Its almost END of the DECEMBER now. Its time to change the strategy now. From Now onwards one should solve and try out more and more objectives. And i suggest that one should try out objectives from different subjects at a time. It means that one should now start to solve the previous years GATE papers or any paper which covers the total syllabus.
Remember GATE is not Descriptive kind of exam. So if one will go on just reading and reading that will not work. This kind of preparation can help one to crack university exams or IES kind of exams. But this is logical exam. So its preparation is also different.
And one should not write paper just to check how much he is knowing and he is correct. One should solve the paper as one of the learning tool.
Here i am giving one technique that one can follow.
Everyday try to complete at least half paper. And remaining time devote for the subjects which are still to prepare or to revise.
Now its how to solve the paper?
Look at the objective. If you know the logic then solve it out and check your answer. Now if the answer is wrong see where you are lacking. These objectives are the only tools to make your fundamentals clear and strong. Only reading will not help in any way. Now if your answer is correct then go to next question. Now it is possible that you have done this subject before 2 or 3 months. SO you are having some faint idea about it. But you are actually not knowing the formula or logic. Then just stretch your mind. Try to recall. Don't look at the reference book or answer. let your mind work and recollect the information. Now after trying for some times if you can't remember it then please go through the reference and learn it again. Make a note in a separate diary or on the test paper only.
Now another condition can happen that you don't know anything about the question. So don't worry at all. And open the reference book. Prepare that topic from it.
In this way you can learn 30 different logic in one day if you are solving say 35 or 40 questions. And along with that you are testing your prepared topics too. And you are also analysing that where you can make silly mistakes. SO this is very useful method.
And in a week write at least one paper in a 3 hour time limit and preferably at the time of actually GATE paper. So that you can check the coolness of your mind at the time of exam.
And please don't tick the questions for which you are not sure. Don't take risk. Never bluff.
ALL WILL BE WELL. :)
Friday, December 25, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Its December and nothing is lost!
For all those who believe that if they have not prepared very well until now then they have lost the chance i must inform one thing that we have well around 60 days to go and nothing is lost. Now the only thing required is single minded dedication for your final aim. Even if you can give 7 to 8 hours a day, you still have a chance. So if you have worked hard, but not hard enough then this is the month you should start pushing cause after this it would be hard. As per my personal opinion 2 months is good enough a time for you to take the situation back in control. You may start with few areas that you think you are weak in and pick up on them fast, after that you may start your refreshing of every subject cause that is very important. Writing paper's during this period is also very important, you should atleast have the habit to sit around for 3 hours without getting bored and with full concentration. So try giving practice test's as much as possible.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Strategy for GATE 2010
Well the detailed brochure for GATE 2010 is out and this is my personal strategy that i might have employeed if i was going to appear for GATE 2010.
1) Concentrate on Mathematics:- Mathematics is 15 marks section and it is not important only from the view of GATE but also after that because most of the studies that we face in masters is related to differential equations and advanced engineering mathematics so it is good time that you prepare your Math section throughly and gain enough confindence in it cause that will take you a long way.
2) Prepare the General Aptitude:- Whenever i would not have been in a mood to study technical i would have picked up the book for General aptitude cause its fun reading and solving those questions gives your brain some work out and refreshes you, my preference during the time of day when i feel bored like during after noon or night. This covers your 15 marks.
3) Prepare the most basic of the subjects first:- Everyone agrees that the tough and the important subjects are nothing but extension of the basic subjects so if you have your basics in place that would give you extra comfort and make you feel confident and then you might attack the final tough subjects. And if you have prepared well in your college exams then they are also not that difficult. So in a way you have dealt with all of them.
4) Write some papers:- I would have written atleast one paper in 15 days and for that i might have joined any one of the test series because the pattern has changed and you need to get accustomed with the change. Still the previous year's paper are not obsolete you can always go through them for technical questions.
Addition of a General Aptitude section.
This might come as a surprise to many but it should not be that big a deal, A common component of General Aptitude has been added to all the papers from GATE 2010, although some may argue why is it required in a technical test, then well they might have their own reasons and looking at past performance only they might have added this. But its not a thing to Panic just prepare some basic aptitude and as one may see that it holds a healthy weightage of 15 marks its important that this part should not be ignored because during final ranking even 1 mark means a difference of 100 ranks so its important. Those who do not yet have a first hand experience of solving any aptitude questions should sit down and do that. One reason i feel it should not be something to panic for is because as such everyone is going to solve advanced engineering mathematics and the general aptitude might have some questions related to school level maths so its not something to panic for. My advice would be that if one does not have material for General aptitude then they might start with solving books like R.K.Aggrawal or they may borrow material from their friends who are preparing for GRE or CAT. Try to acquire the question paper set or some basic booklets from your friends who have joined various CAT coaching institute, that might serve the purpose. Although this being the first time many speculations may come up and it seems the organising committee wants to move away from a completely technical test and do some balancing act. The underlying statement being that they want people who are not only technically sound but also have great aptitude. (But i still do not feel personally there should be the General aptitude component, its just a personal feeling).
