GATE AR last 60 days: a revision plan for 2027, built from previous year paper weightage
Spend your last 60 days on the chapters that previous papers test most: urban planning and housing (18% of mapped questions), General Aptitude (13%), planning techniques (11%) and construction and management (10%). Cover those first, choose your Part B, then switch to timed full papers from 13 January. The plan below runs from 8 December 2026 to 5 February 2027, the day before the first GATE 2027 exam date.
Last updated: 24 Oct 2026. Weightage is counted from APJ’s previous year paper archive (GATE AR 2021–2026). The schedule is a suggestion, not an official one. Check your admit card for your paper’s date and adjust.
Which chapters earn the most marks?
Every question in the 2021–2026 archive is mapped to the course lesson that covers it: 460 questions in all, 243 of them from 2024–2026. The table counts questions per chapter. It counts questions, not marks, because the map does not record whether a question carried one or two marks.
| Chapter (first lesson linked) | Questions 2021–26 | Share | Questions 2024–26 | Share of last 3 papers | Where it is tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ch 5: Urban Planning and Housing | 83 | 18.0% | 52 | 21.4% | Mostly Part A |
| Ch 13: General Aptitude | 60 | 13.0% | 30 | 12.3% | General Aptitude |
| Ch 12: Planning Techniques, Management and Infrastructure | 49 | 10.7% | 30 | 12.3% | Part A and B2 (16 A, 31 B2) |
| Ch 2: Building Materials, Construction and Management | 47 | 10.2% | 26 | 10.7% | Mostly Part A |
| Ch 3: Environmental Planning and Design | 45 | 9.8% | 21 | 8.6% | Mostly Part A |
| Ch 1: Architecture and Design | 44 | 9.6% | 23 | 9.5% | Mostly Part A |
| Ch 6: Services, Infrastructure and Transportation | 37 | 8.0% | 14 | 5.8% | Mostly Part A |
| Ch 7: History and Theory of Architecture | 32 | 7.0% | 17 | 7.0% | Part B1 heavy (23 of 32) |
| Ch 8: Building Structures | 20 | 4.3% | 10 | 4.1% | Part B1 heavy (14 of 20) |
| Ch 4: Urban Design, Landscape and Conservation | 20 | 4.3% | 10 | 4.1% | Mostly Part A |
| Ch 9: Building Services and Sustainability | 19 | 4.1% | 9 | 3.7% | Part B1 heavy (16 of 19) |
| Ch 10: Planning Theory and Legislation | 3 | 0.7% | 0 | 0.0% | Part A and B2 (1 A, 2 B2) |
| Ch 11: Regional and Settlement Planning | 1 | 0.2% | 1 | 0.4% | Mostly Part A |
- Urban planning and housing is the biggest single chapter and has grown: 21% of questions in the last three papers against 18% overall.
- General Aptitude is steady. It was 10 questions in every paper, so it is a reliable block to practise a little every day.
- Chapters 10 and 11 have few questions mapped to them because planning-law questions are covered under Chapter 5. Skim them, do not skip them.
- Part B decides several chapters. History (Ch 7), structures (Ch 8) and building services (Ch 9) are mostly Part B1 questions. Chapter 12 carries most of the Part B2 questions.
- Question types have shifted. In 2026, 21 of the 81 questions were MSQs and 24 were NATs. MSQs reward complete knowledge, and MCQs carry negative marking, so do not guess blindly.
The paper structure to plan for
The 2027 paper is General Aptitude (15 marks), Part A (60 marks) and one optional Part B, either B1 Architecture or B2 Planning (25 marks), for 100 marks in 3 hours. Check the official paper pattern on the GATE AR syllabus page. The syllabus has been revised for 2027, and the course now includes new lessons for the additions: 1.10 Advanced digital design, 5.9 Real estate and housing markets and 12.9 Municipal finance and project implementation.
The 60-day plan
Every day: 45 minutes of General Aptitude practice (verbal, numerical, reasoning, spatial), using the Chapter 13 lessons. The rest of the day follows the phases below. Assume about 4 hours a day and scale the days up or down to match your time.
