GATE Success story - Naveen Gupta: Success GATEway

NAVEEN GUPTA

ADMITTANCE:  IIT ROORKEE

I remember how Sachin/Vinod sir called us in the evening and motivated us by giving the dozes which really helped. On the day of the exam, they even came to our exam center to wish us and give the final doze.

Talking about my GATE journey, initially when I started my undergrad, I didn't have any such plan for GATE. Till the fifth semester, I enjoyed full college life, fun with friends, assignments, so many lectures, lectures bunk, learning from seniors, taking part in events, organizing events, everything which we all do in engineering.

Being a part of the technical club of CSE Department, I have been in touch with many seniors who have good expertise in various fields. So after the fifth semester exams got over, I had interacted with seniors who are already preparing for GATE and placements. From one of the seniors, I got to know about Success GATEway classes to prepare for GATE. Then I made up my mind and went there for the demo classes. After talking with faculties Sachin and Vinod sir, I just finalized to start the GATE preparation. In the sixth-semester starting, I joined the classes which only ran on weekends at that time, as college was open. We covered 3-4 subjects of GATE, these subjects include networks, compiler design, C programming, etc till the end of the sixth semester, which also helped me in my university exams. In the vacation time, we started our placement preparation in the coaching as they cover the same subjects during that time. During the college placements, I got selected for a full-time offer in MNC, so that was a happy moment as it was the first placement offer that I had received. After some days of break, we continued the coaching classes and covered the remaining subjects and started giving test series.

A great thing about faculties over there is that they always motivate students to keep going and work hard. These classes helped me understand the concepts clearly and in an easy way as they relate the concepts with the real scenario. In the last 2-3 months, we have done revision, discussion and taken online/offline tests. We were advised not to give any test 10 days before the exam, just do the summary revision. Those days I remember how Sachin/Vinod sir called us in the evening and motivated us by giving the dozes which really helped. On the day of the exam, they even came to our exam center to wish us and give the final doze. When results were declared and after a long counselling process, finally I got admission in IIT Roorkee, that’s really a great moment for me. 

IIT life: Those were the most precious two years of my life as it was full of opportunities and learning. I have availed most of the facilities provided by the institute sports indoor/outdoor, swimming, etc. One thing about IIT is that we need to really put our best efforts to grab the good CGPA, so it was a little bit challenging also. We were given the good quality projects to complete within the deadline and that keeps pushing us to spend more time. Then comes the placement season in IIT which was very much different from what I had seen in my undergrad. All final year students put their best efforts to grab the good placement offer, we had spent many hours including nights also for the preparation. During the placement season in IIT, I grabbed the offer in a good company as a Software Engineer. 

There were many ups and downs in this journey, putting continuous efforts and believing in me was the final key.

GATE Success story - Anuj Jain: Success GATEway

ANUJ JAIN

ADMITTANCE: IIT MADRAS

The strongest factor for success is self-esteem: Believing you can do it, believing you deserve it and believing you'll get it

Let me give you a little insight about my upbringing. I grew up in a family where my parents are very well qualified; my younger brother is extraordinary when it comes to studies. Conversely I was very bad at studies since my school days, infact I badly failed in my 11th standard, Mercy of my school teachers I was promoted to 12th standard, Even in my 12th standard i barely passed.

I did not have any goals about my career and as most of the Indian students not sure about their career; I decided to pursue "ENGINEERING". As I did not score even average grades in my high school I never considered myself capable enough to land in a good college therefore I joined an engineering college nearby my home which was easy to get into. I had little understanding of what field to pursue engineering in, therefore following the mob mentality I opted for the computer science branch. Now the only objective of mine remained to get a mediocre job on completion of my engineering.

Well, everyone thinks if you have a B.Tech degree in computer science then getting a job is easy but believes me it is not that easy, one needs to work hard to earn even a mediocre job. In 4th year of my college I joined placement preparation classes at Success GATEway; irony is that these classes were meant to make us understand what all we have studied in our B.Tech.

