My journey to success in the GATE CSE exam is finally here! Check out my experiences, strategies, and key takeaways.

https://medium.com/@avinashkushwah31/from-rank-4200-to-64-my-journey-to-success-in-gate-cse-exam-2db84e57e7f7

I am making a list of different types of numericals that can possibly come in GATE from different subjects…..

This list is not comprehensive, so please comment if you know any topics and I will append them.

N.B. Once we have all types of numericals, we can then have a post containing the formulas for these numericals....

COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE

1. cache organization

2. pipelining

    3. Instruction format (COA)..

OPERATING SYSTEMS

1. scheduling

2. deadlock

3. synchronization

4. paging

     5. Tlb

6. page table

7. Address calculation

    8. virtual memory

9. Paging memory management in OS

   10. segregate Memory Management like Paging, Virtual Memory, TLB etc.

NETWORKING

1. Subnet masking

    2. Tcp/ip

3. window size

      4. flow control error control

    5.TCP/Ip problems in networking

6. Congestion control ,

7. Routing algorithms in CN windows sizes,

8. Error control in networking

   9. Errors control Flow control

10. Congestion control , Routing algorithms in CN ….

DIGITAL LOGIC

1. k-map

2. Minimization

3. Floating point operations

DBMS

1. Normalization

2. transaction

3. indexing

4. hashing

5. serializability

6. concurrency

    7. B, b+ trees

8. Normalization

9. Transactions

   10. Indexing

11. Hashing searching

12. Transaction

  13. DBMS topic normalization

TOC

1. Number of nfa/dfa from given inputs or states

     2. Decidability

   3. No of dfa,nfa possible with given no. of states or inputs

(i need dis formula)

  4. Identify class of language in TOC

1. https://gateoverflow.in/previous-years 

2. https://www.mediafire.com/folder/gp6z7khjzyl8d/gate_materials?fbclid=IwAR3a5nHuQNZeO9SzlLxpBNreJCf_SAEI9hbnZNgLRWv2kbuQmP3b-3S7WHI 

3. https://gatecse.in/w/images/7/7d/IntroductiontoAlgorithms-CormenSolution.pdf?fbclid=IwAR300N34-8wNohZ94oMjXCZk2rtj1u3f9qIk4Cp-tGDp3KHmNuiPbRRvrU0 

4. http://index-of.es/Computer/Computer_Organization_5th_Edition.pdf?fbclid=IwAR13dt8a22AB52T11VP1kQP_0dqkMW84ziYt1FT5mmadUvScNl-8V0pv77s 

5. https://webstor.srmist.edu.in/web_assets/srm_mainsite/files/downloads/computer_architecture.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1VOcuuP5mXFFKI1ueuo9QBoghe7Ak1jMRyfBTyNk5eVRQt9kEWVbLGLH4

6. https://www.mediafire.com/folder/gp6z7khjzyl8d/gate_materials?fbclid=IwAR0ezzTYvJdobF2hXtr3xVNZpZOFtw96yHAywR2_j9BOKGe1mBNSgVUcsvw#9xiori58gq22i 

     7. https://www.mediafire.com/folder/gp6z7khjzyl8d/gate_materials?fbclid=IwAR0ezzTYvJdobF2hXtr3xVNZpZOFtw96yHAywR2_j9BOKGe1mBNSgVUcsvw#mp3qyi2prh3fb 

8. https://gateoverflow.in/blog/62/do-not-overstudy 

1)NOT verifying all options in multiple choice questions  leads to selecting wrong option

2) escaping key terms like "SOME" , "ATMOST", "ATLEAST" , "ALWAYS " ,"NOT " ,"strongly supports" etc , so read the question two times

3)during calculation " not focusing on units like bytes , bits , km ,m ,mili ,micro etc"( mostly happens due to hurry)

4)not writing steps clearly which will help in rechecking .

5) overconfidence kills , so even if question is easy try to answer it with calm mind

6) not sleeping properly one day before exam : this is biggest mistake .

