Preparation for GATE is an ongoing process, and is supposed to happen in stages. First get your fundamentals right, and then test yourself on those fundamentals. When you have done this, you should pit yourself with the competition, which means a mock test which would give you a percentile to let you know where you stand amongst competitors.
How do you choose which coaching
Here are some parameters on which you can decide whether you should go for a particular coaching institute, use a particular coaching material, or tests:
1. Uniqueness in their study material: Study material provided by the coaching institutes is of little assistance
2. Collection of quality books in their library: During the process of theory conceptualization and building application capabilities, you need good books, which can really put your brain on exercise. Check out their library!
3. Flexibility in the Coaching Model: What happens when your pace of learning is much faster or slower than the average? Is there any mechanism by which the model can identify exactly where you need help
4. Quality of questions discussed: Number of questions discussed is not that important. By discussing and solving 10-15 conceptual questions on each topic you can build a good application capability. On the other hand solving many tricky non-conceptual questions will simply waste your time.
5. Tests and evaluation model: How is the progress of your preparation tested and analyzed? To what extent the feedback helps in identifying the areas for further work? Here I must say that this is the most crucial part of the preparation. This is the area where most of the students fail due to lack of proper test materials which can help them to build in themselves a real-test-like environment and temperament. Once you are able
Here are some things apart from working on your engineering concepts, that you should do for a complete preparation for GATE:
1. Solve previous years’ GATE papers: Solving previous years’ papers gives you a fair idea of what the actual paper would be like. It also brushes up your basics and exposes your ‘areas of improvement’.
2. Solve test papers: Solve as many test papers as possible. This actually is the best way to keep improving as you prepare for GATE.
3. Analyze : Analyzing your test
4. Simulate actual test environment : This is very important. The actual test happens in a classroom, and is timed. When you take up the test, switch off your cell phone, have a timer which times your tests, and avoid taking any breaks