GATE Advice (From Someone Who Cleared It, Everything I Learned in 4 Months of Serious GATE Prep)
"Taking a serious step is 50 percent of the journey"
~me
I prepared for only around 4 months.
The only reason that was even possible was because I had already studied every subject once in my Tier-2 college for semester exams. So I wasn't learning everything from scratch. It was more like revising everything, except this time I actually cared about understanding concepts instead of just passing exams.
The biggest mistake I made wasn't during preparation.
It was before preparation.
I wasted months deciding whether I wanted placements or GATE. Looking back, those months probably cost me more marks than anything else.
Ironically, taking that time also helped me clear my mind. Once I decided, I never looked back. No "maybe placements were better", no "should I prepare for both?". Just one goal.
If you're still confused, decide first.
Once you decide, trust yourself. Don't restart that debate every Sunday.
The first thing I'd tell anyone is have a target.
Don't just say "I'll study."
Study for what?
AIR 500?
AIR 100?
70 marks?
Your dream IIT?
Have something in mind. Then slowly work towards it. You don't reach your target in one week. You reach it by stacking small improvements over months.
Also, don't beat yourself up over one bad day.
Some days you'll barely study.
Some days you'll study 12 hours.
I cared much more about weekly progress than daily progress. If my weekly target was done, I was happy.
Now the biggest thing.
PYQs.
Everyone says solve PYQs.
I don't think enough people say how to solve them.
Around 3000-3500 PYQs is honestly enough to cover almost every important topic and variety GATE can throw at you.
But don't solve them like an attendance sheet.
Reverse engineer them.
Why was this asked?
Which concept are they testing?
What variation of this can come?
That's when preparation becomes interesting.
Here's the exact method I used, and I think it's the real reason I never needed a hundred revision cycles later. When I solved a PYQ for the first time, I never just solved it and moved on. I'd write a tiny 4-5 word key beside it. For example, if a CN question asked about signal speed in a system, I wouldn't rewrite the whole solution.
I'd just jot something like "Tx = 2Tp".
That's it.
During revision, I never solved those PYQs again. People waste way too much time doing that. Instead, I'd cover the key with my hand, look at the question, and try to remember,
"How did I solve this the first time?"
"What was the thought process?"
If I remembered it, great.
Move on.
If I got stuck, I'd look at the tiny key I'd written. That was usually enough to reconstruct the whole solution in my head.
Then...
Move on.
Don't sit there trying to reach the final numerical answer again.
You're not practising anymore.
You're revising.
There's a difference.
Using this method I could revise 300-400 PYQs in a single day, and because I kept revisiting old questions, older subjects never disappeared from my memory.
I also kept one day every week purely for revision.
No lectures.
No new PYQs.
No mocks.
Nothing.
Okay... maybe bathroom breaks 😂.
But apart from that, the entire day was only for revising old PYQs using this method. People underestimate how quickly you forget things. You finish CN today. Then OS. Then DBMS. Three weeks later you've already forgotten half of CN. Weekly revision fixes that. It keeps everything in active memory instead of making you relearn subjects every month.
And please...
Don't become someone who only remembers formulas.
Understand the concepts.
The formula is just one line.
The concept is what actually gets you marks when they twist the question.
Also...
Never skip difficult PYQs.
Seriously.
Some OS paging questions took me 1-2 hours before I even understood what the question wanted.
Not solved.
Understood.
Sometimes I'd still leave it and come back after two days. And still it didn't make any sense. But I kept at it one way or another, don't ever be ashamed of asking doubts, only then you will clear it.
And then suddenly everything made sense.
Those questions taught me more than twenty easy questions combined.
If one question takes two hours but fixes one concept forever...
that's two hours well spent.
One thing that helped me a lot was having one friend who was equally serious.
We used to talk almost every day.
After mocks we'd get on a call and discuss everything.
If I found a difficult question, I'd send it to him.
If he found something weird, he'd send it to me.
Sometimes we'd spend 30 minutes discussing one question.
People always say,
"You only truly understand something when you can explain it."
They're right.
So many times I thought I understood a topic until I tried explaining it.
Then I realized...
"Nope... I actually don't know why this works."
The opposite happened too.
Sometimes he'd explain the exact same concept from a completely different angle and suddenly it'd click.
If you can find one person who's genuinely serious, don't lose them.
It helps much more than people think.
People ask me whether offline coaching or online coaching is better.
Honestly...
I did offline coaching.
My friend prepared online through GO.
Both of us ended up doing well.
So I don't think that's what decides your rank.
I still used online resources almost every single day.
Especially AI.
Whenever I felt like I understood how something worked but not why, I'd just keep asking questions until I was satisfied. Sometimes I'd spend an hour just diving into the theory behind one concept because I was curious.
I also used GO's online PYQs a lot.
One underrated thing there is the comments.
You'll find five different students explaining the same question in five different ways. Sometimes one random comment from someone who had struggled with that exact question made more sense than the official solution.
Never limit yourself to one resource.
If something explains it better...
use it.
Mocks...
This is where I think most people waste their effort.
