Most viewed posts in 2021

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[Index]

  1. Resources: I used for GATE
  2. Study tips
  3. Test Series
  4. Recommended preparation blogs/ videos
  5. FAQs

1. Resources

Digital Logic

Book: Digital Design by Morris Mano [5th ed] Chapter 1 to 6 along with some questions from exercises

PAL and PLA : Neso Academy

Floating point representation: Article by Steve Hollasch

 

Computer Organization and Architecture

Book 1: Computer Organization and Embedded Systems by Carl Hamacher [6th ed] Chapter 1 to 3, 5, 6

Input Output: IIT Madras lectures by Prof S. Raman

Cache Miss: Article by Arjun sir

Cache Miss Questions: Gateoverflow classroom assignment 1

More on Cache: CSE378 by Prof Larry Snyder

Data Dependencies in Pipelining: Lecture by Arjun sir

Book #2: Check the “Computer Architecture Formulas” on 2nd page of Computer Architecture: A quantitative approach by David Patterson [6th ed]

Check examples and formulas used for Memory Hierarchy and Pipelining: Appendix B and C from Computer Architecture: A quantitative approach by David Patterson [6th ed]

Relocatable Code and Program Independent Code

 

Programming

Book: The C Programming Language [2nd edition:ANSI C] Chapter 1-6 

Important Questions about C Language: C Programming FAQs by Steve Summit

Must read articles on C programming by Arjun Sir:     1) C Program- A system view

                                                                                    2) Data Types and Operators in C

                                                                                    3) Pointers

Articles and MCQs by GeeksforGeeks (very few questions and articles may contain errors)

Sequence Points: Article by GeeksforGeeks

 

Data Structures

Book: Data Structures and Algorithms Made Easy: Data Structures and Algorithmic Puzzles by Narsimha Karumanchi [5th ed] Chapter 3 to 7

Programming Assignments: Gateoverflow classroom

 

Algorithms

Book #1: Introduction to Algorithms 3rd Edition by C.L.R.S. [3rd ed] Chapter 1 to 4, 6 to 9, 10 to 12, 15 to 17, 21 to 23

Book #2: Data Structures and Algorithms Made Easy: Data Structures and Algorithmic Puzzles by Narsimha Karumanchi [5th ed] Relevant Chapters are 8 to 12, 14, 17 to 19 (Studied very selectively)

Video Lectures #1: MIT 6.006 Fall 2011 by Prof. Srini Devadas and Prof Eric Demaine (TA: Victor Costan)

Video Lecture #2: Lecture on Median by Prof. Shai Simonson

Akra Bazzi method for calculating Asymptotic Analysis: Wikipedia Article

 

Theory of Computation

Book #1: An Introduction to Formal Languages and Automata by Peter Linz [6th ed] Chapter 1 to 12 (Also do the exercises)

Video Lecture: Theory of Computation by Prof. Shai Simonson

Book #2: Introduction to the Theory of Computation by Michael Sipser [3rd ed] Topic 5.3 Mapping Reducibility (Also checkout the exercises from other chapters)

Article on RICE Theorem by Arjun Sir

 

Compiler Design

Video Lectures #1: Compilers by Prof. Alex Aiken (Lecture list relevant to GATE + Week 8 and Week 9 until lecture 16-04)

Articles by Arjun Sir:    1) Viable Prefixes and Handle in LR Parsing

            2) Language of LL and LR grammars

            3) LR(0) items and LR(0) parsing

            4) SLR, CLR, LALR and Summary

Video Lectures #2: Lectures by Uncode Lecture 1 to 19

Book: Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools by Ullman [2nd ed] Chapter 1 to 9

Lex specification and Yacc grammar of ANSI C

 

Operating System

Book #1: Operating System Concepts by Galvin [10th ed] Chapter 1 to 15

Book #2: Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces by Remzi and Andrea (Most of your queries will be solved after reading the book)

Multi Level Paging: Lecture by Arjun Sir

HPCA lectures by Georgia Tech:     1) Virtual Memory + Paging + VIPT Cache + DRAM

2) RAID

 

Databases

Video Lectures #1: Lectures by Kiran Sir Lecture 1 to 26, 29

Video Lectures #2: DBMS by IITKGP Lectures 6 to 9 for relational algebra and relational calculus

Book #1: Database System Concepts by Korth [8th ed] Chapter 1 to 4, 6 to 8, 10, 11, 14 15

