Some Pick Up Motivational Lines That Worked Wonder For Me

IF YOU WANT SOMETHING YOU NEVER HAD, THEN YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING YOU HAVE NEVER DONE...

During Jee Mains and Adv, i didn't push myself. I didn't take any risk. I chose the easier path. For this reason only even if i had the potential i couldn't manage to get a seat even in any of the NIT's.
But this time i took risks. I prepared hard and pushed myself each single day. I ignored attending parties, didn't go for any movie, deleted facebook, whatsapp, clashofclans. I left my college placements and a lot more sacrifices. These sacrifices worth it in the end. Initially my friends, relatives thought i was crazy, i remained silent then, my results explained all the things properly to them.

When i was studying inside a closed room, people used to say "whether he is studying or sleeping inside the room, god knows"... It quite De-motivating but still i remained quiet. People even taunted me a lot. "Why gate, what will you do after gate and all"... I had to go through all these. But finally my results give every single explanation to each one of them. And now they are congratulating me and asking for treats....

Everything can wait until GATE !!!

This quote is by Ravindra Sir. Quite motivational. If you are to do a break up then why now. Just wait until gate. If you want to be committed then why now, you can do it after gate. Ignore all the distractions till gate exams are over.

I am just a performer, i shouldn't be worrying about the results. However bad my exam day is, if my preparation is up to the mark then i will definitely perform at least above average. (By one of my seniors, Anwesh Bhai)

Success never comes that easy, else everyone would have got it, what's so special about you then? (By my little brother, Roshan Raj Mohanty, IIT Madras)

Awareness is light, Ignorance is darkness !!!

I believed luck thrice, it ditched me every single time. The last time i believed hard work, i ditched my silly luck.

Don't give up till the last second of the exam. You never know, 50 marks are sometimes enough to get you a rank of 500.

If you don't have explanation to people's question then remain silent. Your results will explain better to them. Don't ever try to argue with them. Just say yes i agree, smile back and leave.

You will be rewarded publicly for the efforts and hard work that you have done privately.

Do believe in god !!! He will definitely help. I followed lord Ganesha. He did help me during my GATE exams. Miracles do happen !!! but not without hard work.

Don't hesitate to celebrate your success in the end, else you wont ever be able to distinguish between success and failure.
 
 

Preparation Strategy

Order of subjects i completed:-

1. Theory Of Computation
2. Digital Logic Design
3. DBMS
4. CO
5. OS
6. CN
7. DS
8. DAA
9. CD
10. Maths and Aptitude

Time taken for each Subject:-

1. Theory Of Computation - 15days
2. Digital Logic Design - 12days
3. DBMS - 13days
4. CO - 10days
5. OS - 10days
6. CN - 11days
7. DS - 7days
8. DAA - 9days
9. CD - 2days
10. Maths and Aptitude - 15days

In just 3 months of steady preparation 5-7 hours a day i was able to complete the entire syllabus of gate in just 3 months. Once you complete the entire syllabus you get confident.

Revision Order of subjects:-
I just reversed the order in which i completed the subjects, i.e. starting from Maths and aptitude and ending with TOC. This is a good strategy because you are holding the recently learned subjects in grip and moving to the earlier learned subjects.

Once you complete a subject don't leave it completely till the 2nd revision. Practice questions in a gap of 3-4 days else the subject will be completely new for you. You can also answer in facebook groups to test your skills and knowledge. This is one of the best ways to be in touch with all the subjects and check your progress. This keeps you motivated also. You can practice questions from text books or any book you have. I preferred MadeEasy book that's available in flipkart. It's a good book as it separates the gate questions topic wise. Make sure you complete it during you initial phase of learning once.

TIP: Don't argue over any questions in those groups. People argue a lot to prove their answers right. If you waste time in arguing then you wont be able to complete the syllabus in time. 

Don't write full length test series too early. i started writing full length from the month of december (December 25). Each day i wrote a full length test and then analyzed it the next day and again gave one more full length test the same day.

I didn't get enough time for subject tests. It's not that important actually. Try to solve the part tests while you are in the initial phase of completing the subject. I completed all part test of TestBook test series. Those are good and error free too.

Test Series Preference:-

MadeEasy Full Length Test:- Contains lot of errors but some questions are good.Interface is good but not similar to real gate exam.

GateForum Full Length Test Series:- contains few errors and some quality questions too. This was last test series i opted 7days before the exams. Interface is good and similar to real gate exam.

Ace Full length test series:- lot of irrelevant questions are there. Aptitude questions are pretty good though. I personally didn't like the test series. It used to get complete in just 1 hour. Interface is good but not similar to real gate exam.

Test Book test series:- The part tests are just awesome and error free. But the full length tests are not up to the mark.  Interface is good but not similar to real gate exam.

Ravindra Sir's test series:- lots of errors are there. Interface is really bad. Some questions are good though. But i didn't like it personally.

Virtual gate:- Lot of unrealistic problems. Some good questions are there but still kills a lot of time. Not recommended.

The CBT of ACE academy was awesome. It was conducted well also. The questions were pretty good and were quite similar to real gate exam. Do opt for it definitely.

