GAT-B Syllabus 2024, Check Section-wise Syllabus, Topic-wise Weightage, Preparation Tips, and Reference Books

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National Testing Agency mentions the GAT-B 2025 syllabus on the official website. Candidates can also get the syllabus at rcb.res.in. The Graduate Aptitude Test-Biotechnology (GAT-B) for 2025 evaluates candidates’ knowledge across multiple levels of education. The exam is divided into two sections:

Section A covers 10+2 level subjects and is less challenging
Section B targets graduate-level subjects is more advanced and require a deeper understanding of specialized areas.

Approximately 25,000-30,000 candidates register for GAT-B every year for admission to more than 30 DBT-supported institutions into postgraduate programs such as M.Sc., M.Tech, and M.V.Sc. Around 10-15% of candidates secure admission to top biotechnology programs. The cut-off marks for GAT B range from 150-160 marks for the General category, 140-150 marks for OBC, and 120-130 marks for ST/SC candidates.

The GAT B syllabus consists of 2 sections of a total of 240 marks. Section A consists of 60 questions for 60 marks and section B consists of 100 questions, candidates need to attempt only 60 questions of total 180 marks.

DBT GAT B Syllabus Overview
Mode of Application	Online
Exam Mode	Online
Total Questions	160
Exam Duration	180 minutes
Number of Sections	Section A: 10+2 level Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology. (60 Questions) Section B: Graduation level Basic Biology, Life Sciences, Biotechnology, and allied areas. (100 questions)
Medium of Paper	English
Official Website	https://dbt.ntaonline.in/

Latest Updates:

Table of Contents

GAT B Exam Pattern 2025
GAT B Syllabus Weightage
2.1 GAT B Section Wise Weightage

2.2 GAT B Part A Weightage

2.3 GAT B Part B Weightage
How many Questions are expected in GAT B?
3.1 Part A: General Aptitude (40 Questions)

3.2 Part B: Subject Knowledge (60 Questions)
GAT B Syllabus 2025
4.1 GAT B Syllabus for Section A

4.2 GAT B 2024 Syllabus: Section B

4.3 Is the GAT B exam tough?

4.4 How to start preparing for GAT B?
GAT B Preparation Strategy
5.1 2-Month GAT-B Preparation Strategy
GAT B 2024 Reference Books
6.1 Section A:

6.2 Section B:

GAT B Exam Pattern 2025

The GAT-B exam pattern includes the amount of questions, the marking system, the time allotted, and more.

Sections	No. of Questions Asked	No. of Questions to be Attempted	Marks Awarded (for each correct answer)	Marks Awarded (for each unanswered question)	Marks deducted (for each wrong answer)
Section A	60	60	+1 (1 x 60)	0	-0.5
Section B	100	60	+3 (3 x 60)	0	-1
Total	160	120	240	–	–

GAT B Syllabus Weightage

Section	Topics	Weightage (%)
Part A: General Aptitude	Basic Mathematics, Analytical Reasoning, General Biology, General Biotechnology, Comprehension, General English, and Logical Reasoning	30%
Part B: Subject Knowledge	Molecular Biology and Recombinant DNA Technology, Genetics and Evolution, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Plant and Animal Biotechnology, Immunology, Bioprocess Engineering, Microbiology, Systems Biology, and Bioinformatics	70%

GAT B Section Wise Weightage

The GAT-B exam doesn't officially provide chapter-wise or topic-wise weightage. However, based on previous trends and expert analysis, the following approximate weightage for chapters can be given.

GAT B Part A Weightage

Chapter/Topic	Approximate Weightage (%)
Basic Mathematics	5-7%
Analytical Reasoning	5-7%
General Biology	5-8%
Logical Reasoning	3-5%
General English and Comprehension	5-7%
General Biotechnology	3-5%

GAT B Part B Weightage

Chapter/Topic	Approximate Weightage (%)
Molecular Biology and Recombinant DNA Technology	10-12%
Genetics and Evolution	8-10%
Cell Biology	8-10%
Biochemistry	8-10%
Plant and Animal Biotechnology	10-12%
Immunology	8-10%
Bioprocess Engineering	8-10%
Microbiology	8-10%
Systems Biology	5-7%
Bioinformatics	5-7%

Also Check GAT-B 2024 merit list

How many Questions are expected in GAT B?

The number of questions in GAT B syllabus varies every year. We have compiled a list of last 5 years and provided the number of expected questions in 2025.

