My Gate Story

Hii I am Piyush Hurpade from Maharashtra. I got AIR-18 in GATE-2015 exam.
In this post I am going to post my experience while preparing for GATE. with preparation One also needs mentor for continuous motivation and right direction. For me My brother swapnil with 6D team and Toppers blog was mentor. instead of scrolling FB I used to read toppers blog till exam month. It always gives me motivation. I am writing this post so that Gate Aspirant will be benefited.
    
For every competitive exam all we go through some steps/situations Like following:

1. Background

2. Decision

3. Learning Time

4. Preparation

5  Exam

6. After Exam

7. Result

8. After Result

I am going to explain every step here i.e what I did in each situation.

If you are interested in preparation strategy only then directly go to step no.4 and can skip 1,2,3

1. Background:

I. Was very Confident while solving problems and developed decent Analytical skills.

II. Was among the best when it came to programming in my college(Tier-II /local college)

III. Enjoyed Programming ,DS,Algo,DMS and was very good in them.

IV. Passed Engineering Only because there is some word like “Backlog”. Other than my final year, I had backlogs every time.
V. IMP (Being from a local engineering college where there is no environment for GATE, means getting a rank around 6000-8000 in fourth year or rank below 1500 after gap ended up being recognized as an achievement(I'm mortified to type it, but that was the scenario. However, for me, my dream college was always IIT B)

2. Decision:

When I was in 4^th year of my engineering(2013). I had set two goals 1. Getting a decent placement 2. Crack the regionals of ACM ICPC . But I failed to achieve either of them. 2^Nd one was a bigger failure for me as I already screwed up my academics because of that and still I failed in what I was preparing for. Then third goal that automatically got created was “GATE-2013”. Our University exam finished on 7^th jan and without holiday our strict schedule college started on 8^th jan . then I started preparing for GATE attending lectures and skipping practicals. I prepared for ds,algo,c,combinatrics,dbms from standard books but without practice. I ended up with 4-digit RANK- 8XXX. With some hope I decided to prepare for GATE-2014. On the very next day of my last paper I underwent a Kidney stone removal surgery. And I had my ticket to Hyderabad canceled.(I can still remember the pain I felt because of the unexpected circumstances.)
         After operation I started to search for a job. But because of being in a post-op stage, I wasn't in a position to move to pune(IT city) just like all my friends. All this led to me taking up a job in my home town with a low salary. Now that I look back, i'm happy things turned out the way they did because I had the comfort of living at home and my dream of cracking GATE was still alive. I brought gateforum course dvd + test series. But company + preparation strategy failed for I wasn't able to study well enough while working. I did not watch a single lecture. I solved only 1 test out of 16. Again prepared for DBMS from standard book for last 5 days. I still remember that it was last day of project before gate exam. I forgot to bring a calculator to exam. solved only C,ds,dbms,apti questions(some of which were not correct). Again i ended up with a 4-digit rank 6XXX. My health was good then. hence I started thinking about switching company and thinking about settled package in pune. We were three junior programmers in company. Both of my partner left company in April.

Then this THINKING-THINKING-THINKING situation started. Reading blog of gate toppers like http://www.ankurgupta.net/ (ankur gupta), https://sujithkumarb.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/a-gate-air-1s-preparation/ (sujithkumar) and many other. while working here, It was hard to go for an interview in pune. And also I would not be fresher more after May/june. On the other hand, My sister started thinking about GATE-prepartion in Hyderabad. Again “GATE-KEEDA ACTIVATED”. So finally I decided to leave job and go for GATE-preparation hyderabad. Mainly because of:

1. Single junior programmer in Company equals more workload.

2. I wanted to give a single full-fledged chance to my Analytical and problem solving skill.

3. My cousin also wanted to go to hyderabad for gate preparation.

4. Wanted to convert my THINKING-THINKING-THINKING situation into DOING-DOING-DOING situation.

5. and I had got 33 marks in 2014(w/o calsi and w/o preparation) which motivated me a lot.

