science (XE-I) paper has been introduced under the Engineering Sciences (XE) category. With this addition, the total number of GATE papers has gone up to 30. 

Biomedical Engineering (BM), Environmental Science and Engineering (ES), and Humanities & Social Sciences (XH), Geomatics Engineering (GE), Data Science & Artificial Intelligence (DA), and Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering (NM) are some of the papers that have been introduced over the past five years. For more updates on GATE 2026 registration, click here

The response of the candidates taking the newly introduced papers has been mixed, with Data Science & Artificial Intelligence (DA) drawing significant interest in its debut year.

GATE New Subjects: Registrations & Appearances

Meanwhile, traditional courses Computer Science, Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering continue to dominate students’ choices. These courses are equally popular at the graduation level. The application for Computer Science paper has seen a significant increase over the years, however, Data Science & Artificial Intelligence (DA) introduced last year is likely to give tough competition to the CS.