It was the year 2018. I exactly remember the day 3 February 2018. I was waiting for metro at Kalkaji Metro Station in New Delhi. Totally engrossed in self-loathing, I was totally numb, dejected and cursed myself for my failure. It was my second attempt of GATE, and I had screwed up my paper again! Even after working so hard, what went wrong? Am I not good enough?
In GATE 2017, when I was in my final year, my AIR was 21136 in ME Paper without any preparation. But in GATE 2018, even after working so hard day and night, what went wrong? I got AIR 11474 this time. The day I had started preparing for GATE, my dream was to pursue Mtech in Thermal Sciences at IISC/IITs. But this rank was not sufficient to get me into any IIT. I felt very weak and helpless. I had decided that I will get into any NIT and compromise with any branch that I will get. I even got admission offer letter from SLIET, Sangrur in Metal Casting and Foundary. But unfortunately, two days before reporting to the allotted institute, my Father was hospitalized. And I was asking myself,” Why me?????”
I gave up my studies for a month and started scrolling over Quora, reading answers of the questions like:
Are there any GATE Toppers who took more than 2 attempts to crack GATE?
I didn't qualify GATE even after 3 attempts. Should I try again or quit preparation?
What was your GATE Failure story?
While scrolling over the Quora, I came across the profile of Chandresh Mahajan Sir who is the founder of Exergic. All of a sudden, something inside me screamed loudly, “NO, YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE. YOU ARE STRONG ENOUGH!!!!”
When I introspected myself, I felt that though I had worked very hard, something that was lacking was the quality and variety of questions. I found that the quality of questions asked in GATE after 2014 was totally changed. Every year, new types of problems are being framed.
So, without any second thought, I purchased Exergic's Question Bank and Test Series. And that was the best decision that I have ever taken. My reviews about Exergic's Question Bank and Test Series are:
Question Bank: My ratings are 10/10. You will feel that the crux of standard text book problems can be found only and only in Exergic's Question Bank. So, it's a must-have for every GATE aspirant. Variety and the quality are the two special features of the Exergic's Question Bank. Unlike the study material and question banks of other institutes where you will repeatedly find previous years GATE and ESE questions, here things are totally different. Every problem will be conceptual and new. You will actually feel the thrills and challenges while practicing the question bank and, at the end, you will appreciate their hard work and dedication.
Test series: Again, My ratings are 10/10.EXERGIC Test series is very similar to the main GATE Paper. The question paper is well balanced. The special feature is the Rank-deciding questions. The Exergic team knows well how to prepare a balance between easy , medium difficult and very difficult questions. And after the test, an exhaustive personalized report is prepared about your performance. It covers up the intricate details of your performance like your strong areas, your weak areas, which concepts you are lacking and what types of mistakes you can make during the examination.
Overall, these are my reviews about Exergic. Honestly speaking, my personal suggestion to the future GATE Aspirants aspiring for top ranks: Exergic's content is unique. Chandresh Sir specifically discusses all those tricky concepts that most of the people tend to ignore. His approach towards the understanding and solution of a problem is unique, which you will never find anywhere. So, no matter what even if you are in some other institute, stay connected to Exergic. You should definitely purchase Exergic's Question Bank and Test series. Video Lectures are also available. It is simply the best in terms of everything. I can't express my gratitude in words for how lucky I feel.
Coming back to the latter part, after my 2nd attempt in GATE where I had failed miserably, I again prepared for GATE 2019. I worked harder and harder this time. But again in the examination hall, something terrible happened. I had spent 2 hours of examination and my paper was going excellent. But unfortunately, after two hours, suddenly, the virtual calculator first got hanged and the worst part was that the system got crashed.And that ruined my mental state as well as my paper. And I was devastated to the hell!!!!! That time I felt whether I am doomed to be a failure. Even after working harder and harder(smarter also), why luck never favours me at the end. This question took a heavy toll on my mental health. I always used to be lost in this thought: WHY ME????????
Anyhow I managed to get AIR-7550 this time. And a lot of other factors, which human have no control over, disturbed me upto the core. Luckily, I managed to get a seat in NIT Hamirpur in Thermal Engineering. I had earlier thought that after my best 3 attempts, I will never write GATE again. But deep inside me, there was a guilt, a chaos, a painful regret that I was writhing with.
In the month of September 2019, I suddenly decided to write GATE 2020 again. As I was already pursuing my Mtech in Thermal Engineering, I chose to write GATE XE Paper with specialization in Thermal Subjects. This time I had no expectations from GATE as I had nothing more to lose now. I had lost everything already. Our semester exams ended in December and I had hardly 2 months left. This time I didn't think a lot. I decided to practice a lot of problems as difficult as possible and joined multiple test series, and didn't bother about the results. In these two months, I had no expectations, no anxiety, nothing. I just wrote GATE 2020 calmly. But again this time, I made a few silly mistakes. One question I also challenged as the proper units were not mentioned. This made me anxious whether my challenge for the 2 marks will be accepted or not. The result was scheduled to be declared on 16th March. As the days were approaching, I was getting more and more anxious. And all of a sudden, on 13th March, someone told me that the revised answer keys have been released. I just checked and was overwhelmed with joy when I found that MY CHALLENGE FOR 2 MARKS HAS BEEN ACCEPTED.
And after half an hour, it was announced on the IIT Delhi's website that GATE 2020 Results will be declared on the same day. I became more anxious. The GOAPS Server was very busy. I was just refreshing the page of IIT Delhi again and again. And finally, at 6:28 pm, the result flashed on the screen, and BOOM!!!!!!
GATE 2020, AIR-7
I was pleasantly surprised to see the results. AIR 7!!! I blinked my eyes multiple times to make sure there were no digits before or after that 7. As soon as I posted my result on the Facebook, my timeline got flooded with wishes from my friends, teachers and relatives. By God's grace, my hardwork turned fruitful. Confronting with failures, when I was brought to standstill, following lines of wisdom kept me moving on:
“Each time darkness rears its mighty head, the light shines even harder.”
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