How I joined the GATE preparation batch is a story in itself, I attended a few placement preparation classes but I found it hard to concentrate and pass time in such long classes therefore just for the sake of good company I upgraded my batch to GATE preparation batch as some of my friends were already attending this batch. As this batch covered everything that was covered in placement preparation batch but in more detail therefore I thought it could never harm to attend these classes.

Now when I look back, it seems wonderful how things plan out and I find myself in a place where I never planned to be, how I end up attending classes for preparation of an exam which I never even thought of appearing for, but one cannot achieve a goal until and unless self-motivation towards achieving that goal is developed. It's strange how little things in your life can change your thinking. Till this point in time I lacked that motivation, I had joined the GATE preparation batch but my objective still remained getting a mediocre job from college placements, I never took GATE seriously.

Vinod sir and Sachin sir who teaches at Success GATEway are two most influential people in my life, everything i have achieved and will achieve in my future, a big credit goes to them. The kind of motivational talks they would give time to time helped to always set our aims higher.

Two incidents that happened around this time provided me the motivation I was lacking towards GATE:One, I got to meet Manish Panwar who happens to be the first IITian from Success GATEway. Listening to the stories he had about IIT Kanpur, about the kind of practical knowledge you get there, research opportunities there, new ideas that develop when you are surrounded by such bright minds, lit a spark in me about getting to an IIT and of course then there is the kind of job and money one gets after passing out from an IIT is not a secret.

Second, even after working hard and preparing well for the placements I did not get placed, that was the lowest phase of my life till date because I did not know what else to do, it was already December, I had not prepared for GATE at all and the exam was in February.

I appeared for the exam with no preparation and as expected my score was no way near to what is required to get into an IIT. This was the time when I had to make a choice, whether to look for a job or to take a drop and prepare for GATE. This is the tricky part as my father had good links and it would have been easy for him to get me a job and considering my below average performance in studies it would be difficult to convince my family for a drop. But somewhere deep inside I had a belief and was motivated that I could crack the GATE exam and get into an IIT, therefore I wanted to give my best shot at GATE at least once.

After some resistance I managed to convince my family, I rejoined the same coaching, no one I guess would have believed in me to reach an IIT at that time but the only one whose belief counts is you yourself. Believing in myself I started preparing for it with my fullest of the potential, I did everything as asked by the teachers, worked as hard as I could but one can only work towards achieving a goal but whether a goal will be achieved is in the hands of destiny.

Even after working hard I was not scoring well in the regular tests conducted in the coaching, I was feeling the pressure of drop and was starting to doubt myself. But the key here is never to lose faith in you, keep working hard and the things will eventually fall in place.

This is exactly what happened, eventually I started to score well in tests and later in mock tests my scores were really good, that's when I got my confidence back, even the so called best eligible candidates of class started to discuss doubts with me, this is when I felt certain to possess the potential to crack this exam.

Now comes the exam day, everyone was nervous, I had butterflies in my stomach but strangely I did not feel nervous, in fact I was pretty confident about doing well in the exam. My exam went excellent, I was 99% sure after the exam that I was going to one or the other IIT. Results came out, and I scored AIR 275. It is almost sure for one to get into one of the top 7 IITs with this rank. I guess I was a bit lucky to get into IIT Madras with this rank, thanks to the COAP system, as I should have got IIT Guwahati with my rank but got Madras in the spot round.

Well once you get into an IIT things change, people and relatives start giving you respect, suddenly you become a topic of discussion, but on top of everything I cannot forget how proud my parents were, how happy they were to inform everyone. I don't think it's possible to buy feelings like that; one has got to earn those.

Spending 2 years in IIT Madras was like a dream, I will remember every second I spent there throughout my life. It is the environment of these big institutions that makes you push your limits and makes one discover the best version of yourself.

Second time in my life when I made my parents proud was when I got placed in Samsung R&D India with a good package, a kind of job I could not even think of passing out of my B.Tech college. I will now be starting a new phase of my life, entering corporate life, hoping this journey will also be as happening as my previous journeys.

