GATE Life Sciences Previous Year Question Paper with Answer, Download XL Question Paper PDF

GATE Life Sciences Question Paper PDF: Every aspirant who is going to sit in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) Life Sciences (XL) exam 2026 must practice the GATE Life Sciences previous year question papers. Solving GATE Life Sciences previous year question papers will give valuable insights into the exam's structure, question styles, and level of difficulty of the exam. GATE 2026 is being conducted by IISc and all IITs, on behalf of the National Coordination Board (NCB), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India. Candidates who qualify the GATE Exam can seek admission to Master's programs, Direct Doctoral programs and Doctoral programs in relevant branches of Engineering/Technology/Science/Architecture/Humanities in institutions supported by the Ministry of Education (MoE) and other Government agencies. The GATE score is also used by several Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) for recruitment. Here, you can find the GATE Life Sciences ten-year question paper with its answer key. The candidates can download the GATE Life Sciences previous year question paper of 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and more.

GATE Life Sciences Question Papers 2026

In 2026, the official PDF of the GATE Life Sciences 2026 question paper, along with the answer key, will be released by IIT Guwahati on the official website of GATE 2026. The GATE Life Sciences 2026 question paper PDF can be downloaded through login on the web portal with your enrollment ID and password. We will provide a direct link to download the GATE Life Sciences 2026 question paper PDF once it is officially available. The candidates can find the previous year's GATE Life Sciences question paper PDFs with answer keys here.

How to download the GATE Life Sciences Question Paper PDF 2026?

After the GATE 2026 Exam, IIT Guwahati will release the GATE Life Sciences 2026 question paper on its official website. The candidates need to follow these steps to download the GATE Life Sciences 2026 question paper.

• Step 1: Visit the GATE 2026 official website

• Step 2: Click on the question paper link

• Step 3: Login with enrollment ID and password

• Step 4: The question paper of GATE XL 2026 will be shown on the screen

• Step 5: Download the GATE XL 2026 question paper. 

GATE Life Sciences Question Paper 2026 Pattern

The candidates must familiarise themselves with the GATE Life Sciences question paper pattern. The GATE Life Sciences question paper contains 65 questions covering General Aptitude and Life Sciences. The allotted time for this online test is 3 hours. The GATE Life Sciences exam consists of multiple-choice questions, multiple-select questions, and numerical answer-type questions. The detailed GATE Life Sciences exam pattern is given in the table below.

GATE Life Sciences Previous Year Question Paper

Solving previous year's question papers is essential for every GATE Life Sciences aspirant. This practice helps you become familiar with the exam's structure and the types of questions that are asked. By working through these papers, you'll not only identify the key concepts for the exam but also highlight your weak areas, showing you exactly where you need to focus on improving.

GATE Life Sciences Question Paper 2025

The GATE 2025 exam was conducted on February 15, 2025, by IIT Roorkee in the afternoon session. As per the GATE Life Sciences paper analysis, the exam difficulty level was moderate to difficult. Here, we are providing the GATE Life Sciences 2025 question paper PDF with the answer key in the following table.

GATE Life Sciences Question Paper with Solution PDF

Solving previous year's question papers is extremely beneficial for GATE Life Sciences aspirants. This practice helps you understand the exam's format and boosts your confidence. By working through these papers, you can identify your strong and weak areas and gain key insights into the most important topics. We provide the GATE Life Sciences previous year's question papers and their answer keys to help you prepare.

GATE XL Syllabus

It is necessary for all the candidates who are going to appear in the GATE Life Sciences 2026 exam they have a comprehensive understanding of the GATE Life Sciences syllabus. The GATE syllabus for Life Sciences (XL) 2026 is divided into four sections. The first two sections- General Aptitude and Chemistry are compulsory for all candidates. However, the candidates have to pick any two sections from Biochemistry, Botany, Microbiology, Zoology, and Food Technology. The detailed list of topics of GATE Life Sciences syllabus is given below.

Chemistry

• Atomic Structure and Periodicity

• Structure and Bonding

• s, p and d Block Elements

• Chemical Equilibria

• Electrochemistry

• Reaction Kinetics

• Thermodynamics

• Structure-Reactivity Correlations and Organic Reaction Mechanisms

• Chemistry of Biomolecules

Biochemistry

• Organization of life; Importance of water

• Enzyme kinetics, regulation and inhibition

• Biochemical separation techniques

• Cell structure and organelles; Biological membranes

• DNA replication, transcription and translation

• Immune system

Botany

• Plant Systematics

• Plant Anatomy

• Plant Development; Cell and Tissue Morphogenesis

• Plant Physiology and Biochemistry

• Genetics and Genomics

• Plant Breeding, Genetic Modification, Genome Editing

• Economic and Applied Botany

• Plant Pathology

• Ecology and Environment

Microbiology

• Historical Perspective

• Methods in Microbiology

• Microbial Taxonomy and Diversity

• Prokaryotic Cells

• Microbial Growth

• Control of Micro-Organisms

• Microbial Metabolism

• Microbial Diseases and Host Pathogen Interaction

• Chemotherapy/Antibiotics

• Microbial Genetics

• Microbial Ecology

Zoology

• Animal Diversity

• Evolution

• Genetics

• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

• Cell Biology

• Gene expression in Eukaryotes

• Animal Anatomy and Physiology

• Parasitology and Immunology

• Ecology

• Animal Behaviour

Food Technology

• Food Chemistry and Nutrition

• Food Microbiology

• Food Products Technology

• Food Engineering

GATE Life Sciences Subject Wise Weightage

The GATE Life Sciences exam consists of four sections- General Aptitude, Chemistry, and any two from Biochemistry, Botany, Microbiology, Zoology, and Food Technology. After analyzing the previous year’s papers, section-wise weightage is provided below. This table will help you to make preparation strategies for the exam.

Why Solve the GATE Life Sciences Previous Year Question Paper PDF?

Solving the GATE Life Sciences previous year papers plays an important role in your exam preparation journey. Practising GATE Life Sciences previous year question papers offers multiple benefits that can comprehensively enhance your preparation.

• Solving previous year papers helps you become familiar with the question types, marking scheme, and time constraints, which can improve your test-taking strategy.

• It aids in refining study plans and focusing on areas that need improvement.

• Practising GATE Life Sciences past year papers creates a simulated exam environment, making the candidates more comfortable on the actual test day.

• It gives you a fair idea about the level of difficulty of the questions asked in the exam. 

• Helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses in various topics.

• Enhances the problem-solving skills of the candidate.

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