3. Learning:

I left job on 12-May 2014 and took admission in PM-2 batch, ACE academy Hyderabad. For relaxation I went to my village for 5-6 days. I started sitting in ACE library before 3-4 days of class commencement. and started solving questions of my favorite topic “Probability”.

All lecturers and their lectures are awesome(That's what I experienced. there are some people who always cry). Classrooms are so big and accommodated around 200 students in a single class. For each day of tuition I just made sure that I would get to sit somewhere in the 1^st three rows only. There was always a quarrel between gujju and (maha+ chattisgud) guys for seats. But after some days we realized that friendship and sharing can optimize our goal. NO HARM IF YOU SIT AT BACK BENCHES. IT TOTALLY DEPENDS ON YOU. I HAVE MANY BACK-BENCHERS FRIENDS WHO ENDED UP WITH A GOOD RANK.

I listened to the classes with full concentration and had given my undivided attention. if I got any genuine and GATE relevant doubt then I used to asked in lecture itself.

After Each class I was following 4 steps(Not so strictly ):

1. Revise Notes First

2. Read it from standard book

3. questions from their printed material.. many mistakes but at least tried.

4. solved previous year questions of that topics.

Not so serious about 3^rd.

Many times I felt sleepy in classes(problem since 1^st standard). If this happened I just made sure that I will get everything once I read it from book or Internet resources.

I used to switch my study place between room and library for optimum study.

If somebody don't get anything I was always ready to teach/discuss. In fact Everybody liked my teaching style.

Actually I planned to stay at Hyderabad till exam but our group(gujju + maha + chattis + andhra + orrisa + begal + bihar, in all, 20-25 people) bond had become so strong in fact it was like 4 year engineering friends. I was saddened at the thought of leaving them. I knew that we are not going to meet once again so I just made arrangement of a party to everybody. So finally MAMA(I was famous in class as Mama-- Courtesy Gurudev Aradhaye) took a decision to come back to home town. Because I believe that in last months of exam we have to prepare individually.

Special Thanks to kewada,shabo,mayur(i),vadapav,rajesh,indu,dolly(papu),guru,tatya,shruti,aditya,jay and each and every member belonging to my beloved group.
and Special Thanks to all Teachers. I never forget lessons got from teachers besides gate study.
Khaleel Ur Rahman Khan sir - My mind starts thinking like scientist when I sit for sir's lecture.Taught me how to analyze the problem before knowing solution.  
Srinivas sir - Sincerity and planned approach
Co teacher - probability of getting right answer is 1/4 and wrong answer is 3/4. before start solving any problem first think about wrong options(options to be canceled) also.
Lokhande Sir - Last day comment and Enjoy.

4. Preparation :

My entire preparation depended on the following points:

1. Hard work beats talent and proper planning and its executions beats Hard work.

2. One should know his/her energy level. Means after how many hours one gets bored. What is ideal for relaxation.

3. Never do targeted hours study. We are not a worker.

I will explain preparation strategy with the aid of the following snaps clicked during my preparation:

# 4 most needed attributes:

# Following 2 pics are my views about subjects:
for getting into IIT one needs 60+ marks.

So I consolidated similar type subject. And one with blue circle are my primary subject.

And other with red circle were my secondary subject.(Not strictly it is according to my comfort level).

As I had read standard books already during course at ACE so I did not add this.
Books : http://gatecse.in/wiki/Best_books_for_CSE this is best link for books to be refer. I had used same except I did not use any book for DE,programming,Software Engineering,TOC and in addition to Rosen for DMS I had used cl liu.

In 1^st pic I have also written about strategy for both primary and secondary subject.

And in 2^nd pic I wrote something about how to solve question step by step. This will help you to avoid silly mistakes. Knowing steps is not enough. By practice you will get this superpower.

 

* I had 3 month for self preparation so I made planning in 3 phase. OCT-Phase I , DEC-Phase II

JAN-Phase III

*This is phase I pic.

Targets for this phase are:

1. Make sure that I understood each and every concept from my notes and gate syllabus.

2. Derivation of formulas.

3. previous year GATE papers.

