My Gate Journey

22 Mar 2025 #GATE
IISC
IIT Bombay, Photo by Zoshua Colah

After completing my Bachelor's, I suddenly decided, without any clear reason, to prepare for GATE instead of going abroad. I had always dreamed of pursuing higher studies abroad, and honestly, I wasn’t all that interested in campus placements. But one day, I just made the decision to start preparing for GATE—looking back now, it was one of those random, all-of-a-sudden choices that somehow worked out.
When I started, I had pretty much forgotten most of what I had learned in college (except for math and programming, thankfully). I was literally starting from scratch, but once I got into the rhythm of things, it didn’t feel as difficult as I had imagined. However, the theory-heavy subjects, like Operating Systems, Computer Networks (except for the Data Link Layer, which for some reason, I actually enjoyed), and Compilers, were a real struggle for me. To be honest, I just skipped most of the compilers, because I couldn't bring myself to study them.
Throughout my college life, I always enjoyed computer science and did fairly well. I wasn’t a topper, but I was definitely above average. So, when I began my GATE journey, I didn't feel like I was totally out of my depth. Fast forward to GATE 2025: I’m proud to share that I secured an All India Rank of 189 and have been selected for an MTech program at IIT Bombay. It feels surreal, but looking back, I’m glad I took the leap to prepare for GATE instead of sticking to my original plan of going abroad.

1.

Preparation

I started my preparation around the end of May, but by then I was already good at discrete math (especially combinatorics), algorithms, data structures, and linear algebra. Initially, I had planned to prepare on my own without any coaching. Honestly, had I stuck to that, it would've been a disaster with the amount of syllabus that we have and an equal amount of procrastination I had. Luckily, a friend mentioned that GoClasses was conducting a scholarship test in a week or two, and I casually checked out a few of their videos and ended up really liking them and decided to give the test a shot. The good part is I got the 90% scholarship! Since the test was math-based, I found it quite easy. And a 90% discount is a massive deal, so I just went for it — and that's how my journey with GoClasses began. Now, one thing about GoClasses is that their content is huge (not soooo huge, but huge). At first glance, it feels overwhelming and that's something not so pleasant to look at. But once I got into it, I realized how good the content actually is. The only subject I didn't enjoy was compilers. Everything else was pretty smooth for me. For preparation (subject order), I simply followed the schedule provided by GoClasses, and I was able to complete the syllabus by mid-November. I did skip about half of the compilers module, which ended up costing me later during the exam 😅. But it wasn't too big of a deal since my main goal was to get into an MS program, and I was confident I could score enough for that.
When I first started studying, I could barely manage 2 hours a day, and that really frustrated me. I then started using the Pomodoro technique and gradually increased my daily study time to around 4–5 hours. But even that isn't enough, especially if you're aiming for a rank under 500. Eventually, I figured out the real problem — my phone. I installed Yeolpumta, which basically locks your phone, and if you try to use it, your study progress resets. That feature alone helped me stay serious. I didn't even want to pause it and break the flow. Slowly, my daily average went up to 7 hours, which I feel is quite decent, considering I sleep 8 hours.

1.1 Study Plan

My daily routine was pretty strict after June. I'd wake up at 6:30 AM, go visit my grandparents for a quick morning walk, take a bath, and then start studying by 7:45 AM. I'd go on till 12:30 PM with small 5-minute breaks in between. After lunch, I'd chill a bit by watching some series till around 2 PM, then get back to studying till 4 or 5 PM. After that, I'd go for swimming, come back, and study again till 7 PM. Post dinner, I'd watch something again till 9 PM and finally squeeze in one last study session till 10:30 PM before going to bed. This routine was so strict to a point I felt I was some kind of robot.

1.2 Go Classes

I really liked the content from GoClasses. The videos are well-structured, and the explanations are clear. Sometimes, I would skip certain topics — like Myhill-Nerode, the pumping lemma, or anything that felt a bit dry — but overall, except for compilers, I found everything quite good. If you start just six months before the exam, the syllabus can feel overwhelming. So, I'd recommend starting at least nine months in advance to make your preparation more manageable.

I haven't watched any other courses, so I can't or won't really compare GoClasses with others — but honestly, I found Go to be really good. Before buying, check out their free videos on YouTube and their website. You'll most likely enjoy the content and teaching style. If not, that's totally fine — in the end, go with whatever suits your learning style.

Coaching definitely helps, but your own effort matters the most. If you browse Reddit, you might find some people saying GoClasses isn't good, it's huge, the content is bad, this, that, blah blah, but I think that's mostly personal preference. There are plenty of students from GoClasses who have secured good ranks. What you should understand is that no coaching institute is perfect, and there's a clear limit to how much they can help you. And most importantly, you and I are not in school anymore to be spoon-fed — it's important to take responsibility for your learning. If something isn't clear, take the initiative to look it up, ask questions in online communities, or watch other lectures on YouTube. The resources are out there — it's up to you to make the most of them.

