First of all not even questions are out, so we never know our exact marks. Still if you have attempted less than 35 questions there is less chance of IITs in open merit. So what next?
- Soon coaching institutes will start new batches to attract you
- There are other exams like BITS/IIITs
- State level colleges, repeat (hardly works) or not
- MS abroad
- Sit at home and repeat
- Try some/already having job and repeat
Now, what you should do depends on you and what you want in your life. Some people even after studying at IITs dont do any job- for those kind of people option 3 is good- can select a higher option in matrimony profiles. Otherwise no one should select this.
If you do not have an issue going abroad option 4 is good. Option 2 is also good as these colleges are on par with IIT standard. Though IIITH exam usually have plenty of previous GATE questions copied.
Options 1, 5, and 6 (how to REPEAT) depends on you. Personally I have only told 2 people to repeat though indirectly. Both of them had ranks around 650 and next time they got high 2 digit ranks. But believe me they worked their hardest for this difference. And work hard does not mean they solved 1000s of questions more. Mainly they studied the concepts they did not know- so how can you do this?
- If you lack basic problem solving skills and base knowledge in subjects - that is you are not even qualifying GATE- only class room coaching can save you. But remember that it will only take you to qualifying level. i.e., you should prepare yourself for self study. For example, you should learn about DFA, NFA etc. from class room coaching and understand decidability etc. by self study.
- If you are good in some subjects (able to score 80% above in them), you are very well enough to score a top rank by self study. Get standard books and start reading concepts in depth like you know for your favorite subjects. GATE only needs basic knowledge but basic must not be corrupted by coaching.
- Realize that to improve your rank and especially to jump to top 100, you need to make a jump in your knowledge level which is not easy. Only if you are ready to do this, go for repeat. Simply repeating whatever you did last time for more hours won't be enough.
