11 Mistakes students make when preparing for GATE Exam
Introduction:
All GATE aspirants should go through this blog till the end. This may be long to read, but helpful before starting GATE Preparation.
Most mistakes while preparation are common to everyone and it makes a big difference if you already know them, learn from them and take care not to repeat them. In competitive exams like GATE, the margin for error is very small. i.e. 3 marks difference would make you slip by 300 ranks.
Some common mistakes in gate exam are enlisted below
Delay in Starting the Preparation:
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.”
― Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
Some of the GATE Aspirants used to procrastinate their GATE Exam preparation to as much they can do due to college studies, project, semester & placements. But Achievers used to start their GATE Exam Coaching in the 2nd year itself.
Ramesh are Arthy are friends. Both are our students. Arthy started her gate preparation in the 2nd year. But Ramesh waited to start the gate coaching. Even in the 3rd year also he procrastinated to start. Whenever Arthy asked him, why he had not yet started the gate coaching, Ramesh replied that he is having a practical, semester and starting in the final year. As Ramesh said, he joined for gate coaching in his final semester. Due to the early start, Arthy got AIR 212 in GATE Exam and Ramesh failed to qualify.
What do you learn from this true incident?
Also, remember when you come across difficult concepts, don’t leave them then and there for completion at a later stage. This is a precious time that never occur.
Skipping important Subjects:
Give attention to all subjects. Do not leave out any concepts, however small they may be. The IIT who sets the GATE Question paper will have an idea as to which portion(s) students will generally skip. Students used to skip many portions, thinking that they know those subjects pretty well. When questions come for exams from those subjects at that time realize the mistake.
One of the biggest mistakes students make is not focusing on Engineering Maths and General Ability. It is 30 marks. It’s like not focusing for 15 overs in a 50 over cricket match.
Subject weightage of GATE Mechanical Engineering 
Subject weightage of GATE Electrical Engineering 
Subject weightage of GATE Electronics Engineering 
Leaving the Formulae:
One more thing I have observed in my 10 years of experience with gate students, they don’t practice the formulae. They study concepts but fail to memorize the formulae. It is my humble suggestion, keep a separate notebook for writing only formulae. Remembering the formulae may make all difference between winning and losing.
Lack of priority :
Most Engineering students give priority to college studies. As many of the students going GATE Exam coaching in their final years, they have to invest 4hrs per day consistently. Due to academic activities, they will postpone the gate coaching classes also. Before one or two months of the GATE Exam will become tense and unable to study at that time. So try to avoid extra-curricular activities and other distractions at least for 3 months before GATE Exam
One of our students Mr.A.K.Aravindhan from a tyre III College in Thanjavur. He is from the Mechanical Engineering department joined for GATE coaching. His classmates didn’t give priority to GATE Classes and GATE Online Tests due to academic pressure, and they don’t focus on GATE Exam Preparation. They start the GATE coaching just a month before, tensed, and don’t clear the GATE Exam. But Aravind prepared 4 hrs per day consistently for gate preparation and attended the classes without fail. He practiced previous years gate questions and has taken gate online test series. As a result, he got good marks in the GATE exam and got M.Tech at NIT, Trichy.
Preparing without Guidance:
Many students use engineering textbooks and FREE Videos for GATE Exam preparation. This study helps to enhance the knowledge and takes a lot of time, but not suitable for Competitive Exams like GATE/IES/TNEB_AE Exams.
- If you want to be an IPL Player, do you need a coach?
- When you go for an IES Entrance, do you join a coaching class?
- When you prepare for NEET/IIT JEE, do you join a coaching class?
WHY?
The answer is very obvious. You need the best trainers to guide you. Then why do you make the mistake of going for standard textbooks/Cheap materials/Own Research study and waste your time? When you want the best results you need the best guidance. It will save time and guarantee the result. Always remember,
- When you are not well, go to the best doctor.
- When you have a business problem, go to the best consultant
- When you have a fitness problem, go to certified coach
- When you have a tax problem, go to the best auditor
Moral: “NEVER EVER TRY TO DO IT YOURSELF”
Gateforum Trichy is the best GATE coaching Centre in Tamilnadu and produced best GATE Results every year consistently. Gateforum Trichy provides Gate offline classes, GATE Online Classes, Best GATE Study Material, IES Online, Gate online Test series for GATE/IES Coaching.
