“Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE)” is an entrance examination conducted every year for admission of students to different PG degrees in science and technology in India. The examination is being held together by the “Indian Institute of Technologies (IIT)” and “Indian Institute of Science (IISc)” for the Higher Education Department of “Human Resource Development Ministry” of the Indian Government. In the recent years, it has been found that there is a sharp increase in the number of candidates taking up this competitive exam.

About Examination:

“GATE” Examination has a single paper to be completed within three hours and the total weightage for the paper is 100. The question paper will be of MCQ format with deduction of 1/3rd of mark for each wrong answer given by candidates.

“GATE” Examination is conducted in different subjects and the names of some of these subjects are given below:

• Aerospace Engineering

• Computer Science and Information Technology

• Electrical Engineering

• Chemical Engineering

• Civil Engineering

• Mechanical Engineering

• Agricultural Engineering

Many students wish to prepare for this examination within less time and here are some useful tips for those candidates:

Tips to prepare for GATE within short period:

Here are four important points to consider when you are in a hurry to prepare for the exam:

• Focus on easy papers first: When there is lesser time for preparation, the best thing to do is to first focus on the subjects that you feel easy and also easy papers can be completed quickly. By doing so, you can become more confident on your easy papers and this will give you a boost to concentrate on other papers.

• Short notes: It is better to collect some short notes from popular “GATE” institutions like GATE Forums and corresponding tutorials since this can speed up your preparation process. It is better to refer short notes of different institutions rather than focusing on a single note since different analogy might be used in different notes.

• Solving of previous years question papers: Question banks of previous years can be of great use during last minute preparation since as soon as you finish a particular chapter, you can have a look at the type of questions that can be asked in that chapter. When referring question banks, you can try to solve the previous year’s question papers of “GATE” which can boost up your level of confidence before appearing for the examination.

• Avoid reading from soft copies: Nowadays, students are making use of soft copies for preparing for “GATE” examination since many websites are offering the service of downloading reference notes. However, the disadvantage with this system is that when you are preparing for the exam with soft copies, there are chances of distractions like videos, music, games, etc… Therefore, it would be beneficial, if you could prepare with the help of hard copies, wherein you can take printout of important pages in such a way that focus can be laid on the important subjects. In this process, you can also note down important points, which will be useful for last minute glance.

Some reference books for last minute preparation:

There are many reference books for helping out GATE-preparing candidates for the above-mentioned papers and the names of some of the reference books for computer science and information technology paper, which is taken up by many students nowadays are given below:

• “Computer Networks - Computer Networks by Andrew S. Tanenbaum”

• “Computer Architecture - Computer Organization and Architecture by William”

• “Multiple Choice Questions By Timothy Williams”

• “Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis In C++ By - Allen Weiss”

To sum up, for last minute preparation, time is an important aspect; focusing on each and every minute can help you to achieve success. Words are always easier than practically doing it, however to succeed, it is important to try hard particularly when it comes to competitive examination like GATE practicing. Time spent during these crucial periods, can turn out to be highly fruitful in the future.