GATE

An engineering aspirant's class 12 board exam marks may soon carry less weightage than the currently prescribed 40 percent for admission to the National Institutes of Technology (NIT).
In the latest move, the Central government has decided to roll back its predecessor's decision of assigning 40 percent weightage to class 12 board exam marks for admission to the various NITs, three years after it was introduced.
The change, to be effective from the next academic year, is expected to be notified soon,according to Indian Express.
Presently, the 31 NITs admit students based on all-India ranks prepared by giving 60 percent weightage to a candidate's JEE (Mains) performance and 40 percent weightage to marks obtained by them in their class 12 board exams.
According to sources, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani, who is the chairperson of the NIT Council, has decided that from 2017, the NITs would not be calculating a student's rank using their board marks. Instead, they will follow in the footsteps of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Students are able to secure admission in the IITs, only if, apart from qualifying JEE (Advanced), they are either in the top 20 percentile of their school board or have scored at least 75 percent.

Hello,
Here few tips for GATE preparation
1. Preparation time for GATE depends on many factors, such as individual's aptitude, attitude, fundamentals, concentration level, etc.
2. Generally, rigorous preparation for four to six months is considered good, but it may vary from student to student
3. Candidate should refer to the syllabus and analyse the exam pattern using previous years' papers and prepare accordingly
4. It is important to know what to study, but it is more important to know what not to study
5. A clear understanding of the underlying concepts is a must since the questions asked in GATE exam will test the level and depth of understanding of concepts
6. As all subjects don't have equal marks, few subjects are preferred over others
7. Make a list of topics which need to be studied based on the number of questions which have appeared from the topic in the previous years' GATE examinations
8. Identify topics which have fetched more marks and give more importance to them during your preparation
9. Create a timetable for study of topics and follow it strictly. While studying any topic, make sure to highlight important points like key definitions, equations, derivations, theorems, laws, etc.
10. Allocate preparation time to subjects based on the number and frequency of questions asked in previous examinations.
All the best.