1. Assess
your interest on GATE – Get motivated at Right Level”
Ask yourself the following
questionnaire. Discuss whatever doubt you have with suitable persons (either
friends or faculty).
·
Why I have to apply for GATE?
o
Job in PSU – Need job security, family financial
issues, Not interested in higher studies
o
M.Tech. – Interested in higher studies, to
improve job quality further, research interest, To get time for IES preparation
o
Just to test – Have confidence in your subject
knowledge and to add an achievement to Profile.
·
How much performance your need?
o
95/100
o
90/100
o
70-80/100
o
60/100
o
40-55/100
o
Just Qualified
·
Which things can motivate you towards GATE?
o
For PSU job – Home financial conditions, the
good salary, secured Govt. job
o
For M.Tech. – Admission in famous institution
like IISC/IIT/NIT
o
Just to test – profile benefit, any personal
(like love) benefits.
o
To keep head in society [this situation comes
when you apply for GATE without any AIM/ If you lose the way to GATE in the
middle].
o
To fetch good name to our institute.
o
To earn some money out of rank from Coaching
centers.
·
What else you can do externally to motivate
yourself?
o
Count-down calendars
o
Some posters of JOB notifications
o
Time Table
o
Quotations etc. on walls and study places
o
A discussion with a beloved well-wisher
regarding GATE**.
2.
Have a solid Beginning – A Good Beginning is a
Half work Done”
a. Have a closure look
It is a common thing that – GATE
paper has 65 questions, out of which 35 carries 2 marks each and remaining are
of 1 mark each. In the online system, they are including BLANK type questions,
number of which, varies with paper (For ME, it is around 25-30 and can be of 1
mark or 2 mark).
Next, analyze the paper and
observe the thoughts you get about the questions like, simple/formula
based/complex/tricky or any combination of them. Assume your paper will
also be like that.
b. Syllabus
– things to study
Go through the syllabus of GATE
2015 until you get the brochure or GATE’16.
Divide the syllabus into sections according to concept and expected
marks from the topic. Based on your AIM, decide on what concepts you want to
focus. Discuss, if needed, with faculty
or friends to get a right decision. Always decide for the worst condition.
c. Acquire
the resources
Once you decided on what subjects
you want to study thoroughly for GATE, just discuss with
friends/seniors/faculty on the material availability (Resources required for ME
are discussed later in this article).
The resources generally available are:
·
Text books (soft/hard)
·
Notes written previously
·
Previous papers solved book (ACE/MADE EASY/GATE
FORUM/GATE HELP/S K MONDAL)
·
Coaching notes (ACE/MADE EASY)
·
Coaching study material
o
Subject wise theory books
o
Subject wise practice questions booklets
·
Online mock tests (ACE/MADE EASY/TIME/GATE
FORUM/TESTBOOKS.COM/Any other)
·
Concise formulae book by MADE EASY (Not
available for all branches)
What to study for fulfilling your AIM:
AIM
|
Coaching Notes/previous notes
|
Text books
|
Previous Papers
|
Coaching Practice booklets –Level 1
|
Coaching Practice booklets –Level 2
|
MOCK TESTS
|
IES previous questions
|
TOP
|
2.Proof read to know missed concepts/ cross
checking
|
1.Must
|
4. Must
|
3. Must
|
7.If possible
|
5. Must
|
6.If possible
|
60 - 80
|
1.Must (coaching notes)
|
If needed
|
2. Must
|
4.If possible
|
No need
|
3.Must
|
No need
|
45-60
|
1.Must (coaching notes)
|
No need
|
2.Must
|
4.If possible
|
No need
|
3.If possible
|
No need
|
Qualify
|
1.Read once
|
No need
|
2.Must
|
No need
|
No need
|
3.If needed
|
No need
|
·
The above details are as per my knowledge. May
vary candidate to candidate.
·
Order of preparation is also estimated and
given as numbers in above table.
·
MOCK tests are useful for time management.
|
|||||||
Preferred text books for Mechanical engineering GATE preparation.
