GATE EXAM PREPARATION STRATEGY

Question

I AM STUDYING IN 1ST SEM CSE BRANCH.

I WANT TO PREPARE FOR GATE. I PRESENTLY JUST KNOW A BIT OF PROGRAMMING.

IN WHICH ORDER( SPECIFIC SUBJECTS AND TOPICS) AND WAYS SHOULD I START PREPARING FOR GATE.

PLEASE TELL BOOKS ALSO.

Answer 1

You remind of my bachelor days when once we went and asked a Professor that they (college teachers) should do some class for us to "crack" GATE. Being a government college they usually give us any support (like allowing to work in lab after class, providing ACM access etc.) but taking GATE classes was just too much. But probably for this reason only I got a decent rank in GATE. 

So, my GATE result was without any preparation. But it was not pure luck. There were so many things I did correctly during my bachelors which really helped me during GATE. Some of these (already mentioned in my blog given in above paragraph) are

1. Doing lab programs by referring standard books
2. Not copying or even seeing how seniors did any program
3. Even while started to study the day before exam, using standard book for the same

And the biggest mistake I did was not to see the book 'Kenneth Rosen' and also neglecting Engineering Mathematics as I used to get 90 or 100 by studying the guide book prepared by one of our University Professor (that's how Indian education system works). I never did solve any previous GATE question directly but from placement technical rounds and from TIFR exam I had seen many of them. Still I had no idea of "typical" GATE question and in GATE 2010 (a rather easy one) I never felt at any disadvantage.

So, as a first year graduate, I would recommend to see your University syllabus and GATE syllabus. GATE syllabus now has only important subjects. Study them from Standard Books . Never listen to anyone regarding GATE unless he/she is from IIT/IISc - this is because most of the news going around regarding GATE are not true and this is also applicable to most GATE materials. Along with your semester examination solve GATE questions -- again solve after reading from standard books and not learn any given solution --whether correct or wrong. You can then read the solution given here -- all GATE questions from 1987 to 2017-- but unless you have tried it yourself you are not going to understand any solution. You can also download GO PDF and also visit http://gatecse.in for subject wise study materials.