GATE CSE 2025

Hii! This is Kriti Rathore. I have secured a Gate Rank of 1814 this year. I started my Gate Preparation in my final year. After thinking a lot about whether I want to take a placement from college or go for GATE, I finally chose GATE in my 3rd year. Getting into an IIT was always a dream. I have completed my graduation from Bharatiya Vidyapeeth College of Engineering, Pune in Computer Engineering. After failing JEE, the name IIT was just a regret. However, I decided to give myself one more chance to relive this dream. But, I was very disappointed with the marks vs rank metric this year and worried about what I would get at this. This is my journey full of all the rejections, disappointments, fears, and tears won over by patience, strength, dedication, and courage.

1. HOW TO START -

I had decided to go for GATE and not for placements in my 3rd year only as I didn't want to work at the service based companies that used to come for hiring in the college and also my coding skills were not at all good and I did want to study the subjects in more depth which I did two nights before the semester exams to just get passed. GATE felt like a safe and secure path. Initially, I started with some video lectures from some YouTube channels like Neso Academy, which I later felt like proved to be a waste of time. The right way to start your preparation is to pick a subject, watch introductory videos of the teachers who have good reviews of that subject explicitly for GATE, and pick one of them. Don’t overthink before starting a subject; go with your intuition. Starting with C, DS, and Algo is preferable, along with Discrete Maths. Once you get the flow, things become easy and interesting.

After wasting time on such YouTube playlists, I joined online classes at Igate Bhilai ( I am originally from Chhattisgarh, so I had heard a lot about it). After enquiring from some seniors and watching introductory videos, I enrolled there and started my long GATE journey. I made detailed notes of all the subjects, and I mostly used to watch the recorded videos as I also had to attend college. However, I went very slow with the syllabus. I used to think there is a lot of time left ( my 1st mistake).You never know what comes ahead, it's better to complete the syllabus with the coaching timetable only, without delaying it much.

Till Gate 2024, I studied explicitly from Igate videos. I loved how Siddhartha Sir has taught the system subjects. However, when I decided to go for Gate 2025, I didn’t renew my subscription as I had already made notes of almost all the subjects. This is when I explored other Gate channels like GoClasses, Amit Khurana Sir's Gate CSE channel, and some Telegram groups. I mostly used to revise from my Igate notes only; however, I did study some subjects that I felt I was weak in from these channels as well, which ultimately helped me to get a good hold of them all. So, explore well; there are a lot of good resources available online.

2. PYQs -

Pyqs are the heart and soul of Gate Preparation. As soon as you finish a topic or chapter of any subject, revise it once and jump to the PYQs. Do not keep it to do at last or after completing the entire subject( My 2nd mistake). Gate Overflow PYQs PDF contains all the PYQs arranged in a topic-wise manner for every subject, along with the solutions. This, along with the Gate Overflow website, makes the best combination to do PYQs from.

3. TEACHERS' RECOMMENDATIONS-

EM - GO Classes Sanchit Mittal Sir

DM - Amit Khurana Sir
Aptitude - Amit Khurana Sir/Saurabh Thakur Sir
TOC - Amit Khurana Sir / GO Classes Deepak Poonia Sir
CD - Subbarao Lingumgunta Reddy Sir
CN - Amit Khurana Sir
DBMS - GO Classes Deepak Poonia Sir
C Programming, Data Structure and Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Amit Khurana Sir + GO Sachin Mittal Sir + Subbarao Reddy Sir
Digital Logic - Sanchit Jain Sir + Amit Khurana Sir
COA - Vishwadeep Gothi Sir + NPTEL + Book
OS - Sanchit Jain Sir + Amit Khurana Sir

4. TEST SERIES -

During my Gate 2025 Preparation, I bought the test series in mid-June itself. I took Go Classes test series initially and then Made Easy during October. As soon as I used to finish a topic and its PYQs, I used to give a topic-wise test from the GoClasses test series. I still remember getting a 4/25 in their C programming test even after doing complete revision and PYQs. So, there will be some days like this that feel like the end of everything, but you need to keep faith in yourself and keep going. It is advised to talk to some seniors or colleagues during such moments of disaster to get the motivation again.

• Make a chart of the topic-wise tests and schedule them according to your timetable, and try completing them along with the syllabus only. Again, do not keep for last, you will never get the time to finish them otherwise, and you will miss out on the opportunity to get an edge over other aspirants ( 3rd mistake).

• I started giving Subject-wise tests in October and gradually shifted to full-length tests during last November. I gave some 20 to 25 full-length tests, including AIMTs of GoClasses and Made Easy.

• Made Easy FLTs are relatively quite easy, but they help boost confidence when you feel low. I used to give them during such times.

• GoClasses FLTs, on the other hand, are on the tougher side but were conceptually very good. The Zeal test series is also recommended if you do not want to go for the easy one ( Made Easy).

• Analysis of Tests given is important than giving the test itself. I used to keep a separate copy of the Analysis of the tests I gave and used to note important points or mistakes I made in those tests.

    

5. ROUTINE -

I am a morning person, and I can not stay awake and productive till very late night. So, I used to sleep at around 12:30 or 1 and wake up at 7 am in the morning. I used to have my morning tea and sit for the day's tasks to be done. It is very important to make a mind map one night before, of the things you have to cover the next day. This gives you motivation to wake up and start early. During the initial months, I used the YPT app to maintain consistency and track study hours, it really helped to push myself to increase my sitting hours.