7)getting in panic mode by observing continuous run of 3-4   hard or lengthy questions.( this can be handled if you have practice of test series)

SOME SUGGESTIONS :

1) how to use rough book : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9NsODo1mIY

2)during calculation write all necessary steps , do not skip

3) do not try to do " JAY MATA DI "(guessing answer) for multiple choice questions , it will down your rank if "MATA JI " is not happy with you :)

.......................................................ALL THE BEST FRIENDS ......................................................

I had prepared slides for a webinar – guiding my college Juniors regarding GATE and placements. Adding the same here.
Hoping that it will be helpful. :)
Link for the slides

 

In 2018, I was prepared much better than 2017 but scored less than 2017.
I couldn’t figure out even months after exam what went wrong that day?
I took the mock at home and was able to score much better.
Then finally on 1st Feb 2019 ( 2 days before Gate exam)
Few questions came to my mind, what went wrong on that day? All it matters is luck to get a good rank? What if I am out of luck again on 3rd Feb.
Surely there is something more than luck. I thought let’s analyze the paper with time take for each question excluding aptitude(yes i literally noted time for each problem, reading them and solving them). It simply can’t be luck there is something that I am missing.
So I wrote the time taken for each question in an excel and made a bar graph out of it.
No. of questions vs time take

The picture was pretty clear I started with a hard question of 2 marks on that day in 2018 and wasted time and eventually lost confidence with coming questions. 
So I need to find easy questions first one could use the question paper button in the top and scroll and see all the questions and analyze it, but after giving TIFR and ACE CBT, I knew scroll won’t work in exam, (but works in mock test) and dragging and viewing the questions from question paper tab in exam is an overhead.

So what more does the Graph tell ?
More than $10$, $2$ marks questions can be solved within $2$ minutes.
Around $15$, $1$ mark questions can be solved around a minute.
So basically I could solve $25$ questions in $35$ minutes and being easy expecting an accuracy of 90%.
This is it I got my new strategy (yeah 2 days before exam I changed my attempt strategy)
.
I did attempt them in multiple pass, but revisiting same undone questions and reading them again $(55-10-15)$ those $30$ questions will cost at least $15$ minutes. Is it worth it?
I need to save the questions in my first pass that  I want to visit in my second pass.
Mark for Review option came to rescue.
In my first attempt I needed to do one of the following for each question:

• Answer it -Confident revisit not required.
• Answer it and mark for review if has calculation and requires revisit.
•  Mark for review.(Not answered)-2nd pass 
• Not answered- If I get time

So I started with 1 mark questions after I was done with aptitude
$18$ questions done in $25$ minutes.
$9$ questions in $20$ minutes.
And at the end of $1$ hour my paper looked like something like this(I don’t remember exactly)

Now in the second pass I started with $2$ marks questions as I knew dedicating more time to $2$ marks questions is worthy than trying to solve $1$ mark question  and proceeded with that.
Solving around $12$ questions took an hour. (Should have been a bit better than this around $15$)
If these $12$ questions appeared at the starting, it creates lot of problems or even 3 appearing at start is good to give you tension I had faced it in 2018.
So I was left with around 1 hour I knew, I need to wrap up fast in order to revise so I visited all questions and gave them attempt.
And was able to wrap it up within 2 hours and 45 minutes, leaving 15 minutes for revision. And Importance of revision could be found here
.
P.S. : Please don’t blindly copy it, test it , everyone has a different strategy that suits them best, solve all previous year and discover your best strategy. I have discussed with few others who got more than 70 marks and each of them had a different attempt strategy and probably the best for them.

I’ve seen people not taking up jobs and instead go to full time preparation mode immediately after BE/BTech. I believe that is wrong for those from 3rd-4th Tier college students. Instead they should first go for campus placement post BE and prepare along side job until one gets 3 digit rank like 400-700. In case one gets good rank immediately (Top 250) then one can join IIT, but if someone get 400-700 rank then it will be wise decision to do full time preparation afterwards.

