Students' Speak: How to obtain high GATE percentile in case of unplanned preparation?

By: Tata Subramanian

An aspirant has more than enough chances to crack GATE despite starting the preparation late because most of the topics in the exam are already covered in college.

Are you nervous attempting the upcoming Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineering (GATE) exam because you feel you have not prepared enough?

Don’t worry you are not alone. It is natural to be nervous before you are appearing for one of the top-ranked competitive exams in the country. However, if you think you don't have a preparation strategy when the GATE exam is just a month away, you can still have a chance to crack it. This is because most of the topics in the GATE exam have already been taught in the college. Hence, it will be easier for you if you are currently a college student and attempting GATE exam. Thus here are some of the tips you can follow to get a good score in GATE exam.

GATE Top Scoring Topics

The most scoring topics for GATE is Engineering Mathematics and General Aptitude. Every topic is important in engineering mathematics and I would advise studying each one of them. For general aptitude, you can refer to books from authors such as Arihant Publications and RD Sharma. They can tremendously boost your general aptitude skills and your GATE score as well. Apart from this for mechanical engineering, following topics are high scoring for GATE:

• Production and manufacturing technology
• Strength of materials and machine design
• Thermodynamics
• Fluid mechanics
• Heat transfer
• Theory of machines
• Operation research

The above topics you must have definitely learnt in each semester, so it will not be a huge challenge revising them now. Production and manufacturing technology can take time to revise as this subject is theoretical. Apart from this, almost all other subjects are problem-solving in nature and hence it is important to learn the concepts.

GATE Last Week Tips & Tricks

• Please make sure you revise the concepts by taking section wise mock tests and then overall mock tests. Take one overall mock test every alternate day and section-wise mock tests at least two each day.
• Relax your mind for 10 minutes by listening to music. Take half an hour break after completing a general mock test.
• Focus on your strong subjects and high scoring areas.

Self-evaluation

After taking full-length mock tests compare how you are ranked against your peers. Check if you are missing on easy-level questions and spending too much time on the difficult ones. This can be a huge bonus for you if you can identify which questions to attempt and which ones are to be left off. Remember the objective of your GATE exam is about maximising your score by attacking easy questions and leaving the most difficult ones.

Conclusion

Each year lakhs of graduates from all over India appear for GATE exam in hope for getting an admission to IITs and in PSUs. Give your best shot and accept the results whatever it may be which comes your way. 

About the Author:

Tata Subramanian is pursuing MBA from Thiagarajar School of Management (TSM) in Marketing and HR. He is a passionate public speaker who is enthusiastic about new technologies in marketing. A fan of crime fiction novels, he loves to study human nature. He is also a core committee member of debating and quiz club.