Previous year paper analysis · GATE

GATE 2026 Data Science and AI (DA) paper analysis

By the PrepMatic team · Updated 9 Oct 2026 · 4 min read

The GATE 2026 Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DA) paper had 65 questions for 100 marks and was held on the afternoon of Sunday 15 February 2026. We read the official paper and key and tallied every question. Probability and Statistics was the biggest block at 21 marks, ahead of Database Management and Warehousing at 18, while Calculus and Optimization shrank to just 2 marks.

Paper facts

DA was a single-session paper, so raw marks went straight into the score formula with no normalisation. Unlike CS, EC and EE, it has no separate Engineering Mathematics block: all 85 subject marks belong to the seven DA sections.

Subject-wise tally

The paper has no subject labels, so this is our own classification, accurate to about one question where a topic sits on a boundary. We counted stochastic gradient descent under Machine Learning, and data cubes and OLAP under Database Management and Warehousing.

Question types

Fifty-one of the 100 marks sat in questions with no negative marking. Probability and Statistics alone held six NATs, covering counting bijections, an exponential tail, a Bayes diagnostic-test problem, a variance identity, a conditional uniform distribution and a random 0/1 matrix.

What stood out (our reading)

• Probability and Statistics set the tone. Thirteen questions, 21 marks, and most were calculation-driven: random variables, the exponential distribution, independence, conditional distributions and Bayes' rule.
• Databases was bigger than you may expect. Eleven questions and 18 marks: SQL with nested subqueries, converting an ER model with a multi-valued attribute to relations, B+ trees, functional dependencies, plus two warehousing questions (an OLAP drill-down and counting data cuboids from concept hierarchies).
• Python tracing came back. Four programming questions used Python: a mutable default argument, a recursive function, closures that append to a captured list and a recursive swap routine, worth 7 marks together.
• Artificial Intelligence was mostly logic. Four of the six questions were on propositional and first-order logic, including entailment; the others were a minimax game tree and uninformed search.
• One matrix, twice. Two Linear Algebra questions used the centring matrix, the identity minus 1/n times the all-ones matrix, which also underlies PCA.
• Difficulty is our reading, not an official rating. The one-mark MCQs mixed quick recalls (OLAP operations, search types) with short calculations such as LOOCV splits, while the 2-mark NATs in probability and SQL needed several steps. The official General qualifying mark of 26.4 depends on how all candidates scored and is not a difficulty measure.

What it means for GATE 2027 preparation

1. Spend your first weeks on probability and statistics. It paid the most marks, and it also feeds Machine Learning and AI.
2. Do not neglect databases. Treat SQL, normalisation, indexing and OLAP as a full subject, not a bonus.
3. Practise Python by hand. The 2027 syllabus names Python for the programming section, so tracing small programs is directly relevant.
4. Do not tune to one year. Calculus and Optimization carried 9 marks in the 2025 DA analysis and 2 in 2026. GATE 2027 revised all syllabi, so check the DA paper guide and the official syllabus before you rely on any weight.

For how to run past papers in passes, see the previous year papers guide, and the GATE exam pattern for marking.

Using the tally with PrepMatic

PrepMatic's free assessment (about 15 multiple-choice questions, no timer) shows your weakest subjects and a readiness percentage. If Probability and Statistics or Databases comes out weak, the table above says why it is worth 39 marks between them. Build your plan around your exam date and daily hours, and use topic tests (about 15 questions, 30 minutes) to confirm a subject before moving on. Practise real questions from the official paper linked below, since PrepMatic's questions are AI-generated.

Frequently asked questions

Was GATE 2026 DA a single-session paper?

Yes. DA was held once, on the afternoon of Sunday 15 February 2026, so no normalisation was applied. CS and CE ran in two sessions.

Which subject carried the most marks in GATE 2026 DA?

By our tally, Probability and Statistics, with 13 questions worth 21 marks, followed by Database Management and Warehousing with 11 questions and 18 marks.

How many MSQs and NATs were in GATE 2026 DA?

There were 14 MSQs (22 marks) and 18 NATs (29 marks), according to the official answer key.

Official sources

• DA question paper and answer key.
• GATE 2026 examination schedule and cut-off marks.
• GATE 2027 downloads page for all past papers.

Counts above are our own tally from the official paper and key. Confirm any figure you rely on against the official files. For the full exam guide, start from the GATE guide; more analyses are in the paper analysis index.

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