Part A: General Aptitude (40 Questions)

Topic	Expected Number of Questions
Basic Mathematics	6-8
Analytical Reasoning	6-8
General Biology	6-8
Logical Reasoning	4-6
General English and Comprehension	4-6
General Biotechnology	4-6

Part B: Subject Knowledge (60 Questions)

Subject/Topic	Expected Number of Questions
Molecular Biology and Recombinant DNA Technology	10-12
Genetics and Evolution	6-8
Cell Biology	6-8
Biochemistry	6-8
Plant and Animal Biotechnology	8-10
Immunology	6-8
Bioprocess Engineering	6-8
Microbiology	6-8
Systems Biology	2-4
Bioinformatics	2-4

GAT B Syllabus 2025

The GAT B Syllabus can be divided into two parts which are Section A and Section B.

GAT-B Syllabus of Section A: There are 60 questions in section A of 10+2 level Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology. You must attempt All questions. Each correct answer is for 1 mark and 0.5 marks are deducted for every wrong answer.

GAT-B Syllabus of Section B: This section includes graduation-level Basic Biology, Life Sciences, Biotechnology, and allied areas. Among the 100 questions, you need to answer any 60 questions. Each correct answer is for 3 marks and 1 mark is deducted for every wrong answer.

GAT B Syllabus for Section A

Subject	Topic
Biology	Diversity in Living World Structural Organisation in Animals and Plants Cell Structure and Function Plant Physiology Human Physiology Reproduction Genetics and Evolution Biology and Human Welfare Biotechnology and Its Applications Ecology and environment
Chemistry	Some Basic Concepts of Chemistry Structure of Atom Classification of Elements and Periodicity in Properties Chemical Bonding and Molecular Structure States of Matter: Gases and Liquids Thermodynamics Equilibrium Redox Reactions Hydrogen s- Block Elements (Alkali and Alkaline earth metals) Some p-Block Elements Organic Chemistry – Some Basic Principles and Techniques Hydrocarbons Environmental Chemistry Solid State Solutions Electrochemistry Chemical Kinetics Surface Chemistry General Principles and Processes of Isolation of Elements p-Block Elements d and f Block Elements Coordination Compounds Haloalkanes and Haloarenes Alcohols, Phenols and Ethers Aldehydes, Ketones and Carboxylic Acids Organic Compounds Containing Nitrogen Biomolecule Polymers Chemistry in Everyday Life
Mathematics	Sets and Functions Algebra Coordinate Geometry Calculus Mathematical Reasoning Statictics and Probability Relations and Functions Vectors and Three-Dimensional Geometry
Physics	Physical World and Measurement Kinematics Laws of Motion Work, Energy and Power Motion of System of Particles and Rigid Body Gravitation Properties of Bulk Matter Thermodynamics Behaviour of Perfect Gas and Kinetic Theory Oscillations and Waves Electrostatics Current Electricity Electromagnetic Induction and Alternating Currents Magnetic Effects of Current and Magnetism Electromagnetic Waves Optics Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation Atoms and Nuclei Electronic Devices Communication Systems

GAT B 2024 Syllabus: Section B

Section B of GAT-B 2024 tests the advanced knowledge of the student in the field of Biotechnology and allied areas. The detailed syllabus of GAT-B 2024 section B is discussed below:

