My GATE 2019 Success Journey: Overcoming Setbacks to Reach AIR 26
It was kind of failure but it was also successful in one way. Failure: I failed to get a good rank. Success: But I managed to get an Mtech seat at NIT Warangal. Being an OC candidate with that rank, I could not join a good IIT. Short story.
The Journey Begins
This was my 2nd serious attempt for GATE. I am a 2016 passout student from NIT Silchar. At that time, I never thought of giving GATE. After getting placed in college, I was very happy that I was able to grab a job with a decent package. I was an average student in college, never so serious about studies, and just managed to maintain an average CGPA of 7.23.
After joining the job, everything was going good initially. But after some months, I started becoming frustrated. The profile which I got was never my dream. Realizing this, I took a decision to leave it after working for 11 months and resigned from there. I read many success stories about GATE, which motivated me a lot. I also kept faith in God and in myself that I would be able to get a good rank.
Preparation and Challenges
So I joined coaching and started preparing very seriously. I also had one of my friends, who was also my colleague from the company, as my roommate. We both prepared very seriously. We made notes, revised them continuously, made short notes, gave online test series, and used Made Easy’s CBT. Despite doing everything required on the exam day, I forgot some easy formulas and made a lot of silly mistakes. I took so much time in most of the questions and got stuck in Aptitude. In Set2 of GATE 2018, I forgot to save answers to two questions and ended up with only 51 attempts out of 65. After coming out from the exam center, I knew that my exam had gone worse. For the next 10 days, I could not sleep. The only thing coming to my mind was the mistakes I had done. I became depressed and could not prepare well for other exams like BARC and ISRO. The result came on 16th March, one day before the official date. And I scored 65 marks with AIR 4148. I failed in all other exams too. After that, many people suggested me to take admission in a drop and prepare from there. But I made the decision to take one more year drop again. I knew it was a risky decision. My parents' support and faith were the only things that kept me going.
GATE 2019: A Fresh Start
So it was May 2018 when I started preparing again. First, I analyzed my mistakes from the D-Day and where my preparation had gone wrong. I made a list of my weak subjects and focused more on them. This time, I revised the whole subjects 6-7 times, did GATE previous year questions 5-6 times, and made a proper plan for attempting test series. I used to write all my mistakes in a separate notebook and maintained two separate word docs for silly mistakes and full test series.
The last one month was very crucial. I revised the whole syllabus once again and gave full tests. This time, I attempted only the full tests of Ace Academy. The level of Made Easy is a bit tougher this year. Then the exam day came on 2nd February. I got the first set. This time, I was not nervous. I first attempted the 2-mark technical questions, then 1-mark technical questions, and last GA. I followed the same sequence while giving test series too. This time, I attempted 61 questions. The responses came after 3-4 days, and the coaching institutes released the answer keys. I counted and got 88 marks. I knew that I would be in the top 100.
Finally, the day came which I had waited for so long. By the previous year's trends, I knew the result would be declared one day before the official date. At around 5 PM, I checked the site and saw AIR 26. I got a great relief that this time my hard work didn't go in vain.
The Conclusion
This is all about my GATE 2019 journey. Last two years became an important part of my life which I will cherish forever. GATE preparation taught me how to be disciplined and dedicated to achieve one's goals. To all the people who are getting 60-70 marks, my suggestion is to please don't lose hope and give one more try. You are very much closer to your target. If I can do this, anybody can do this.