AspirantGoal is an independent app. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institute of Science or any exam authority. This page lines up the GATE 2027 and JAM 2027 documents for the subjects that both exams have a paper in, as checked on 23 October 2026. The organising institutes’ current documents are the authority.
The two exams side by side
GATE and JAM are separate exams run by different organising institutes for different purposes. Their papers are set in a similar shape.
| Item | GATE 2027 | JAM 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Organised by | IIT Madras is the organising institute for GATE 2027 | IIT Kharagpur, the organising institute for JAM 2027. |
| Used for | The GATE score is used for admission, with possible financial assistance, to Master’s, Direct Doctoral and Doctoral programs in institutions supported by the Ministry of Education and other Government agencies, and by several Public Sector Undertakings for recruitment. [1] | JAM scores are used for admission to postgraduate programs such as M.Sc., M.Sc. (Tech.), M.S. (Research), M.Sc. - M.Tech. Dual Degree, Joint M.Sc. - Ph.D., M.Sc. - Ph.D. Dual Degree and Integrated Ph.D. at premier institutes across the country. [3] |
| Test papers | 30 test papers, of which a candidate takes one, or up to two [2] | 7 test papers, of which a candidate takes one or two [3] |
| Mode and time | Computer Based Test (CBT). 3 hours, or 180 minutes, for every test paper; a maximum of four hours for candidates availing compensatory time. [1] | Computer Based Test (CBT). 3 hours. [3] |
| Questions and marks | 65 questions in every paper: 10 in General Aptitude and 55 in the subject. 100 marks in every paper; General Aptitude carries 15 marks. [1] | 60 questions carrying a total of 100 marks, in three sections A, B and C; all sections are compulsory. [3] |
| General Aptitude | Part of every GATE paper: 10 questions for 15 marks [1] | No General Aptitude section is printed in the JAM pattern [3] |
| Question types | Multiple Choice Question (MCQ), Multiple Select Question (MSQ) and Numerical Answer Type (NAT). [1] | MCQ in Section A, MSQ in Section B and NAT in Section C [3] |
| Negative marking | Only for MCQ: 1/3 mark is deducted for a wrong 1-mark answer and 2/3 mark for a wrong 2-mark answer. None for MSQ or NAT. [1] | MCQ: one-third of a mark for a wrong 1-mark question and two-thirds for a wrong 2-mark question. None for MSQ or NAT. [3] |
Numbers in brackets are the sources listed at the foot of the page.
Are the GATE and JAM syllabi the same?
No. They are separate documents with their own section titles. The table below shows the names that appear in both syllabi, taken from the section titles and from the topic names the documents print as headings. Chemistry has the most shared names (7). Physics shares no printed name. Names are compared exactly as printed, so titles that differ by a few words count as different. A shared name does not mean the two exams ask the same depth.
| Subject | GATE paper | JAM paper | Names printed in both syllabi |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biotechnology | BT: Biotechnology | BT: Biotechnology | General Biology; Biochemistry; Microbiology; Cell Biology; Molecular Biology |
| Chemistry | CY: Chemistry | CY: Chemistry | Physical Chemistry; Inorganic Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Spectroscopy; Electrochemistry; Bioinorganic Chemistry; Instrumental Methods of Analysis |
| Geology | GG: Geology and Geophysics | GG: Geology | Mineralogy; Geomorphology; Structural Geology; Stratigraphy |
| Mathematics | MA: Mathematics | MA: Mathematics | Real Analysis |
| Statistics | ST: Statistics | MS: Mathematical Statistics | Probability; Stochastic Processes; Estimation; Testing of Hypotheses |
| Physics | PH: Physics | PH: Physics | None |
JAM’s Economics paper (EN) has no GATE test paper of the same subject. The GATE 2027 list of 30 test papers has no Economics paper. Economics appears only as the optional section XH1 of the paper XH (Humanities & Social Sciences). The XH1 syllabus is here.