Chapter	Topics
Unit I	Biomolecules-structure and functions Biological membranes, structure, action potential, and transport processes Enzymes- classification, kinetics, and mechanism of action Basic concepts and designs of metabolism (carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, and nucleic acids) photosynthesis, respiration, and electron transport chain Bioenergetics.
Unit II	Viruses- structure and classification Microbial classification and diversity (bacterial, algal, and fungal) Methods in microbiology Microbial growth and nutrition Aerobic and anaerobic respiration Nitrogen fixation Microbial diseases and host-pathogen interaction.
Unit III	Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell structure Cell cycle and cell growth control Cell-Cell communication, Cell signaling, and signal transduction.
Unit IV	Molecular structure of genes and chromosomes Mutations and mutagenesis Nucleic acid replication, transcription, translation, and their regulatory mechanisms in prokaryotes and eukaryotes Mendelian inheritance Gene interaction Complementation Linkage, genetics (plasmids, transformation, transduction, conjugation) Horizontal gene transfer and Transposable elements RNA interference DNA damage and repair Chromosomal variation Molecular basis of genetic diseases
Unit V	Principles of microscopy-light, electron, fluorescent and confocal Centrifugation- high speed and ultra Principles of spectroscopy-UV, visible, CD, IR, FTIR, Raman, MS, NMR Principles of chromatography-ion exchange, gel filtration, hydrophobic interaction, affinity, GC, HPLC, FPLC Electrophoresis Microarray.
Unit VI	History of Immunology Innate, humoral, and cell-mediated immunity Antigen Antibody structure and function Molecular basis of antibody diversity Synthesis of antibody and secretion Antigen-antibody reaction Complement Primary and secondary lymphoid organs B and T cells and macrophages Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Antigen processing and presentation Polyclonal and monoclonal antibody Regulation of immune response Immune tolerance Hypersensitivity Autoimmunity Graft versus host reaction
Unit VII	Major bioinformatics resources and search tools Sequence and structure databases Sequence analysis (bimolecular sequence file formats, scoring matrices, sequence alignment, phylogeny) Data mining and analytical tools for genomic and proteomic studies Molecular dynamics and simulations (basic concepts including force fields, protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid, protein-ligand interaction)
Unit VIII	Restriction and modification enzymes Vectors- plasmid, bacteriophage and other viral vectors, cosmids, Ti plasmid, yeast artificial chromosome; mammalian and plant expression vectors cDNA and genomic DNA library Gene isolation, cloning and expression Transposons and gene targeting DNA labeling DNA sequencing Polymerase chain reactions DNA fingerprinting Southern and northern blotting In-situ hybridization RAPD, RFLP Site-directed mutagenesis Gene transfer technologies; Gene therapy.
Unit IX	Totipotency Regeneration of plants Plant growth regulators and elicitors Tissue culture and Cell suspension culture: system, methodology, the kinetics of growth and, nutrient optimization Production of secondary metabolites by plant suspension cultures Hairy root culture Transgenic plants Plant products of industrial importance
Unit X	Animal cell culture- media composition and growth conditions Animal cell and tissue preservation Anchorage and non-anchorage dependent cell culture Kinetics of cell growth Micro & macro-carrier culture Hybridoma technology Stem cell technology Animal cloning Transgenic animals
Unit XI	Chemical engineering principles applied to biological system- Principle of reactor design, ideal and non-ideal multiphase bioreactors, mass and heat transfer Rheology of fermentation fluids- Aeration and agitation Media formulation and optimization Kinetics of microbial growth, substrate utilization, and product formation Sterilization of air and media Batch, fed-batch, and continuous processes Various types of microbial and enzyme reactors Instrumentation control and optimization Unit operations in solid-liquid separation and liquid-liquid extraction Process scale-up, economics and feasibility analysis.
Unit XII	Engineering principle of bioprocessing - Upstream production and downstream Bioprocess design and development from lab to industrial scale Microbial, animal, and plant cell culture platforms Production of biomass and primary/secondary metabolites Biofuels, Bioplastics, industrial enzymes, antibiotics Large scale production and purification of recombinant proteins Industrial application of chromatographic and membrane-based bio-separation methods Immobilization of biocatalysts (enzymes and cells) for bioconversion processes Bioremediation-Aerobic and anaerobic processes for stabilization of solid/liquid wastes.
Unit XIII	Tissue culture and its application Micropropagation Meristem culture and production of virus-free plants Anther and microspore culture Embryo and ovary culture Protoplast isolation Protoplast fusion-somatic hybrids and cybrid Somaclones and Synthetic seeds In-vitro germplasm conservation Cryopreservation Organelle DNA Satellite and repetitive DNAs DNA repair Regulation of gene expression Recombinant DNA technology-cloning vectors, restriction enzymes, and gene cloning Methods of gene transfer in plants Achievements and recent developments of genetic engineering in agriculture Development of transgenics for biotic & abiotic stress tolerance Bioethics, terminator technology, and nanotechnology DNA fingerprinting and gene silencing.

Is the GAT B exam tough?

Students often ask this question even if the GAT B exam is tougher than IIT JAM? DBT GAT B exam is an exam that is considered to be easier or moderate whereas IIT JAM is also of the same difficulty level. The questions are designed to test not just theoretical knowledge, but also the practical and applied aspects of biotechnology. However, with thorough preparation, understanding the core concepts, practicing mock tests, and managing time efficiently, the exam becomes more manageable.

How to start preparing for GAT B?

You must crate a study plan to start your preparation for GAT B. To create a study plan for the GAT-B exam, start by reviewing the syllabus and identifying the topics that you need to focus on. Then, create a schedule for covering all of the topics in the syllabus. Be sure to allocate enough time for each topic and to include time for practice and revision

GAT B Preparation Strategy

You can start GAT B syllabus preparation by thoroughly understanding and prioritizing high-weightage sections. Nearly 40% of the exam revolves around biotechnology fundamentals, so reinforce concepts with standard textbooks like "Principles of Genetics" and "Biotechnology: A Textbook of Industrial Microbiology."