INFORMATION GIVEN IN THE BROCHURE
Verbal Ability: English grammar, sentence completion, verbal analogies, word groups, instructions, critical reasoning and verbal
deduction.
Numerical Ability: Numerical computation, numerical estimation, numerical reasoning and data interpretation.
As we can see that the course is something similar to that has been asked in CAT but i do not think that the level should be same as that of questions asked in CAT so if you prepare from the material for CAT then it should be sufficient. But do not ignore this part its a very important part and will help you a lot in scoring well over-all.
The detailed site has been launched and its address is
Myth about time for Perparation.
There exist a gross misunderstanding about the time it takes for preparation. Time for preparation is a personal thing. I have my room mate who had prepared in 25 days and got AIR 62 where as other people had an year or two years coaching and they also ended up at the same place so its more personal.
Several Reasons for this difference.
1) Preparation during college exams:- If you have prepared very well during your college exams it becomes very easy for you to refresh it and you can prepare early. As was the case with my room mate who was the class topper and had his basic worked out very well.
2) Level of understanding:- Some people read things and they understand it in first go while others need to give it enough time before they can assimilate it and understand it. Well that's up to to everyone and that's one of the reason that people take time.
3) The extent of the course you are aiming at:- Well its quite evident that selective study is the way to go, you need to choose the syllabus you are going to give your full energy on. Cause its but natural that even if you have one complete year you wont be able to finish course if you are trying to go in utter depth and trying to do everything so that's one more factor.
4) Confidence in the level of preparedness:- Some people are confident on whatever they have prepared and need not to go through it again and again. While other need to go back and keep looking at it so they take time, this factor is also quite personal.
Well these are few factor which determine how much time you would take for preparation. So its up to you.
And on a lighter note all of us are Engineers and we are famous for doing things in whatever time frame we decide so its not difficult.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Preparation Besides Core Preparation.
Any competitive exam, whether it is of defined (GATE) or undefined syllabus (CAT) have some common peculiarities. We should keep these in our mind while writing and preparing such exams.
I am trying to cover some of these in my post.
1. GATE contains negative marking system. So attempt the questions about whose answer you are 100% sure/confident. If you are in two minds for any question please don’t attempt.
Read the question very carefully. Carefully reading the question is as much important as you know the answer of any question. They use complicated language for a simple logic. So comprehending the question is the most important point.
Never take a chance as you don’t know how much this will cost to you. For example in my case I had taken a chance for a one 2marks question. Unfortunately it had gone wrong. So it has cost me 0.66 marks only if we see. But 0.66 means 25 people had gone ahead of me. And unfortunately it has cost me a seat at IIT Bombay. So you can imagine how dangerous it is.
2. Don’t count the number of questions attempted while writing an exam. As you never know how hard or easy paper is for others. Some times only 35 to 40 marks out of 150 are enough to score above 98 and sometimes 45 out of 100 are also insufficient. So just play your natural game. Don’t be greedy for marks or attempts.
3. Peace of mind while writing any competitive examination is the most important point. So I suggest you that don’t read anything on the day of exam. Don’t read till late nights before the day of exam. Have a sound sleep of 8 hours.
Take a deep breath before few minutes of exam in the examination hall. Just try to become cool and calm. And don’t think about the topics which you have not prepared on that day. Be confident enough.
And my personal advice is to try to recall all the formulae once before the final day. Just go on recalling all the topics and if you can’t remember some topics then don’t worry, just have a look at it from your books and note books. I promise you that you will surely remember those in exam.
On 2 days before exam write one of the previous years GATE paper at the same time of GATE. This will help in boosting your confidence. This will let you know what mistakes you can do in GATE. Write it as sincerely as you are writing the actual GATE.
And in the last days try to solve more and more objectives only as your mind should be habituated for objective kind of exam. You don’t have to write subjective answers so there is no meaning of reading only theory part in last days. And if you have joined any test series then please see the mistakes you have done in those papers.
4. Another question comes in mind of every aspirant that what should be attempted first and what at the last.
This is the matter of choice. But I have done in this way.
First I had attempted 1 mark questions, as they contain only simple logic or one formula.
Then I had attempted last 10 questions, as they are linked questions. So if you know the logic then you can score 4 marks on the basis of that question.
Then I used to attempt the questions like matching and all first in 2 marks questions.
This is what I have done. You can have different strategy also.
So that is it for this post. Now if you have any queries then please ask. We are trying our best to cover all the important points but we can’t come to know about what are the difficulties other than these a GATE aspirant is facing.
