A final year student of NIT (National Institute of Technology) Jalandhar, Naman Jaswani was pretty sure of securing a place in the list of GATE 2018 Top 10 toppers for Instrumentation Engineering. Jaswani, who cracked the exam in his first attempt, scored 944 out of 1000 in the exam. His normalized score in GATE 2018 is 92.47.
Sharing his happiness with Shiksha, he said, “It feels great to have achieved AIR 1 in the exam. I was actually aiming for it. I indeed was expecting myself to be among at least top ten rankers of GATE. It feels pretty good”.
According to him, the mantra to crack GATE is hard work, practice and one’s trust in God. He believes that his highest level of dedication during his prep phase was his strength that kept him going. Read the full interview below.
Q. Tell us about your educational background
I did my schooling from C.A.K.F.M.S.Sec.School Naya Nangal. Currently I am in my final year of BTech in Instrumentation and Control Engineering at NIT Jalandhar.
Q. Did you take coaching classes? If yes, from where and how did it help?
Yes, I took classroom coaching at Engineers Academy, Jalandhar. I also joined online test series from Made Easy and Ace Academy.
Q. Is it necessary to take coaching classes or is self-study enough?
It actually depends from person to person. I knew that I would need coaching to understand concepts easily so I joined it. But it is not necessary because one of my friends got a decent rank without joining any coaching class.
Q. How long have you been preparing for the exam? Share your prep strategy
I joined coaching for 1 year out of which I studied seriously in the last 6-7 months. I used to study in the time that I managed to save from academics at college. In the last 2 months, I used to study 12-13 hours a day.
Talking about my preparation strategy, I completed my entire GATE 2018 syllabus once by November end. Then I revised the whole syllabus in December along with solved previous year questions from IN, ECE, EE branch along with subject wise tests. Then I gave full length Mock tests in January.
Q. According to you, which section should students attempt first in the exam?
I found aptitude section is more scoring so I solved that first to boost up my confidence during the exam. I, then, solved 1 mark questions and then 2 marks questions.
Q. What was your strengths and weaknesses in the prep phase?
My strengths in the prep phase included:
- I used to break my limits to study even more to solve more and more questions.
- I used to motivate myself every single second.
- I had the highest level of dedication.
Q. Share some important topics for future GATE aspirants
Never leave a topic. Give equal weightage to all topics to score a decent rank.
Q. What is the importance of mock tests?
If u want a decent rank in GATE, then u need to give as many mock tests as you can. But only when you have completed your entire syllabus. Previous year questions and test series are enough to get you a good rank.
Q. Can you suggest some important books for GATE?
Only coaching notes, previous year papers from IN,ECE,EE and test series would work.
Q. What is the difference between your UG exams and GATE 2018?
UG exams are a bit more towards theoretical aspects and GATE is more about problem solving skills.
Q. What’s your plan next? Do you plan to join PSUs?
I would most probably join a PSU. I have, infact, applied for all oil sector Maharatnas.
Q. Any tips for students taking the exam next year?
Be dedicated every single day of your preparation. Practice a lot. Work Hard. Believe in yourself. Believe in GOD.
IIT Guwahati declared GATE 2018 results on April 16, a day before the scheduled date. The score cards of GATE 2018 are now 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: Prince Dhanda AIR 46 Mechanical Engineering
- GATE 2018 Topper Interview: Hrishikesh Kharde AIR 15 Electrical Engineering
- 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
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