GATE Prep

What had the GATE top 100 toppers till date (from any of the previous years) done in January of the year they attempted the GATE? And what are the students aiming top 100 in GATE plan to do in January as a part of their GATE preparation? Please share your ideas,plans,strategies,tricks,tips,suggestions what a student aiming for top 100 in GATE 2015 should do in month of Jan'15. Ankit Goyal, GATE Guru (AIR-1 GATE-2014; AIR-8 GATE-2013) Thanks for the A2A. Both the times that i attempted GATE, I kept the last month of preparation specifically for attempting Mock Tests and Subject Tests. I tried to finish the entire course with problem solving by the end of penultimate month before the D-Day. So the final month I could easily utilize for attempting Mock Tests and once you start attempting Mock Tests you will definitely see the difference in your confidence and performance. There are many reasons why you should attempt at least 15-20 Mock Tests in the month of Jan'15 as it helps you in: 1. Judging your performance against some of the best minds in the country preparing for the same exam. 2. Revision of entire course within a span of 3 hours. 3. Identifying your weak and strong areas so that you can focus on weak points and work on them. 4. Highlighting your mistakes so that you do not repeat them on D-Day. Some of the things that must be kept in mind while attempting a Mock Test are: 1. It must be attempted in solitude as you must be able to simulate the exam atmosphere in your home itself. 2. Entire paper must be attempted in one go as in most of the test series your progress is saved if you quit the test in between but that must be avoided at all costs. 3. The maximum time that you should take to complete the paper should be between 2-2.5 hours and never 3 hours as in real GATE exam you will consume additional half hour due to exam pressure. 4. Fix the time that you must not exceed per question so that you do not remain stuck at a single question for too long. 5. Never fall in love with any subject as that will hamper your progress in the test since you would want to solve problems from that subject at all costs. 6. Try to attempt the section consisting of 1 mark Questions within 45 mins. 7. The aptitude section should never take more than 15-20 mins. 8. Always solve the problems very clearly step by step and that will help you recheck your answers and that will save a lot of time in revising the paper during GATE exam. 9. Analyze your performance at end of every mock test to point out your weaker areas so that you can work on them and improve them during the next test. 10. Attempt a subject test in between two mock tests and that should be based on the analysis of the previous Mock Test as you should attempt the subject in which you did not fare well earlier.

Lastly, never judge your performance based on the Subject Tests as most of them are not for GATE level and are irrelevant. But performance in Mock Tests is essential as that indicate your standing with respect to rest of the competition. Hope you find these tips useful and for more GATE related guidance you can refer my blog: GATE by Ankit Goyal