I am trying to cover some of these in my post.
1. GATE contains negative marking system. So attempt the questions about whose answer you are 100% sure/confident. If you are in two minds for any question please don’t attempt.
Read the question very carefully. Carefully reading the question is as much important as you know the answer of any question. They use complicated language for a simple logic. So comprehending the question is the most important point.
Never take a chance as you don’t know how much this will cost to you. For example in my case I had taken a chance for a one 2marks question. Unfortunately it had gone wrong. So it has cost me 0.66 marks only if we see. But 0.66 means 25 people had gone ahead of me. And unfortunately it has cost me a seat at IIT Bombay. So you can imagine how dangerous it is.
2. Don’t count the number of questions attempted while writing an exam. As you never know how hard or easy paper is for others. Some times only 35 to 40 marks out of 150 are enough to score above 98 and sometimes 45 out of 100 are also insufficient. So just play your natural game. Don’t be greedy for marks or attempts.
3. Peace of mind while writing any competitive examination is the most important point. So I suggest you that don’t read anything on the day of exam. Don’t read till late nights before the day of exam. Have a sound sleep of 8 hours.
Take a deep breath before few minutes of exam in the examination hall. Just try to become cool and calm. And don’t think about the topics which you have not prepared on that day. Be confident enough.
And my personal advice is to try to recall all the formulae once before the final day. Just go on recalling all the topics and if you can’t remember some topics then don’t worry, just have a look at it from your books and note books. I promise you that you will surely remember those in exam.
On 2 days before exam write one of the previous years GATE paper at the same time of GATE. This will help in boosting your confidence. This will let you know what mistakes you can do in GATE. Write it as sincerely as you are writing the actual GATE.
And in the last days try to solve more and more objectives only as your mind should be habituated for objective kind of exam. You don’t have to write subjective answers so there is no meaning of reading only theory part in last days. And if you have joined any test series then please see the mistakes you have done in those papers.
4. Another question comes in mind of every aspirant that what should be attempted first and what at the last.
This is the matter of choice. But I have done in this way.
First I had attempted 1 mark questions, as they contain only simple logic or one formula.
Then I had attempted last 10 questions, as they are linked questions. So if you know the logic then you can score 4 marks on the basis of that question.
Then I used to attempt the questions like matching and all first in 2 marks questions.
This is what I have done. You can have different strategy also.
So that is it for this post. Now if you have any queries then please ask. We are trying our best to cover all the important points but we can’t come to know about what are the difficulties other than these a GATE aspirant is facing.
Friday, July 17, 2009
National Programme for Technology Enhanced Learning
This is a special post for all the students who want to prepare for themselves or clarify their doubts on various subjects. The link http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/index.php will guide you to the lectures and presentations by the best faculties in India. It's an initiative by IIT themselves to enhance the quality of education in India and it has been backed by Human resource ministry, although during our preparation we were not able to go through this or refer this but for those students who want to have structured instructional study can surely go through this. Also for those students like me who did not study in IIT during our bachelors program have a great opportunity to study courses here which would clarify our basics and help us very much in preparation.
For my first and second year friends i would strongly recommend them to go through this.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Important instructions during preparation contd . .
Prepare the Tough topics First
Once you have indentified certain topics as difficult on terms of preparation and you are sure that same are going to take time to prepare, start with those topics. Completion of these topics will give you ample confidence and will relieve you of lots of pressure. Also as you will know the time you take for preparation of these topics you will be able to gauge the time you will require to prepare for the other easier topics. If you start with easier topics and take enough slack for preparing them then you have invariably wasted time on the topics that you should not have wasted and you would be left with less time to prepare for other topics. So as per me the best option would be start with tough topics and move towards the easier topics.
Keep in touch with other people who are preparing.
This is one of the most important things. Always keep in touch with other people who are preparing for the same subject. If possible I will advise to form a small group of people who are going to appear for GATE in your own college or you own locality. This will give you different perspective on what should be prepared and how should you go around dealing with different subjects. Also, this will be an additional support system and will help you to keep yourself charged up for preparing for the GATE. This in our case was very important, all three of us have known each other from our college days and we have been encouraging each other to do better and this has helped us lot in preparing properly for GATE. Ashutosh had already passed last year and he was a very helpful support for us as he gave us very helpful guidance and if you can find someone who has passed the earlier year he will give you a lot of additional inputs that would prove invaluable.
Also you can find people on social networking site like Orkut or if someone in your acquaintance has cleared then you can be in touch with them for the guidance. But the guidance is important if you are going to prepare on your own. If you are planning to join some coaching classes than it’s not a problem.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Preparation
Hi friends, I have promised you in my last post that I will share my view on the very important question “How to prepare?” In the last post author has discussed very important issues which should keep in mind during the preparation.