Why one should go on job immediately after college instead of taking drop for GATE ->

1. Jobs give people some “Real” knowledge, where as in colleges of India, usually Clerk with Engineer degree are shipped out. It is this jobs that make them “Engineers” not the degree certificates. Whatever learning happens , it happens in training period of jobs and work.
2. Job gives peace of mind , it’ll keep your family and friend quite till you get good rank. For those who take full year drop without good rank as backup, so called “Well wishers” will come to eat the brain , what next if you fail etc. Even while giving exam, you will remain calm if you have job as backup.
3. Job gives money for things one needs -> Yeah this is true, you can buy whatever you need for preparation and other things, for entertaining, for internet, for recharges or any other expense. Those who have big education loans, should try to clear them, it is possible only via job.
4. Job gives reason for getting IIT -> While working on job, it it has service based job, looking at seniors/peers and work pressure, one get enough reasons to try for IIT, including Money.
5. Job gives you valuable experience -> Even though in IIT experience does not matter much for placements, in life, in Gate preparation too, the experience you gain while doing job helps you.
6. Job will teach you value of time and money -> It’ll help you work harder once you drop a year, because you’ll know that how much work you’ll be doing in any job. Once you start earning money automatically you’ll know the value of money.
7. You get weekends, 2 leave per month on every IT job easily , so it wont be too hard to prepare either.

This post is for those who are considering not to take job for preparing GATE and do not even have good ranks in final year. Do take job and get experience, it’ll be helpful. Do not take drop unless you are ready.

If you are in job, how you can prepare for GATE while working ?

1. You get 2 days off per week, use them to the extend possible.
2. You will get 2 days leave per month (Majority companies) use them for GATE preparation.
3. You will get 8 to 10 holidays per year in any company , use them for GATE preparation.
4. Before GATE you can take some leave (From 1 week to 3 months) based on your company policies.
5. If your company gives you cab, you can revise while traveling.
6. You can get flash card app ANKI on your mobile ,even while working you might revise for 5 minute in between  work breaks.

Taken from -> https://akashkanasegate2016.wordpress.com

DISCLAIMER : I have scored AIR-3550 in GATE 2022. Read at your own risk.

It was 2 hour exam consisting of 120 questions. It was my last and third attempt.
It was strikingly similar to AccCccEee mock test series except it didn't have discrete maths and was much simpler in terms of calculation oriented questions. Calculator was provided on screen. BARC upgraded their exam software this time finally now it looks more polished and had less lag when switching questions frequently. Please try out the official mock software on their website once.

I attempted 63/100.

Time control is the most crucial factor as you will only get about 72 seconds per question. This looks really scary but don’t think like this if you get  55+ question right you will make it. This fact reduces our worries because now we get almost 120 seconds per question almost double liberty.

I appeared for the aforementioned test series and gave all tests 600 question total. Apart from revision and practice I discovered something else. I noticed that I am spending average 20 mins on the questions that I am not attending. I drastically reduced this in actual exam and I was able to save some serious crucial time.

HOW ?

I immediately skipped a question if a little trying was needed or it had any sort of calculation including c programming questions.

Now why calculation... even if we practiced well and know the question in and out.
The reason is  because initially some calculations look straight forward but once we start to solve them changing and converting millisecond to nanosecond and Mbps to Bytes per second lot of time is consumed and these questions are most error prone. So better if they are attended in last.

Believe me I know how it feels to let go a simple question like that but you have to say to that question “you are my friend and I am not leaving you, I will solve you in the end, please let me go”.

Only when you say this the question will leave you in peace otherwise it will distract you throughout the paper and will consume lot of time even if you solve it successfully.

Due to this one misplanning in  my practice test  by the time I reached the 100th question
I had barely any time left for revision of rechecking. Because I was fighting with every question that I saw.

ATTEMPT STRATEGY

In the first 75+ minutes I had solved 45+ question that I was fairly confident and had 45+ minutes left on the clock for the remaining questions.

Now I did not went to the unattempted questions straight because from my past experience I know that revising and even finding 2,3 silly mistakes can change your outcome.

Unlike gate we cannot re-solve question completely for 100% confirmation as time is very less. I checked the tricky points like what is actually asked TRUE/FALSE, CORRECT/ INCORRECT and all calculation questions( everyone has their own pitfalls ).

Once I was done with this process I had a solid 48+ question with me( i like to think this way,keeps me motivated). And by seeing the question again I had a good idea about the difficulty level of the exam. Why only these 15-20 question will tell difficulty level because everyone else will be solving the same 45+ question that you just solved so only these are the question that will decide the merit.

