GATE 2016 Vs GATE 2015 (Electrical)

Engineering Mathematics:
There is no change in the course for Engineering Mathematics.

Electric Circuits:
There is not much change in this subject except that Power and Power Factor in AC
circuits have been mentioned separately. But this topic used to come in GATE exam earlier
also so no need to worry about this.

Electromagnetic Fields:
This year Electromagnetic Fields has been separated from Circuit Theory and has been
mentioned as a separate section. This time the course though has not changed much but it
has been given more elaborately. Coulomb's Law, Electric Field Intensity and Electric Flux
Density has been added in the course but this should not create a major impact as not many
questions can be framed from these topics.
Electromagnetic Induction has been added in the course and laws like Faraday's Law
and Lorentz Force and magnetic circuits have been added. These topics were earlier being
taught as basics of Electrical Machine but not much emphasis was being laid as these were
just the basic laws. But now you can expect problems in GATE exam from these topics.
What to Expect: You can expect a higher weightage in GATE exam from this topic
as compared to previous years so I am guessing 6-8 marks weightage this year.
Recommendation: You need to practice a lot of problems and for basics of vector
calculus you can refer Electromagnetic Book by Sadiku and other than that practice basic
problems from 12th Standard books (but not JEE level book), The questions in GATE exam
are usually very basic and do not involve much use of Curl and Divergence. So, do brush
up on the basic concepts learnt in +2 well.

Signals and Systems:

The course in this subject is exactly same as that of previous year. But I guess students
are getting confused as now topic mentioned is Application of Transforms instead of
Transforms. But this simply means that questions will be based on application of these
transforms using their properties which was case earlier as well.

Electrical Machines:
Though there are not major changes in this subject like Transformers course is
mentioned as it is.
But DC Generator and DC Motor Characteristics have been given separately. In previous
years there haven't been many questions from these characteristics but still it will be worth
looking at once.

In case of Induction Motor the course has been described in detail like Equivalent Circuit,
No-Load and Blocked Rotor Tests and Torque-Speed Characteristics. There haven't been
many problems from testing of Induction Machines earlier but this year we may expect
some.
Synchronous Machines is kept same but special machines like Servo Motor and Stepper
Motor have been removed. So, prepare up to Single Phase Induction Motor only.

Power Systems:
The course for the unit and Transmission and Distribution is exactly same. If you guy
feel that HVDC has been removed, then I would like to inform that it is still included in the
course in form of DC Transmission concepts.
The Load Flow methods like Newton Raphson and Gauss Seidel methods have been
mentioned so they can be asked in this year GATE exam though they were not given major
weightage in previous year. Rest all units are exactly same though FACTS has been
removed but this does not create much impact as earlier also there were no questions from
this topic.
Recommendation: Though Economic Dispatch has been removed from GATE curriculum
but I would recommend that you prepare this. This is a small concept from which question
was asked almost each year.

Control Systems:
Mathematical Modeling of Physical Systems has been added this year. This included
forming of Differential Equations for Mechanical Systems and also forming Electrical
Circuits based on Mechanical System Differential Equations.
Though Controllability and Observability have been missing from this year GATE
curriculum but still they can be asked as they are included in State Variable Analysis. Rest
of the course is same.

Electrical and Electrical Measurements:

The different types of Electromechanical Instruments have been removed from this
GATE year. But different indicating instruments like Ammeter and Voltmeter are created
by using these instruments. So, we can expect that questions will not be asked from
principle of these devices but rather application of these Instruments to create Ammeters
and Voltmeters. Q-meters has also been removed from this year GATE course.

Analog Electronics:
Though the course of Analog Electronics is much the same as previous year but this
year Diode applications have been given in detail like Clippers, Clampers and Rectifiers.
This does not impact the preparation as earlier also questions from diode circuits were
based on these concepts only. Other than that JFET has been removed so in FET only
MOSFET has been included but in Electrical Engineering questions from both MOSFET
and JFET are very rare.
So, I expect questions from Analog Electronics will be more or less the same.

 Digital Electronics:
The course is exactly same except removal of De-multiplexer. So, same level of paper
can be expected.

Power Electronics:
Power Semi-Conductor Devices is exactly same as that of previous years. The other
topics are also same just DC-DC converters is described in detail like Buck, Boost and
Buck-Boost Converters. Inverters and Pulse Width Modulation is also kept same. Drives
has also been removed.