2-Month GAT-B Preparation Strategy

Week	Focus Area	Topics Covered	Study Hours/Day	Key Activities
1	General Aptitude + Basic Concepts	General Biology, Analytical Reasoning, Basic Mathematics, General English.	4-5 hours	Revise NCERT, practice reasoning/maths problems.
	Subject Knowledge	Molecular Biology, Genetics basics.		Start with standard textbooks (e.g., Lehninger).
2	General Aptitude + Subject Knowledge	Logical Reasoning, General Biotechnology; Cell Biology, Biochemistry.	5-6 hours	Solve 20 aptitude questions daily + focus on diagrams and pathways.
3	Subject Knowledge	Plant and Animal Biotechnology, Immunology.	6-7 hours	Create flashcards for key terms (e.g., vaccines, vectors).
4	Mixed Practice	Microbiology, Bioprocess Engineering, Comprehension practice, Analytical Questions.	6-7 hours	Solve 2-3 mock tests focusing on accuracy.
5	Strengthen Weak Areas	Systems Biology, Bioinformatics, Evolution; Revisit weaker areas identified from mock tests.	5-6 hours	Revise using concise notes. Practice specific question types.
6	Full Syllabus Revision	Full syllabus (both Part A & B), with emphasis on Molecular Biology, Genetics, Biotechnology.	7-8 hours	Solve past year papers; attempt 1 mock daily.
7	Mock Tests and Quick Revision	Full syllabus (focus on high-weightage topics).	6-8 hours	Daily mock test, analyze mistakes.
8	Final Week: Revision and Strategy	Quick revision of formulas, diagrams, pathways, and mock analysis.	5-6 hours	Stay confident; avoid new topics.

GAT B 2024 Reference Books

We have provided a list of books separately for section A and Section B for GAT B Syllabus:

Section A:

Topic	Book Name
Physics	NCERT Physics (Textbooks for Class XI and XII)Concepts of Physics by H. C. Verma
Chemistry	NCERT Chemistry (Textbooks for Class XI and XII)Physical Chemistry by O. P. Tandon
Mathematics	NCERT Mathematics (Textbooks for Class XI and XII)Mathematics for Class XI and XII by R. D. Sharma
Biology	NCERT Biology (Textbooks for Class XI and XII)Biology Vol 1 and Vol 2 by Trueman
General Aptitude	A New Approach to Reasoning - Verbal, Non-Verbal and Analytical by Signal /Arihant PublicationGeneral Aptitude Theory and Practice by Ram Mohan Pandey

Section B:

Topic	Book Name
Biomolecules Structure & Function	Biochemistry by LehningerBiochemistry by Stryer
Methods in Biotechnology	Biophysical Chemistry Principles and Techniques by Upadhaya and Nath/ Himalaya Publishing HouseWilson and Walker’s Principles & techniques of biochemistry & molecular biology by Hofmann
Organization of structure & function of prokaryotic & eukaryotic cells	The Cell - Molecular Approach by Cooper & Hausman
	Molecular Biology of the cell by Alber
Cellular Processes	Molecular Biotechnology by Glick
Cellular Processes	Cell Biology by Karp
Recombinant DNA Technology	Gene Cloning and DNA Analysis - An Introduction by Brown
Genetics, Phylogeny and Evolution	Introduction to Quantitative Genetics by Falconer
Genomics and Proteomics	Discovering Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics by Campbell
Agricultural Biotechnology	Agricultural Biotechnology by Singh
Animal Biotechnology	Textbook of Animal Biotechnology by Singh & Gautam
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology	Introduction to Bioinformatics by Lesk
Environmental Biotechnology	Environmental Biotechnology: Basic Concepts and Applications by Thakur
Marine Biotechnology	Springer Handbook of Marine Biotechnology by Kim Editor/ Springer Publications
Medical Biotechnology	Medical Biotechnology: Principles and Applications of Recombinant by Glick
Molecular and Human Genetics	Human Genetics: concepts & application by Lewis
Neuroscience	Simple Approach to Neuroscience by Satani
Pharmaceutical Biotechnology	Pharmaceutical Biotechnology - Concept and Applications by Walsh
Biotechnology, biochemical, Engineering, Industrial Biotechnology	Bioprocess engineering principles by Doran

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, which will be updated soon subject to the notification issued by the University/College.

GAT B Syllabus 2025: Check Section-wise GAT B Exam Syllabus, Topic-wise Weightage, Preparation Tips, and Reference Books