In this post I will try to show one of the ways to prepare from 1st day of preparation to the day of examination-the total plan. Personally this is just an example; one can have one's own plan.
1st step: Analyze the previous years GATE papers.
• From this and the syllabus available one will come to know that exactly what is to be prepared from each subject. I have noticed that questions from particular topics of a subject only are being asked repeatedly. So list down all such topics for a particular subject you want to prepare and follow this for all subjects. This will give you correct direction for preparation. Or it happens many times that one spend ample amount of time in preparing one topic which is either of least important or not in a course even.
• Now analyze the paper in a different way for a particular subject. What kinds of questions are being asked?
It is clearly mentioned in the GATE brochure.
The types of questions in a paper may be based on following logic:
(i) Recall:
These are based on facts, principles, formulae or laws of the discipline. The candidate is expected to be able to obtain the answer either from his/her memory of the subject or at most from a one-line computation.
(ii) Comprehension:
These questions will test the candidate’s understanding of the basics of his/her field, by requiring him/her to draw simple conclusions from fundamental ideas.
(iii) Application: In these questions, the candidate is expected to apply his/her knowledge either through computation or by logical reasoning.
(iv) Analysis and Synthesis:
These can be linked questions, where the answer to the first question of the pair is required in order to answer its successor. Or these can be common data questions, in which two questions share the same data but can be solved independently of one another.
For example I have noticed that always 2 or 3 questions are being asked from CASTING. One is of application type in which one has to solve the problem by calculation for 2 marks. Second is of either recall or comprehension type.
In case of FORMING they used to ask to solve 1 or 2 problems for 2 marks questions. And one comprehensive type question for 2 marks.
In mathematics one can notice that questions are of logical type. One or two step calculation is needed at most. You can answer many of these questions with out calculation. For this you must know the basics of mathematics. So they just want to know whether you have understood the fundamentals of mathematics well or you have just learned mechanical rigorous mathematics.
So I hope one have understood the importance of previous years GATE papers.
2nd step: Analyze your strengths and weaknesses.
List down separately the topics in which you are strong and weak.
From the analysis of the previous papers you have already come to know about the topics which require lesser efforts but fetch too good marks. If such topics are of your weakness then give considerable time in preparing it. So do prepare these subjects first. But if your weakness is the subjects which are very rigorous and too much time consuming and fetch less marks then do concentrate on your strengths. Prepare subjects listed on your strength side first.
In this way you will come to know the order in which you have to prepare subjects.
Personally speaking never ignore mathematic at all and if possible prepare it first.
3rd step: Its time to prepare too hard.
Some of the points should be taken care while preparing are as follows.
1. Make concise notes while preparing. It will help you to refer it in the last moments. After referring to all the reference books do write basic fundamentals in your own language. List down all the important formulae.
2. Try to understand the topic through its application. Consolidate fundamentals by solving related problems from standard books. Mark the very difficult problems which only are to be seen while revision. No need to waste time for the problems which you already know.
3. After this just solve the various questions only from GATE and GATEFORUM or Test series papers.
4. After completing each subject revise it with the before completed subjects. Don’t left any subject incomplete. Do prepare all the subjects completely.
5. After doing this try to revise the whole course in a few days say 1 or 2, then after try to recall all the formulae from all the subjects in one day. As you will practice the revision time will reduce considerably for the next revision.
Note: It is not must to complete the whole course.90% course is enough to score well. But this 90% course should be perfect. From other 10% prepare easy topics. I am insisting to cover 90% course because sometimes it happens that one can not answer the toughest questions asked from the topics he has prepared and also the easy questions asked from the topics he has left. So if one has prepared 90% course then at least he can answer all easy questions asked from all topics and some hard questions from the topics he has prepared well.
So friends I hope this will help you out. In my next post I will try to show you a typical nature of any competitive exam. I will focus on the issues which are most important besides preparation.
And feel free to ask questions. And post your suggestion too. Your comments becomes driving force for us.
In this post I will try to show one of the ways to prepare from 1st day of preparation to the day of examination-the total plan. Personally this is just an example; one can have one's own plan.
1st step: Analyze the previous years GATE papers.
• From this and the syllabus available one will come to know that exactly what is to be prepared from each subject. I have noticed that questions from particular topics of a subject only are being asked repeatedly. So list down all such topics for a particular subject you want to prepare and follow this for all subjects. This will give you correct direction for preparation. Or it happens many times that one spend ample amount of time in preparing one topic which is either of least important or not in a course even.
• Now analyze the paper in a different way for a particular subject. What kinds of questions are being asked?
It is clearly mentioned in the GATE brochure.
The types of questions in a paper may be based on following logic:
(i) Recall:
These are based on facts, principles, formulae or laws of the discipline. The candidate is expected to be able to obtain the answer either from his/her memory of the subject or at most from a one-line computation.