S.No.
|
Subject
|
Text book
|
1
|
Mathematics
|
*Advanced Engineering Mathematics by Iyengar, Our E1 Content.
|
2
|
Engineering Mechanics
|
Statics and Dynamics by Beer and Johnston, Our E1 content by Ryani
sir.
|
3
|
Strength of Materials
|
Beer and Johnston (Concept), Ramamritam (Problems)
|
4
|
Machine Design
|
*V B Bandari
|
5
|
Production technology
|
*Amitab Ghosh and Mallik, specialized books are there. Ask lecturers
for details
|
6
|
Thermodynamics
|
Cengel (concept), *P K Nag (practice)
|
7
|
Heat transfer
|
*Cengel (concept), Incropera (concept)
|
8
|
Fluid Mechanics
|
Som and Biswas (concept and problems)
|
9
|
Industrial engineering
|
|
10
|
Fluid machinery
|
R K Bansal
|
11
|
Material science
|
Raghavan/Callister, Kodandaram (for Heat treatment)
|
12
|
English
|
For vocabulary concentrate on Root words. Practice general English grammar.
|
13
|
Theory of Machines & Vibrations
|
S S Rattan
|
d. Plan
Once reflect on what subjects,
you are confidence in and in which you are not.
Write them in a logical order according to difficulty level and also
conceptual order (for example, it is better to read Machine Design after
Strength of Materials).
Now estimate the required time
and available time for each subject, keeping in mind the E4 Sem1 time table and
academic activities like internship, Project etc.
Prepare a daily routine for these
10 months. And prepare a work plan (hard copy) and once reflect again on that.
If everything seems in order, just
It’s time to START
3. Monitor
your progress – Supervise yourself
Daily or periodically think of
the progress. REMEMBER – some people, as
I have observed, will easily get demotivated by not following the Plan. The possible
causes for not following the plan and suggested remedies are –
·
Tough-to-reach type of plan – Modify plan to your reach, once you get enough momentum
you can increase the speed.
·
Difficult to adapt to new time table/life style
– make it gradual. A boy who wakes up @ 7 am
everyday should not try to get up @ 4 am all at a sudden. He/she should
gradually adapt to that. No need to avoid physical games/sports completely
except few weeks before the exam. Don’t
ruin your health on any cause.
·
Unexpected work/ activities in planned time
slots – if they are important, don’t worry try to
study in some other time.
·
Knowingly wasting the time/ Postponement – try to keep some motives along with you. Just remind yourself what your AIM is.
·
No interest in the subject – if the subject is important to read, consult relevant
faculty or friends to get some material, which give you a pleasure reading.
Once you get interest, you can follow.
4. Test
yourself – Mend the patches
Write tests periodically to test
your progress in each subject. When to write the test – immediately after
preparation of subject/ after sometime/ after revision – should be decided
according to your abilities and possibilities.
After each test, once reflect on
Time management. It is primary to GATE aspirants. Practice the online system
well.
Next analyze the performance. If
there are any missed concepts, try to learn them. Do not neglect, especially if
they have appeared in previous papers.
You studied one subject means you
should get 100% out of that. REMEMBER. Don’t think that the distribution of
marks among subjects would be uniform. As the number of sets is not ONE, the
distribution is difficult to estimate. So try to be on safe side. Prepare for
the WORST.
5. Revise
– A to Z
Write a FULL mock to get an
estimate on yourself. Your thought process would definitely have changed than
the first time you saw the GATE paper. If not, you haven’t prepared for GATE
till now.
If possible, try to revise
subjects periodically by practicing questions in that or reading the running
notes again.
If not possible start revision by
reading all the subjects you prepared at once after your preparation is over.
Take enough time for this. This is very CRUCIAL thing for GATE. If your
expectations are not met, then also don’t spend the REVISION time for
preparation. Revision is for Revision only.
Try to form cross check for difficult-to-remember formulae.
Again write the FULL mock.
Analyze, revise, correct..!!!
6. Be
a Hero - Performance on the day
· Try to get a center nearby or in reach.
· Do not take any material to exam center except your admit card, ID proof, pens and Calculator.
· Be calm till you enter the hall.
· Do not communicate with anyone.
· Try to read instructions carefully.
· Use your time management from the first minute itself.
Tips:
· Do not attempt ambiguous questions.
· Try to see all the 65 questions within a decided (based on your AIM and capability) time.
· Count the attempted questions and decide on how many questions are needed to reach your Goal.
· Review the questions to improve attempts.
· Blanks have no negative marks. So if possible, try to attempt them.
· You can perform up to 180th minute. It’s your time…
This is just
guidance. Any mistakes can be taken to my knowledge. Things vary with
candidates and circumstances.
ALL THE BEST
Nadella Saikrishna