Book #2: Fundamentals of Database Systems by Navathe[7th ed] Chapter 17

Normalization article by Arjun sir

 

Computer Networks

Book #1: Data Communication and Networking by Forouzan [5th ed] Chapter 4, 7, 10 to 13, 19.1 ,20, 21, 23

Book #2 : Computer Networks by Tanenbaum [4th ed] Chapter 4 to 6

IITB Notes

Some Articles from GeeksforGeeks

Book #3: Internet Core Protocols by Erik Hall (Read Selectively)

Uncode Lectures 1 to 20 and Problem Solving 1 to 76

Hamming Code with additional Parity

 

Linear Algebra

Video Lectures: Linear Algebra by Prof. Gilbert Strang  Unit I and Unit II along with recitation and practice problems

 

Calculus

Video Lectures: Single Variable Calculus by Prof. David Jerison 

Practice Problems from Cole's World of Mathematics

 

Probability

Video Lectures: Probabilistic Systems Analysis and Applied Probability by Prof. John Tsitsiklis

Book: A first Course in Probability by Sheldon Ross [9th ed]  Solved exercises of Chapter 1,2

More distributions and statistics from Made Easy Engineering Maths book

 

Discrete Mathematics

Video Lectures #1: Lectures by Kiran sir

Video Lectures #2: Discrete Mathematics IIT Ropar (Did not watch these lectures,found these after GATE)

Book #1: Discrete Mathematics and its applications by Kenneth Rosen Chapter 1,2, 6 to 9

Book #2: Graph Theory with Applications to Engineering and Computer Science by Narsingh Deo Chapter 1 to 5, 8

Combinatorics and groups: Slide 1 and 2 from Gateoverflow classroom 

Abstract Algebra: Discrete Mathematical Structures by Prof Kamala Krithivasan Lecture 35,36,37

 

General Aptitude

Verbal, Quantitative and Logical Aptitude: Solved PYQs , Notes, Number Theory, Modular Arithmetic

Spacial Aptitude: Spacial Aptitude by NLN Sharma Sir

 

Notes

1) GATE Notes from Standard Notes by Manu Thakur sir

2) GATE Notes by Ankur Gupta sir

Discussion on GATECSE website under every subject is helpful

Book to Improve preparation : A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley

 


2. Study Tips

Revision : Using Spaced Repetition

Anki: Create Q&A format Anki flashcards for topics difficult to remember or topics rarely asked in GATE

Test Series Timetable: Used retrospective timetable using Google Sheets

Here’s a sample: Color indicates how I felt about my performance and date indicates when I attempted them. Using both these metrics I chose which tests to prioritize during the last 2 months.

 

Solving questions: I divided my notebook into 3 equal parts so that I get used to taking less and narrow space. During your initial period before you start test series you can use cstimer to put yourself under timer pressure and improve your speed(but not at the cost of accuracy). I also used the same pen throughout GATE preparation(Technotip).

Summarized study tips by Barbara Oakley

3. Test Series

Ankita Jain AIR 1 GATE CSE 2016 in her wordpress blog recommends using more than one test series.

I enrolled for Ace, Made Easy and GO test series.

Topic Wise: Ace, Made Easy and GO

Subject Wise: Made Easy and GO

Full Length: Made Easy(Basic Tests only) and GO

My review of these test series:

  • Ace: Easy questions, focus on concepts
  • Made Easy: Moderate questions, focus on numericals
  • GO: Moderate questions, focus on subject coverage and a balance of concepts and numericals

 


4. Recommended preparation blogs/videos

  1. AIR 1 GATE CSE 2015
  2. AIR 1 GATE CSE 2016
  3. AIR 67 GATE CSE 2018
  4. AIR 8 GATE CSE 2021 

 


5. FAQs

  1. Which PYQ book should I go with? GO Book
  2. How many times should I solve PYQs? Maybe twice, once from GO book and second time through the exams section of gateoverflow.
  3. How to deal with MSQs? Focus on building concepts
  4. How many hours should I study? Study whenever you can, keep a balance between study, rest and exercise
  5. How much should I sleep? Get a good sleep, varies from person to person
  6. I can’t study for longer hours, what should I do? Check out “Study with me” live streams, join the ones that have timers(pomodoro timers)
  7. We all have some days when we feel down or demotivated, what did you do during those times? I solved tests, for some reason it brought me back into study mindset. Since I revised everyday using Anki I could attempt perviously studied topic/subject tests any time.
  8. I can’t afford coaching and I don’t have enough time for standard books, what should I do? Check out Parnika Tutorials, Gatebook, Neso Academy (please validate whatever you learn)
  9. Were you studying in your last year? No, I started preparing for GATE after I graduated and took several attempts
  10. What were the mistakes you made in your previous attempts that I should avoid? Delaying revision and not enrolling for test series
  11. How should you stay calm during the day of your exam? Some blogs said its best to meditate after sitting at allotted place, I tried it out and it worked
  12. What is your rank? AIR 29