(ii) Comprehension:
These questions will test the candidate’s understanding of the basics of his/her field, by requiring him/her to draw simple conclusions from fundamental ideas.
(iii) Application: In these questions, the candidate is expected to apply his/her knowledge either through computation or by logical reasoning.
(iv) Analysis and Synthesis:
These can be linked questions, where the answer to the first question of the pair is required in order to answer its successor. Or these can be common data questions, in which two questions share the same data but can be solved independently of one another.
For example I have noticed that always 2 or 3 questions are being asked from CASTING. One is of application type in which one has to solve the problem by calculation for 2 marks. Second is of either recall or comprehension type.
In case of FORMING they used to ask to solve 1 or 2 problems for 2 marks questions. And one comprehensive type question for 2 marks.
In mathematics one can notice that questions are of logical type. One or two step calculation is needed at most. You can answer many of these questions with out calculation. For this you must know the basics of mathematics. So they just want to know whether you have understood the fundamentals of mathematics well or you have just learned mechanical rigorous mathematics.
So I hope one have understood the importance of previous years GATE papers.
2nd step: Analyze your strengths and weaknesses.
List down separately the topics in which you are strong and weak.
From the analysis of the previous papers you have already come to know about the topics which require lesser efforts but fetch too good marks. If such topics are of your weakness then give considerable time in preparing it. So do prepare these subjects first. But if your weakness is the subjects which are very rigorous and too much time consuming and fetch less marks then do concentrate on your strengths. Prepare subjects listed on your strength side first.
In this way you will come to know the order in which you have to prepare subjects.
Personally speaking never ignore mathematic at all and if possible prepare it first.
3rd step: Its time to prepare too hard.
Some of the points should be taken care while preparing are as follows.
1. Make concise notes while preparing. It will help you to refer it in the last moments. After referring to all the reference books do write basic fundamentals in your own language. List down all the important formulae.
2. Try to understand the topic through its application. Consolidate fundamentals by solving related problems from standard books. Mark the very difficult problems which only are to be seen while revision. No need to waste time for the problems which you already know.
3. After this just solve the various questions only from GATE and GATEFORUM or Test series papers.
4. After completing each subject revise it with the before completed subjects. Don’t left any subject incomplete. Do prepare all the subjects completely.
5. After doing this try to revise the whole course in a few days say 1 or 2, then after try to recall all the formulae from all the subjects in one day. As you will practice the revision time will reduce considerably for the next revision.
Note: It is not must to complete the whole course.90% course is enough to score well. But this 90% course should be perfect. From other 10% prepare easy topics. I am insisting to cover 90% course because sometimes it happens that one can not answer the toughest questions asked from the topics he has prepared and also the easy questions asked from the topics he has left. So if one has prepared 90% course then at least he can answer all easy questions asked from all topics and some hard questions from the topics he has prepared well.
So friends I hope this will help you out. In my next post I will try to show you a typical nature of any competitive exam. I will focus on the issues which are most important besides preparation.
And feel free to ask questions. And post your suggestion too. Your comments becomes driving force for us.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Important instructions during preparation.
During preparation it is very important that you keep in mind some basic important things. You would feel them unimportant at initial phase but they would really help a lot later.
1) Concentrate on what you read during college examination :- Your college examinations are the best way to prepare for GATE, unless you have read and understood every topic to its utter basics do not think it to be complete. If you are preparing for GATE the results in the university examination will take care of themselves (this is my personal experience and may vary from person to person). If you want to prepare for GATE then prepare with only one aim and i.e to understand and assimilate the subject and not for just clearing the examination, that will help you a lot. Although i do not preach that you should ignore your university examinations, but you should also keep somewhere at the back of mind that you are going to appear for gate. If you prepare for your examination in this manner it shall help you a lot for you GATE preparation.
2) Prepare a separate notebook :- This according to me is one of the most important thing which you have to do. This is not optional it is compulsory. You have to make a detailed notebook of whatever you prepare for GATE. Write down all the topics that you have read, draw nice detailed figures of the topics that have one. Writing down the numerical is optional. Do not clutter your notebook with too much numerical. Instead make notes of something that you have understood in your own words which you will never forget. Also keep the notes concise, do not copy the whole text from the book instead write it in your own words only. The note book should be self-sufficient, it should give you all the information that you require about a specific topic. You should have understood the topic perfectly once it is in your notes. The notes should be referred regularly. Prepare a separate note book just for the formula's if you can prepare one cause on the last moment you can refer it. I have met many people during my admission procedure and i found that everyone use to prepare notebook's so this is an essentiality.
