Hello guys.

A lot of you recently saw my post on Facebook and gave it a lot of love so firstly thank you for that.

I thought why not make a small(actually long) motivational post to encourage all future aspirants to give their best shot at this much coveted exam.

So i completed class 12 in 2016 and aced my boards exam.But also ended up messing up my JEE mains.Did decently well in WB-JEE with a rank of 1739.Upon recommendation by some people,I joined Heritage institute of technology but didn’t find the cost to value ratio of the college good.No offence, its still a great college,but given the financial condition of my family i decided to somehow prepare for WB-JEE again and enter Jadavpur University(fee rs.2500 per year), no matter what branch i get.So gave WB-JEE again, got a rank of 3349 and got admission into Printing Engineering.Sadly I was not able to fulfill my parents dream of seeing me behind the gates of IIT.I had always loved Computers and wanted to pursue computer science as my career major.

One good thing I learnt about in Heritage was about GATE exam and how it could help me realize my dream of studying Computer Science from an IIT. So basically, my plan was pre-decided since the day i enrolled in Jadavpur University, to study and prepare for GATE.

Since I was from a different department and had to literally study like 2 engineering courses(printing and computer all core subjects),standard books weren’t the optimal choice for me. So after some research, I ordered made easy postal study material in an attempt to study and prepare on my own. But as you may have guessed,it failed.Colege pressure and lack of motivation denied me any progress whatsoever. But my money or study material didn’t go into vain. You’ll know later why.

So in my second year,I contacted Gateforum(closest institute to where i stayed in Kolkata).They told me that for Jadavpur students they would offer 50 percent off on all courses.So i decided to take up classroom course,but in the last moment for some reason decided to add in the usb course too. So I started attending GATE classes on weekends and tried to study during weekdays by keeping my college attendance minimum.Things went well few few months but then again as luck may have it, Gateforum ran into some problem regarding their classroom building and they had to shift centers and all that.As a result,my Gate prep totally slumped. I ended up not attending college and also not studying properly for Gate.Wasted a good 6 months like this.Completed only like 3 subjects that too not properly.

Come march 2020, lockdown was announced and I had to go back home.And lo-behold, my usb course that I had purchased came in handy.I dont know how,but being at home and seeing my parents struggle to make ends meet,it sparked something in me. I decided then and there- “I WILL GET A JOB AND CLEAR GATE AS WELL”.Also a lot of people tried to demean me due to my department,due to fact that I was a fitness freak, because I played computer games and because I was in a relationship.They meant to say that all my focus should be only on studies.My motivation was not to prove them wrong, but to prove myself right and be an example for many people.

I started preparing hard. Spent 5-6 hrs on a daily basis watching lectures and making notes from usb lectures.At the end of every subject, I would solve all the past year questions of that subject.This ensured  that I was practising while even during the process of making notes.By the end of september,i completed note making of the entire syllabus.Remeber I had taken postal course of madeasy? That came in very handy in clearing my theory doubts,conceptual doubts were cleared via gate overflow.So with a combination of gateforum usb course,gate overflow and made easy postal course books i was able to build a good foundation for all subjects.

Then all i focused was on rigorous in depth revision as many times as possible till the day of Gate exam and solving as many questions as possible.I solved questions from a variety of sources,subject tests being the main source.By mid of december I had given atleast 3 subject test of each subject with about 6 full revisions.Then i started giving full tests,I remember scoring only 55 which really made me sad.I thought my preparation wasn’t good,but after reading some motivational articles, I decided not to give up till the very end. I ended up scoring an average of 70 (across all test series combined) and average of top 30 ranks in tests. I was confident that if a paper is difficult for me,its difficult for many others too and not because my preparation was very weak.

I spent januaray 2021 giving full tests and deep revisions of subjects.I didn’t give many tests in the month of februarary and mainly focused on revision and staying healthy.

Also point to be noted during my entire preparation,I always kept sunday as rest day,worked out 2 hrs 6 days a week and played games 1 and half hours daily

On the exam day, I didn’t focus on getting some rank or some particular score,but only to give my best.(Ofcourse deep inside i wanted a top 100 rank cause i had prepared so hard).I gave the exam well,didn’t really panic or all that,but maybe due to lengthy paper(I was in set 2) I made some crucial silly mistakes in haste,like in the multiplexer question i found the correct answer and marked the wrong option(-2.66),in big endian question I selected an extra option,realized it but ran out of time to uncheck it(-2) and a few other mistakes which cost me a top 100 rank.But its ok,given the nature of set 2 most of the candidates suffered.

I came out of the exam,happy about the fact that i had given my best.Ofcourse in the upcoming days,I used to get sad whenever i used to find i got a question wrong,and also remember crying when I realized what I had done in the multiplexer question.So this continued for few days then everything seemed normal,until the set 2 syntax/semantic question controversy(ofcourse I am a syntax guy).I challenged that question with many others,but that answer wasn’t changed.

Result day-Opened portal:Gate rank-206 Gate score-798

Mixed feeling for first few seconds as rank predictor had predicted rank around 170-180.But then I realized in my mind-

“Dude.You are a guy from printing engineering.You are a guy from a department  that people used to mock saying stuff like ‘what the hell is printing?,surely u cant code?, leaving cs in Heritage was a big mistake’ and all of those kind comments.Why are you sad? You beat all adversities to get a rank of 206 in an exam of 1,01,922 candidates ,you beat many guys from CS department.You fulfilled the target you had set.You are going to fulfill your and your parents dream to study from an IIT(touchwood).Yes  marks more would have fetched you top 100,but on contrary 4 marks less would have taken you out of top 700.Be thankful to God for this gift.Enjoy the moment!”

Also during this time(mainly march to september) I had being doing competitive coding on codechef and codeforces every other day,devoting 2 hours to it.I sat for Hack with Infy competition organised by Infosys,cleared both rounds and an interview to get placed as a System engineer specialist(5.5 lpa) in the month of september.I was also shortlisted for TCS digital but due to covid-19,they had imposed one job rule in my college which was not there earlier.So my target of being placed in a decent place was already completed quite early and I could devote full time devotion to Gate.

So thats all guys.Just wanted to convey a small chapter of my life.I hope you find some inspiration out of it if you are in some low phase of your life,or just in general.

Remeber guys,if you work hard everything is possible.Apart from Gate and placement, I also did internship in IOT,as a journalist, learnt playing guitar,sang on stage,built a good physique in gym, and did  countless other things.I was and still am in a relationship since 5 years.It didn’t hamper my preperation whatsoever, because I always had my priorities set right.The money i saved by enrolling in JU came in very handy especially during lockdown.So no regrets of being a graduate in printing either.I am forever indebted to the almighty,my parents,my grandmother and my girlfriend for the way they always supported me.

Remeber,if you give your 100 percent,there is no chance you ll get a 0 in return.Always give your best and be thankful for what you have.Whatever happens happens for good.If you are focussed on your life goals and know what you want out of your life,no one can stop you.If a guy from printing department can do it,you can too!

Hope you achieve all your dreams and make your parents and all your loved ones proud.Best of luck.Peace out <3.
posted in Motivation Mar 23, 2021
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Inspiring journey brother !!...Congrats!👍
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Both hard bhaiya 🔥🔥