Later I will tell you through an example how judging these 15-20 questions will affect your merit.

I concluded that the paper was easy this time and cutoff will surely go up so I need to push a little bit further. Now I am left with 45+ mins time and and has 15-20 question to solve.

CLASSIFICATION OF THESE 2nd ROUND QUESTION AND HOW TO CHOOSE THEM.

3-4 question were the ones in which I was able to eliminate 2 options and had no clue about the remaining options, I gave them a second look re-thought them and left them because I will only take the chance if the remaining 10+ question GO according to my plan.

Why multiple views to questions that I am confused about…. because I believe that our subconscious continually works to find solutions to them and sometime an approach/formula suddenly pops up while you are solving something else.

In the next 30+ mins I attempted calculation oriented questions and some tough question that I thought I might crack if given a little more time or by brute force or option checking.

When last 5 minutes were left I had attempted 58-59 questions. In the remaining time I once again saw those questions and took chance and attempted 3-4 of them.

That’s how I did it and I do not know if this strategy is good or will it work. All I can say that it was a dynamic strategy that I arrived upon after solving 30+ full length GATE MOCKS and 6+ BARC test series.

ABOUT THE EXAM

Overall questions were simple in nature not requiring much in-depth calculation or memorization like last year.

Last Year the cutoff plunged to 129/300 I scored 80/300 marks in that attempt.
BARC 2021 had some serious question on Computer network and COA which actually ate up all my time.

I found the paper to be easy, not even moderate. According to me a Moderate paper is
when there is a proper mix of questions and the difficult questions are time
taking but somewhat doable, but if the questions are absurdly tough then no body
does them and they do not count towards final merit.

WHAT I COULD HAVE IMPROVED

I could have done….

1. Software Engineering Questions (2-3)
2. Cyclomatic complexity (1)
3. Probability and Combinatory (1)
4. DLD counter question (1)
5. More polished first pass I really could have manually counted combinatorics question.

It was a pleasant experience. A race where every second counts too much thrill.

MY ADVICE TO PARTICIPANTS

Make sure your display is free of any marks and is bright enough I lost a GATE question because there was a dot on screen but not in the question. I did my calculation accordingly and arrived at the wrong answer.

eg what I saw 53.2 actually it was 532…..

Ask the invigilator for the same, in BARC control software there is a REASSIGN tab they can simply assign you a new system. My display was flickering so I asked and got a new system assigned.

The invigilators were some kids in their early 20s and they were gossiping almost in my ear so I told them Politely(only voice not face) “Madam I am getting disturbed”. They were nice people so they moved away but did not stop gossiping.
 

I encourage participants to speak up if they are facing any discomfort or any system issues as a lot depends on this exam.
 

Coming back to why analysing the difficulty level makes a difference.

Last year I appeared for the NIELIT-STQC exam, based on the last years score, scoring anything less that 100/120 meant no selection somehow the topper scored 112 / 120.

Despite having good attempts I pushed my luck and attempted 110/120 without realizing that paper was actually tough this time and cutoff will come down.

Day before yesterday the results came out I scored 0.4 % less and missed the cutoff .One question was 0.8 % weightage. I lost 12 question in negative marking because I pushed too hard even attempting the ECE and EE questions, if I had analyzed that paper was tough I would have stopped at 90+ questions and would have made the cutoff.

Today a random uncle came to drop off his daughter as I had reached the Centre before everyone he striked a conversation with me and I told him how missed the cutoff by one question. He was very straightforward and said it to my face that I was incompetent and I should focus on why I lost that 1 marks. He said that these are all excuse to shy away from working hard and he truly believes that 1 rupees = 100 paisa everywhere everytime and luck has no place in this world.

I should have told him how Abhinav Bindra sir missed his 2004 GOLD MEDAL in shooting because the floor he was standing upon was made of wood tiles and every time he was shooting and adjusting the recoil of his gun, his feet were displacing the wooden tiles underneath and he could not figure out why was he was missing the target.

There is a documentary on this “Legends Live on” on youtube.

I believe that luck has a little part to play and sometimes despite best efforts things may not converge.