 


Thanks to authors of the books, professors who have contributed to open learning, Arjun sir, Bikram sir, Shaik Masthan sir, Srestha mam, Sounjaya mam and everyone who has directly or indirectly helped me reach my goal.

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My name is Himanshu Kumar, I got AIR 38 (899 score) in GATE CS 2021, This was my second attempt with full-time preparation. In GATE CS 2020 my rank was 1491.  

 

First of all, I would like to thank my parents for giving me the freedom to do anything, especially to bear me and support me. Our parents work extremely hard to give us a better life. And also, thank all my friends, teachers, Special thank to Arjun Sir for this awesome platform, and all other seniors and aspirants on GO. 

 

A little bit of my background ( 10+3+3) 

I graduated in 2020 from ITM Aligarh which comes under AKTU U.P. It was Tier - 4 college, I got admission there without any entrance exam in the 2nd year. In those 6 years (3 years of polytechnic & 3 years of B.Tech) I always tend to study one night before the exam. Though I was getting decent CPI (thanks to YouTube).

After my 10th, I took admission in 3 yrs. Polytechnic course, and then the lateral entry in B.Tech. That's why my basics of Maths are too weak, I did not know anything about probability and linear algebra till I encountered them in a test series (Yes, it is looking funny, But it's reality). 

I was never great in the study not because I couldn’t understand the concepts but because I lacked hard work and discipline.  

I guess this is enough introduction for me, I’ll get to the point now… 

 

 "DREAM big. START small. START now."

 

Tips for Students who did Diploma + Engineering 

click here

 

GATE 2020 

I decided to appear for GATE somewhere around September 2018 but didn't actually start preparing for it until June 2019. In 8 months, I was able to complete 2 subjects one was Algorithms by reading CLRS and another one was Compiler Design (as this was in my 6th sem). 

After my 2 months of the summer internship, I started my Gate preparation. I read different blogs on the internet and watched some interviews of toppers, then I planned to appear for GATE 2020 without any coaching. 

I followed the free lectures of some coaching institutes and neither did any revision nor solved PYQ at least once. As I was in the 7th sem, so my 1 month got wasted due to exams and college work. I only gave 5-6 full mock tests before the exam and I had no strategy to attempt the GATE 2020 paper. As a result, I was not able to complete 2nd pass in those 3 hours. 

I got 52.33 marks, Rank - 1491. 

 

"Everything you need will come at the Perefct time."

 

JEST 2020 

This is another way to pursue MTech(Research) from IISc. Even though I had no idea about the research, I filled the form and also attempted the exam. The JEST exam was on next Sunday after GATE 2020, and in 7 days I didn't open my notes or any book. Without any preparation, I went to attempt the paper and as a result, I was not able to solve any Part B (subjective) question with confidence. 

According to the result of Part A, my rank was AIR 35 and my marks were 44/75. After analyzing the previous year's cut-off, I was sure (the optimistic level at peak :p) I will get a call from IISc for an Interview. I planned to prepare for the interview but wasn't able to study/concentrate. At last, interviews were scheduled in online mode. I did not get an interview call from IISc. 

FAILED!!!  

 

BARC 2020 

The BARC's exam was scheduled for 14-18 march 20 (before lockdown). I was prepared a little bit for this. After the exam, I was very confident about it, But the Failure was not easily escaping me. My normalized marks were - 174.40, Actual marks were - 181.00, Cut-off was- 183.00. 

Again FAILED (Yes, by a small margin, but at the end, Pass/Fail matters) 

 

PGEE 2020 

After failing in GATE 2020, I also filled the PGEE. My last hope was PGEE, Due to covid and lockdown, I was not sure whether the exam will be scheduled or not. I was not able to concentrate on my study. But at last, the exam was scheduled for 24th June and I was not able to clear it. 