I had made a loop for for each subject . It was so flexible and I added a provision for switching from any subject to any other subject after completing a chapter. You can view only single loop for Apti and DAA. As these are my favorite subjects, I used to switch to these subjects if I got bored from above one.

*This is pic of PHASE-II(part A) :

Targets:

- 2^nd revision and make a structure along with revision. Structure means: Tree of whole subject.

- after this phase I will not have confusion in any formula.

- Basic level tests of ACE.

- Full length tests(year wise) – Could not achieve this.

Part B:

I failed to take snap of part B from 16-31 dec. but it is a game changer plan. I was not good at CN. I had to make my rank below 100. without CN it was not possible. for whole part B I concentrated on CN. Along with that some aptitude,intermediate level test, and at the end of month some full length test.

* What do you think this photo is about?

I knew that I will get bored of full time 2 month preparation. As planned earlier I went to Gujarat for Youth Mahostav where around 50000 youth were present. I got full energy for last month in that programme.

And There is always someone who guides you for mental state. Right one is my brother and mentor Swapnil (pursing M.tech at IITK) who always keeps me motivated. 

* Warm up:

After Gujarat Trip I made small plan it was like a warm up for the Final Month.

Target :

1. 2 Full length test.

2. ACE Grand Test 3

3. Data Interpretation(Got 2 marks for DI. Imagine what would've happened if I would've skipped this! Would've ended up with 3 odd marks less, and probably in a different college )

4. Clocks,Geometry as both these chapter never asked in GATE history. But last year they had asked on Clocks and this year in set-3 I guess they asked on Geometry(I wanted to be prepared for everything)

 

* Phase III (12 jan to 31 jan):

Targets:

1. Theory Revision(3rd time)

2. Subject wise Tests

3. Gate Previous Years Paper(2nd Time)

4. Mock Tests

12 Jan was my birthday date. On 11jan it was Sunday. So we planned party and all other things on 11jan itself. And on 12jan my phase III started.

After 1^st Theory Revision one will not be interested so much in revision. So I just overlooked my notes in 3^rd revision.

Mock tests should be attempted as much as possible. And analyze it afterwards. Same time slot as your original exam is preferable. I used to write it in same time slot. Observe the snap. this explains a lot

 

* A week before exam:

High Tension week. On 1^st feb I got some Fever. After getting some medicine I start feeling better but My childhood nemesis greeted me just before the exam (Mouth Ulcer). The doctor advised me to take an injection on alternate days. That had me agitated and my Mind start thinking bad bad bad, ended up getting filled with negative thoughts. Finally because of a spiritual touch I succeed to keep myself cool and calm.

last week targets:

1. TOC revision

2. Mock problems that I felt difficult.

3. Revise Math,Ds,Algo as it is my favored subject.

4. One day overlook on whole syllabus.

5. Get Injection on alternate days. Tablets and all time to time.

As I had paid little attention to TOC during preparation because of finding it very easy. I thought it would be better if I revise at last. And to keep my confidence up I used to do problems on my favored subjects only.

On 5^th of feb I glanced over the entire syllabus. And stopped my preparation on the penultimate day only.

*following is one of the sample of my day target. I suggest everybody to target points than hours

and 2nd pic is "PASTI" of all days I worked on.

Exam day :

As on exam day my pain was so high. I decided that as I was well prepared for exams, I am not going to give any excuses. So I just wrote on a blank-paper that I am not going to write the exam, I am going to “ENJOY THE PAPER”.

On exam day, I told my family that I will not speak to anybody after breakfast. My brother also took an unknown route to drop me at the exam center. Finally reached there at 8.40 hussh..

As paper started My first question was on tautology. Simple one but I totally stuck(Blackout). I wasted around 5 min for that 1 mark question. I can still remember that I saw 174 min left on screen when I was proceeding to 2^nd question. Spirituality helped me to regain confidence. This 5 min affected me in reviewing though , Lost 3-4 marks because of the initial slip up.

As I did not cover exam and other points right now, I will post it at Right Time(Probably in Dec or Jan).