The section titles, subject by subject
Each list gives the section titles in the order the syllabus prints them. The topics inside each section are in the two syllabus PDFs, which are listed at the foot of the page.
Biotechnology
GATE BT, Biotechnology [5]: Engineering Mathematics; General Biology; Genetics, Cellular and Molecular Biology; Fundamentals of Biological Engineering; Plant, Animal and Microbial Biotechnology; Recombinant DNA technology and Other Tools in Biotechnology.
JAM BT, Biotechnology [6]: General Biology; Microbial, Plant and Animal Biotechnology; Biotechniques; Chemistry (10+2+3 level); Mathematics (10+2 level); Physics (10+2 level).
Chemistry
GATE CY, Chemistry [7]: Physical Chemistry; Inorganic Chemistry; Organic Chemistry.
JAM CY, Chemistry [8]: Basic Mathematical Concepts (10+2 Level); Physical Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Inorganic Chemistry.
Geology
GATE GG, Geology and Geophysics [9]: Part A: Common Section; Part B1: Advanced topics in Geology; Part B2: Advanced topics in Geophysics.
JAM GG, Geology [10]: The Planet Earth; Geomorphology; Structural Geology; Palaeontology; Stratigraphy; Mineralogy; Petrology; Economic Geology; Applied Geology.
Mathematics
GATE MA, Mathematics [11]: Calculus; Linear Algebra; Real Analysis; Complex Analysis; Ordinary Differential Equations; Algebra; Functional Analysis; Numerical Analysis; Partial Differential Equations; Topology; Linear Programming.
JAM MA, Mathematics [12]: Real Analysis; Multivariable Calculus and Differential Equations; Linear Algebra and Algebra.
Statistics
GATE ST, Statistics [13]: Calculus; Matrix Theory; Probability; Standard Univariate Distributions; Joint Distributions; Convergence of Random Variables; Stochastic Processes; Estimation; Testing of Hypotheses; Non-parametric Statistics; Multivariate Analysis; Regression Analysis.
JAM MS, Mathematical Statistics [14]: Sequences and Series of real numbers; Differential Calculus of one and two real variables, and Integral Calculus; Matrices and Determinants; Descriptive Statistics and Probability; Univariate Distributions; Multivariate Distributions; Limit Theorems; Sampling Distributions; Estimation; Testing of Hypotheses; Nonparametric Methods; Stochastic Processes.
Physics
GATE PH, Physics [15]: Measurements and Error Analysis; Mathematical Physics; Classical Mechanics; Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics; Electromagnetic theory; Optical Physics; Quantum Mechanics; Atomic and Molecular Physics; Solid State Physics; Nuclear and Particle Physics; Electronics.
JAM PH, Physics [16]: Mathematical Methods; Mechanics and General Properties of Matter; Oscillations, Waves and Optics; Electricity and Magnetism; Kinetic Theory, Thermodynamics; Modern Physics; Solid State Physics, Devices and Electronics.
A way to use both lists
Put the two lists next to each other and mark each topic the PDFs share. Count a topic as covered for both exams only after you have checked that both PDFs ask for it. The printable syllabus tracker and the CSV files on the GATE page and the IIT JAM page give you the rows to start from.
How AspirantGoal handles two exams
- Each exam is its own goal, with its own syllabus, countdown and progress. A ready template ships for GATE. IIT JAM has no template, so set it up as a goal of your own, which works the same way.
- Month, Week and Today list the subjects of both goals together, each tagged with its exam, and show one buffer for the whole period.
- Archive keeps a paused goal’s syllabus, notes, progress and history.
See Preparing for two exams at once for the method.
What this page does not tell you
It does not say whether to prepare for both exams, how many hours either needs, or how much of one syllabus counts for the other. It compares printed names, not the depth of the questions. It does not predict marks, ranks or selection. Dates, fees, age limits and eligibility are in the organising institutes’ documents.