ANOTHER FAILURE for me.  

 

"Don't rush anything. When the time is right it'll happen."
  

What made me drop and prepare again? 

I knew that I had the capability to do well in GATE and my marks weren’t an accurate reflection of my preparation level. So I decided to take a drop. For this reason, I did not sit for campus placements, because I did not want to have a second thought if I had a placement in my hand. I left no choice for myself other than a drop or taking some college with this rank only. That's why I didn't register myself in CCMT. But inside, I was also afraid of FAILING again. 

 

"Some times you don't get what you want, Because you deserve better."

 

GATE 2021 

Finally, In May I decided to take a drop and prepare for GATE 2021 by only studying from standard books and without any coaching (Yes, after failing too many times, I decided to not enroll in any coaching again). So, firstly I analyzed my mistakes. 

 

My mistakes in GATE 2020...

The first mistake I made was not solving PYQs. 

I had no strategy to attempt the GATE exam. 

I skipped Maths, aptitude, and COA completely. 

I didn't analyze my tests. My goal was to give more and more tests only. 

 

Steps to sort out my mistakes... 

I researched for 10-15 days and gathered all my study material for the preparation. For this, I referred to GO, found almost everything I needed. Read blogs of toppers and filtered out books and video lectures. 

 

My schedule for preparation for GATE 2021? 

I started slowly around 5 to 6 hours a day, enjoyed the rest of the time, used to watch some movie or spend time with family, then boosted up my preparation in August to approx. 10-11 hrs. per day. Now, given that I was taking a drop, I had the entire day to give to my study. However, I never tried to study more than 10-11 hours a day, because I knew that it wasn’t feasible over a 6 months period for me. 

So as a result of that, my routine used to be something like this- 

Wake up at 6 am by my Mother, and then my day used to start after her tea. 

07 am to 10 am - Learn New concepts. 

11 am to 01 pm - Clear the Concepts 

01 pm to 03 pm - Lunch + power nap(I never compromised with my sleep) 

03 pm to 05 pm - PYQs + Practice 

07 pm to 09 pm - Aptitude + Maths

10 pm to 12 am - Revision. 

This schedule was continued till November and completed all syllabus. 

I took a break of 5-10 mins after 45 to 50 minutes. and a long break after 3 hours. I never study continues till 3 hours except giving mock. 

 

Resources that I followed

You can find them here.

 

Revision strategy 

I used 2 strategies for revision - 

1) Read my full notes (As I was a noob in taking notes, so whatever I feel was important, I wrote down on my notes, so my notes were very lengthy). Reading full notes is very boring for me, as you know the concept and you have to read that thing repeatedly. 

2) Solve PYQs and If I was stuck then Go to my notes and read it, and then solve all questions from PYQs, book's exercise, assignments of top universities. If I found any difficulties in solving those questions then I read the books or googled those topics, read the complete discussion on GO(worked in 90% cases, thanks to all seniors). 

2nd approach is better, it helps us to find our weak areas. But after some time we should read our full notes to brush up on all the concepts. 

 

Last 2 months 

It was a very crucial time for me as I was a dropper without any alternative. I was neither an expert in CP nor had any Good project. But thanks to my family and friends for supporting me in a tough time and motivating me. I always enjoy learning new concepts and solving questions. Even though my schedule was a little bit hectic but I enjoyed it. 

I changed my schedule and increased my study time (12-13 hrs.), by compromising on other activities (not sleep time). As my syllabus was complete, my main focus was on practice, revision, analyzing my weak areas, improve my speed and accuracy, solve all "*" marked questions, and give tests on alternative days. 

This was the time when I felt too down and my stress level was at a peak and at that time, I wished that I hadn’t prepared for GATE at all and just taken up a random shitty job in campus placement. 

 

Approach to attempt mock 

After doing experiments, I came up with a final strategy. 

Solve exam in 3 passes. Start from the Technical section, read questions, if I can solve it, within 1 minute then I will try it, otherwise mark it for review according to the difficulty level. So that after 30 minutes, I have a complete idea about the exam, whether it is hard or easy. 

Then I will Solve all "mark for review" questions and then in the last pass when I am left with around 1 hour I will solve the aptitude section and revisit the answered questions to verify and increase my accuracy and then will give a try to lengthy questions. 

 

"Consistency is harder when no one is clapping for you. You must clap for yourself during those times, you should always be your biggest fan."