A rough outline of the timings I used to follow:

07:00 – 09:00 Slot 1

10:00 – 12:00 Slot 2

12:00 – 02:00 Break ( Lunch )

02:00 – 03:30 Afternoon Nap

03:30 -  05:00 Slot 3

05:00 -  05:30 Tea Break

05:30 -  08:00 Slot 4

08:00 -  09:00 Dinner

09:00 -  12:30 Slot 5

Sleeeeeep

6. LAST 3 MONTHS -

November, December, and January decide the rank that you deserve. The most crucial months of the Gate Preparation where many aspirants either loose confidence or give up. I utilized these 3 months as much as I could. The only things that used to cross my mind during this time were syllabus, mock marks, revision, and this is left and this is done. Also, try to make short notes of your own, and if there is no time left, use someone else's.

I usually used to score 40-45 in most of the mocks, and remained consistently stressed about the low mock marks. However, mock marks don’t decide your result, the way you analyze them and learn from them do! So, keep giving mocks and learn from them even if you are scoring low. I went from 45 in mocks to 60 in Gate:)

These are the days when fear engulfs you completely, and you still try to fight that off, pushing yourself forward. You just have to show this courage, give tests, do revision, analyze mocks, discuss mistakes with your friends, and repeat till you sail through it with flying colors!!

7. RESULT -

Marks – 60.06

Rank – 1814

Gate Score – 664

I was a little disappointed with the rank and was worried about what I would get at this. But then, there were some seniors in the telegram groups, who guided everyone of us to study for interviews and target Top IITs even if we have Gate Score between 650 – 800. I am too grateful to be a part of such an inspiring community - Gate Fate. A huge shoutout to all the seniors and friends there. I will be a proud Gate Fate member always! (Serious aspirants are invited to join the group. We take only limited number of aspirants there. If you want to connect with us, you can contact me!)

8. PREPARATION FOR INTERVIEWS -

With a Gate Rank of 1814, it was impossible to be sure of getting even a 2nd gen IIT. Before the results came, I just wished my Gate Score to cross 650, so that I can be eligible to apply for all MS and Mtech RA programs at the top IITs. So, for those who have Gate Score between 550 to 800, the dream of top IITs is not shattered yet and you are still gonna get beautiful opportunities to make it to the dream places.

To prepare for the interviews one will have to select One Panel out of the Three Panels and prepare accordingly. I will attach a Screenshot from IITM website about the Three Panels, which is followed in almost all the IITs.

If your rank is between 200-3000, please take a look at all the opportunities available, target some particular programs ( don't make the mistake of targeting everything, it may cost you getting nothing at last), and prepare accordingly. Select a panel out of the three as per your interest, go through all the opportunities at your score, target some of them, read the interview experiences of that Panel's students, and start preparing accordingly.

Please don't waste your time after the response sheet comes, it may lead to letting go of the last opportunity to make it to the top IITs.

Written and Interview Dates:

In most of the IITs, the MS and MTech RA interviews are held between 1st to 3rd week of May (mostly between 5th May to 25th May). Starting with IIT Madras, I gave IIT Bombay, IIT Hyderabad and IIT Delhi's written and interviews, only to get rejected in most of them and get IIT Delhi at last.

I chose the Intelligent Systems pool and started preparing for the interviews 10 days after the Gate Result. However, I was too late to start the preparation. Please start just after the response sheet comes, don't waste time, the journey isn't over till you get that seat. Also, start doing basic coding as in most of the colleges, you are expected to know basic codes like searching, sorting, operations on trees, arrays etc.

Resources:

1. Linear Algebra -

• Sachin Sir's Gate CSE and DA Playlist both - link
• Gilbert Strang Lectures - link
• Khan Academy -  https://www.khanacademy.org/math/linear-algebra
• Blue1Brown videos - https://www.3blue1brown.com/topics/linear-algebra

2. A very small and introductory portion of Machine Learning from Sachin Sir's Gate DA playlist.

3. Data Structures (Gate Syllabus) and Basic Codes mentioned above

4. Final Year Project

5.You can also go for revising basic Probability, it may help in some interviews.

6.My linear algebra notes ( I made this for interview preparation vaguely and in very limited time)

 

7. Some interview experiences and helpful blogs :

     GateOverflow Interview Experiences

     https://kingjuno.github.io/blog/2025/03/22/gatejourney

     https://deadman731.blogspot.com/2024/05/iit-m-ms-cse.html

     

9. THE LAST STEPS LEADING TO IIT DELHI: 

My online interview for MTech(HVA) Computer Technology of IIT Delhi was scheduled on 16th May, and I was at IIT Hyderabad at that time for the written test there, which was on 14th-15th May. I had my tickets booked to return home on 16th May, and hence, I was in a rush, unsure of whether I would be able to attend the interview or not.

Being devastated from all the rejections at IITM, IITB, etc., I didn't prepare anything for the interview the night before. However, I did prepare for the IIT Madras MS Program Interview in the Intelligent Systems domain, which I never gave as I couldn't clear the written test there; however, the preparation did help in the coming interviews a lot. The next day, somehow, I gathered the courage to appear for the interview, and luckily, the interview went quite well.

After some days, I got another online interview call for MSR from Sashi Khola School of Information Technology, IIT Delhi. I appeared for the interview and got the offer letter from there as well.

The only good thing that happened was that, even amidst all this chaos of rejections, disappointments, and regrets, I chose not to skip any interview that was scheduled, be it online or offline. It takes a lot of strength to keep going even after failing multiple times. I hope we all can gather that courage when we require it the most. You never know which day will be yours!

10. OFFERS I GOT -

i) IIT Delhi M.Tech (HVA) Computer Technology

ii) IIT Delhi MS(R) SIT
iii) IIT Indore MS CSE

After discussing with seniors and thinking a lot, I accepted the IIT Delhi M.Tech(HVA) Computer Technology offer.

Somehow, I sailed it through with flying colors and thus, YOU CAN TOO!