Experts’ Speak: 3 things you could do if your GATE score is lower than your expectation

By: Dr Rahul M Das

If you are attempting GATE for the first time and you’ve failed to clear it with a good score, you can bet one more year on it provided your preparation strategy must be more robust and focused on clearing the examination in the second attempt.

“Every failure we see is a lesson. If you are not willing to accept failure, you are not ready to succeed”

Like any other competitive examination, GATE has its own difficulty level and not every individual taking up the exam secures a score they expect or even make the cut. In 2019, only 16% of the total candidates cleared the GATE examination. The following article is meant for those individuals who desire to explore the alternatives to succeed in their career in the event of low score in GATE. For any aspirant, there are really only following options in case he/ she has got a low percentile score in GATE:

1. Re-attempt the exam with better preparation
2. Target getting into PSUs

• Attempt other competitive exams in the same stream

Re-attempting GATE

Competitive exams require sound preparation with a pinch of luck. Many a times we think that we did our exams well, but the final scores fall short of our expectations. On the contrary, there are occasions where students feel they haven’t really done well, yet they secure good score. The point of discussion here is, if my GATE percentile score is low or below my expectations, should I really consider waiting for another year and re-attempt the examination?

The answer is plain and simple. If you are attempting GATE for the first time and you’ve failed to clear it with good score, you can bet one more year on it provided your preparation strategy must be more robust and focused on clearing the examination in the second attempt. Following are some the key points one should reflect upon while re-attempting any competitive exam:

1. Review the syllabus and map it back to the last examination – which were the areas that had greater weightage in the question paper
2. Identify your weak areas in the given syllabus and start working on them
3. Double up your time investment for the preparation with clearly laid out study plan and adequate time for two revisions of all the topics/ chapters
4. Your revision sessions should include additional question papers that you need to solve within the standard exam duration

In case, you choose to continue with the percentile score that you secured in the first attempt, still there are multiple other options you can choose.

Job opportunities in PSUs

The recruitment in some of the PSUs based on GATE examination is a trend that started 2012 onwards. In 2019, there were direct recruitments done by some of the well established PSUs like IOCL, HPCL, ONGC, DRDO, SAIL, BSNL, NTPC, BHEL and so on. In case, your score is low, still you can explore the PSUs where your score will hold validity for securing an opportunity. If it so happens that you attempted GATE with an eye on joining any one of the PSUs and still you don’t succeed with the minimum score required by these companies, you can attempt other competitive exams like BARC, RRB, SSC, DMRC, AFCAT, ISRO, etc.

Opportunities after unsuccessful attempts

With some of us, we simply realise the fact a little late that we are not really cut out for the ambitious choices that we make in our lives. So what next? This is a question that haunts every engineering student who attempts GATE. What if I don’t get good scores and any admission or job opportunity doesn’t knock my door?

As an aspirant, you should be equally open for both success and failure. In the event of low scores, one should focus on looking out for those PSUs where even a low scorer gets the opportunity to sit through the recruitment process.

The other alternative is to continue with your current job (if you have one) and pursue some other competitive exam or higher qualification that will not interfere with your work schedule, and at the same time provides you with adequate time to prepare and clear the examination.

Success is never an end result, but the journey we undergo while striving for something big in our lives. Sometimes things just fall in place on its own and we receive what we desire – it’s just that we term it as an achievement. On the contrary, if we don’t get what we seek – we term it as failure. One should always measure their success in terms of how good their learning experience has been in the journey of doing something substantial in their career, irrespective of the fact whether they crossed the line or not.

About the Author:

Dr Rahul M Das is a Doctorate in Organizational Behavior from University of Madras with two Master’s degree. He is an academician-turned-consultant-professional with eight years of teaching experience. He has been working for the past two years as a Senior Consultant with Bengaluru-based Abanel Management Consulting Pvt Ltd. Dr Das has expertise in training and development, counselling & mentoring, developing leadership and managerial skills through experiential learning.