 

JAN 2021 

As admit card was released and I got the morning slot (Thanks to IIT B).

I used to give a full mock test in the morning slot and used to analyze my mistakes in the other half of the day. I used to make a lot of silly mistakes, some of those were typing mistakes (even after lots of practice I also did a mistake in GATE 21, lost my crucial 2 marks as no one can be so perfect), ignoring "NOT" and calculation mistakes. 

After 15th Jan, I experimented on my exam solving strategy, I used to give full mock or PYQ (as mock) in 2-2.4 hrs., which resulted in increasing my speed and also improved my accuracy. But the score went down as a result I slipped back to 50+ Rank from a single-digit Rank.

The number of incorrect questions was around 12-18 (half of them were silly mistakes). It was frustrating for me. I was a dropper and I didn't want to repeat the same mistake again in Gate 2021. I also prepared a notebook of my mistakes and you will surprise I filled a whole register with my mistakes, I used to revise my mistakes in the morning and used to promise myself that I will not do those mistakes again, It helped me a lot. 

 

"Before something great happens everything falls apart." 

 

FEB 2021 

As other streams paper were scheduled in the first week of Feb. IIT B surprised us by shuffling the questions, even though it was mentioned on IIT B's official website but we didn't read those instructions (I also saw those instructions after seeing the review of other streams). Those reviews increased my stress a lot. Even though, I had solved questions as they appear and skip accordingly. But the thing which relaxed me was the number of MSQ in their exam. But I had a strong feeling that the number of MSQ will be more for us.

 

4 days before exams 

I revisited all "*" marked questions/blogs on GO and also the "incorrect attempt" section. I gave mock-5 (GO) on 9th Feb and got around 70 marks, which increased my confidence as the question was shuffled in this mock test( You will not find me in the toppers list as the answer was also shuffled after I refreshed the exam page). 

At that time, I decided I will not give any mock tests. After revising my mistakes I realized I should go for one more test to improve my speed and accuracy. 

And on 11th Feb I chose a mock, test by Ruturaj, one of the toughest tests on GO. Before the test, I decided I will attempt this exam in 2.5 hrs and If I would be able to get 50+ marks then I m ready for any level of the Exam. I got around 60 marks. 

 

The D-Day 

I sat on my system at 8:50 am and then my stress level started increasing with time. This time I had a proper approach to attempt the exam. I started with the Technical part and started reading the question and skipped accordingly In the starting I encountered 3-4 questions from the Maths section, that probability question (parameter of distribution) hit me hard, the situation got a little bit tensed now, there was only darkness in front of my eyes. I took a sip of water and then started reading questions again and thankfully I solved the next 2-3 questions in the chosen time, and the things started going in my favor.

In 30 mins, I got an idea about the exam that the paper was not too hard but it was lengthy as the number of MSQ is too much. So, I must take care of both my speed and accuracy. In those 30 mins, I solved 4-5 questions only.

I started my 2nd pass and it continued for 1.5 hours then went to the aptitude section and gave 15 minutes. Again, went to the technical section and solved 5-6 questions most of them were lengthy or MSQ. Then revisited the answered questions and checked the solution. Fortunately, I found 2-3 silly mistakes.

So finally, I attempted 60 questions. 49 were correct, in those 11 incorrect questions, 10 were MSQ or NAT. Got only 0.66 -ve mark due to the aptitude section, ticked the wrong option in hurry :(

 

Final result 

The first official answer key released, and I lost my 2.66 marks in that debatable question. My stress level got increased, I didn't want to lose a single mark on that question, after debating and challenging, finally, we won. 

I got 73.33 marks in set 1, before normalization. 

 

 

 

Some tips for future GATE aspirants: 