3) Plan your studies :- Planning of studies is very important, you should plan on basis of the time period in hand and your level of comfort with various topics. The more comfortable you are the less time it should take to prepare. Give ample time for preparation considering all the external factors which may affect your studies. But prepare the subject thoroughly. Best method will be to start back calculating from the day of exam but you can plan in the manner you want to. Every subject should be given enough justice, do not skip or overlook any topic. The most important part of your planning is to plan your revisions. Revision of the topics you have already read is very important. Revision from my personal experience i can tell takes almost 2 months. So you need to start you revision at least at the end of November or start of December and if you need to do that you should finish your preparation by that time so you can easily back calculate the months you require to prepare. Also keep a track of what amount of course has been completed and what amount is left, this shall help you to plan your studies in a better manner. You can also allot percentages to various topics and track exactly what amount of studies are left. Well allotting percentages is more of a personal task as no one can decide the percentage you need to allot to a give topic its your own gut feeling.
4) Writing down paper :- Writing down papers is the best method to keep a track of your performance and to keep on motivating yourself to prepare for GATE. Try writing at least 2 papers in one month i.e on alternate Sundays if you can accommodate more its well and good. If you want you can join any of the test series of GATE-FORUM or BRILLIANT, but remember that they are nothing but tests the actual preparation has to be carried out by you. You may score good or bad in those papers is not of that much importance. Important thing is to appear for them and make an habit of sitting in one place for 3 hours with your mind full of concentration without getting bored. Also it helps you to get a feel of things to come during actual GATE. Writing the papers prepare you for the type of question you are most likely to face during exams, you will never have same questions being repeated ever in any of the test or final GATE but you will have an aptitude for the questions you will face. This is of much importance and should not be ignored.
5) For doubts and clarification refer authentic books :- We have used books during our college examination which would fetch us good marks but when preparing for GATE clearing our basic understanding of the subject is of utter importance. So it is imperative to opt for books which are considered "the book" for a specific subject. Whenever in doubt do refer this books, if possible prepare from them, but then its not always possible to prepare from the reference books as they are far more in detail then one may required during preparation for GATE. But having them for reference is very important.
6) Take help of your Professor :- Whenever their is a topic going on during regular lectures or during preparation that you fail to understand kindly get your doubts clarified, this is of much importance as this will clear your basics. The professor will give you inputs which would prove invaluable for your preparation. Their might be some facet you would be missing on the given topic which might be made clear by them so always stay in touch with them and get it clarified.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Well, let me start with introducing myself.
I am Ashutosh Jani doing M.Tech in Thermal Engineering from IIT Madras.
While writing this post I keep in mind the aspirants for GATE 2010.
So, first of all you should ask a question to yourself.
Why GATE?
How will your academic life be once you clear GATE?
I would request all the students preparing for GATE to get rid of a mental block that IIT is a place where only NEWTONs and EINSTEINs can reach. IITs are not supposed to be the places for THE GENIUS,they provide you with a platform to make a Genius out of yourself.
Now comes the question. Why GATE?
If you want to write GATE seriously, aim nothing less than IIT, it is not so difficult as it is thought to be, but you can work sincerely in that direction, only if you are conviced about yourself pursuing a PG in your respective field.
Normally you can opt for M.Tech. or MS course after clearing GATE.
I would request all to spare at least a few hours in surfing the websites of all the IITs before opting for GATE.
Get some myths clarified.
"You will get a very good pay package once you finish your PG."
If you are after a good salary, you should better opt for MBA and not M.Tech., MS or M.Pharm. Of course you will get a brighter package compared to the one you may get after your UG, but the difference may not be salivating. Basically you should continue your technical education, only if you feel the longing to remain connected to your field, or you feel like innovating.
"Another myth is that you will be doing research in your M.Tech. course."
M.Tech. is NOT about research. In most of the M.Tech. programmes across all the IITs, theory subjects are taught during the first year, and project is carried out in the second year along with a few courses in the third semester. You cannot expect anyone to come up with a feasible innovation leading to major improvement in a short span of one year. By doing M.Tech. you are specializing your area of interest and getting deeper into it.
MS is research oriented course, where you get enough time to carry out your project work, which starts from the first semester itself and above all MS does not have any time restriction.
"You can get a job of a lecturer only after doing M.Tech."
To get this myth clarified, you should have a look once at the placement statistics of IITs. Normally more than 70% to 80% of M.Tech. students get jobs in the industries, and very few opt for teaching profession, this is not an attept of proving anything inferior or anything superior, but it is a general trend that I would like to reveal.
Now once you are convinced about writing GATE, let me share some tips for preparation of GATE.
When you are about to finish your graduation, or you've already finished, keep yourself away from asking the Childish questions like HOW MANY HOURS SHOULD I READ DAILY? HOW MANY MONTHS ARE ENOUGH TO GET A HANDSOME SCORE IN GATE?
