From time management to important concepts to last minute tips, GATE aspirants are looking for even the smallest precious advice to achieve a good rank. The GATE aspirant market has crossed almost 9 lakh students, while PSUs and IITs accommodating only 12-15 thousand of them. With a view to assist aspirants achieve a good GATE score, PaGaLGuY spoke with Mr B.Singh (Ex-IES), CMD, Made Easy Group, to provide his top 3 study tips for students preparing for the GATE 2017 exam. MADE EASY – a name synonymous with ESE, GATE & PSUs, is more than a decade old coaching institute for competitive engineering examinations and personality tests.
1. Important Subjects and Time Management
The syllabus is roughly divided into 3 parts, where 1/3rd of the topics account for 50% of the GATE questions, another 1/3rd contribute 30% of the questions and the last 1/3rd accounts for 20% of the questions. Students should devote more time and effort to studying the subjects from which 50% of the questions are asked. The following are some of the important subjects in different fields.
| Civil | Mechanical | Electrical | Electronics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental Engineering | Manufacturing Engineering | Network Theory | Analog Electronic Devices |
| Strength of Material | Thermodynamics | Control Systems | Digital Electronics |
| Transport Engineering | Theory of Mechanics | Analog and Digital Electronics | Communication Systems |
| Engineering Mathematics | Engineering Mathematics | Engineering Mathematics | Random variable and Process |
| Reasoning and Aptitude | Reasoning and Aptitude | Reasoning and Aptitude | Reasoning and Aptitude |
2. Learning Resources vs Practice
Instead of studying the same concepts from multiple books, candidates should refer to only one best book and study all concepts thoroughly from there. It is a waste of time to study the same concept from 5 different books. He further advises students to listen to NPTEL lectures available on the internet recorded from IIT websites. While effective learning requires singularity of reference, practice demands variety. Students should form a small group of 2-3 friends preparing for GATE. The group should plan to meet up at least once a week and solve GATE-related questions together from different sources. It is important to solve a variety of questions rather than solving multiple questions of the same type. For this purpose, students should either have access to practice material from other sources, or the composition of friends group should be such that each friend has been training in different coaching classes.
3.Study Plan
There are two types of plans that students should make – ‘Daily Study Plan’ and ‘Overall Study Plan’. The daily plan entails a detailed day-to-day account of your GATE preparation activities, while the overall plan is a long-term plan for a month or couple of months.