  • Finish your syllabus thoroughly as soon as possible. (lays the foundation).
  • Make sure you are strong in basics, no need to waste time on advanced topics, just adhere to the syllabus (most important).
  • Never compare your marks with your friends. 
  • Never compare Test Series marks with Actual Exam.
  • Do not ignore aptitude and Maths if possible do it as early as possible. 
  • Do not leave any subject. Don’t go into too much depth of any subject.
  • Be regular in your studies. Study for neither 15 hrs nor 0 hrs in a day.
  • Revise as much as you can – first revision after 7 days, second after 14-15 days of the first revision, then after a month, and then monthly.
  • Learn, Test, Analyze & Improve.
  • Sleep for 8hrs/day.
  • Be prepare for everything. What I mean is don't assume that your paper will be easy or tough.  
  • Give lots of mock tests and analyze them properly. 
  • Analyze each test properly by checking all mistakes and unsolved questions.
  • Make a notebook of your all mistakes and categorized mistakes as Silly, Conceptual, or typing mistakes.
  • Leave substitution, elimination, etc. methods for the Final exam. Do not practice them in mock tests.
  • Don’t follow any topper’s advice blindly (not even mine). 
  • Prepare your own notes. 
  • Remember “All late nights and early mornings will pay off”.
To all GATE aspirants, NEVER UNDERESTIMATE your ability to succeed. Remember to LEARN, TEST, ANALYZE & IMPROVE. All the very best!!

If anyone has any queries, feel free to ask.

3

Hey,

My name is Shaswat and i have completed my Bachelors in Electrical engineering in 2018 from NIT Jamshedpur and was working in a Steel Industry till April last year. After that i decided to quit my job and started my preparation for Gate in Computer Science and secured an All India Rank of 13. 

After my 10 month long preparation I genuinely believe that Gate-CS can be cracked by anyone irrespective of their stream. If you have a tendency to think in a logical way then cracking Gate will be a piece of cake for you.

 

Although there are a lot of preparation strategies online but still i would like to briefly share my methodology that i used during my preparation (But i still think it would be better if you developed your own strategy).

 

  •  In the first phase of preparation just focus on completing all the lectures/chapters and prepare a detailed notes for them.
  • Also try to allocate some time to revise old chapters so that you donot forget them completely.
  • In the next phase of preparation your focus should be to revise a chapter and solve questions of that chapter. It will be better if you solved questions from some well known Test series because the questions there will be more relevant from Gate point of View. (DONOT FORGET TO BOOKMARK QUESTIONS THAT YOU FEEL ARE IMPORTANT FOR EXAM BUT DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO SOLVE)
  •  After maybe 1 round of complete revision of all chapters you should solve previous year questions. GATEOVERFLOW is the perfect place to do this (HERE ALSO DONOT FORGET TO BOOKMARK QUESTIONS).
  • 2 months before exam, start giving mocks. Donot stress too much on how many mocks you should give. I personally give only 3 of them but i analysed them properly. During this time just revise your notes, highlight important points so that you can do revision later on in a short period of time. (I found highting notes more effective than make short notes seperately). And also re-solve the questions you have bookmarked from test series, mocks and previous year questions.

If you want to connect with me, you can do that via. fb/instagram. My userid is 28shaswat.

4
Huge thanks to GO and the community for making a dream come true!

My GATE 2020 marks were 42 and my preparation was also not up to the mark. So I decided to drop out and give my best for Gate 2021 and in the process decided not to take any online Coaching. I Completed GO PDF 3 to 4 times during my preparation which helped in boosting my confidence. Also, a huge thanks to the GO Test Series community. The level of the questions was just perfect to push myself just a little more to get more marks. Slowly but eventually, I saw myself grow from 30 to 75-80% marks. I was hoping to get the same result in the main exam and thankfully i got 71.67 marks(after normalization). Thank you GateOverflow!

-Mayank Sati, AIR 34
5
Thank You GATEOVERFLOW!!!. Finally after an year of hardwork, I got AIR-152 in gate CSE-2021. All the questions and doubts I had were cleared in Gateoverflow site , leaving no doubts .

And , Your RANK-PREDCITOR is next level .

                                        GO-Predictor Showed :   Rank – 130-160  , and Score = 820.6

                                        Actual Result  :                Rank – 152           and Score = 820

One can totally rely on Gateoverflow.

They have got some free stuff that You cannot get anywhere else, Eg:- All previous years paper questions and solutions, TOP-level Practise Tests , etc.

 

 

 

Once Again Thank You all @arjun sir @GATEOVERFLOW_TEAM.
6

Without this platform and the people behind it working tirelessly to maintain its quality (including all the good people in the FB group), I would not have been able to succeed. I’m not the typical applicant – I graduated in 2014 and have 5+ years of product startup experience. I had to start preparation from scratch in 2019, and by scratch, I really mean from zero – I graduated with CS BTech from tier 3 and my CS background was nowhere close to the level needed by IITs. Thanks to Bikram Ballav’s “what to read” series, I could even begin to build the necessary background for GATE. I really enjoyed studying computer science and it gave me an enlightened perspective on my past work experience as well (a lot of things clicked!).