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Lack of Revision:
This is the most common mistake seen in GATE Exam Preparation. A well-organized revision plan is even more important than a proper preparation plan. Planning your preparation strategy in such a way that there’s no room for revision in the Also, keeping revision only for the end is also equally harmful. The revision must be done at regular intervals through practicing questions, re-reading notes, or appearing for test series. Time dedicated for revision must be increased with each progressing month of preparation. At least one month should be dedicated for revision.
Most of the students attend the classes only thinking that will get high rank by attending only gate coaching classes. Revision is an important factor in the GATE Exam preparation. Revise regularly else you will forget everything. One should prepare short notes by self and should not copy from someone else. Short notes should be revised on a daily basis at least for one hour in the last two months of the exam.
Not giving importance to GATE Online Test Series :
Every year at-least 5 of our students from NIT Trichy clear GATE Exam and score ranks within Top 100. When we ask them the secret of the success, they all give one answer “GATE ONLINE TEST SERIES”
Mistakes students make in Online Test Series
- Take test series HONESTLY.
- Try to complete the test within the time always.
- Analyze your test and topics which require improvement.
Gateforum Trichy Online Test series is the best for gate practice. We Provide 56 Section-wise Tests and 10 Full-Length Tests. On completing each test solution was given. You need to Analyse each test and raise your standards. You should attend all the tests in your login. Test series plays an important role in Revision for GATE Exam. Start taking GATE Section Tests from June month and Full-Length Tests (GATE MOCK TESTS) from October month.
After completion of the test, first, analyze your mistakes. Make sure that you spend at least one and half hours after each Full-length test by analyzing it
Not practicing GATE previous year Questions:
GATE doesn’t ask theoretical questions much. You should be numerical-oriented. Solve at least 100 sums on each topic. Giving less importance to previous gate questions is another mistake made by GATE Aspirants.One should solve previous GATE questions at least 3 times. Many aspirants ignore these questions and keep solving class practice problems rigorously. Each gate question has some concepts associated with it.
Gateforum Trichy offers GATE Question Bank which contains the last 26 years of GATE Questions, answers, and solutions. More than 5000 questions are available in the GATE Question bank. Apart from in GATE Study material, after each topic exercise is given with answers and solutions for practice.
Not taking care of health:
Health is the first factor in preparation for any competitive exam. While preparing for GATE Exam, take healthy foods, sleep well. Studying day and night without resting will make your body weak at the time of gate examination. Getting sick at the last minute will prevent you from revising the gate concepts. The human body needs to tune with its daily schedule to work at its maximum efficiency.
Points to note:
- Sleep 6 to 8 hrs a day
- Eat healthy food like fruits, vegetables, and eggs.
- Avoid junk food
- Give rest for the eyes while studying by taking breaks in studies.
- Walk daily for 15 mins.
Mistakes on the day of the Exam:
- Avoid panic on the GATE Exam day
- Take essential items like identity proofs, admit card on the previous day
- Sleep well the previous day
- Reach the exam centre 1 hour before the scheduled time.
- If the exam center is in another city, reach the place one day before
- Don’t eat heavy carbohydrate food like masala Dosa, Idiyappam, Pongal on the morning of the exam. This will make you sleepy during the GATE Exam.
- Do not discuss with friends about the subject or any question, that likely to confuse in the examination
- Do not study at the last minute. This will create stress.
Never drop out at the last moment. If you are not confident also, do appear for the GATE Exam to gather experience. You have put your parent’s hard-earned money for GATE coaching and GATE study materials.
11. Careless mistakes during the GATE Exam:
This is a very common mistake that most of the gate aspirants make.
One of our students from Electrical Engineering department Mr.Rahamadullah has shared his GATE Exam preparation with me. He mentioned that even though he know the answer for one question, he mistakenly selected wrong question by mistake and clicked submit button.
And when he was analyzing the answer key from the IIT, he noticed that he missed the “-“ symbol while calculating the answer. He suggested to upcoming gate aspirants to be calm and careful during the exam.
- Not reading the question properly
- Ticking the wrong answer
- Missing the important detail
- Making errors while calculating
- Taking a long time in a difficult question
The Only remedy to this mistake is,
Read the question properly and multiple times.
Conclusion :
Every year around 1 lakh+ aspirants appear for each core subject and if you make even one mistake it can cost you your dream college and that is painful. Here is the list of a few things that I feel aspirants should consider which might help them.
“Mistakes are only harmful when you’re not learning from them, else they are just advancing steps towards success.” Success is easy for no one. Only those who can identify, accept and rectify their mistakes and learn from others can make it through easily. It’s very important to read success stories and take motivation from them but what is more important is to read failure stories and learn lessons from them.
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