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It goes without saying that GATE scores have wide acceptance and importance in India as well as abroad for every engineering candidate. Qualifying students get to study M.E, M.Tech, MS, Ph.D and studies abroad, for instance in Germany or Singapore. They also get lucrative career opportunities to get placed in Public Sector Units (PSUs) like NTPC, HPCL, BPCL, ONGC, BHEL, etc.
Each year over Lakhs of candidates appear for GATE but only a few create a benchmark. Preparing for GATE is not a cakewalk and a lot of hard work, determination and planning are required, shares the 2018 topper Amit Kumar, who in no time has become a motivational force for students preparing for GATE. Amit, a native of Patna (Bihar) is a strong believer of the strategy – ‘Plan your work first then work your plan’. Simple yet very powerful, he advises the future GATE aspirants to work hard and complete task in time, stay confident and happy.
Amit Kumar was elated to have secured AIR 1 in Petroleum Engineering (PE) which he prepared for in six months time during his B.Tech final year studies at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad. A Petroleum Engineering student, Amit strongly believes that if the correct plan is put in order and implemented within the time frame then nothing is unachievable.
Why is Amit’s Success Exemplary?
Balancing B.Tech studies and GATE preparation has been a tough call to take, but his focused approach is simply exemplary. What is intriguing about his achievement is his success in a stream like PE which was introduced hardly three years back under GATE scheme. One of the major challenges has been finding sufficient previous year papers which caused difficulty in deciding the importance and weightage to be given to each topic.
Surprisingly, he didn’t even join any coaching to stronger his preparations. Nevertheless, his one-track mind and strategy paid off and Amit is now on a road to get a dream job in one of the top PSUs. Read on to know more about his strategies for GATE,
Amit’s Strategy to securing AIR 1
“I was serious for my preparations and started 5-6 months prior to GATE exam. I was able to do as my subject specialization in B.Tech was the same as GATE subject, hence the topics don’t vary much,” shares Amit. He stresses on knowing GATE syllabus thoroughly before anyone begins his/her preparations.
He prepared a checklist of the topics and subjects based on conceptual understanding of strong and weak topics. With the help of correct and relevant study material, Amit worked on his weak areas first and then progressed to other topics. Making short notes or conclusive remarks for each topic is a crucial tool for every student during last minute revisions. He suggests that Mathematics and Aptitude are highly scoring subjects, so one must prep up to have good command in them.
Attempt Mocks and Join Test Series
As much as planning preparations are important, it is equally crucial to assess preparations from time to time. To this, Amit recommends attempting mocks and joining a test series for bettering the preparations. It helps in time management and assessing weak and strong areas of preparation. Accessing free study materials and questions available on websites like PETROGATE Academy, gateinpetroleum, gateaiotspe and GATE AIOTS are highly recommended.
Due to the dearth of previous years question papers and PE being a relatively new paper, Amit made it a point to give GATE mock tests. ‘GATE mock tests are very crucial as it is the most authenticate place to understand syllabus and preparations,’ adds Amit.
Manage Your Study Time
Amit feels that study time should be chosen as per one’s convenience as each person has different pace and pattern of studying. Moreover, the right time to begin preparations depends on how well you know your subject. Nevertheless, it is best to start preparations by the end of the third year of B.Tech (if you are a student) and 5-6 months prior if you are not pursuing studies.
The important thing to bear in mind is to finish syllabus at least two weeks before the examination and keep last days of preparations for test series and revisions only.
Recommended Books by Amit
Apart from using free online material and test series, Amit prepared for GATE 2018 by referring to the following books in Petroleum Engineering such as
- Oilwell Drilling Engineering: Principles And Practice by H.Rabia
- Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering by L.P. Dake
- For Reservoir Engineering: Reservoir Engineering Handbook by Tarek Ahmed
- Offshore Drilling and Production Practices by SukumarLaik
- Petroleum Production Operations: Production Technology I & II (Heriot Watt Publication)), Production Operations (Vol 1& 2) by Thomas Allen and Alan Robert, Surface production operation (vol. 1 &2) by Ken Arnold