So beware before engaging in such conversation….

Then I met other guy from banda district who I had met last year in the same exam he scored AIR 1332 last year and this year he got AIR 532( seems like his hardwork paid off).

At the end the BARC representative came to ask for exam experience I told him how last year the electricity went off at AXIS-COLLEGE CNB and everyone lost 12+ minutes because the clock did not stop.

Before asking anything further he asked did I qualify ? as soon as I said NO he brushed off and said what I am saying is absolutely false and something like this can never happen.

Too much for one day maybe I am coming full circles I guess.

I am posting this early because later it will not be as useful.

I really thought not to post  because everyone else is a competitor and people generally post after they have succeeded but I really believe that even the toppers do not know what really worked because I have never seen anyone claiming before hand and predicting their rank everyone believes a certain tactics will surely work and they place their bets on that.

Everyone is equally nervous and has their own doubts.

I had UPPCL on 1st April, BARC on 2nd April and NIELIT-NIC on 3rd April which is tomorrow.

Why am I not studying for tomorrow…. Just has MS Dhoni said if I have studied all year long then one day will not make a difference and if I have not studied then also one day will not make any difference, so I am chilling and writing this post. Without any guilt or fear.

Memory based question.
Cyclomatic Complexity 1 ques
Paging 2-3 ques including 2 level page table
Software engineering testing
Chip Select logic Manchester encoding, baud rate bit rate
Java, OOPS concept 3-4 question
Very tricky programming question with lots of << shift operation
MUX Equation through comb circuit.
TOC Regular Language only 2 ques
Pipelining Speedup
CN security & encryption(Not in gate syllabus)
Hamiltonian and Euler circuit 1 ques
greedy job sequencing 1 ques
Bankers Algorithm 1 ques
BST creating post order given
SQL queries 2 ques
2NF but not 3NF 1 ques

K-map

Will add more question as I remember.

Happy to help. God be with you.

Hello everyone, as the GATE exam is only 15 days away, it's important to focus on key things that will help you to perform well. Here are some tips for you to consider:

• Revise every topic that you have studied so far. This is crucial as it will refresh your memory and help you to identify any areas where you may need to focus more. Make sure to give special attention to the topics you are struggling with.
• Give at least one full-length test every day until the end of January. This will help you to get used to the format of the exam and identify any areas where you may need to improve.
• Do not try to study any new topics now. GATE is not a test where you need to score 100 marks, and in the past, no one has ever scored 100 marks. Therefore, it's important to focus on revising the topics you have already studied.
• One thing that I would like to add is that you should not give mock tests at home. Instead, try to give the test at a friend's house or in a cyber café. This will give you a better idea of what the real exam will feel like, as the environment and ambiance at home is different from the real examination.
• When giving mock test, focus on your silly mistakes that you do in exams, note it down somewhere and read this silly mistakes before giving the next mock test. By doing so, you will be able to identify and fix common mistakes that you make during the exam.

Stay calm and focused on the day of the exam. A positive attitude is key to success. Overall, the key to success in the GATE exam is to revise thoroughly, practice regularly, and stay calm and focused on the day of the exam. Good luck!

• Operating System
• Computer Networks
• Programming in C / Data Strcuture
• Algorithm
• TOC
• Compiler Design
• Digital Logic 
• Databases (Mostly SQL queries and normalization)

1.  GATE/TIFR
2. Other Exams for PSUs/SAIL/HAL/Others

I would like to share with you all that I am joining IIT Delhi for MS(R) AI (2022).

Well, to get into this position & to be eligible to write this particular post, or to live this reality of being an IITian, the process was not at all easy.

It all started back in 2019 when my roommate insisted me to visit IIT Kgp for their annual techfest Kshitij 2019.

I wasn’t very much interested to go because I wasn’t sure what value it would put in my life for a worth of ₹1500 for the entry pass.

But somehow I ended up there, and who knew that those 3 days of Kshitij would change my life forever!

For those 3 days I experienced what it is to live the life of an IITian. As I had to stay in the IIT hostels & had to eat at IIT canteens, in my free time I used to attend workshops in the IIT classrooms. I got an opportunity to interact with IITians of my age & of the same semester. 

