Before You Start- Some Important Guidelines:

All the GATE Papers will have Maths and General Aptitude along with English
as compulsory sections. Most of the students tend to neglect this part and leave
it for a later stage. Expert advice suggests that it is good to prepare for these
too side by side along with the main syllabus. The reason is that these sections
carry a substantial amount of marks and are not that tough to crack with a
little preparation from candidates.

English and Aptitude are known to be relatively easy to crack in GATE exam
and this section carries 15 marks- a substantial number that can count towards
the overall marks, score and Rank.

Similarly with Maths; contrary to popular perception, the questions asked in

Maths are not extremely hard. With a bit of effort, preparation and practice,
this section can also become a marks fetching section.

GATE Important Topics & books for Mechanical Engineering:

An analysis of the previous GATE Papers as well as opinion from experts,
toppers suggest that the following topics are relatively more important for
preparation in Mechanical Engineering. Here, it may be noted that ideally one
should complete studying the complete GATE Syllabus. One should never
leave things to chance but if emphasis has to be given, the topics given below
can be considered as slightly important to merit more attention to their
preparation. Alongside, we have also listed the books that can be used for
studying these topics. Please note that the topics mentioned below are not
placed in order of priority.
Topics What to emphasize on Books

Engineering Resolving Forces, Equilibrium, Equilibrium And Engineering

Mechanics Truss Mechanics by
Bhavikatti
Engineering
Mechanics by
Beer and
Johnston,
Engineering
Mechanics by R
K Rajput
Strength of Principe stress and strain Strength of
Materials BMD and SFD , Macaulay’s theorem (slope & Materials - Gere
deflection), Thin Pressure Vessels, Problems & Timoshenko
On Various Theories Of Failure , Torques, And
Bending Moment Calculation,

Design of Design For Static Machine

Machine And Dynamic Loading; Failure design-V.B.
Elements Theories; Fatigue Strength And The S-N Bhandari
Diagram; Principles Of The
Design Of Machine Elements Such As
Bolted, Riveted And Welded Joints,
Shafts, Spur Gears,
Rolling And Sliding Contact Bearings, Brak
es And Clutches.

Theory of Mechanism, Gear train, Flywheel, Linear Vibration Theory of

Machines Analysis of Mechanical systems (Goodman or machines by
Soderberg or Gerber Criteria), , torsion, strain Ratan
energy, S-N curve, Degrees Of Freedom,
Instantaneous Centre Method, Clutch Power, Brake
Power, Belt Drive, D.O.F. Of Mechanisms,
Simple Gearing Ratio Spur Gears, Type Of
Mechanism Simple Spur Gear Main, Quick
Return Mechanism, Mobility

Fluid Simple & Differential Piezometer, Pressure Fluid Mechanics

Mechanics Column Height Calculation, Reynold’s No. by R K Bansal
Calculation, Hydraulic Power, Nozzle Velocity Fluid &
Etc. Of Turbines, Bernoulli’s Law (Simple Hydraulics-
Problems), Tapered Sections, Pump Parameters Modi and seth
(Speed, Power, Discharge), Force Calculation,

Thermal Rankine Cycle, Brayton Cycle, Regeneration in

Science steam cycles, and other cycles, T-S diagrams, P-V
diagrams, enthalpy calculations, C.O.P. parameters
of I.C. Engine, DBT, WBT, Relations (Otto ,Diesel
Cycles), Exit Temperature In Various Stages Of
Cycles , Pressure Of Nozzle, Compressor Work
Calculations, Work Done,
Heat Transfer Convection, Conduction, Radiation, Efficiency Heat and Mass
Calculation, Heat Exchanger (Parallel & Counter Transfer by J P
Flow) Outlet Temp. Calculation, Biot Number, Hollman and R
Prandtl Number, LMTD, Heat Transfer Through C Sachdeva
Slabs, Shells, Cylinders, Condenser, Heat Transfer by
Cengel and
Holman

Manufacturin Machining (Milling, Drilling, EDM, ECM) Tool

g Engineering Geometry, Punching, Blanking, Force; Conceptual
& Theoretical Questions; Orthogonal
Machining , Heat & Power Required In
Welding, Transformations (Rotations, Scaling
Etc.), Solidification Time, CNC Machine G Codes
And M Codes , Sheet Metal, Various Types Of
Fits,

Industrial Forecasting Model, CPM, PERT, Work Study And Industrial

Engineering Measurement, Scheduling And Johnson's Rule Engineering by
Time Study, EOQ, Standard Time, Demand, O P Khanna,
Poisson’s Arrivals & Departures , LPP Problems Buffa and Sarin
(Graphical Queueing Model, Break Even Analysis

Vibrations Single D.O.F , Finding Natural Frequencies Mechanical

(Underdamped, Critically Damped, Overdamped) Vibration by
Grover

Strength of Concepts, Generally Theories Of Failure, Mohr's Strength of

Materials Circle Materials by
Gere and
Timoshenko, B
C Unamia,
Sadhu Singh,
Ramamrutham

Thermo Cycles, Turbines, Refrigeration, Work & Heat Engineering

Dynamics First Law Of Thermodynamics, Thermodynamic
Second Law Of Thermodynamics, s by P K Nag
Entropy, Properties Of Pure Substances and Rajput
Thermodyanmic
 s by Cengel.
Remember that the above mentioned topics are just for better preparation. It is
highly recommended that Mechanical Engineering Aspirants study the
complete syllabus rather than just a few topics. Since there is still ample time
for good preparation for GATE, candidates should cover the complete GATE
Syllabus for Mechanical Engineering.