Not Simply Hard Work but Smart Work is needed for ESE & GATE Preparation

B. Singh June 6, 2018October 11, 2023 ESE, GATE, GATE 2020, GATE Aspirants, GATE Preparation, IES exam

Big Journeys begin with Small Steps

“Success doesn’t necessarily come from breakthrough Innovation, but from flawless Execution.”

ESE and GATE Preparation: Often I hear a concern among the students regarding “What should be our strategy to crack ESE/GATE exams? To answer this question in the most simplified way, this article is my sincere effort to strategize things for aspirants, which will be fruitful for young friends.

There are two categories of ESE/GATE Aspirants:

(1) Freshers, preparing first time for the competitive exams (Neophytes)

(2) Repeaters, who have already given one or more attempts (Rank Improvers).

(I) Strategy for Neophytes:

If you are fresher and preparing the first time then I would suggest the following approach to be adopted-

Define your aim and target the desired exam right from the beginning. You should examine closely the examination pattern, syllabus, and 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 the limited time frame.

The Study Regime:

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

The overall plan may be further divided into three stages:

1. Six months/One year plan:

Divide months for different subjects and plan it so as to complete the entire syllabus in the leftover time. In the current scenario of high cut-offs, do not go for selective study; instead cover the entire syllabus, because you never know “the topic left could be the topic of conquest.”

2. Subject-wise Plan/ Bi-weekly plan:

For each subject, the study should be exam-oriented, i.e. you should get acclimatized with the subject so that you know which area is to be focused like whether the theory has to be focused or numerical or solving previous years questions will suffice. Every subject requires a different approach. For example, in mathematics, you may be required to focus on practicing problems whereas in English altogether a different approach, similarly in technical subjects the approach may differ from subject to subject.

If you are enrolled in any coaching institute; then concentrate and study well in the coaching classroom, your class notes should be full and final and should be ready in the classroom itself, with simultaneous marking of IMPORTANT concept /formula and develop a habit of writing of NOTE points, wherever required. If the only self-study is your style of preparing without coaching, then also notes making is advisable.

One point to be kept in mind is “Work for Yourself”; i.e. make notes for yourself, it should be self-handwritten notes, as this will increase your writing efficiency in terms of speed, accuracy, and handwriting and also helps in memory retention.

3. Daily To-Do list /Daily plan:

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

Solving previous years’ questions of GATE & ESE (at least of last 10-15 years) should be made contemporaneous with class notes. Do not postpone it for later, a topic that is covered in class or studied on your own, finish the previous years’ questions on a priority basis.

While solving questions, mark the questions which you were not able to solve. Refer to 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 in the book referred underline or highlight the concept. The above methodology is to be followed for all workbooks 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.

Make a REVISION plan:

Make a habit of reading and revising simultaneously.

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

While revising, make sure you are completing;

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

Make Micro notes:

After finishing every subject make micro notes, which have only principal formulae/ diagrams/ concepts of at most importance, especially note down the area which you find difficult to remember. Then, once this is done, take a snapshot and store it in your mobile gallery. These will be your Digital Micro Notes, which can be revised anywhere and everywhere, while traveling, the gap between two classes, free time.

Flow like a river:

Be loquacious and discussion-oriented with friends and seniors and keep on clearing your doubts, don’t allow to accumulate doubts which may result in mental stress. Also, interact with successful seniors and fellow mates to know about their path of success/strategy, it is synonymous with river water which when flows gets self-purified.

Evaluate yourself:

Take tests in an examination environment 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.

Make a holistic and balancing approach:

Cover the entire syllabus but more time should be given to important areas. Identify important subjects and mark important topics within a subject. Scoring and low-scoring areas should be segregated. Make a balance study plan for technical and non-technical subjects. The mathematics and Reasoning aptitude section is quite scoring in GATE Exam.

(II) Strategy For repeaters:

Review your past performance and find the reasons for failure. Consider failure as the next stepping step. In fact, you are not failed your success is a little postponed.
Identify weak areas of each subject and start your preparation by first improving these areas.
Focus more on solving different types of problems and that too from a new source of material in each iteration.
Plan your study to maintain regularity and self-motivation; daily scheduling and subject-wise scheduling is very important for a systematic preparation.
Join some good test Series & Appear for tests with full preparation and take the test in an examination environment and solve previous years’ questions of various exams. Solving previous years’ papers of GATE, ESE & CSE may be very useful.
To maintain continuity and keeping up the self-motivation, form groups of 3-4 friends and make a schedule of group study once a week to discuss complex questions and doubts.

B. Singh (Ex IES)

(CMD, MADE EASY Group)

Read More >> Big Journeys Begin With Small Steps

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