My Family and Academic BackgroundI am Yadagiri Shashank from Mancherial of Telangana State. My father Y Ram Mohan Rao is an Electrical Foreman in Singareni Collories, Srirampur and my mother Rukmini is a Teacher in Girls High School Mancherial. I studied in Saint Marys High School, Bellampally till 7th class and from 8th to 10th in Gowtham Concept School, Gudivada. I did my B.Tech from NIT Calicut and M.Tech from IIT Madras with Structural Engineering as specialization.
All India 9th in Civil Engineering
I secured 9th rank in Civil Engineering Branch. This is my 2nd attempt and earlier I appeared in 2015 and secured 114th rank and got admission in IIT Madras.
My family and friends behind my success
I would credit all my success to my family and my friends as they provided moral support when I did not perform well in some exams and got disappointed.
GATE for PSU’s and Higher Learning
GATE is an exam where you will have multiple opportunities. Many public sector companies recruit through GATE or if you want to pursue higher education then top engineering colleges in India are offering M.Tech admissions through GATE.
Appearing for IES mains this year
My goal is to achieve good rank in Indian Engineering services. I had cleared IES prelims this year and preparing for mains exam which is to be held on 1st July 2018.
Practiced good number of online tests
My main focus was on IES exam. I appeared for Prelims on January 7th. After giving IES prelims I had one month time for preparing GATE. As the syllabus of GATE and IES exams is similar, I attempted good number of online tests and corrected my mistakes. I have not kept exact hours to study in a day; rather had kept small targets to be completed in that particular day and used to finish regularly.
Coaching did help but not mandatory
I had taken coaching and it helped me a lot but it is not mandatory to take coaching. By taking coaching it helps to clear your doubts with the faculties and will give a clear trend of how the examination pattern is and how to prepare.
3rd year second semester- Ideal time to start preparation
Ideally one should start preparing from 3rd year second semester as almost all the subjects will be finishing in their engineering curriculum, so that they can get good rank in 4th year itself.
My preparation strategy
After I finish my class and come to the room, I look at the notes taught by the faculty on that day and will solve the previous questions in that topic. Once I finish preparation of that topic I will give online test immediately to check how good I had prepared and correct the mistakes. Writing short notes is important thing because at the end as the exam approaches, you have to remember all the points. It makes easier when you make a good short notes from the starting stage itself.
While attempting questions
One should first attempt the area in which you are strong. I had attempted civil engineering section first and aptitude section last.
My toughest time in preparation
Toughest aspect in my preparation is the last 15 days before the exam. As exam approaches, I had to remember each and every point to secure a good rank. This work was achieved by proper writing of short notes from the day I started my preparation.
Answering Numerical type questions is the tough thing I felt in the GATE exam, because you don’t have the option to check your answer. I had done all the calculations twice for Numerical type questions to check if there is any error.
Mock Tests helps review preparation
Mock tests are the only platform during your preparation phase where you can correct your mistakes and simultaneously can check your status with respect to the current competition.
Previous Papers reveal trend of questioning
Not only GATE, every exam follows some trend of questioning and it is important to solve previous year question papers, as they give you a picture on what areas you should focus with respect to that exam.
Topics to be definitely covered:
Important topics to be covered for GATE exam:
- Strength of Materials
- Soil Mechanics
- Environmental Engineering
- Transportation Engineering
- Fluid Mechanics
Books for preparation:
Apart from class notes I followed the following books:
- Soil Mechanics: Gopal Ranjan
- Transportation Engineering: Khanna and Justo
- Open channel flow: Subramanya
Advice to GATE Aspirants:
Preparation of good short notes for every subject from the starting day and attempting all the online tests seriously is crucial for success in the exam. Giving tests during last month before the exam is not a good thing and will not augur well for your preparation, so try giving tests immediately once you have finished your preparation of that topic.
