GATE Preparation Guide – Phase I
The Concept Building Phase:-
The primary source of Concepts
In this phase, your primary objective is to develop strong concepts. There are a couple of ways you can do that.
- You can go to good old standard books.
- watch nptel lectures online and get your concepts. (Add link here) Click here
I prefer standard books. These books are written in such a way that it is self-explanatory and it makes sure that the reader learns all the necessary topics. The reader can also practice many numbers of examples/practice problems an have access to graphs, tables and diagram.
Some might prefer video lectures. They can be good at explaining concepts. If you prefer video lectures, I suggest you practice a couple of problems from standard books for every concept you learn.
Whichever way you choose to get your concepts from, make sure that you cover all the topics from GATE syllabus.
Make sure that you have given enough time for phase I. Depending on how strong your baseline concepts are, phase I will take anywhere from 3 months to 8 months. Remember you have phase II and phase III to cover before GATE 2021. By any rate, you have to complete phase I before September. If you cannot do that, you won’t have enough time for phase II and phase III which are equally important and you will end up jeopardising your chances to crack GATE.
Create your Concept Book
Now you have chosen a medium to study, and you have set a deadline by which you complete your phase I. Lets continue with the remaining steps.
Set a book for each subject- This book will be called “Concept Book.”
It will be your go-to book in future to refresh/revise your concepts. Therefore, build this book with at most care and love. View this book as a concise version of the standard book.
This book will contain the derivations of the essential formulas you must know. Derivations will allow you to understand the conditions and assumptions used for a formula from which you will see where formula should be applied and where it should not be. This skill is essential to avoid a trick question.
You should also include concepts, definitions, important figures etc. Make sure to practice a few problems immediately after learning the concepts. This way, you will fully grasp what you learn.
Note: Do not use this book to practice problems. Keep a separate notebook for that. A concept book must not include problems in it.
Phase I will end when you complete learning all the concepts for GATE. Have GATE syllabus with you to make sure that you are on track.
Note that it is impossible to complete 100% of the GATE syllabus. It would help if you were tactical when completing the syllabus. Most of the times single digit Rankers score in 80’s out of 100 marks. So even if you complete 80% of the syllabus, it means you can still crack GATE with flying colours. But that does not mean you can skip learning few chapters. That is a strict NO. NEVER SKIP A TOPIC/CHAPTER for GATE. Every topic has easy concepts which take less time to learn and difficult concepts which take more time. Hence when you skip topics/chapters, you are doing yourself a disservice. Therefore, Make sure that you have learnt all the easy concepts and not skipped any topic.
When you have finished 80-90% of the syllabus; if you feel your progress is slowed down; and it is already September; then you can stop Phase I and start Phase II which will be your Problem solver phase.
Your Aim in this phase:
- Create a concept book for each subject
- Get strong at basics
- Practice a few problems for every concept you learn
- Do not skip any topic/chapter
- Make sure you learn all the easy concepts
- Complete Phase I by September
That’s it for now, the next article I will write on “how not to prepare for GATE” What you should not DO for GATE Preparation.
Bye 🙂
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