1.3 Test Series

I took both the GoClasses test series and the Zeal test series. To be honest, I didn't do many topic-wise tests until October, which I really regret now. Both Zeal and Go are good — I didn't like Zeal much for topic-wise tests, but their full-length tests are excellent and really help with time management. They're slightly tougher than the actual GATE exam. On the other hand, GoClasses tests are closer to the actual GATE level. GateOverflow's full-length test series is also good, though quite challenging. I haven't taken any other test series apart from these.

The most important thing with test series is that after taking a certain number of mocks, you should start focusing more on time management. My personal strategy was to first solve the questions I found easy, then move on to medium-level ones, and finally recheck my answers. If I had time left, I would attempt the harder questions. This approach might work for some people but not for others, so it's important to find a strategy that works best for you.

1.4 Communities

There are plenty of Telegram groups available. You can even make a small group with friends to discuss and ask doubts. GoClasses also has a public Telegram group where you can ask questions — and usually, someone responds pretty quickly. You should also check out GateOverflow (the holy website for GATE) website and Telegram group. Regarding math, you can always ask your doubts in the famous Math Discord server, or Math Stack Exchange.

1.5 Regrets

I regret not doing the topic-wise tests before October. I should've started them earlier. I also didn't revise the subjects properly, so I ended up wasting a lot of time after November. The thing with topic-wise and subject-wise tests is that they help you identify weak areas and revise them effectively. So please don't skip them! And also start your studies as early as possible.
I also regret not taking care of my health. During the exam week, I had a high fever and headache because I neglected my health. I had to rest for the entire week and had to take heavy medications right before the exam. So please take care of your health.

2.

Interview Experiences

I have applied for the following programs:

  • IISC CDS MTech (made it to the provisional list)
  • IIT Madras CS (Got Offer)
  • IIT Bombay CS MS RA and TA (Got Offer)
  • IIT Bombay CS MTech RA (Got Offer)
  • IIT Bombay CMINDS MS RA (Made it into provisional/waiting)
  • IIT Delhi Minds MTech (Got offer)
  • IIT Delhi MINDS MS RA (Cleared written; didn't do interview)

I didn't apply to IIT Kanpur MS because I wasn't interested in traveling such a long distance, and I preferred MTech over MS there. As for IIT Delhi, I applied mainly because SCAI offered multiple exam centers and online interviews. Other than that, I wasn't particularly interested in any other colleges.
Also, I have received offers from IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur for MTech.

2.1 IISC

CDS MTech

The interview was on the 16th of April. In the morning, we went through verifications and then had a written test. These are the questions they asked:

  • How many ways to reach H7 if you start from A1 in chess (only up and right movements allowed)?
  • Find the graph of \( f(2x) \) given \( f(x) \).
  • Find the graph of \( x^2 + \sin(x) \).
  • \( P(X + Y > 1 \mid Y \geq X) \) where \( X \) and \( Y \) are uniform in \([0,1]\).
  • Dimension of the subspace of \( \{(x, y, z) \mid x - 2y = 0\} \).
  • Degree of the characteristic equation of \( A_{n \times n} \) is what?
  • You are given \( P(A \cup B) \), \( P(A \cap B) \), find \( P(A) \) when \( P(A) > P(B) \) and \( A \) and \( B \) are independent.
  • Arrange the word 'Indian' such that no two vowels are together.
  • Right rotate a 2D array (coding).
  • Divide numbers into bins of size 10 (coding).

The questions were relatively easy. After that, we had the interview. I guess most of the time we spent chatting about general stuff and solving a few questions. We talked a bit about my background and the CDS program. Then, the interviewer started asking questions on linear algebra and algorithms, where I had to explain the logic and write pseudocode on the board. One question was about using dynamic programming (DP) for matrix chain multiplication. Overall, the interview went well, although I wasn't able to write the entire pseudocode. Anyway, I made it to the provisional list, even though I didn't make it to the final list.

CSA and CDS Research

I attended the CDS interview but skipped CSA because by then, I had already been selected for IIT Madras, which was my first preference. In the CDS interview, you first write a test, and then the interview. The written test is so easy that I don't even understand why they conduct it in the first place. The interview was quite long and stretched until 8 pm, and I was already tired at that point. The questions were mostly from linear algebra, basic ML, and some coding. Since I didn't want to face Bangalore traffic, I decided to skip CSA the next day.