I took GATE the second time this year, managed to scrape by with a rank of 658 and gave the MS interviews at Bombay and Madras, and cracked Bombay (Madras results pending as of now). Getting Bombay was especially sweet after I thought I had bombed the interview. My initial goal was IISc CSA research and I did not clear its cutoff, but I don’t feel so bad about it right now.

I will probably add much more detail to my journey in a different post. All I know is that I will cherish this journey for a lifetime.

Thank you, GO.

PS: The resources I used are listed here.

7

Hello everyone . My name is Ayush Tripathi . I have secured AIR 56 in GATE 2021 . In begining of year 2020 I found Gateoverflow . It is a place where i am sure all the top rankers were in months of their preparation . I want to thank Arjun Sir for creating this great platform . Sir you have blessing of all those who wanted to explore GATE CS . 

From starting of my preparation for every previous year questions and other TIFR , ISRO problems only place I find perfect was GO . People here are so great and awesome . every comment , every answer just create a new perspective towards the problem . I never answered any question on GO till now . But I am very grateful to this community and I will be continuing to help students . Because you should pass what you learn thats how knowledge sail through generations .

To all students who are going to prepare I am suggesting few points which one should consider ---

(1) See if you get very low marks in test series . Please don’t stop giving tests . You should continue giving tests . You should revise questions which you did wrong .  And never get disappointed by test series results . Try to buy a test series which contains tough questions . Because I have seen some test series which were having very easy questions and students solve them only which was not sufficient for tough paper like this year . 

(2) Try to solve previous year at least two times .

(3) Take mathematics seriously . While preparing for maths you will automatically be ready for aptitude section . 

(4) Try to give full length tests to learn how to manage pressure and time . This year managing pressure became hardest thing because of toughness of paper . So I would suggest you to give as many as full length tests as you want .

(5) Try to prepare notes in such a way that during last days of your preparation you can easily revise things . Don’t try to make bulky notes (if you are not in offline coaching) . Because that will make your revision tough .

(6) There will be times when you have self doubts . Try not to think that much . If you prepare well you will definately end up good .

Lastly I am thankful to Arjun Sir and all those who answered so well . 

Praggy app was also very accurate in predicting rank and score . GO answer key was accurate and whatever assumption made about challenging questions was also very accurate .

On whole internet you can’t find something as perfect as gateoverflow . 

Thank you !

8
I kept using gate overflow for solutions which I didn’t understand when I was solving PYQs from my classes book. In November I came across GO PDFs. I solved all the questions again during December – January and checked many solutions and comments. Many solutions completely changed my understanding to topics. The community is the best with so many knowledgeable people and aspirants. We also get multiple approaches to same problem as many users have uploaded their own solution. Gatecse website also has amazing resources like video links, question papers, etc. I did not use it much but it was also very helpful. Also, the rank predictor was so perfect that it was unbelievable.

Predicted Rank: 26 – 31, Actual Rank: 26

And now it also has subject wise marks.

Finally, I would like to say thank you to Arjun Sir and GO community for helping GATE CSE aspirants throughout our gate journey. Without this portal, atleast my journey would have been a bumpy one.

Thank you. :)
9
So i graduated from a decent government engineering college in electrical engineering. I always had an inclination towards computer science, and during my bachelors days, used to create websites for fun. I wanted to do m tech in computer science related field, and when i checked the subjects and their syllabus for GATE CSE, i was initially thrilled to be learning such interesting topics, but realized how tough it is going to be for me, someone with basically 0 knowledge about any subject except Data structures and Algorithms.

This is where Gate Overflow came to my rescue. Whenever i couldn’t understand the logic behind any Gate problem, i checked the multiple answers provided by various people, which really helped me develop a general thought process as to how a computer science graduate would tackle this particular problem. By january, i started getting good ranks in online tests, so my confidence grew a lot.

However, on the day of exam, i was in set 2, and i had never seen such a long paper in any of the online tests. I was stunned, and apart from aptitude section, i never really got going. Got 1089 rank in the final results( predictor of gate overflow was really accurate), so wont be getting any of the big IITs and the top 3 NITs most probably. Also, being from Electrical, i dont have much choices in CCMT either. But when i look back at the last year, i learnt more than i did during the entire 4 years of my graduation. Thank you Gate Overflow for teaching me how to tackle logical questions.
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