Thursday 12 February 2015

How to Prepare for GATE - My experience


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

Just go through once recent paper of GATE i.e. 2014/2015. First of all, understand the marks system and structure of paper.
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

·         Have sound sleep
·         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:
·         Just leave the unknown bits as you see
·         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


1 comment: