Hi, my self Harsh Shah. I got AIR 965 in GATE (CS) – 2021 with 53.01 marks. This was my second attempt in GATE. It is not that good rank but I am happy with this :)
A little Bit Of My Background:-
I was graduated in the year 2020 from Silver Oak College Of Engineering And Technology which comes under Gujarat Technological University, Gujarat. It was Tier – 4 colleges I got admission there because of my JEE performance. Yes I also gave JEE and my rank was in six-digit xD: So I left hope of a good college and pursue my B.Tech in computer science engineering. I always (here I mean whole engineering community xD:) tend to study one night before the exam. Though I was getting decent CPI(thanks to my friends and YouTube :) ).
My Gate Journey:-
Okay, so it will be a little longer. Enjoy :).
I first heard about GATE from my roommate who was a senior and also preparing for GATE. At that time I was in the 3rd semester. Then after a few days of research and discussion with my friends, I decided to prepare for this exam. I knew that I will learn all CS subjects which are important and it is a national level exam, so I was very excited to learn all these subjects and enjoy the journey. And also I never prepared for any competitive exam so I was very excited.
Then I joined an institute which is located in Ahmedabad itself named “The Gate Academy”. there was only one batch that runs on the weekend only. So I used to attend class on weekends and on weekdays I have to attend college. I joined coaching at the end of my 4th semester. And I was very much focused, so hardly attend my college(Thanks to my friends and Faculty member who put proxy so I could prepare for the exam xD ). I also explained the importance of GATE to my parents and told them I will keep my CGPA above 8 but I could not attend college so if college does not allow me to sit for the exam then please help me xD: They were very supportive and allow me to prepare for GATE. All things were going well my concepts were also building well. I was good at focusing only on GATE as I have no college work to do (Again Thanks Those Good Friends :) ). I was doing good in the test series not that much good but comparatively good. But I left COA as I was not able to learn and understand that subject.
Now comes the exam day. I still remember that day very well 8th February 2020. I entered the exam room with a positive mindset although I did not prepare for COA (I thought that in 2019 only 4 marks came from COA so I will manage that in 2020). But when the paper started I was shocked, I had a habit of starting the exam from the first question itself And SURPRISE………. The first 5 to 6 questions were from COA. And that was enough for ruining my whole exam. After that, I could not solve even easy questions and end up getting 29.67 marks with AIR 12320. It was not like that coaching was not good, many of my friends got a decent score and got their dream college. It was because of my fault only.
On the very next day, I regretted it a lot because of one subject I ruined my two years of preparation. On that day I called my parents(I was staying in a hostel)and told them I ruined my GATE exam and literally, I could not stop my tears. They told it is okay it was just an exam. I told them that I want to take one year drop and prepare for GATE one more time. This time they were against me because they thought I am telling it to satisfy my ego. And they told me to find a job. At this time my friend helped me a lot. She knew I can surely do better than this because she Shawn me preparing for this exam and she knew my capacity. So she agreed with me to take one year drop and prepare one more time. So I explained to my parents that don't judge me on the basis of this score I can surely do better than this and I will prove it. My sisters also helped me by letting me take one year drop. At last, my parents convinced but they told me that they will allow only a one-time drop.
Okay, so from here journey started for GATE 2021. As I wanted to start fresh I joined the coaching institute one more time. But this time I joined at “ACE Academy Hyderabad”. But due to COVID, I could not go to Hyderabad, I stayed at my home only. I was very clear that I will do each and every subject again no matter I did that subject earlier or not. So I started preparing it. This time I am very much clear with my not-to-do list. I have an aim to get AIR under 500. what I used to do is suppose today one topic is covered from a particular subject like for example if today IP addressing is covered from CN then after the lecture, I revise class notes then solve questions from ace volume 1 then volume 2 then bits and bytes and at last pyq. At the time of pyq I almost solved tough questions so it will be easy for me to solve them. many times if I could not get ans for pyq I used to visit GO Website for the detailed solution it blew my mind. It has such an in-depth solution. This continuous for every subject.
Then comes Test Series. This time my performance was good in Test Series. On average I got 20 out of 25 on the topic-wise test, 40 out of 50 on the subject-wise test, and 65 – 75 on the full-length test. Test series will play an important role as they manage your time and also tests your knowledge. But never map test series marks to your original exam marks.
The Exam Day:-
I was pretty cool on the day of the exam. I had a morning slot so I reached the center early and was listening to songs. By that time I gave many full-length tests so I prepared my mind to write one more full-length test :). Paper was easy as compared to the afternoon slot but it was surely trickier and lengthy than GATE 2020. I did some silly mistakes(due to that I got 53 marks otherwise I could get around 60 marks). But no regret as I was able to solve hard questions.
The conclusion: –
- Never compare your marks with your friends
- Never compare Test Series marks with Actual Exam.
- Do not ignore aptitude and maths if possible do it as early as possible.
- Do not leave any subject.
- Revision is your girlfriend you have to take care of her. Otherwise, she will ruin your life.
- Prepare every day. Do not focus on a number of hours.
- Be prepare for everything. What I mean is don't assume that your paper will be easy or tough.
- Remember “All late nights and early mornings will pay off”.
Still at the end. I am satisfied with my score. GATE taught me how to manage time, how to handle pressure, and whether you are from tier 1 college or tier 4 college it will not matter. My suggestion is at least one time in your life to prepare for a competitive exam it will teach many things.
I know I have not a good rank to guide anyone but still feel free to ask anything. I will try my best to answer it.
Thanks for reading.