It all made me realize that there is a huge difference between my college life than that of an IITian. I realized that there is a huge lack of resources like infrastructure,surrounding culture etc. in my college life.

After realizing all these I was totally lost, I was kind of sad & confused about the fact that why can’t I have the same life. When I think about it now, probably this realization struck me because I had a huge love of knowledge for CS inside me. 

But that was not enough to get me started with.That only happened after I had a very bad breakup and I was rejected by an investor to fund my startup only because I was not an IITian.

After all this I was in a position when I felt I needed to prove myself & somehow I chose GATE CS as the only option and started preparing for it. As I said before the process was not easy but I had that advantage of starting out really early (from 4th sem. 2019).

During my preparation days (2019-2021) I completely isolated myself from all the social media, from all friends except a few & moved into a single room apartment.

Then after 2 years of study I wrote GATE 2021, I thought I had the best preparation that I could do. I got a decent rank of AIR 1002 but that was not enough to get me into the top 7 old IITs which I actually desired for.

Well as anyone can feel, sacrificing everything for 2 years in your early 20s and still not making it upto the mark, can be really frustrating and yes, that was the same for me too.

Although I had options of getting into NITS,IIITS,new IITS & I also had a job offer(Cognizant inc.),

I chose to prepare again from scratch and make it to the top 7 old IITS.

Taking this decision was comparatively easy but the execution was not. As I was choosing to prepare fulltime without any source of income as a repeater. 

During that span (2021-22) I was also facing some financial issues but my parents always supported me and helped me to keep moving forward whatever be the circumstances.

Hence, after a year I reappeared in GATE 22 and this time I got calls from 2 programs: 

IIT Bombay MS CMINDS & IIT Delhi MS MINDS.

Again I prepared hard for the written test & interviews as this was my only chance to get into the top IITS. My hard work paid off & I cleared those interviews with success that led me to my admission at IIT Delhi (MS(R)-AI).

I know the story may seem a bit emotional at times, but it’s what that was inside me for the last 3 years. 

The journey was lonely at times, every night I was looking forward to the next day keeping my dream in my mind and constantly improving myself. I was consistent and never gave up. These helped me towards what I’m today.

Last but not the least I’m thankful to have such supportive parents and friends who were there with me no matter what. I'm also thankful to myself for not giving up and that I kept on going day after day.

The journey was a roller-coaster, but I loved it.

Now I can say with confidence that with enough effort and dedication anything can be achieved.

Topic was permutations and combinations. Some of the students said sir we already know this topic and we have studied it in 11th standard. So why waste time on it?

Sir smiled and said — I know.

Then he asked a question — “how many arrangements are possible for the word ‘bombay’”? And I think everyone must have solved this question. Then later on in the same class moving forward to a much more complex topic (identical ball in the box problem, circular permutations etc) we were so much concentrated on finding solution of these tough questions that our sir didn’t even took pen and answered all the complex questions in a tenth of a second.

He must have solved it in his mind, one may think. But how fast? Did he already knew what he was going to teach that day and so must have memorized all the answers, but then why would’ve he had said that now you make the questions using your imagination and I will answer them at the same speed. And he did that again. Then, at last when he answered how he was so fast in calculating those answers he said

I don’t know.

I know how to calculate the arrangements of the word Bombay and so I applied the same logic in every complex topic. He said he never crammed any formula (we used to cram formulas for these complex problems).

Not only for this subject, he did the same thing with every subject. Few years later, today when I was reading a quote by Mark Twain on the internet that — if you tell the truth, you don’t need to remember anything took me back to those days. It is we who make the problem complex ourself (in life too) and then feel bad for not able to solve. I can say this with my whole confidence that whatever subject he taught us I never tried to cram anything. I only uncovered what was covered at first, the whole truth. I religiously followed my teacher. I worked hard for a year but still after giving GATE (2020) examination (AIR 1248) only IIT Indore and IIITB were ready to send me an admission letter. This was a failure for me because I was studying to get into IIT Bombay. Clearly I rejected IIT Indore and IIITB.

