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.