My Gate Journey 2022 - Comp Science

by Manisha K Johnson

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Posted on April 1, 2021 to April 23, 2022

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Journey from Rank 10000 to Rank 5757.

Most students taking the gate exam hope to achieve a perfect score and a single digit rank in order to gain admission to India's elite colleges. My goal is to locate and excel in a field in which I wish to pursue further research. I enjoy the topics, so I want to put in the greatest effort possible to get into the college of my dreams. This is my goal, and I'd like to include you all in it.

I'm excited to record and be accountable. Come along in this journey of mine!

To do well during any specific task. Practise under pressure.

Sprint wise Review

Exam is scheduled in February 2022 and I'm beginning the preparation in April 2021. I have A 9-5 job in testing domain which despite its heavy work schedule I intend to study along side with it. My plan is to introduce two-week sprints. I'll assess and share my success and failure scenarios by the conclusion of these two weeks, then improve them in the next sprints.

Sprint wise Outcomes
Sprint 1, The beginning (March end-April) : Good morning habits and motivated
Sprint 2, April mid-end:(Studied 7/15 days) Discovered timeboxing, tracking TV time, importance of planning long weekends.
Sprint 3, May: Studied + Distracted. Decided to divide and conquer time
Sprint 5, June first-mid : Overstimulation is the enemy of focus, learnt importance to be bored
Sprint 6, June mid-end : Try Animedoro. Learnt that morning I was the most productive. When I begin my day watching TV, I loose my intentions. Weekends were the worst because of this
Sprint 7, July first-mid : Slow progress with data structures trying Understanding problem solving and working on sums intuitively. Wake up at 6:30am ,not keeping daily targets. Came across Catalan Numbers, Birthday Paradox intuition, Yoga Nidra
Sprint 8, July mid-end : Its very dangerous to undervalue or underassign time
Sprint 9, Aug first-mid : I start a countdown which begins to stress me out. Studing with renewed interest. Late night study is ruled out, important to study in the morning Failure: Not finishing gate applied set plan consistently. Prioritizing other things, organizing work additional activities. Half heartedness in Tasks and failure is studying as well as ongoing task. I should prioritize and also be present in the activities I take up. Success: I have been conscious with my time and understand that I have only 5 months to exam. Every sec of analising counts
Sprint 10, Aug mid-end : 10 sprints left before Gate. I woke up early to study but researched more on beauty products
Sprint 11, Sept first-end : Eyes tearing up coz of strain, Gate exam registrations done. Not analysing solved papers and worried about deadlines
Sprint 13, Oct first-mid : Inconsistent efforts. I had many leaves from office, I stayed distracted and back to square one
Sprint 14, Sept mid-end : 100 days countdown, Discipline gone for a toss.
Sprint 14, 15, 16 OCT-NOV : Busy with my cousins wedding. I tried to solve as much as possible
Sprint 17: Sept mid-end: Anxiety of the countdown, sleepless with worry over too little time for preparation
TaskForce-1: Dec19-Dec31 : Everyday was precious, but i was anxious about my marks in all india mock papers

Study Technique

I like to study but I realize my big mistake is not staying consistent so i rely on my short-term memory for exam preparation. So I understand the fears of not being able to recollect subjects after the exam is over. Now I am changing it.

• Retrospective Revision: Blank piece of paper, write down whatever you know about the subject
• Active Recall: Just Recollect any topics
• Spaced Repetition: Because my intention is to have a long term memory retention, i need to frequently recollect the subjects I have already studied.
• Solve as many sums as I can get my hands-on: Since this is an exam I need to do this diligently.
• Timeboxing, blocking time in calender for certain tasks
• Most of my time should be spent analysing solved questions No-1 Rule
• Animedoro Rocks!
• Weekdays-Study & Weekends-Revise & Solve
• When Tired, Practise Yoga Nidra + eyemasks
• ParetoConcept - "It's a little hard wrap our heads around this concept, but it works" ~ 20% of content as 80% of the output
• Write as many exams as you can get your hands on

Key-Takeaways

Here we go, My instrospection after this commitment.
For six months, I had a detailed plan, and I learned all of my sections in the same way that I learned in school. I took on the challenge and chronicled my progress, but the end result was average passing grade. I had a goal set to find what I am interested in

1. Engr Math: I am in good terms with this. Loving the Linear algebra visualization
2. Data structure and Algorithm: Confident with the knowledge
3. Database: Interesting and easy
4. Computer Organization and Architecture: Appreciate it but I dont see myself contributing in this area
5. Digital Logic: I learn and forget, learn and forget.
6. Compiler Design: I enjoyed the whole idea and theories behind it.
7. Computer Network: Definitely more appreciation for OSI model
8. Theory of Computation: I appreciate Alan Turning contributons and I am interested in this
9. Graphy Theory: Learn and forget.

I would say I enjoy algorithm, compiler design and theory of computation the most.
I am focusing on taking the gate score of 420/1000 and converting it into an opportunity.

Would I encourage anyone to attempt Gate?
Recommended to prepare but please note its not just passing or getting a rank, strive for a better gate score. Score over Rank always. Any extra additional points with this would be to:

1. Before any new journey in life, plan what is the outcome of your effort. Any gain at the end of the action.
2. Dont be overly emotional while preparing for an entrance exam. Emotions cause stress.
3. Dont compare your efforts with your chilled out life, dont feel proud and lose track of your efforts either
4. Stay neutral, Stay consistent with solving and analysing as much as possible and Stay focused

Now how will i proceed.
With this rank, I'll try to convert it into an opportunity. Know that:
I have lived happy without the outcome of the exam, i can live normal having passed the exam. The point being: just learn everyday. That is really all you need done.
I can afford optimism in such a situation because I learnt what I could. I have reached a certain maturity in studying.
As I was trying to get into a college in India with this score, that I realised there is such a thing as education maturity.

Control your emotions while learning, examine in higher view of what you're learning, and relate what you've learned to concepts you already know aka mind mapping for a better memory. This is education Maturity.

This blog is coming to a close, and my "definition of done" was to take this exam only in 2022, no more dedicated reattempts.

I'm now focused on converting this gate score into an opportunity. I'm more forgiving of myself today than I was when I first started, grateful for the effort, and optimistic about the future.