Few days later when giving interviews to get a job, one of the interviewers said that you must be regretting now that you have wasted 1 year in preparation. I gently replied, Sir I have no regrets and I do agree that I failed. I accept that I am a failure. I still call myself a failure sometimes cause of failing a lot so often. But I have no regrets.

I am actually happy that I failed because after preparing so hard for that one year I realized that the destination was not the end goal rather it was the journey which we overlook often. In that 1 year I learnt how to deal with fear, anxiety, depression, family pressure, financial issues when all of them attack at the same time and on top of that you get diagnosed with MDD (major depressive disorder). If you don’t know about MDD it’s good. Physical pain is nothing when compared to the mental agony. MDD is a mental illness. On one side were these demons and on the other side was me alone. I was in tears during that time. I have no count of how much I would’ve cried during those days.

My frustration increased tremendously everyday to beat the topper in our coaching center (he got AIR 13 that year btw). It went on the whole year. I was determined that I will beat this guy. Me failing in GATE was the symbolic death of me against those demons which every aspirant must face in their journey. But as written in Shrimad Bhagavad Gita that those who die in war go to heaven too. I am proud that facing all those demons I accepted death instead of leaving the battleground.

So what if one may die because it’s the journey which leads to the destination is considered more important than the destination itself.

I learnt a lot in that one year of preparation for GATE. To date I am proud that I get to be taught by someone whom every part of personality I admire. Now sometimes I teach the same things to other needy students which I learnt from my teacher.

This was my story. If an average student from tier-3 college suffering with MDD can get 1248 rank in GATE then why can’t you get AIR 1. Always aim the highest. On then one end I was fighting with fear, anxiety, family issues,suicidal thoughts because of MDD and on the other end somewhere deep I knew that I will beat that AIR 13 student in this year’s exam. I always aim high. Aiming lower is a sin. Never do that. Aim so high that you aren’t even hesitant to die for your aim. It’s not like people who get AIR 1,2,3 doesn’t feel pain, stress. Even the strongest of the strong feel fear.

When our sir said “how many arrangements are possible of the word ‘bombay’?” he must’ve unconsciously said to every student sitting there that their target is IIT Bombay. That’s what I think.

So that one year of preparation has made me a very strong person from inside. Whenever I aim, I aim for highest. Aiming low is a sin. Don’t be a sinner.

Current situation: I am working in a startup and earns enough that the thoughts to go in FAANG doesn’t enter in my mind. I teach some students too. I am still suffering from MDD and I take medications for it. I lift weights and it’s been 3 years doing that.

My website: https://darshan.sh

GATE(CS)-2018 AIR - 491 Marks-56 Category-General Like you all, I was an ordinary student having AIR 1,02,786 in JEE. Got into tier-3 college ; struggled with the Engineering Graphics; 96 rank out of 130 rank in IT branch; Broken after failing in 1st semester in college; trying to find what to do in life; GATE or CAT or UPSC or ARMY or MS(USA). searched whole internet, seen that in CAT you need high percentage of marks in 10th and 12th which was not in my case in 12th. even if you clear toughest exam CAT with the competition all around India; you need to face the interview which is really really tough. Also in CAT the work experience plays a key role which as a fresher I would not be having. Also because of diversity policy in MBA colleges, the entrance of engineer becomes tough. Being in general category and failing in first semester, I thought even if I prepare for CAT, I will screw my BTech which eventually will harm the interview of CAT. I am MCQ fan. I love playing with four options by my side.so I know I am not going to write UPSC as they ask aspirants to write an essay and GK which I am not at all interested. My parents didnot allow me to go to ARMY. Also I didnot want/unable  to take loan in order to do masters in USA as my father rejected the request. With all in mind in the 1st year break,I decided to appear for GATE. In the third semester, I started finding tutions for GATE(both online and offline).In 4th semester I took online classes from well-known teacher as I liked his way of teaching. I struggled with the syllabus; struggled with college exams as every month there was an exam waiting for me. Hear the GATEOVERFLOW community, GEEKSFORGEEKS helped me a lot with solutions of previous years.Fast Forward sixth semester came, I started preparing for campus interview as backup.Left GATE. got selected in Infosys. after resting for few days, I started preparing for gate. I realised that I have forgotten the concepts.I again tried to study but this time not to enter IIT. but to get a good job in Bengaluru.I applied for another company and left GATE to prepare for Interview.Company rejected me.At that point I came home and started solving DBMS. which I was not able to solve any of the five I tried to solve.One month before the exam, I left GATE preparation, On the Makar Sakranti , My father came to know that I have left preparation as I was flying kites whole day. fast forward GATE exam day, I went to the centre with zero expectation seen the screen, I was waiting since three years.solved the questions without any fear, without any expectation ,full of confidence, somewhat fear of negative marking. thought paper was easy. everyone who had prepared will get good marks. forgot the paper and got in internship mode. Shocked seeing marks in Praggys app. Thought everyone would be getting these many marks. This was not the case now.Others felt the paper tough. Seeing rank AIR - 491 on screen looks awesome.

