GATE GUIDE
Author: D V Janardhan Rao
In case of any
queries mail to the author ( dvjrao@cse.iitk.ac.in )
The usual
questions that comes in the mind of a normal student are ,
Is my
preparation up to the level ?
Will i succeed and get into IIT ?
how much
percentile and rank i should get to go to IIT ?
how tough would be the paper
?
Would i be able to write that level of paper ?
How many questions i must
and should answer to get into IIT ?
What will happen if i wont get a rank
below 150 say ? whether i can still get into IIT ?
How about the negative
marks ? what is its impact ?
etc ......
I will answer all your questions
in two sections .
1. What should u do before writing the GATE exam
.
2. What should u do after taking the question paper ( i.e ,
basically how should u write your GATE exam or answer the paper )
1st section :
I will tell
u one truth , even though 40,000 odd students apply for GATE , hardly 5000
students prepare seriously . So u have to compete with these 5000 students all
over India .Be brave and confident , your confidence is more important than
anything else say your preparation also . A student with good preparation but
without confidence will spoil the paper , May be a student who went to exam with
little preparation , cool mind and confidence can crack the GATE.
So ,
how much u have prepared , how many books u have studied , how many problems u
have studied does not matter , because no questions will be direct and repeated ,
the questions will test your basics and your level of understanding of the subject ,
how well u can apply the theory .
Now coming to question paper , whether
it is hard or easy its the same for everyone who is writing the exam so no
problem . Some times its hard like2003 paper but it is very easy in the case of
2004 paper , so it all depends so u people should not think about this part . Its a
relative grading so it does not depend on how well u have written but how well u
have written than your side one.
I will give u an analogy in cricketing
words , if a batsmen goes to the crease with fear thinking that how would be the
pitch , swing , bounce ,turn then he will definitely get out soon . On the other
side if he is fearless and goes to crease with confidence then he will
definitely score runs .
Another thing is that don't worry whether i can
do good in GATE as my percentage in university exams is very less , for people who
think like that let me clarify your university percentage has nothing to
do with GATE both of them are entirely different ball games all together . The
student with good basics , understanding , application will definitely succeed
irrespective of the percentage .
Coming to getting what rank and
percentile to get into IIT?
See percentile is a relative one and
it depends on the no of students writing the exam , so it is not a metric . If
the no of sudents appeared are more than even if u perform bad also your
percentile will be high . So rank is the metric u have to keep in mind . Your aim
should be to get a Rank below 100 then u will be in the safe side getting a
direct admission in IIT free from all tension . Even if u could not get a rank
below 100 for some reason on the day of writing exam don't worry , try to get
at least 99%ile . The IIT people think that all the top 1% engineers have equal
caliber only due to some reason on that day there was a mishap . So u will be
called for the written test and interview there u can prove your metal . Don't
worry there are many options like BARC , DRDO , recently KRESIT ( IT branch
) at IIT bombay which has almost 100 seats calls for written test and interview to
all the students who got above 94%ile and above , NTPC , BEL , BHEL , HAL , TIFR
, ISRO , SAIL etc as well .
Coming to the affect of negative
marks ?
Many students think that they should some how answer all
the questions and try to do lottery and put answers , they think that as there
is 0.25 negative marks if they by chance make a correct guess one out of 4
questions also still they will get +0.25 but your probabilities will fail pals .
so don't try to answer un attempted questions its my sincere advice to u .Answer
those questions which u have tried . If in the worst case , u are determined to
put all answers then go for this option , tick all those questions with same
option say B or C which is most common .
2nd Section :
Before going
to exam keep your mind fresh , sleep well the before night get up have a fresh
bath , eat some idlis it is the best tiffin before exam, once bow your head
before god and pray for a few seconds . After taking the paper , read the entire question paper once
by spending 10 minutes . Don't think its a time waste , it will give u an idea of
how the question paper and its level .
Now start answering the question
paper , u have 30 1 mark questions and 60 2 marks questions right. First start
with 1 mark questions and answer those questions which u can do it by just
seeing at them without much effort . Now go to 2 marks questions , in a similar
manner answer those questions which u can answer without much effort . ( One
thing keep in mind if u r spending some time on any question spend some more
time on it and solve it ) . Now once again come back to 1 mark questions and try
to answer those questions which u think u can solve it or u get some idea , if u
don't get idea leave it and move to next question . After the completion of 1
mark questions once again go to the 2 mark questions and try to answer them if u
get an idea and think that u can solve them otherwise don't waste time on it and
move to next one . ( As u have already read the problems meanwhile your mind will
be busy in thinking about that problem and if u gets a solution go back and answer
that one ) . In this way try to do in a iterative manner using a greedy
strategy.
Why i follow this strategy ? If u go on answering the questions
in a sequential manner may be i could finish only 60 questions and there are a
bunch of easy questions say 10 to 15 easy questions from 75 to 90 then i would
be missing them . even if u solve a hard problem u wont be getting extra credit
for that . That's why i say do it in a greedy manner .
During following
the above strategy , please make a mark against each question whether u have
answered it or not , so it will help u while retracing the path .
***
Another important thing is marking the bubbles on the answer sheet please see
the question no correctly and mark against it , if u loose the continuity some
how then your entire effort will be in vain and it will affect the remaining
questions also . so , be cautious regarding it .
Another important note
while answering is , the guys u might be experts in answering the EAMCET papers
so u might be knowing the well known theory " elimination , substitution etc
.. of options " and sometimes u are given some big problems to solve which may
take long time to solve like construction of parse table entries , the intention
of the examiner is not that u do the entire procedure . If u know the properties
of the answer then u can answer them very easily . So make a note of this
.
One of my suggestions is first answer those questions which belong to
those categories u think u are confident and feel u r very good say (Databases ,
Algorithms , Data structures )
The above article i have written are just
suggestions . Once again all the best to all students writing GATE hope u will
come up with flying colors