GATE 2018 Topper Interview: Hrishikesh Kharde AIR 15 Electrical Engineering

An alumnus of Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Mumbai, Hrishikesh Kharde’s reason for taking GATE 2018 was to get a job at PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings). Infact, he already has applied for 6-7 of them. Kharde secured an AIR 15 in GATE 2018 (Electrical Engineering), the results for which were declared recently.  His GATE 2018 score is 936 out of 1000 and normalized marks 82.33 out of 100.

Read: PSU Recruitment Procedure Through GATE

Kharde is extremely happy to have met the expectations of his parents. He shared, “It feels good when you live upto your expectations and you make your family and friends proud”.

GATE 2018 was his second attempt at the exam. In his first attempt, he secured an AIR 508 in the exam. Read the full interview below.

This is my second attempt. In my first attempt, I secured AIR 508 in the exam.

Yes I did coaching from GATEforum. However, I couldn’t attend any classes due to some personal reasons. I was weak in core electrical subjects, GATEForum helped me build the foundation of power system and power electronics. Then, I also used Kreatryx Krash videos for revision. These videos taught me a lot of small tricks. They often offered great ways to solve various questions.

I think, self-study is enough to crack the exam. Rather than coaching, I feel guidance is more important to crack GATE with flying colours. I got this guidance from the videos posted by my mentor at Kreatryx on Youtube.

For the first attempt, I started preparing from September (2016) onwards. For GATE 2018 I started preparation from August 2017. This year I used to self-study for around 5-7 hours daily. For the last two months, I studied for around 8-10 hours daily.

I was good at the Aptitude section, so I always started from that section. I then attempted the technical section. I feel my greatest strength during my preparation phase were my family and friends. It was only because of their support that I could reach this long.

As far as weakness is concerned, I would say that I prepared for core subjects and strengthened my preparation. Thus, I lost my grip of non-core subjects as Signal System and also Maths. It is very important to keep your preparation balanced and to revise weekly.

Important  topics from GATE point of view are DC machines ,Transformer, Induction machine also fault analysis per unit systems. Overall one shall not miss any topic mentioned in the GATE syllabus.

Previous year questions are the backbone of your GATE preparation. I was very poor in machines. I had passed my semester exam with very low marks. Also I didn’t attend any coaching classes for the same. All of my concepts were cleared from previous year question papers only. So one shall never neglect previous year questions. Mock tests are equally important. I attempted around 22 mocks this year.

To crack GATE one should study smartly. The most important things are not what you have to study but what you shall not study. Study lesser topics but prepare them so well that you can possibly answer any question on that topic. GATE EE paper is usually low scoring so I focused on accuracy rather than number of questions that I had to attempt because I lost 6-7 marks in GATE 17 due to silly mistakes. This year I attempted 56 questions out of which I got 54 of them right. So accuracy is very important. To improve accuracy previous year questions are pretty helpful.

I did not refer to standard text books. I had bought a Made Easy postal course which is good for ESE. I made some notes from the postal course but for GATE what matters is the number of quality questions you solve. I got those questions from Ktests.

I have a CGPA of 7.25 which is below average in my college. Your low marks should not make a difference if you have the determination and self-belief that you can conquer anything.

Believe in yourself, follow a good strategy and keep healthy competition among your friends. Don’t use any social media but don’t isolate yourself either. Keep in constant touch with your friends for they will be your pillars during this preparation.

I am born and brought up in Nashik. My father works in currency note press, mother is a housewife. I like travelling, biking, cycling, playing games and of course music.

IIT Guwahati declared GATE 2018 results on April 16, a day before the scheduled date. The score cards of GATE 2018 have been made available for download from March 20 to May 31. The exam was held on February 03 - 04 & February 10 - 11, 2018. Check GATE 2018 important dates here.

GATE 2018 final answer keys were released recently.  Along with results, GATE 2018 cut-offs too have been announced.

Read more:

• GATE 2018 Topper Interview: Shivam Singh AIR 14 Civil Engineering
• GATE 2018 Topper Interview: Sudheer Dhukia AIR 24 Electrical Engineering
• GATE 2018: Ankit Goyal secures AIR 1 in EE for the second time
• Opportunities after GATE
• GATE 2018 cut-off for top engineering streams