The Journey of a Thousand Miles begins with One Step at a Time”

Success is not dependent on the mode of preparation but rather on the intensity and dedication during the preparation.

Students have a common question “What should be our strategy to crack ESE/GATE exams?” To answer this question in the most simplified way, this article will act as a guiding light to strategize things for aspirants, which will be fruitful for young friends.

There are two categories of aspirants in any examination:

1. Freshers, preparing first time for the competitive exams (Neophytes)
2. Repeaters, who have already given one or more attempts (Rank Improvers)

Strategy for Fresher’s (Neophytes):

If you are fresher who is preparing first time then it is suggested that you adhere to the following approach for the preparation-

• Define your aim and target the desired exam right from the beginning. You should examine closely the examination pattern, syllabus and the level of difficulty.
• The first step for amateurs should be, to go through previous years’ question papers of the aimed exam and identify what type of questions are asked, like whether it is theoretical (then what subjects/which topics are mostly asked) or derivations or numerical type.
• Keep one best reference book for each subject. You are not advised to read too many books for each subject; practically it is not possible in limited time frame.

The Study Plan:

Make an overall plan of your preparation; define immediate and ultimate goals you want to achieve during the preparation, then make a strategic roadmap to execute the plan in the most effective manner. Being an engineer, you should understand the importance of planning and execution of the plan.

Overall plan may be further divided in three stages:

1. Long-Term Plan:

Segregate the months for different subjects and optimize your plan so as to complete the entire syllabus in the dedicated time. In the current scenario of high scores, do not go for selective approach towards studies; it is advisable to cover the entire syllabus, because you never know “the topic left could be the topic of conquest.”

2. Mid-Term Plan:

For each and every subject, the approach should be exam oriented. One should get familiar with the subject and should know which area is to be focused like whether theory has to be focused or numerical or solving previous years’ questions will suffice. Every subject requires a very different approach. If you take mathematics as an example, you may be required to focus on practicing problems where as if theoretical Paper is taken into consideration then there an altogether different approach is required. Likewise, in all the technical subjects the approach differs from subject to subject depending on various factors.

If you are enrolled in an Online Course; then concentrate and study well during the sessions. Your notes should be complete and ready during the session itself, with simultaneous marking of the IMPORTANT concepts and formulae.

One point that you should always keep in mind is “Work for Yourself”; i.e. make notes for yourself in a manner which is comfortable for you. This will increase your writing efficiency in terms of speed, accuracy and hand writing and also helps in memory retention.

3. Short-Term Plan:

This is essential for effective time management. You should plan and freeze the study hours and abstain from using mobile phones, social media, what’s app etc. during these hours. A separate time of 10 to 15 minutes is sufficient to plan schedule for the next day. This will help in removing redundant activities from your schedule and you will be able to make the best use of your time dedicated to study. I would also suggest to pre plan your area /subject /topic of your study for next day, it would help in activating senses of your mind to stimulate for study which helps in better memory retention.

Solving previous years’ questions of GATE (at least of last 10-15 years) should be done while referring to and updating the notes that you have made. Do not postpone it for later, finish the previous years’ questions on priority basis for all the topics that is covered in the Online Session or studied on your own.

While solving questions, mark the questions which you were not able to solve. Refer the reference book for the clarity of concepts, and solve again. In front of the question write the Page Number and Name of the book referred and underline or highlight the concept. This above methodology is to be followed for all workbook and other materials also. After a few months while doing revision you should re-attempt these marked questions only and no need to solve other questions.

Need of a Revision Plan:

One has to make a habit of reading and revising simultaneously.

While studying a particular subject; one should devote 70-80% of self-study time in understanding the concepts of new subject and rest 20-30% of the time should be religiously devoted towards revision of already completed topics/subjects. Moreover, as you reach towards months closer to the exam, increase the time devoted to revision for proper retention of concepts till exam day.

While revising, make sure you do the following:

• Review of class notes.
• Revise underlined/ highlighted portion of text book.
• Then attempt only the marked questions once more.
• If time permits, then start with new set of questions.

The Magic of Make Micro notes:

• After finishing every subject, you can also make micro notes, which comprises of only principal formulae/ diagrams/ concepts which are very important. Especially note down the areas in which you find difficulty to remember. Then take a snapshot and store that in your mobile gallery. These shall be your Digital Micro Notes, which can be accessible anywhere and everywhere even while travelling or free time.

Flow is Important:

• Be vocal and discussion oriented with friends as well as seniors. Keep on clearing your doubt and don’t allow them to accumulate as it may result in mental stress. Let your doubts/thoughts flow like a river which gets self-purified when it flows through its course. Also interact with successful seniors and fellow mates to know about their path of success/strategy.

Evaluate yourself:

• Take tests in examination environment and analyze your performance and make note of areas of difficulty and make a roadmap to improve these before the next test.
• Stay away from incompetent and non-achievers. Don’t let their failure demoralize you in any sense.

(II)  Strategy for Non-Freshers:

• Reviewing your past performance and finding the reasons for failure is very important. You should consider failure as the next stepping stone towards your success. In fact, you have not failed your success is little postponed.
• Identify the weak areas of each subject. You should start your preparation by first improving these areas.
• Dedicate more time on solving different types of problems and that too from new sources during each attempt.
• Plan your study to maintain consistency and self-motivation. Daily planner and subject wise scheduling are very important for a strategic preparation.
• Join some good Test Series and take the tests with full preparation while staying in examination environment.

Important Tips:

• Avoid reading too many books for the same topic. This will simply take away precious amount of time. To save time, try referring to material of coaching institute supplemented by the standard books.
• Strengthen the key concepts of each subject. The questions are based on the basic concepts and they do not require much calculation. Cramming up the formulae won’t help until and unless you have a clear concept of the topic.
• Focus on writing & presentation skills, theory, derivations & diagrams for subjective paper.
• Solve all the previous 10 years questions thoroughly. In IES exam, a lot many questions are based on the concepts of previous year’s questions.

Rather than solving five questions on similar concepts. It is better to solve one question with five different methods. It gives knowledge about the shortest methods to be used.