Ace GATE 2020 Exams with these expert tips

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering more popularly known as GATE is a gateway for qualifying engineering students to secure admissions for M.Tech and Postgraduate programs. It is jointly conducted by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (at Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, and Roorkee) on behalf of the National Coordination Board (NCB)-GATE, Department of Higher Education and Ministry of Human Resource Development(MHRD), Govt. of India.

Qualifying in the exam is a mandatory requirement for seeking admission and/or financial assistance to (i) Master’s programs and direct Doctoral programs in Engineering/Technology/Architecture and (ii) Doctoral programs in relevant branches of Science, in the institutions supported by the MHRD or any other Government agencies. It can also be taken for enhancing one’s career profile as several public sector undertakings that use GATE scores for screening for employment such as E.g. Indian Oil Corporation Limited, National Thermal Power Corporation, Power Grid India, GAIL, BARC, HPCL, BHEL, etc.

This year it will be conducted by IIT Delhi on February 1, 2, 8 and 9, 2020. It will be a single online paper of 3-hour duration, in which there will be a total of 65 questions carrying 100 marks out of which 10 questions carrying a total of 15 marks are of General Aptitude (GA). 70 per cent of the total marks’ weightage is given to the technical section and 15 per cent to General Aptitude and Engineering Mathematics each.

The examination is for specifically assessing the comprehensive understanding of the candidates in various undergraduate subjects in Engineering/Technology/ Architecture and post-graduate level subjects in Science. One can apply for only one of the 25 papers listed, as per their admission plan & eligibility criteria of the desired institution.

General tips to follow while preparing for GATE

• Know about the Exam, the syllabus and weightage of each subject - read through the syllabus and understand the subject coverage before starting your preparation
• Have reliable study material for your subject preparation – reading from one or two books would be sufficient for a subject, you may also want to take the help of online videos, lectures, course material, coaching notes, etc.
• Try to grasp the trend and pattern of the exam, understand and attempt as many as possible previous year questions papers
• Work on your concepts to build your foundation - start preparing from the initial topics i.e. the basic ones and make your notes about the concepts(definitions, units, dimensions, etc.) as well as necessary theories, formulae, etc.
• Practice Topic-wise and solve previous year GATE questions after understanding each concept
• Solve as many questions as possible, the more variety the better. Try books which provide huge question banks with solved solutions - it will help you unearth more tricks in solving problems
• Take frequent self-assessment tests (preferably after every chapter) and mock tests to track your performance. Try to time yourself as well. Take both offline and online tests
• This will help highlight your strengths and weakness. Go back to the chapter/ topic in which you score low, revise about the topic and practice it again

Exam Trick:

The questions in the Aptitude and Engineering Mathematics section are mostly of moderate level difficulty. In the exam, one can easily score 13 or 14 out of 15 in this section.  It may help a student to cross the 25 marks barrier smoothly and, at the least, qualify in the exam. An additional 10 or 20 marks in other sections would further help a student score for some good colleges, and of course, putting further effort would help students reach the top score range.

Key focus:

• Knowing your subject’s syllabus
• Preparing your notes for your study material
• Solve Previous Year Papers
• Time Management

Diligently follow these steps for the rest of the syllabus. Be disciplined and focused as this requires intensive studying and practicing. Follow a proper timetable - with a day-wise schedule and build a study plan. As the exam date approaches start revising the course.

About Author:

Ramesh Subbarao is Vice President-Portfolio at Pearson South Asia. He has been associated with Pearson since 2011 and brings a strong experience in the entire sphere of finance coupled with rich experience in managing supply chain (warehousing & logistics), procurement and production, customer services and property & facilities.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha