GATE 2018 Topper Interview Prashant Varshney AIR 1 Chemical Engineering

Securing an AIR 1 in GATE 2018 was an unexpected dream for Prashant Varshney. Even though he worked pretty hard to get a good rank in the exam, he never thought he would top the Chemical Engineering stream in GATEs.

Sharing his happiness with Shiksha, he said, “I didn't expect first Rank. I thought someone might have scored more. It was really a great moment for me and my parents. My parents got emotional and so me, after seeing my result. Hard work really paid me well and that was a proud feeling for myself. I want to thank God and my parents specially my mom who had always faith in me. My parents and my sisters have provided me everything which I needed”.

Varshney appeared for the exam in the year 2016 too and got an AIR 383. Read his story on Shiksha.

I didn't expect first Rank. I thought someone might have scored more. It was really a great moment for me and my parents. My parents got emotional and so me, after seeing my result. Hard work really paid me well and that was a proud feeling for myself. I want to thank GOD and my parents specially my mom who had always faith in me. My parents and my sisters have provided me everything which I needed.

I have completed my BTech in Chemical Engineering from HBTU, Kanpur in Year 2016. I have completed my study up to 8^th standard from Saraswati Shishu Siksha Mandir, Chandausi (UP Board)) and then 10^th & 12^th from R.R.K. Sr. Sec. School, Chandausi (CBSE). I got campus recruitment in Reliance Industries Ltd. (a Petchem Complex) under Production Department. Currently I am working there as Process Engineer Manager.

I have appeared in GATE Chemical Engineering 2016 also. In 2016, I got 383 Rank.

I have not attended Classroom Coaching classes. I joined Test Series from Engineers India Institute, Delhi. For doubts, I used to drop message to a faculty there. Test Series contained a good balance of questions of all subjects.  It really helped me a lot.

If your concepts are clear then classroom coaching is not required but mock test and proper guidance for doubt clearing is must.

I started my preparation 3 months before GATE exam. Working as a process engineer, had to do shift duties. One cannot fix his schedule with shift duties. After 10 hrs of duty I used to study 3-4 hrs daily. I used to utilize my night hours. 30 days before exam are very important for any aspirant. And unfortunately I got sick in last month. Got good treatment and used to study 10-12 hrs a day in last 20 days. I used to study in silent hours of day. It totally depends on u, what time you like to study or suits u.

Everyone has his own style of solving paper according to his suitability of topics and time management.

I used to follow following strategy:

I. All 1 mark Technical questions in first 40 minutes 
II. 15 questions (2 marks) Technical questions in next 45 minutes.
III. Then jump to Aptitude Section for 20 minutes. 
IV. Rest 15 questions (2 marks) Technical questions in next 45 minutes.

Above Strategy has been made with a margin of 5 minutes for each section. In left time, checkout remaining questions.

I had good concepts in core subjects that helped me a lot to revise quickly and spent more time on question practice. Talking about weaknesses, I did lot of silly mistakes like typing and reading mistake while writing exam. So I used to note down my repeated mistakes and practiced more questions to eliminate them. I am not good at remembering theoretical things so, it took me more time to prepare Chemical Technology.

GATE Exam contains 25 marks Aptitude and 75 marks Technical Questions. For Aptitude, I used to practice last year questions of all streams and Book by R.S. Aggarwal for aptitude helped me to boost my speed. For technical questions, one should have very clear concept in core subjects like MTO, HTO, CRE, PDC, FM etc.

Mathematics is a scoring subject. Many students don’t practice mathematics questions. Calculus, Probability, Matrix, Complex number, Laplace are important topics.

Mock Test are really very important for achieving good marks and to know your zone of weaknesses and mistakes. Time management can be improved by Mock Test. Different papers have different level of difficulty and different approaches are required to solve with time management perspective. I joined EII Delhi, Test Series.

I found it very effective as questions in full test papers were quality questions and least error in answers. Mock Test of Test series had good balance of all subjects.

Previous year Question papers are really helpful. You get a rough idea about type of questions and concepts asked frequently. But to crack gate successfully one should not restrict himself to previous year papers only. I would suggest join at least one or two test series and follow its scheduled exams.

I used to follow standard Books for gate preparation.

I.   MTO- 1. Treybal and 2. Geankoplis.
II. CRE- Octave Levenspiel.
III. HTO- 1. B.K. Dutta and 2. Yungus A Cengel.
IV. PDC- 1. Coughanowr and 2. George Stephanopoulos
V. FM - 1. Bruce Roy Munson and 2. RK Bansal
VI. C.E. Themo- JM Smith
VII. MO- Swain GK Roy and NPTEL
VIII. CT- Dryden and NPTEL PDF
IX. Process Economics and Design- 1. TimmerHaus and 2. Coulsan & Richardson

I referred NPTEL lectures for some of the Topics and GATE Subjective & Objective book by Dr. Ram Prasad.

UG exams are a bit more theory oriented than numerical oriented. On the other hand GATE exam is fully conceptual and numerical oriented. You need good practice of numerical for GATE exam preparation. GATE exam also contains 25 marks aptitude questions which is not a part of UG exam. In UG exam, we have max 3-4 core subjects per semester that too we have to prepare each subject for a particular day but in GATE exam we have to prepare all subjects for a single day exam.

I want to pursue MTech and PhD from IIT B or IISC B. But for my family stability, I may join a PSU. Irrespective of joining M. Tech. or PSU, I’ll always be helping needy students who wants to achieve milestone in studies. I really want to work for students from weaker section of society. And I have been working for it, hope I’ll come out with some good news for such students.

I would advise to make your concepts clear first before doing questions. Try to find out your weak areas & silly mistakes which you are doing and correct them. Practice at least 10 questions from each subjects daily and try to find your mistakes. Don’t leave incorrect questions and get it understood with any help. Recollect topics/new concepts if you find any while doing question and discuss among friends & seniors. Write Mock Tests with proper time management. Don’t be nervous if two or more questions go wrong in series, break series and pick easy question to gain momentum back. Every competitive is all about practice and hard work. Don’t study continuously for more than 3 hrs and always use Gate Calculator for calculation. Keep yourself motivated, there will be times when you will feel demotivated. Keep revising each subject with short notes regularly that not only will enhance your accuracy but also your confidence

My name is Prashant Varshney. I belong to Chandausi (Uttar Pradesh). I completed my B Tech from HBTI, Kanpur in Chemical Engineering. I working as Process Engineer in Reliance Petchem complex, Dahej.

I like singing and playing cricket.

In my family except my parents, I have two elder sisters. My father is a businessman, my mother is a housewife, one of my sister has completed her doctorate degree in Physics from IIT Roorkee & currently working as Assistant Professor in TMU Moradabad and my other sister is Gold medalist in M.Sc. Botany. Both sisters are inspiration for me and thy have always backed me in every decision.

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.

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