If I can cover distance from being a failure in my school days to getting into an IIT, completing a master degree and getting a research job, I believe anyone who has the willpower and works hard can achieve anything that he/she fancy. I would like to end with the quote "The strongest factor for success is self-esteem: Believing you can do it, believing you deserve it and believing you'll get it".

GATE Success story - Upasana Singh: Success GATEway

UPASANA SINGH

ADMITTANCE:  IIT KANPUR

I was taking online lectures for GATE. But with time, I realized that in-person coaching or guidance will be more helpful

I did my B.Tech from ABES-EC, Ghaziabad. I started my GATE preparation in summer break after my pre-final year in B.Tech. Initially, I was taking online lectures for GATE. But with time, I realized that in-person coaching or guidance will be more helpful. Because in coaching centers, it is more convenient to ask questions. When I discussed it with some of my friends, I came to know about Success GATEway coaching classes. Many of my batch mates were enrolled in their placement course and many others from my college were enrolled in the GATE preparation course. Sachin Sir at Success GATEway used to teach C programming language for both the courses. He was famous for his way of teaching C programming. I joined Success GATEway in August 2016. By the time I joined, a few of the subjects had already been covered. Few other students joined late around the same time. So, we went to the instructors to discuss this, and they willingly agreed to teach us those subjects on the holidays and off-days even without us asking. We were provided with the exercise booklets for each subject, having sufficient practice questions. We used to give tests on weekends. 

As this was my final year, I had to appear for the placement drives as well. At that time, I wanted to keep a backup option in case things don’t go well as planned. I didn’t prepare anything specifically for placements apart from some behavioral questions, of course. I always knew that whatever I was preparing for GATE would help me in my college placements as well, and it did. I got placed on the first day itself. From the day I got placed, I resumed my GATE coaching classes with full energy and concentration. It was the month of November, and most of our subjects were covered by that time. We were supposed to practice more and more by giving online and offline tests. But, I was not very serious with the online practice tests at that time. Either I always used to end the tests in the middle or did not take them seriously as in a real exam. I would suggest everyone to never do this. Later, I realized this was the biggest mistake I made during my preparation for GATE 2017. 

I got AIR 1350 in GATE 2017. I was not happy with the rank because I knew it wasn’t enough to get into any prestigious IIT. On the day results came, I got a call from one of my instructors asking about the results. My instructors called almost everybody from our GATE batch that day. They congratulated us and motivated us to do better. They often used to tell us things that motivated us during coaching as well. These things proved to be very important for all of us. Motivation drives you to keep going and always do better whenever you are preparing for a competitive exam, whether it is GATE or something else. Both of our instructors have always been very friendly and helpful. We could always rely on them for any kind of queries. 

After GATE 2017 results, I had a choice to make to appear for GATE again or not. This was easier for me to decide because I wanted something great for myself. I didn’t want to settle for what I already had. So, I decided to prepare again for GATE 2018. When I was about to graduate in 2017, I had the option of doing GATE preparation along with a job or just prepare full-time for GATE. Since I wanted to give my 100% this time, I chose to prepare full-time for GATE 2018 and rejected my job offer. My parents were always very supportive during all this time. 

I joined the GATE preparation batch of Success GATEway again. Although I had all the notes and other resources from my GATE 2017 preparation, I still joined the coaching because I didn’t want to miss anything this time. I knew that regularly going to coaching classes will maintain discipline and consistency during my preparation. And, all the things that I missed earlier or didn’t do the right way, I would have a chance to make them right. During GATE 2017 preparation, I didn’t spend much time on regularly revising the concepts. Revision is very important. It can make significant impacts on your preparation. If we don’t revise whatever we learn, we often tend to forget it and then end up spending double time on learning the same things again. It wastes more time. Also, revision helps you to know more about your strengths and weaknesses in each subject. This enables you to make informed decisions about which questions should be attempted or skipped during the exam. During GATE 2017, I didn’t decide upon any pattern beforehand on how I would be attempting the questions. This was another blunder made by me. An aspirant should always know beforehand which pattern is suitable for him/her for writing the exam. One should practice sufficient full syllabus tests to figure out which question pattern works for him/her. And afterward, the aspirant should stick to that attempt pattern only while writing any practice test. This prepares your mind in some way and avoids any ambiguities during exam time.