1. Start with Discrete Mathematics.

Most of us underestimate this subject and that is the very first mistake we make while preparing for GATE. If you get a good hold at this subject you will be able to imagine most of the confusing problems in computer science world. If you are a machine learning/AI enthusiastic , you are going to love Prepositions and Logic.  Understanding sets/relations will make your life easier when you start talking about ER tables in DBMS and many topics in other subjects. Graphs are the crux of computer science world , befriend them.

Solve exercises of standard books + previous years. No point solving your coaching material , a bad question can corrupt your knowledge. Read Reliable, Share Reliable.

2. Programming and DSA

Topics like recursion, pointers etc often confuse one in the beginning. The best way is to CODE every algorithm you encounter while studying DSA.  Implementing linked lists on your own will make you understand pointers very well and recursion will not leave you until the end of the algorithm course. It might sound foolish to code , but trust me, the problems will not look scary afterwards. There are no shortcuts to conquer these subjects.

Solve exercises of standard books + previous years.

3. Digital Logic before Computer Architecture.

Do not jump to COA directly. Master digital logic and then move on to COA. Be very sure that you are reading reliable stuff when it comes to COA. Not doing that will frustrate you,atleast in pipelining concept.

Solve exercises of standard books( can skip this for DL) + previous years.

( COA is a system subject , mugging up formulas will surely gift you negative marks )

4. TOC before Compiler Design

Try to make DFAs/PDAs/TMs when you are solving a problem. Do not be overconfident and come to conclusion directly without even using a pen. Do not skip Undecidability part , you can find good resources on gateoverflow.in itself to master this topic. Make sure you know why are we eliminating left recursions ,  using bottom parsers instead of just mugging up how the DFA of the parsers work. Read dragon book to make this subject look interesting.

Solve exercises of standard books + previous years.

5. OS , DBMS , CN

I personally believe ,these are scoring subjects. A good hold of COA can make your life better while studying OS. Spend some time understanding normalizations instead of just mugging them up. Some formula's will definitely help you in Computer Networks. 

Thanks. 

Hello my mates here. Last day i just shared my thoughts in our 'Computer Science Careers Group' about what should keep in mind while preparing for GATE. It was an overwhelming response from you members there. After that i also shared that as my first Ouora answer with help of Rajesh Kumar Pandey sir.

Bikram Ballav sir strongly insisted me to put that as blog here on GateOverflow. My post was much bigger than size contraint of GO blog. I tried to cut the content. I made it under the limit of constraint, but still GO was not allowing me upload a blog. So i am just here sharing the link of that Quora answer.

Thank you.

https://www.quora.com/What-Should-be-done-to-achieve-rank-towards-AIR-1-in-GATE-CSE-2018/answer/Sheshang-Ajwalia

There are a lot of preparation experience blogs happily shared by those who did well in GATE which you can see below. But as everyone knows, only around 500 people out of ~100,000 manage to get 60+ marks in actual GATE and for others, it is a disappointment. So, what happened to others? It would be good to hear this from those senior people (who got a below 500 rank in GATE). Those who got a rank worse than 500 in GATE 2020 or before, please share your experiences whether good or bad via the below form as that will be the best place for juniors to look up.

Form to fill GATE Experience: https://forms.gle/bTxNcCFK3fDBXEdU6

Recent Preparation Experiences: https://gateoverflow.in/blogs/preparation-experience?sort=recent