Students’ Speak: Tips to follow if your GATE percentile is low

By: Abdullah Salman

The world does not end here if you get a low score in GATE or do not make your expected cutoff. There are plenty of opportunities even if you do not crack the GATE Exam.

The most important thing is that if you score low that does not mean you are not capable of clearing Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineering (GATE). Every year, over 10 lakh students appear for GATE exam and only a few hundred or thousands are able to crack it. Getting a low mark is just lack of preparation and some deviation in your action plan, you just need to work on it by rectifying it and score better in the second attempt with utmost focus and hard work. Look at your past preparation and you will recognise where you went wrong.

There could be high scoring topics which you would have ignored thinking that it is difficult or it may not be asked in the exam. The reason could be not practising the mock test and taking help from previous years’ paper.

What I suggest you make a good study plan for yourself and start preparing for GATE 2021. Always look for the syllabus on the official website so that you are aware of latest and complete syllabus. Plan according to your understanding level of topic. Every student has there own flair of understanding.

Time management is important, you have to make a time table for your preparation.  Study regularly and practice mock tests. The world does not end here if you get a low score in GATE or do not make your expected cutoff. There are plenty of opportunities even if you do not crack the GATE Exam. The first advantage with the GATE Exam is that you can attempt it multiple times.  Even if you score less do not worry, change your strategy and work on it. There are a lot more things to do. If you are damn sure that you will for sure ace the exam by next attempt, then you should go for another attempt or else I would recommend you to go for higher studies or job.

If you want to go for a job at a public sector undertaking then look for the ones accepting the score you obtained or you could also add in your resume for applying for private MNCs if you have at least tried achieving decent cutoff or boast in an interview at least you missed the cutoff with a few marks.

There is also GRE if you could go for another three months of preparation especially if you are good at your English ability and some quants you could crack foreign universities if you are highly interested in the post-graduate program for MS programmes with fully-funded scholarships too. If not I would suggest you take some internships or Jobs in some domains based on your hobby or interest and side by side prepare for GATE Exam even more hardly and smartly. To crack for next attempt check previous year cutoff and increase at least 10marks as target and work for it.

About the Author:

Abdullah Salman M. is currently pursuing an MBA in General Management from TSM, Madurai. He has 15 months of work experience as a Network Engineer. He hails from Vellore, Tamil Nadu and has previously completed BE (ECE), from Anna University, Chennai.