In GATE 2018, I followed an attempt pattern and practiced the same in all my practice tests in coaching. In the first go of the question paper, I attempted 2 marks questions first, then 1 mark questions and at last, the aptitude questions. In the second go, I tried to solve the questions that I could not answer in the first go. I decided to attempt 2 marks questions first because they need more of your time and brain. And usually, we are very calm at the start of an exam. Attempting 2 marks question at the start has its own side effects, but you need to be mentally prepared for that. You should learn to skip questions when needed. And this habit will only develop once you give enough practice tests. 

I secured AIR 166 in GATE 2018 and took admission in IIT Kanpur. I never focused on the number of hours that I put in for preparation. But I always maintained the consistency to follow all these things diligently. At all times, I was focused on maintaining the accuracy of my answers rather than increasing the number of questions I attempt. It helped me in my final GATE exam as well. I only got negatives for 3 questions. Being said that, I still believe that different strategies work for different aspirants, and you should figure out your own strategy by practicing more and more tests. Our instructors at Success GATEway always insisted on that. Success GATEway used to be open on even holidays. There were times when only the students used to go to coaching, to have discussions and doubt solving sessions. I used to spend most of my time there in December and January. My friends and I used to discuss and solve problems together. A student should always be engaged in some doubt sessions or discussions. It helps to make the concepts more clear.

Our instructors provided us with all the resources that they could. They used to be always available to clear your doubts. We were even allowed to call them to clear our doubts. I always think I could have done even better than this. There is always a scope for improvement. Practice more and more to become better. It will boost your confidence for the final GATE exam. Now, I am part of a prestigious institute, and I am very thankful to all those who have been a part of this journey. I have learned many things from my instructors, my friends in coaching, and I will always be grateful to them.

Some pointers based on my little experience:

1. Take every practice test seriously. Write the tests as you would in the GATE exam. 

2. Clear your basics. So that even when a new type of question comes, you will be able to tackle it. Don’t rely only on the type of questions already seen in previous years. 

3. Consistency. Hard work is the key to your success only if you do it consistently. Do revise your notes regularly. Don’t run away from subjects like Computer Organization. Instead, give them more time and try to understand the basics. Once you understand the basics, you would love to learn more. Refer to standard books when needed. 

4. Time. Plan and divide your time accordingly for each subject. Learning new concepts and revising old ones should go hand in hand. Also, plan how you would write your final GATE exam.

GATE Success story - Vishal Chourasia: Success GATEway

VISHAL CHOURASIA

ADMITTANCE:  IIT KANPUR

Discipline and regularity played a key role in my preparation

This was my first attempt, I always wanted to pursue higher education and to get a decent job, that was my only motivation for GATE. I wish to pursue M.Tech. from the best institution, preferably from an IIT. I ended up securing AIR 428, GATE 2018.

While in my 4th year, there was a presentation held in my college, about the perks of cracking GATE and how to crack it. Since the content taught in my college was not good enough to crack GATE therefore I decided to join classroom program of any GATE coaching.

Success Gateway is the institute which I decided to go, for a couple of reasons; each batch consist of 30-40 students thus I can clear my doubts there and then, if still I had doubts they used to sit with me until all doubts get resolved, comparable fees, and since the institute is near to our college so it will save lot of travelling time.

I believe joining Success Gateway was the best decision I made in regards to my preparation, content taught was top-notch, I didn’t have to study anything else, Vinod Sir and Sachin Sir gave their best to helped me to understand the concepts, they motivated me to get back on track if got distracted.

My preparation strategy, as suggested by instructors, was to keep revising notes, and solve all the previous year GATE questions including SG booklets thoroughly, understanding keen points on which questions asked in actual GATE exam, regular tests conducted at institute challenged the concepts I learnt in the class.