Giving a mock is easy.
Analysing it is the actual work.
I used to spend at least an hour after every mock. Sometimes even more. I wrote down every topic I wasn't confident in.
Not just wrong questions.
Even the questions I got right because of elimination.
Even the questions I guessed.
Even the ones that took too much time.
By the end I'd have one full page.
OS Paging.
Cache Mapping.
CN Numericals.
TOC.
DBMS Transactions.
Whatever made me uncomfortable went on that page. That became my revision list.
Do this for every mock. After 10-15 mocks you'll notice something funny.
The same topics keep coming back.
Those aren't random mistakes.
Those are patterns.
Fix the pattern.
Your score automatically goes up.
One thing I think is overrated is topic-wise tests. Honestly, I never found much value in them. They're basically another way of solving PYQs. If your concepts are weak, solve more PYQs. If your concepts are decent, start giving full-length mocks. That's where the real learning begins.
A full-length mock doesn't just test subjects.
It tests you.
Can you switch from TOC to CN to Aptitude without your brain freezing?
Can you manage time?
Do you panic after getting stuck on one question?
Do you spend 15 minutes trying to save one question when you should've moved on?
Do you make silly mistakes under pressure?
Subject tests don't teach you that.
Full-length mocks do.
That's why after finishing around 4-5 subjects, I'd say start giving full mocks. Don't wait for the syllabus to end.
Talking about mistakes...
I genuinely think I could've been around AIR 400 if not for two silly mistakes in the actual paper.
That's how brutal GATE is.
Two questions.
That's it.
And those mistakes weren't because I didn't know the concepts.
They were habits.
Reading too quickly.
Trusting myself too much.
Missing one word.
One thing I realised pretty late is that your actual competition isn't concepts.
It's your own habits.
You'll only notice these patterns if you actually sit down and analyse the paper.
Maybe you always rush the first 30 minutes.
Maybe you panic after one difficult question.
Maybe every silly mistake comes from calculation.
Maybe every wrong answer comes from overconfidence.
You can't completely eliminate silly mistakes.
But you can reduce them.
How?
Mocks.
Analysis.
Pattern recognition.
Again mocks.
Again analysis.
It's literally a loop 😭.
I also want to talk about relaxation because I think people misunderstand what "serious preparation" means.
I wasn't studying 15 hours every day.
I watched YouTube almost daily.
I watched movies.
I enjoyed myself.
The only rule I had was this:
Relax in a way that doesn't make you forget your goal.
There's a difference between relaxing and escaping.
Watching one movie after finishing your work?
Amazing.
Opening Instagram for "five minutes" and scrolling for two hours?
That's not relaxation anymore.
That's avoiding work.
I even put App Timers on Instagram and Snapchat.
15-20 minutes.
It sounds silly.
But it actually worked.
Every time I opened those apps it felt like spending money from a wallet with only ₹20 left.
Time is money in this metaphor 😂
I also completely flipped my schedule.
I liked studying at night.
So I slept during the day.
Honestly...
that solved half my distractions.
Nobody disturbed me.
No random visitors.
No unnecessary conversations.
No one asking me to come somewhere.
Because I was sleeping during the day, I naturally skipped most functions and family gatherings.
Not because I hated them.
Because for those four months I had already decided what mattered more.
I still met friends once in a while.
Went out.
Had food.
Laughed.
Then came back.
Don't become a robot.
But also don't let your relaxation slowly replace your preparation.
And yes...
You'll burn out.
Everyone does.
Whenever I reached that point, forcing myself to study just made things worse.
So I'd stop.
Completely.
Two or three days.
Movies.
YouTube.
Games.
Meeting friends.
Sleeping.
Whatever I genuinely wanted to do.
No guilt.
Just enjoy those days.
The funny thing is...
By the third day I'd usually start feeling restless.
Almost ashamed 😭.
I'd be watching another movie and think,
"Bhai... enough now. I actually want to study."
If you're serious about your preparation, that feeling comes naturally.
You don't need motivation.
Your own mind starts pulling you back.
Sometimes the best thing you can do for your preparation...
is stop preparing for two days.
Finally...
The syllabus is huge.
You'll always think someone else has finished more lectures.
Solved more PYQs.
Scored higher in mocks.
Knows more than you.
Ignore it.
They're not writing your paper.
You are.
Just keep moving.
One lecture.
One concept.
One difficult PYQ.
One mock.
Then analyse it.
Repeat.
You'll look back after a few months and wonder how you managed to learn so much.
The syllabus is vast.
You have to start somewhere.
So...
Start.
Mock.
Analyse.
Revise.
Mock.
Analyse.
Revise.
It sounds repetitive.
Because it is.
That's literally what preparation became during the last two months.
And honestly...
I think that's where most of my rank came from.
Start TODAY
PS : sorry if it feels like AI, i needed to use that to consolidate all my respnes to other people and my advices into one post, but the words are still mine so don't worry✌🏻.
Ps ka Ps : this is my YT interview. If you would like to watch that too.....Don't judge 😭🙏🏼 YT interview