Avoid these 7 mistakes while preparing to improve GATE 2022 score

By Ankit Goyal

Two-time topper, Ankit Goyal talks about mistakes that students make while preparing for the GATE exam. Aspirants planning to appear for GATE 2022, likely to be conducted in February next year, must read the article below to know if you lack somewhere.

I have been teaching GATE aspirants for almost five years and I have seen many promising students not performing up to the expectations. There are various reasons for this common problem.

1. One of the biggest reason is concentration lapse, which means that at some point while solving the problem you may lose focus and end up committing a mistake.

1. The second is the inability to deal with exam pressure. No matter how many mock tests you take, the pressure of the exam cannot be matched with the environment of mock tests.
2. The third reason is weak memory, which causes students to confuse between different formulas and may end up using incorrect formula.
3. The other reason can be weak aptitude. Many students may not realise this but aptitude is just not another subject but it is related to the thinking capability of an individual so if you constantly practice mind-boggling questions then you will have a habit of analysing any problem.
4. The next reason is theory vs problem-solving. The education system in colleges is such that our major focus remains on learning whatever is needed for the exam and forgetting it immediately after the exam due to which we are not able to learn any subject.
5. The next reason can be the candidate not being exam-oriented as we know the course is vast so if you go for an in-depth understanding of each concept then you may not be able to solve enough problems.
6. The last reason is weak calculation. Due to virtual calculators available to us, we generally leave the habit of solving the simplest problems by hand and we totally rely on calculators. Since, GATE has an online calculator, a lot of time may get wasted in such calculations.

These are some of the causes that have come to my notice but the question should be how to get rid of these factors to score well in the GATE exam 2022. The points that I will list here will be in the same order as the cause of the problem:

1. Due to smartphones and internet penetration, we are engaged in our phones which reduce our concentration span. So, I would like to recommend that you keep your mobile away with the internet switched off during your study hours to increase concentration. Also, read any question twice carefully before solving to see if there is any twist in the tale.
2. To deal with exam pressure you need to have multiple strategies to attempt the exam based on how the paper is. This is so because if you have a fixed strategy of attempt and paper is somewhat different then you may not be able to adapt and give your best. Also, appear in as many other exams available as possible to get acquainted with the exam environment.
3. The key to a better memory is constant revision because the memory inks in our brain are temporary and to make them long-lasting we must constantly refresh them by revision (like DRAM). So keep a day of the week reserved for revision.
4. To improve thinking ability and analytical ability keep 1 hour each day reserved for aptitude problems by any book or study material. This will help in multiple exams as well as improve your analytical thinking.
5. If you join any classes then your major focus while self-study should be to solve as many problems as possible. In my time, I used to focus only on problems and I learned many concepts which otherwise did not strike me while reading from standard books.
6. Only read the topics mentioned in the exam course and do not overthink any topic. This is so because at a time you have to be good at 10–15 subjects so you cannot be a master of all rather try to be above average so that you can solve problems of each subject.
7. To improve calculation skills, perform most of the calculations by hand like addition, subtraction, equation solving so that you do not need a calculator in exam time. I have a habit of oral computation which enhanced my speed of attempt in the GATE exam.

I hope this gives you a thorough list of possible reasons for failure in the GATE exam and you can now deal with any of these issues if these apply in your case. Nevertheless, I wish you all the best for the GATE exam.

About the Author:

Ankit Goyal

Ankit Goyal is the co-founder of Kreatryx which is an online and offline GATE/PSU preparation portal. He completed his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Indore in 2013. He is gold medalist of his batch. He cracked GATE with an AIR-8 in the final year of college in 2013 but joined Qualcomm. He again cracked GATE in 2014 with an AIR 1. 

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