GATE MN Previous Year Papers 2023–2026: Counted Question by Question

We went through all 260 questions of the four most recent official GATE Mining papers (2023–2026) with their final answer keys and classified each by subject and question type. Two findings shape how to prepare. First, MN is a numerical paper: 48 to 56 of the 85 subject marks each year were numerical-answer (NAT) questions, which have no negative marking and no options to guess from. Second, the numericals repeat: continuous-miner cycles, longwall output, Mohr-Coulomb, natural ventilation pressure, NPV, cut-off grade, queuing and blast design come back almost every year. The official papers and keys are linked at the end of this guide.

Official MN papers and final keys; our count.

The numbers change how you should practise. Between 56% and 66% of subject marks were NAT (48 to 56 of 85), so a formula remembered exactly, and arithmetic done carefully, is worth more than recognising the right option. The MCQs carry the risk: with 27–36 MCQ marks a year, a habit of guessing costs marks that the NATs cannot return. Use the calculator to see what your own mock-test guessing costs.

A worked example shows the size of the effect. A candidate who attempts 14 one-mark and 8 two-mark MCQs and gets 4 and 3 of them wrong loses about 3.3 marks to penalties (4 × 1/3 + 3 × 2/3). By the 2026 score formula that is about 47 score points (3.33 × 550 ÷ (68.33 − 29.5)), and in the 2026 marks distribution the 30–40 band held about 66 candidates per mark — so roughly 200 ranks (our arithmetic from the GATE 2026 statistical report). Leaving the three least-sure questions blank usually costs less than guessing them.

Three patterns are worth acting on. Engineering Mathematics is the most reliable block at 12–15 marks, and the 2027 syllabus rewords its probability and statistics line (see our syllabus-changes guide). Geomechanics fell from 15 marks in 2023 to 8 in 2025 and 2026 — still large, but no longer dominant. And the small subjects are not small in total: Mineral Economics, Mine Planning and Systems Engineering together were worth 10–16 marks a year, nearly all of it numerical.

The legislation row deserves a note. Coal Mines Regulations and DGMS circulars appear for one to three marks a year, always as MCQs. On the other side, kriging was not asked in any paper from 2023 to 2026 — geostatistics appeared once, as a semivariogram question in 2024 (Q18). Weight your time by the table, not by what feels like an important chapter.