The CBT of Madeeasy was not that well conducted. The questions were repeated from madeeasy online test series. To build confidence you may opt for it.

In case of any doubt, do follow GateOverflow answers. They are pretty clean and well explained. Solving GO pdf is also a good option for practicing questions. But seeing so many questions you might feel the fear of not completing it. So if you have time then go for it. Also answers are there right in front of you in go pdf. So it's not good to keep answers infront of your eyes and solve the questions. It kills you logical way of thinking and approach.

IF YOU FEEL ANYTHING IS GOOD FOR YOU AND HELP YOU GET A BETTER RANK THEN JUST GO FOR IT. DON'T LISTEN TO ANYONE ELSE. BECAUSE IN THE END YOUR CONFIDENCE MATTERS. YOU WOULD BE CARRYING ONLY YOUR CONFIDENCE AND KNOWLEDGE INTO THE REAL GATE EXAMINATION. NO ADVICES ARE GONNA WORK THERE !!!

My Score Card

With just mere 7 months of preparation with hectic 4th year course work i was able to get a rank 105. I could have scored more but i left 3-4 solved questions in real gate exam in fear of negative. I just got 1 mark as negative. It is advisable to all 3rd year students to attempt gate in their 6th semester which actually helps in gate in the 8th semester. I wish i would have given gate in my 6th semester. That experience would have helped me earning few more marks. If time permits, then next year i would be definitely trying to improve it. Good luck to all future aspirants.

Resources And Books

Books and References:

OS:- Galvin (Must read)...Don't read the entire book. Just the topics mentioned in the gate syllabus is enough. Solve the exercise problems. They are really good. Answers to exercise problems can be found at here.

Some good links:

• http://www.cse.iitd.ernet.in/os-lectures
• https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/inter-process-communication/
• http://nptel.ac.in/courses/106108101/pdf/Lecture_Notes/Mod%207_LN.pdf

CN:- I have read forouzon but didn't like it much. You should follow Tanenbum. it's good and will be sufficient for gate. Wifi section in tanenbum is also good.

Some good links:

• https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/dheeraj/cs425/
• https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc958823.aspx

TOC:- TOC is easy. I followed ravindra sir's lecture for it strictly and my btech notes. TOC is subject which i feel can't be well understood directly from book. You need someone to guide you.

Some good links:

• http://www.cse.iitd.ernet.in/~ssen/col352/admin352.html
• http://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/494/00/ps3-solns.pdf
• https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~cline/ear/automata/CS341-Fall-2004-Packet/2-Homework/Home09Pumping.pdf
• http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/sim3/teaching/spring14/lecture_notes/lecture_13_1.pdf

CD:- Same with compiler design. I followed Ravindra sirs lecture strictly. Haven't read any books for it. In youtube also you can see his free lectures.

Some good links:

• http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~mstrout/CS553/slides/lecture03.pdf

DAA:- Narshima karumanchi is a good book to read. Cormen you can refer as a guide or reference book. Reading cormen is itself a huge challenge and boring too.

Some good links:

• http://www.cs.nthu.edu.tw/~wkhon/ds/ds11/lecture/lecture2.pdf

DS:- Reema Thareja DS is a good book with examples. A bit of coding experience is definitely helpful in this subject.

CO:- The toughest among all subjects. I have read hamacher but it's not that worthy for gate. Try to solve previous gate questions of CO to get used to possible questions that would be asked in this subject. I don't recommend any book for this subject.

Some good links:

• https://www3.nd.edu/~mniemier/teaching/2010_B_Fall/
• http://home.deib.polimi.it/silvano/FilePDF/AAC/EXERCISES_MEM_HIERARCHY.pdf
• http://www2.cs.uidaho.edu/~cs451_551/lecture_files/Session_13.pdf
• http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/car/Notes/2015-16/solution04.pdf
• Youtube Gatebook CS videos

DEC:- Morris manno is a good book. Some parts of this subject needs to be understood well so you would require a guide or teacher for that. Gate questions of cs and electrical branch are self sufficient for this subject.

DBMS:- I have read navathe and korth alternatively. Some topics are good in navathe while some are good in korth. Must read book for dbms. It's a quite boring subject and lengthy too. Do solve all gate questions on this subject.

Maths:- for probability, which is the most important topic in cs, i had solved all previous year jee advance questions. It really helps. This time 4 questions were asked only from probability. So don't take this subject lightly. You can get it from mtg iit-jee books or any other book from flipkart.

Linear algebra and combinatorics are also part of these books. Do solve them all.

Richard A. brualdi Introductory combinatorics, this is a really good book. If you have time do give it a read for graph theory, combinatorics.

Wiley publication math book from flipkart, very good book with lot of quality problems on linear algebra, matrices, probability.

Lots of videos of techtud, gatebook are available free for graph theory. Just browse through it.

Some good links:-

• https://gateoverflow.in/3778/gate2005-it-32
• http://www.math.northwestern.edu/~mlerma/courses/cs310-05s/notes/dm-planar
• https://www.uits.edu.bd/research/journal/v1i2/4-Planar.pdf
• https://www3.nd.edu/~dgalvin1/40210/40210_F12/CGT_early.pdf