Since I knew that my B.Tech. exams would collide with my GATE preparation, I used to go to coaching regularly, after coming from coaching my preference was to revise content taught on same day, and before going for next class I quickly take a glance over the content of previous lectures, and if could had any doubts while revision, tried to asked in the very next lecture.

After university exam, in the month of January, I started my preparation with full focus on GATE, I used to study from 10AM to 12AM, with minor breaks for meals etc. I used to study with my partner, Dhawal, without whom I could not have had showed such a discipline for studying 10 hours a day, I am very thankful for him. Discipline and regularity played a key role in my preparation.

Key step in my strategy was that I used to study subjects in cyclic order i.e.  A subject studied on January 1st will be revised on 4th, and subject studied on Jan 2^nd will be on 5^th, by continuing same strategy for entire month, I had revised the entire syllabus approx. eight times, which boosted my level of preparation and confidence, on top of that we used to have full length test on every third day which helped me to finalize the strategy for actual GATE exam.

The only advice I can give from my end is to work on fundamental concepts, challenge your concepts by asking questions, and clear your doubts. Practice decent amount of previous year questions to understand the difficulty level of the exam. I wish all the future GATE Aspirants very good luck for their preparation.

GATE Success story - Abhishek Gupta: Success GATEway

ABHISHEK GUPTA

ADMITTENCE: IIT ROORKEE

I appeared for GATE-2019 and finally achieved my long awaited dream that is IIT Roorkee

First time I got to know about the GATE exam from my cousin when I was in 2^nd year.  When we were in 3^rd year Success GATEway conducted a seminar regarding the GATE and its benefits.  After attending the seminar I understood one thing that if I prepare for GATE exam then at least,  I would be able acquire lot of technical knowledge which will also help in the campus placements.

My college was 25 KM away from the coaching center. I thought I should first go and check if it is the right place for preparation.  So, I went to Success Gateway to attend demo class and see what and how they are teaching. I am very impressed with their teaching. I joined the coaching from February under guidance of Sachin Sir and Vinod Sir,  First they have completed placement related subjects C, DS, Algorithms  and OS which helped me to get placed in the first company visited in the college, but due to  delay in the result, I got to know about it after two months. So, I appeared in every company so far, and it was a very hectic time, and I was lagging in my GATE preparation.

I decided to stay at college during the Diwali holidays to cover my entire syllabus for the GATE exam. Unfortunately, I got very sick during that time. So, I skipped classes and could not study. It took approx. one month to recover. I lost all hope for even qualifying for the exam. Then, I talk to Vinod Sir and Sachin Sir about this. They gave me guidance on how to tackle this. I could not implement it all but tried. After GATE 2018 exam, I went for an internship at the company in which I was placed. GATE 2018 result came on 16 March 2018, and I got only 45 marks.

I called Vinod Sir to ask what I should do since I knew that with these marks I would not get any premium institute and I was also very much desperate to study in IITs.  After explaining all the aspects he said final decision will be yours. I agreed for self-preparation with the job, I started preparing for the exam, but I could not give as much effort as required. I was consistently in touch with Vinod Sir. Meanwhile I attempted few tests on Success Gateway exam portal and I thought I am not on the right path. So, in August, I decided to quit my job and started full time preparation but also needed some guidance so after discussion with Vinod Sir he told me that no  need to join coaching, but if  you think it is necessary, you can join it's your decision, finally I joined in September. Both faculties taught subjects taking extra lectures, guided me on how to complete my course at a given time, with their guidance I was able to finish my preparation on time.

Success gateway test series helps me a lot in finding mistakes and correcting them. I skipped some tests but attempted all full-length tests. We could discuss each question with the sir any time (24*7) they are available. It helped me a lot in preparing the strategy for GATE, like time management and avoiding silly mistakes. I appeared for GATE-2019 and finally achieved my long awaited dream that is IIT Roorkee.

GATE Success story - Dhawal Singh: Success GATEway

DHAWAL SINGH

ADMITTANCE: IIIT DELHI 

I had always failed in my life. I wasn't a bright student and just an average student throughout my life

I had always failed in my life. I wasn't a bright student and just an average student throughout my life. I failed in JEE, AIEEE. I just managed to get admission in a private engineering college through State Engineering Entrance Exams.

