About The Exam

You can check the 2027 GATE website for the syllabus exam pattern and other information there as things are likely going to be the same for the following year as well.

Conducting Institute (2027): IIT Madras

MCQ: -ve marking

MSQ: No -ve marking

Numerical: No -ve marking

Learn these 1st: Geometry, Units and Dimensions, 11th and 12th Physics and Maths, Thermodynamics, Engineering Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, Strength of Materials; then the below. Offline version can be downloaded here as a pdf (A4) or ebook (soon)

How To Use This Guide

License, Copyright, Mistakes and Contributions

© 2026 by Dhruv Kakade is licensed under CC BY 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

• Content used here have been given a reference at the end. Formulas have been taken from standard books used in universities across india. I don’t get any commission or anything by spreading the name of the book. All work done here is for educational purposes only and to help the academic community.
• You can also contribute by sending a PR.
• The images are made using Figma.

Reference Books *

• Gas dynamics

  • Fundamentals of Gas Dynamics by Robert D. Zucker, Oscar Biblarz
  • Fundamentals of Aerodynamics by John Anderson
  • Modern Compressible Flow: With Historical Perspective by John Anderson
  • Fundamentals Of Compressible Flow by SM Yahya
  • Aerodynamics for Engineering students by E. L. Houghton, N. B. Carruthers
  • Gas Dynamics by Ethirajan Rathakrishnan

• Fluid mechanics

  • Fluid Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications by Yunus A. Cengel, John M. Cimbala
  • Fluid Mechanics by Frank M. White
  • Fluid Mechanics by RK Bansal (for basics and more solved problems)

• Strength of materials

  • Strength of Materials by R.K. Rajput
  • Mechanics of Materials by James M. Gere
  • Strength Of Materials Parts I and II by Timoshenko S.
  • Strength of Materials by S. Ramamrutham

• Vibrations

  • Mechanical Vibrations by S.S Rao
  • Dynamics of Structures by Jagmohan L. Humar
  • Mechanical Vibrations by V.P Singh

• Structures

  • Aircraft Structures for Engineering Students By T.H.G. Megson
  • Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures by E. F Bruhn
  • Mechanics of Aircraft Structures by C. T. Sun
  • Analysis of Aircraft Structures: An Introduction by Bruce k. Donaldson

• Aircraft Propulsion

  • Gas Turbine Theory by Cohen, H., Rogers
  • Gas Turbines by V. Ganesan
  • Aircraft Propulsion and Gas Turbine Engines by Ahmed F. El-Sayed
  • Aircraft Propulsion by Saeed Farokhi

• Rocket Propulsion

  • Rocket Propulsion Elements by George P. Sutton
  • Propellants and Explosives by Naminosuke Kubota
  • Rocket Propulsion by K Ramamurthi

• Heat transfer basics

  • Heat and Mass Transfer by R.K. Rajput
  • Heat and Mass Transfer by JP holman

• Engineering Mathematics

  • Advanced Engineering Mathematics by Erwin Kreyszig
  • Advanced Engineering Mathematics by H. K. Dass
  • Higher Engineering Mathematics by B. S. Grewal

• Flight Mechanics

  • Aircraft Performance and Design by John Anderson
  • Flight Stability and Automatic Control by R. C. Nelson
  • Airplane Performance, Stability and Control by Courtland D. Perkins, Robert E. Hage
  • Introduction to Flight by John Anderson
  • Aerodynamics by Clancy

• Space Mechanics

  • Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students by Howard D. Curtis
  • Fundamentals of Astrodynamics by Donald D. Mueller, Jerry White, Roger R. Bate
  • Spaceflight Dynamics by William E. Wiesel
  • Orbital Mechanics by John E. Prussing, Bruce A. Conway
  • Analytical Mechanics of Space Systems by Hanspeter Schaub, John L. Junkins

• Previous Year Questions

• GK Publisher

MIT OCW / NPTEL - Assignments and Problem Sets *The main books in focus are discussed below (soon). All the books mentioned need not be used.

List of Formulas

You can download the complete book here for free. The book is still being written and will be completed within a few months.

Unit Conversions and Constants

Conversions

$1 atm = 1.01bar = 1.01 \times 10^5 N/m^2$

$1 bar = 10^5 Pa = 10^5 N/m^2$

$1 feet = 0.3048m$

$1 slug = 14.59kg$

$1lb = 0.453kg$

$1 mile = 1.609km$

$1K = 1.8\degree R$

$59 \degree R = 288K$

$0\degree F = 459.67 \degree R$

$1 kgf = 9.81N$

$1N = 0.102 kgf$

$1hp = 746W$

Constants

$\gamma_\text{air}$ = 1.4

$\gamma_\text{gas}$ = 1.33

$M_\text{air}$ = 28.9 kg mol^{-1}

$C_\text{p, air} = 1004 J kg^{-1} K^{-1}$

$C_\text{p, gas} = 1148 J kg^-1 K^-1$

$\bar{R} = 8314 J kg^-1 mol^-1$

$R = 287 \text{ J kg}^{-1} \text{K}^{-1}$

$P_\text{sea level} = 1 atm = 1.01\times 10^5 Nm^{-2}$

$\rho_\text{sea level} = 1.23 \text{ kg m}^{-3}$

$T_\text{sea level} = 15 \deg C = 288K$

References