Best options for students with low GATE percentile

By: Keval Kailas Dhannawat 

Exploring options is always a wise step to take. Prepare for the exam, identify the weak areas, or choose a different field altogether. The choices must be made by keeping in mind the growth opportunities in future.

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is conducted for undergraduate students to pursue post-graduation in engineering. In case, a student has scored low percentile in GATE, they should not lose hopes, instead, they should start exploring other options like other government colleges, prepare for the exam again, and so on. In this article, we will discuss the options available for students after getting low percentile in GATE.

The students can choose from the following options, in case they have scored low percentile in GATE:

• Prepare again for the exam: This option is the most difficult one. As the student would have to give one more year to prepare for the GATE exam. The students could qualify GATE with good marks the second time as they would know the syllabus of the exam. Keep the following tips in my while preparing for the GATE exam again:
  • Review the syllabus of the exam, compare it with the last examination, and check all the high weightage topics in the question paper
  • Identify the weak topics in the given syllabus and start working on these topics first
  • Increase the time for the preparation with a clear and accurate study plan and make sure adequate time is allotted for revisions of all the topics/ chapters
  • The revision sessions must include practising additional question papers that need to be solved within the standard exam duration
• Admission in government college: The second option is to get admission in a government college. This option is again for the students who are making a fresh start and have dropped a year to prepare for the next year. The students could take attestation in any of the government schools and there, they would get a stipend of Rs 12, 500. During the first year of post-graduation, students could prepare for GATE again.
• Options after unsuccessful attempts: This option is for students those who are giving GATE exam every year and getting just qualifying marks. I would suggest that they could consider choosing some other field.
• The other option is that continue with the current job (if you have one) and prepare for some other competitive exam or higher qualification that would not disturb the work schedule (prepare on Saturday and Sunday also weekends, if possible), and at the same time also gives adequate time to prepare and clear the examination.

About the Author:

Keval Kailas Dhannawat is pursuing B.E in Computer Science Engineering from SKN Sinhgad Institute of Technology and Science.