GATE Sociology (XH-C6) PYQ: Topic-Wise Weightage 2023–2026

The official GATE site gives you the papers and keys. It does not tell you which parts of the syllabus they actually test. We went through all 156 Sociology questions of the 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 papers (39 a year, 60 marks), put each one into one of the eight sections of the 2027 syllabus (or a small mixed bucket for match items that span sections) and checked every answer against the final key. The result is clear. Sociological Theory, Indian Society and Sociological Concepts together take about 36.5 of the 60 marks, and Research Methodology adds another 8.75. The four smaller sections (Development, Family, Social Movements and Agrarian Sociology) share 13.75 marks, about 1 mark a year goes to mixed questions, and the small sections’ shares swing from year to year.

Our classification of the official XH-C6 papers and final keys, 2023–2026.

Read the table as ranges rather than targets. Sociological Theory has never fallen below 11 marks. Indian Society held at 8 marks in 2023 and 2024, then rose to 12 and 16, and is now the second pillar of the paper. Sociological Concepts is volatile: 18 marks in 2024, 6 in 2025. Research Methodology fell from 15 marks in 2023 to 6 in 2026, which makes its 2027 additions (Popper and Kuhn, etic and emic, statistical methods) worth watching. Development fell to 1 mark in 2026, the same year the 2027 syllabus cut it back. A plan that gives Theory, Indian Society and Concepts about 60% of your Sociology time and spreads the rest evenly is what four years of papers support.

Three practical points follow. First, Sociology has no numerical-answer questions, unlike Economics or Psychology, so there is nothing to calculate except a few statistics MCQs. Second, MSQs carry 22 to 29 marks, and an MSQ gets credit only if you mark exactly the right set of options. It has no negative marks, so always attempt it. Third, some MSQs have only one correct option. That happened eleven times in four years (2023 Q59, Q61; 2024 Q43, Q44, Q54, Q57, Q62, Q63; 2025 Q63; 2026 Q42, Q44). Do not tick a second option just because the question says “select all that apply”.

These are the anchors we found asked in two or more of the four papers, with question numbers so you can go straight to them in the official PDFs.

The pattern is plain: the three classical thinkers are asked every year, usually more than once, and Srinivas is effectively a fourth classical thinker for this paper. Seven statistics questions in four years, all MCQs, is also worth noting: they are the only part of the section where arithmetic matters, and the 2027 syllabus now names “Statistical Methods” explicitly. Methods questions also like the less obvious techniques; 2025 Q44 asked about qualitative data-analysis software.

The GATE 2027 download page (IIT Madras) carries the older papers. For 2022 and 2023 all six XH sections are in one PDF: search it for “Sociology” or “C6” and keep only those pages. The Sociology block is numbered Q27–Q65. For 2024 and 2025 the separate XH-C6 files were posted on the next year’s GATE site, and 2026 is on the GATE 2027 site.

Use the older papers differently from the newer ones. The 2022 and 2023 papers are worth writing whole, but mark the handful of questions on lines the 2027 syllabus dropped (2023 Q54 on sustainable development is one) as out of scope. The 2025 paper had the highest average candidate mark of the four (40.23 of 100 for the whole XH-C6 paper, against 24.61 to 33.66 in the others, per the official statistical reports), so a good mark on it tells you less than the same mark on 2024 or 2026. Write 2026 last, closest to the exam: it is the best guide to the current setters and has the heaviest Indian Society share.