Phase 1: cover the high-frequency ground (8–31 Dec, days 1–24)
| Dates | Days | Chapter |
|---|---|---|
| 8–14 Dec | 7 | Ch 5 Urban planning and housing (9 lessons) |
| 15–19 Dec | 5 | Ch 12 Planning techniques: surveys, GIS, population projection, transport, finance (9 lessons) |
| 20–23 Dec | 4 | Ch 2 Building materials, construction and management (8 lessons) |
| 24–26 Dec | 3 | Ch 3 Environmental planning and design (6 lessons) |
| 27–29 Dec | 3 | Ch 1 Architecture and design (10 lessons) |
| 30–31 Dec | 2 | Ch 6 Services, infrastructure and transportation (6 lessons) |
Phase 2: fill the gaps and commit to your Part B (1–12 Jan, days 25–36)
| Dates | Days | If you choose Part B1 (Architecture) | If you choose Part B2 (Planning) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–7 Jan | 7 | Ch 7 History and theory (3 days), Ch 8 Structures (2), Ch 9 Building services (2) | Revisit Ch 12 and Ch 5 for B2 topics (4 days), Ch 10 and 11 (2), GIS and finance practice (1) |
| 8–10 Jan | 3 | Ch 4 Urban design, landscape and conservation (everyone) | |
| 11 Jan | 1 | Light pass over Ch 10 and 11 (planning thought, legislation, regional planning) | |
| 12 Jan | 1 | Buffer: your weakest chapter so far | |
Phase 3: timed full papers (13–30 Jan, days 37–54)
Take one previous paper every three days under exam conditions. Day one: the full 3-hour paper with no breaks. Day two: check every answer and write mistakes in your error notebook (see lesson 14.4 on the error notebook). Day three: repair the weakest chapter the paper exposed. Free timed mocks for each year are on the previous year papers page.
| Dates | Paper |
|---|---|
| 13–15 Jan | GATE AR 2022 |
| 16–18 Jan | GATE AR 2023 |
| 19–21 Jan | GATE AR 2024 |
| 22–24 Jan | GATE AR 2025 |
| 25–27 Jan | GATE AR 2026 (the most recent pattern, so last) |
| 28–30 Jan | Repair days: redo the error notebook and the three weakest chapters |
Phase 4: final revision (31 Jan–5 Feb, days 55–60)
- 31 Jan–1 Feb: work through the high-frequency concept priorities and your formula sheet.
- 2 Feb: NAT practice: units, rounding and answer ranges (lesson 14.6 on NAT discipline).
- 3 Feb: codes and recent developments: NBC 2016, URDPFI and current national schemes. The 2026 paper tested PMAY-U 2.0, so use current editions.
- 4 Feb: one General Aptitude mixed test, then skim the error notebook.
- 5 Feb: rest. Check your admit card, ID and the route to the centre.
How to use this plan
- Start the clock on the date that fits you. If you have fewer than 60 days, shorten Phase 1 chapters in proportion to the shares in the table, and keep Phase 3 intact.
- Study each chapter with its previous year questions open. The previous year papers link every question back to its lesson.
- Treat the weightage as a guide, not a guarantee. A low-frequency chapter can still appear, and the 2027 syllabus has additions that earlier papers could not test.
FAQ
How should I prepare for GATE AR in the last 60 days?
Cover the highest-frequency chapters first (urban planning and housing, planning techniques, construction, environment and design), commit to Part B1 or B2, then take timed full papers and fix the weak chapters they expose.
Which topics are most important in GATE AR?
In APJ’s 2021–2026 archive, urban planning and housing is the largest chapter, with about 18% of mapped questions and 21% of the last three papers. General Aptitude is a steady 10 questions a paper.
Should I choose Part B1 or B2?
Choose the section you can score in more reliably. B1 draws heavily on history, structures and building services. B2 draws on planning techniques such as GIS, population projection and finance. Decide by the start of January.
How many previous year papers should I solve?
This plan uses five full papers, 2022 to 2026, each followed by a day of analysis and a day of repair. Quality of review matters more than the number of papers.
When is the GATE AR 2027 exam?
The GATE 2027 exams are scheduled for 6–7, 13–14 and 20–21 February 2027. Your AR paper date is on your admit card. See the exam calendar.