One of our seniors could secure an IIT admission without a dedicated preparation for the exam; why? Because he was thorough with his fundamentals and the approach towards the exam.
Normally a month of serious preparation should suffice.
When it comes to competitive examinations, your approach has to be practical.
Out of my experiences of writing GATE twice, I can claim that it is not all conceptual knowledge that is required. You should be clear about all the concepts, but try not distracting yourselves from the other aspects of the syllabus. Keep in mind the structure of GATE syllabus.
Do not rely solely on any printed material for preparation. Do refer the books that you used to refer during your UG course. Along with that keep solving multiple choice questions. You may refer to G.K.Publisher's book for GATE preparation. GATE Forum also provides with some set of MCQs, but do refer the books simultaneously, as the credibility of the answers provided by them is not reliable in a good amount of cases.
That's it for now. Will come with something more soon.
All The Best.
I am Ashutosh Jani doing M.Tech in Thermal Engineering from IIT Madras.
While writing this post I keep in mind the aspirants for GATE 2010.
So, first of all you should ask a question to yourself.
Why GATE?
How will your academic life be once you clear GATE?
I would request all the students preparing for GATE to get rid of a mental block that IIT is a place where only NEWTONs and EINSTEINs can reach. IITs are not supposed to be the places for THE GENIUS,they provide you with a platform to make a Genius out of yourself.
Now comes the question. Why GATE?
If you want to write GATE seriously, aim nothing less than IIT, it is not so difficult as it is thought to be, but you can work sincerely in that direction, only if you are conviced about yourself pursuing a PG in your respective field.
Normally you can opt for M.Tech. or MS course after clearing GATE.
I would request all to spare at least a few hours in surfing the websites of all the IITs before opting for GATE.
Get some myths clarified.
"You will get a very good pay package once you finish your PG."
If you are after a good salary, you should better opt for MBA and not M.Tech., MS or M.Pharm. Of course you will get a brighter package compared to the one you may get after your UG, but the difference may not be salivating. Basically you should continue your technical education, only if you feel the longing to remain connected to your field, or you feel like innovating.
"Another myth is that you will be doing research in your M.Tech. course."
M.Tech. is NOT about research. In most of the M.Tech. programmes across all the IITs, theory subjects are taught during the first year, and project is carried out in the second year along with a few courses in the third semester. You cannot expect anyone to come up with a feasible innovation leading to major improvement in a short span of one year. By doing M.Tech. you are specializing your area of interest and getting deeper into it.
MS is research oriented course, where you get enough time to carry out your project work, which starts from the first semester itself and above all MS does not have any time restriction.
"You can get a job of a lecturer only after doing M.Tech."
To get this myth clarified, you should have a look once at the placement statistics of IITs. Normally more than 70% to 80% of M.Tech. students get jobs in the industries, and very few opt for teaching profession, this is not an attept of proving anything inferior or anything superior, but it is a general trend that I would like to reveal.
Now once you are convinced about writing GATE, let me share some tips for preparation of GATE.
When you are about to finish your graduation, or you've already finished, keep yourself away from asking the Childish questions like HOW MANY HOURS SHOULD I READ DAILY? HOW MANY MONTHS ARE ENOUGH TO GET A HANDSOME SCORE IN GATE?
One of our seniors could secure an IIT admission without a dedicated preparation for the exam; why? Because he was thorough with his fundamentals and the approach towards the exam.
Normally a month of serious preparation should suffice.
When it comes to competitive examinations, your approach has to be practical.
Out of my experiences of writing GATE twice, I can claim that it is not all conceptual knowledge that is required. You should be clear about all the concepts, but try not distracting yourselves from the other aspects of the syllabus. Keep in mind the structure of GATE syllabus.
Do not rely solely on any printed material for preparation. Do refer the books that you used to refer during your UG course. Along with that keep solving multiple choice questions. You may refer to G.K.Publisher's book for GATE preparation. GATE Forum also provides with some set of MCQs, but do refer the books simultaneously, as the credibility of the answers provided by them is not reliable in a good amount of cases.
That's it for now. Will come with something more soon.
All The Best.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Pre-preparation for the GATE preparation
In this post I will try to answer some of the important questions that usually arise in the mind of a GATE aspirant.
PHASE 1: To become familiar with GATE exam.
I think I should start with the very basic question, “What is GATE all about?”
You can get the answer of this question by simply visiting the website of any IIT or IISc. For your reference I am providing one link below. One can go through that.
http://www.gate.iitb.ac.in/gate2k9/index.htm
Please note that this information is about GATE09 only. It may be subjected to change for GATE10. The websites will be updated as form for GATE10 will be available. Generally form is available in the month of October or September end.
PHASE 2: Preparation.