During engineering, I had no confidence left and I never dreamt about any big things like GATE. All I wanted was a job at the end of engineering. But my friend Vishal changed my mind and convinced me to go for higher studies. As he was doing the same so he told me all the pros and cons of giving GATE exam, before that I was clueless about GATE. We both joined Success Gateway that was one of the best GATE coaching in NCR and it was in our locality too.

We started preparing for GATE, best thing about Success Gateway was that the batch size was about 30-40 students, that is clearing your doubts become easier and teachers' pay individual attention to each student. In fact, in coaching center both the teachers encourage students to ask doubts during the class. As Vinod sir always says even the lamest doubt is important.  I believe joining Success Gateway was the best decision I made in regards to my preparation, content taught was top-notch, and I didn’t have to study anything else.

I have followed all the instructions given by both the teachers regarding subjects or studying at home. Discipline played a key role in my preparation. I used to go to coaching regularly on weekend, after coming from coaching I would give time to revise content taught same day, and before going for next class I would quickly glance over the content of previous day, this made me grasp on topics easily. I have solved all the booklets given by coaching many times. This help in building my concept about a particular topic and give confidence to solve unseen problem of that particular subject. Key step in my strategy was that I used to studying subjects in cycle. After hard work and dedication, I ended up in IIITD. 

I have learnt many things from this journey but I know this only hard work what it takes to achieve your goal. Your passion always drives you towards your goal and helps you in achieving your goal.

GATE Success story - Shraddha Gupta: Success GATEway

SHRADDHA GUPTA 

ADMITTANCE: IIIT DELHI

After hearing them my inclination towards M.Tech changed into determination

I was always inclined towards M.Tech while I was in my undergraduate college, but lacked focus, guidance and the spirit to achieve my goal. In my college I studied just with the purpose to get decent percentage, I did secured good percentage but my concepts were not at all good. When I was in third year of B.Tech I heard about Success GATEway from a senior, later that week Sachin sir and Vinod sir came to out college to tell us about the same. After hearing them my inclination towards M.Tech changed into determination. After learning from both the teacher I actually understood the concepts and the essence of the subjects. Their way of teaching and unique approach towards all the topics made subjects lot more interesting and studies effortless.

The open discussion on all the topics helped me to understand the topic in lot more detail and depth. Both sir made sure that each student understood all the topics. Both the teachers were always ready to clear the doubts, discuss new topics and approaches not only in the class but also after the class and on calls too. GATE questions of each topic were also discussed in the class. The practice booklets were provided by the coaching which contained all the previous year’s GATE questions, questions of other competitive exams and non-GATE questions too. While I was in fourth year, the college placement drive started. I cleared  aptitude and Technical rounds of almost all the companies but due to some reason or the other was never able to make up to the final selection list which not only caused demotivation but also brought my GATE preparation off track. I talked about this to both the teachers; they not only made me realize the bigger thing I was aiming for but also made me more confident and focused towards my dream.  

During December both the teachers took extra classes to clear the doubts of all the students and left no stone unturned. In January mock tests started, which gave us pretty good idea about the pattern of the exam and the technique to attempt the exam, the level of the question paper was always set slightly higher than the actual GATE level. All this while both the teachers were always in touch and just a call away, they personally kept check on the performance of the students and guided us. Despite of working hard I was not also to score desired or expected marks.

I was so much determined towards my goal that I decided to give it another chance and I started my preparation once again with much more enthusiasm. There were regular tests in the coaching to check my preparation level. I studied the concepts in much more detail. I practiced more questions than previous year and discussed more topics with both the teachers. Sachin sir and Vinod sir guided me that how can I reduce my errors to minimum and which all the topics I need to focus upon more. I improved myself by following their advises and appeared for GATE exam and finally got selected in IIIT Delhi. 

                

If you have even the slightest interest in studying the actual concepts of your technical field, then without any doubt aim big and go for GATE and if you get the guidance of such hard working teachers then things get much easier and  smoother.