Students’ Speak: GATE prep tips for working professionals

By: Tanish Gupta

In this article, Tanish Gupta talks about how to manage time and maintain a work-study balance for working professionals preparing for GATE.

There are various kinds of candidates that appear for GATE. Some those who dedicatedly prepare for the upcoming Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineering and then there are those who are working professionals, juggling between GATE preps and workload. Working professionals appearing for GATE include:

• Being an ambitious student you are not satisfied with the college you have passed out and now you want to pursue a master’s degree from a prestigious institute.
• You are underpaid as compared to other colleagues as your college you completed your graduation from was not among the top colleges. Also, you were an average student in your college.
• You are happy with your job yet at the same time you need to crack GATE for advanced education in your present field or an alternate field.

In the first two scenarios, I would recommend that you either focus on your work or quit the job and concentrate for GATE. It doesn’t matter that you were an average student, your potential can be unleashed and you can score good marks.

Work and study balance

A few points you can focus on:

• Refer to the previous years’ question bank and test papers from Ace or Made Also you can refer to the GATE 2019 online exam paper. This can help you out to effectively prepare and will tell you where exactly you stand. So, plan accordingly make short notes and revise thoroughly the most significant subjects to go for GATE.
• Spending four hours to study is sufficient in a day along with your work. Complete your syllabus with your concepts clear beforehand.
• You can also give additional time on weekends for your studies and preparation. You can also attend weekly coaching classes to clear your doubts. Further you can take out some time and practice mock papers regularly. It will help you in proper time management.
• Finally, I would suggest you to make proper planning and set your goals .Don’t panic as both the things can be managed. Always remember that working life can always be balanced with your studies.

Time management with work

Time management is important. We should pre-plan our daily schedule and divide the time accordingly. I agree that you are working hard for six days every week but taking out time for studies is also a big challenge. You need to take out atleast four hours extensively for your GATE preparation. Try to utilise the best of your time and work. That implies you can manage 33 hours consistently for preparation which I think is more than enough for the GATE exam. It includes four hours every day for five working days and then the remaining hours can be covered during the weekend. You can also take out a few hours for yourself and relax on the weekend by watching a movie. It will help you to lower down your tension level. So always, make proper utilisation of resources and reference books by sparing some time and further recommend you to be focused.  

About the Author:

Tanish Gupta is a student at NIIT, University of Neemrana, Rajasthan. He is pursuing his B.Tech in Computer Science Engineering. He enjoys playing basketball and writes about his experiences.