For a GATE aspirant after getting answer of first question the chunk of questions will arise regarding preparation. Now I am trying to answer all those questions one by one.
1. What is the correct time to start preparation for GATE?
Ideally one should study all the courses thoroughly at the college level. It means that the preparation for GATE starts as soon as one takes admission in the engineering college. But I know this is the ideal thing and only few can do this.
As in beginning no one can decide whether he want to do M.tech or not. This maturity comes in the 2nd or 3rd year only, as now one can decide whether he is interested in the technical stuffs or not.
As far as my personal opinion is concerned one should start preparation during the 3rd year. And one should appear for GATE in the 3rd year to have a feel about exam, but if one have not prepared well this will be of no worth. So try to complete as many subjects as possible (perfectly) before you appear for the GATE during the 3rd year. This will help you a lot to find out where you are lacking in preparation, how to manage the paper in 3 hours, what is the effect of negative marking and all such important issues.
2. What is the authentic material for the preparation?
There are many different opinions for the answer of this particular question.
As far as I am concerned I had took lot of pain in the selection of authentic material for preparation. As this is the most important aspect of the preparation.
There are so many misconceptions that the book from GK publication is enough for the preparation or say various materials available from different coaching institutes do the work. Frankly speaking all these materials available in the market are supplements only. They are not at all enough for the perfect preparation for GATE.
The most important material is authentic books for a particular subject. Always prepare any subject from authentic books only.
I had approached to IITs’ professors for this and I had come to know about the various authentic books which probably I had not used during my college. And I had experienced the difference too between books used at our colleges and these books. Some of the books were same too.
I am going to produce a list of books to be used for different subjects of mechanical engineering.
1. Advanced Engineering mathematics by
a. Erwin kreyszig (John wiley & sons publication) (strongly recommended)
b. Dr.B.S.Garewal (Khanna publications) (strongly recommended)
2. Engineering mechanic (statics and dynamics) by
a. Beer and Johnston (the Tata McGraw Hill publications)
(few but various enough examples - good book)
3. Strength of material by
a. G.H.Ryder (English Language Book society)
4. Theory of machines by
a. Amitabh Ghosh and Ashok kumar mallik ( Affiliated East –West press private Limited)
b. S.S. Rattan ( The Tata McGraw Hill publications)
Both the books are necessary for the preparation.
5. Machine design by
a. R.S.Khurami ( S.Chand & sons publication)
Though this is not the authentic book but for subject it is more than enough for GATE)
6. Vibrations by
a. V.P.singh
7. Fundamentals of thermodynamics by
a. P.K.Nag (The Tata McGraw Hill publications)
b. Van Whylen (John wiley & sons publication)
Both books are strongly recommended and necessary for total preparation.
8. Refrigeration and Air conditioning by
a. R.K.Rajput (thermal science and engineering) (Laxmi publications)
This is the website developed by the IITs. Here you can get web courses for almost all courses. But the psychometric processes described here are too good. Please go through that.
9. Applied thermodynamics
a. R.K.Rajput (thermal science and engineering) (Laxmi publications)
10. Heat and Mass transfer by
a. Yunus A.cengel (The McGraw-Hill companies)
To understand the fundamentals properly I strongly recommend this book
11. Fluid mechanics and machines
a. Dr.R.K.Bansal (Laxmi publications) (strongly recommended)
b. Yunus A.cengel (The McGraw-Hill companies)
To understand the fundamentals properly I strongly recommend this book
12. Manufacturing science by
a. P.N.Rao (volume 2 and 3) (The Tata McGraw Hill publications)
b. Amitabh Ghosh and Ashok kumar mallik ( Affiliated East –West press
c. P.C.Sharma
d. S.Kalpakjian (Pearson Education) (very nice book) (fundamentally strong)
All these books are necessary for the complete understanding of the subject manufacturing science.
13. Management science and Operations management
a. Hamdy A.Taha (operations research)( prentice hall of
b. William J. Stevenson ( introduction to management science)(IRWIN pub)
c. B.Mahadevan (Operations management) (Dorling Kindersley (
d. J.K.sharma (operations research)
Note. The topic named “Probabilistic Inventory system” is nicely given in the Brilliant tutorials.
To understand the fundamentals properly I strongly recommend this book
Besides this previous 10 to 12 years solved GATE papers are needed.
Another questions regarding PREPARATION such as How to prepare? etc will be discussed in the next post.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Introduction
This blog has been made from the view of helping students who want to appear for GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineers). We will try to guide you on matters related to how to prepare where to get material from and other such queries. Personally all the authors being related to Mechanical Field it would be difficult for us to guide on other subject but we will try to rope in new contacts to help students who are really interested in the same. Also the procedure after clearing gate is the toughest one and making proper choices and filling forms properly can make a world of difference, we would like to give guidance regarding the same too.
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