2.2 IIT Madras

IIT Madras releases a shortlist, and I think for the general category, a score of 600-650 is a safe zone. We need to travel to Madras for the interview. We had the written test on the 5th of May. The test was relatively easy and based on the GATE syllabus. I won't list the questions here since I don't remember them exactly, but it was an easy GATE-level paper. I have a feeling that the cutoffs are high; probably 25/30 is required to get shortlisted. No official information on the cutoff, just a guess that's most probably correct. Around 50 people from ~350-400 were shortlisted. Some had their interviews on the same day, and others had them the next day. I had both my interviews the next day. So, for the rest of the day, my friends and I just roamed around and studied a bit of linear algebra since our preference was Intelligence Systems.

My theory interview was first. For the theory interview, you have the freedom to choose the subject. I chose discrete math, and they asked questions on combinatorics, functions, and relations. I answered almost all the questions, and very few with some hints. Overall, the interviewers were very friendly and didn't expect me to answer everything but focused more on how I approached the problems.

Then, I had my interview for Intelligent Systems. It started with an introduction and a question about which subject I would prefer. I chose linear algebra. For the Intelligent Systems track, there's a coding question first. Many candidates get easy questions such as reversing an array, and mine was about counting one-child nodes in a binary tree. I solved it easily, wrote the code on the board, and explained it. After that, they started asking questions from linear algebra. I answered most of them except for the last one, where I had to take a hint. It was about finding eigenvalues and eigenvectors without a pen and paper, using properties. I solved most of the eigenvalues and two eigenvectors, but the last one was tricky for me. Still, I managed to answer it with a small hint from the interviewer. Overall, the interview went well, but I wasn't very confident about the Intelligent Systems part, although I felt confident about the theory panel. They released the provisional list a week later, and I was on both panels.

2.3 IIT Bombay

From Madras, I flew to Bombay the next day, and we had the written test for MS based on the panel I chose earlier. I chose Intelligence Systems. The paper was a little harder than GATE and required knowledge of additional subjects. But I think if you know the GATE math well, it is easier to clear.

The next day, we had coding tests for MTech and MS RA. It was easy for me, and I believe you will get shortlisted for an interview if you can solve 3 out of 5 questions. The questions mostly covered arrays and recursion:

  • Check if a given number is an Armstrong number.
  • Count the number of each distinct alphabet that occurs consecutively in a string and print the character followed by the count.
  • Find the number of points in a matrix where the value is strictly smaller than all adjacent values (left, right, up, down).
  • Determine if the second matrix is a submatrix of the first matrix. If found, output the position of the leftmost element of the first row of the submatrix in the original matrix; otherwise, return -1.
  • Write a recursive function to count the number of ways to arrange K 1's in N spaces such that no two 1's are adjacent.

MS TA

I messed up this one. But I still solved questions related to Linear Algebra, like explaining why we take $|A - \lambda I| = 0$ when finding eigenvalues. One question was very similar to: "Prove that the Binomial distribution converges to the Poisson distribution under the condition that the number of trials $n \to \infty$, the probability of success $p \to 0$, and the product $\lambda = np$ remains constant." There was also a question on best-fit regression.

MTech RA, MS RA

These interviews were based on the project you choose. I chose a generative AI project for both MTech and MS RA, and a CS-101 course for MTech RA. The interviews were okay and didn't go too badly. If you choose projects like this, there will be an additional Python test. But the interviews were not that bad overall. However, they expect you to know at least something about the project you choose.

CMINDS

The written test will be tough, believe me! But like the other interview tests, if you know the basics, you will at least get shortlisted. I was shortlisted for the interview. My interview started with an introduction, followed by questions on probability and linear algebra, which were okay. Then, they asked me about computer science topics like the difference between a Trie and a Tree, which I couldn't answer. The second part of the interview with CS questions was a bit terrible.

2.4 IIT D

To be honest, I wasn't interested in going to IIT Delhi (due to personal reasons), but I applied to the ScAI department because it seemed cool. I had my exams at IIT Bombay when I was there for the IITB interview. You can choose from multiple centers, including Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. The exam was okay, with questions on aptitude, math, algorithms, and ML. I felt that the math section was a bit harder than the others.

3.

Resources

These are some resources that you can check out if you're interested in GATE preparation or interviews:

4.

End Notes

I would like to sincerely thank my parents, friends, and teachers for their constant support throughout this journey. A special thanks to Deepak Sir, Sachin Sir, and Arjun Sir from Go Classes for their invaluable guidance and scholarship support. I am also grateful to my friends from the GATEFATE group for their encouragement, discussions, and companionship along the way. I have accepted the offer from IIT Bombay MTech RA, because it perfectly aligns with what I want to do in the future.
Also, note that the labs from the DS-AI department at IIT Madras are no longer available to CS students. So, if you are planning to join any of those labs or are interested in professors from the DS-AI department, please write the GATE DA exam for MTech. For MS, you can apply with a CS score.

IITM Selection COAP Selection

By the way, I haven't included everything in this blog — so if you have any doubts, feel free to ask in the comments or via email/LinkedIn.

Tags: #GATE


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