Time to handle the constraints 💫

Chapter for when 

the clock is ticking in head...

Hiya GrATE Aspirants!

Sorry for being so quiet on the blog front previously. This post was supposed to have been up already before most of you got worried during the revisions but other priorities overtook the list. Today though, let's go to the elephant in the room and talk about strategies to face problems during revisions.

A preparation without revision is no real preparation, just as a home without love is no real home.

The biggest difficulty you face during this phase is- 'How to remember the subjects you've already completed while covering the new subjects? ' At this point, I at times used to feel really demotivated but the best thing was more the number of times you'll face this situation believe that the nearer you're to your goal.

But to deal with it here's the solution you need to know- 'Test Series.'

My Scenario- I had continued with my preparation+revision from December after a 7 weeks break due to college exams. So I only had two months for the revision. It was then I felt difficult to remember subjects i had assumed then that i had already finished but when i started with new subjects i couldn't recall various topics from previous subjects. So, I started with online tests series. 

Initially i gave tests of subjects which i had completed previously and continued with preparation of new subjects. Here, most important thing I did was to give time to the reviewing of test and then revising the subtopics that I forgot, vaguely or wrongly remembered while taking test. After covering considerable number of subjects i started taking full length tests (one in each day). Again, most important thing here I did was to take test in a similar kind of environment (complete silence, no disturbance, study material far from reach, restricted number of pages for rough work) AND took these tests at the same time as my final exam was scheduled for. This helped me set my body clock to work according to that time, and it was the best thing since i used to be a night person and my exam was in morning so this made my brain work faster during that time. Also, the full length exams help you work on your time management. 

Another thing to follow, i tried two three timing strategies initially on full length test series and then restricted ONLY to one i choose from those. Like, I attempted aptitude first as mind is fresh in the starting then i used to jump on 2 marks technical questions and lastly 1 mark technical questions. Also, test used to take 3 hours and then a rigorous review of the test took around 2-3 hours along with turning pages of notes to refresh the topics.

The solution was, therefore, revising subtopics by turning pages of notes after taking a test. This strategy helped me revise multiple subjects simultaneously instead of revising complete subjects again and again and also to keep up with the new subjects.

PS. You can take help from my strategy but try to follow what suits you best. 
However, this was just the first step in the staircase. Step further and switch to the next post here. Keep reading 😊

STUFF you had been searching for...

Hola homo-sapiens! Hope you're doing GrATE today :D
So, most of you, am sure if you have managed to open and read this post, must have been searching for the questions that follow up:

Where to study from?

This question is too important to be answered, and even i could not find the BEST answer even till 2nd February'18 (My exam was on 3rd Feb'18). So, here what i want to say is, whatever material you have finish it and then move on to searching for more else you would be wasting your time in finding more questions and books and other stuff to study from while you haven't actually done with what you already had.

I am sure, the next question that must be popping up in your mind would be, what all i referred?
I had joined Made Easy classroom course (for me those 8-9 hours, apart from travelling time, were more of a reminder to the battle i had stepped into) and I followed the material in order as first register notes second workbook simultaneously (as soon as a topic finished, this reminds me of days when i had to solve workbooks while travelling in metro) then previous years and at last test series (Made Easy and ACE)
ALERT- Follow your own strategy, don't search for someone else's plan!!! But, YES the stuff i mentioned was more than enough to crack even under 100 rank. (So, if you have similar stuff covering similar questions and topics, it is enough.)

Standard Books to be followed?

This is another thing that had been bothering me since months. I used to ask my seniors again and again- "I am from three tier college and did not study from standard books in my initial years so doubt on my basic concepts built so far, Is it still possible to crack GATE with decent rank?" and even though they answered what actually happened, i always thought- "They were saying just for the sake of my confidence." I will not deny the fact that i had read some standard books for the subjects, that were included in my semester curriculum, just after i had made up my mind for GATE. 

But then, What i had read from those books hardly made a difference and books i read were- Ullman (Compiler Design), Cormen (Algorithms), Kenneth Rossen (Discrette Maths) and Galvin (Operating Systems, only book that i actually read well and complete).

If someone is dedicated enough to read these knowledgeable books, I would not at all want to discourage you from doing so, then here are some-
Database- Navathe

Engineering Maths- BS Grewal

Data Structure- Tanenbaum

Networking- Forouzan (Highly Recommended, if you want to study Comp N/w well)

Digital Logic & Comp Architecture- Morris Mano
Theory Of Computation- Peter Linz

Ps. It would be great to hear from readers, for the questions they have unanswered. Drop your views be it appreciation or criticism in the comments. Heartiest thank you to all the readers for your valuable time :)