1. Knowledge
2. Confidence
3. Politeness
4. Effective Communication skill
5. Leadership Qualities
6. Honesty and Integrity
7. Analytical ability
8. Decision making skills
9. Balanced outlook

1. Lack of knowledge is no sin
2. Omniscience is a myth
3. One question may have different ANSWERS, each being correct
4. The expression of knowledge, i.e. Communication Skills matter more
5. Application of Knowledge to
6. Everyday life
7. To the civil services

1. Wash your face before the interview
2. Press your legs down- posture improve
3. Breath control
4. Recall positive events in the past
5. Control of hand movements
6. Rotation of looks and Corner look
7. Patient Listening

1. IF don’t know: I’m sorry, I’m afraid, I should confess, I am cornered, I need to learn more etc.
2. IF opinions differ: Based on my limited exposure I feel that; With due regards to you sir, I sincerely feel; I beg to differ
3. IF confused: Pardon sir, am I supposed to answer this or that?, My apology sir, I couldn’t hear the question properly.

200 one-mark objective ques to be answered in 120 minutes. Paper comprises of 4 sections - GK (80) + Quant (30) + English (30) + Reasoning (60). There is an overall cutoff as well as section-wise cutoff. This year the overall cutoff was 88.75 and section wise cutoff was 25% in each section. There is negative marking of .25 too.

GK - the least time consuming section and (to many engineers) the toughest. Almost 80% of the questions asked are current affairs based. At least 70% questions were economy/banking based. This is completely different from civil services prelims as the questions asked here are extremely factual in nature and rote learning is the key.

But as current affairs predominates so preparation can be made methodical. Most of the people read ''capsules'' of Bankers Adda but I didn’t read them. What I instead read (and which I would very strongly recommend) are the current affairs monthly magazine of past 12 months of Kiran Prakashan's Banking & Current Affairs Update.

I made separate hand written notes of each section of current affairs and kept on revising them even on the day of exam (outside centre :P)! Out of 80 question at least 30-35 questions were directly from my notes! Pay special attention to - important days, personalities, awards, sports and books section.

I usually didn’t read passage in any of my mock tests and attempted the rest of 20-21 questions. Para jumbles were insanely time taking and only if you can crack the correct sequence completely you can answer them, so I decided to leave them in mock tests. My advice to those who have time - practice para jumble and crack them!

Reasoning - personally the toughest part of the paper. The key is to sufficiently practice each type of questions. 75% questions are asked in groups and its difficult to recognize the easy group from the tougher ones.

However I found the data sufficiency, syllogism, coding-decoding and assumption-inference the easiest of all. On the other side I found the input-output, blood relation, seating arrangement (and its variants) to be comparatively tougher.

I think this section requires more sustained practice than even quant. I practiced from A Modern Approach To Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning (English) Revised Edition - Buy A Modern Approach To Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning (English) Revised Edition Online at Best Prices in India - Flipkart.com

Quant - the most crucial section. It decides your selection as scoring 25% can be a challenge! Even an IITian friend of mine could not score the bare minimum 25% this year!!

The questions are time consuming. 4 DI (data interpretation) caselets were asked this year which covered 20 questions which is unprecedented as earlier only 15 questions were asked in 3 DI caselets.

So take any CAT preparation book and practice hard keeping in mind the time limit as the questions asked are of higher difficulty level as compared to CAT.

Time management - this is an elimination round. Even if you are AIR-1 in prelims it doesn’t matter. Hence the more logical thing to do is to give equitable time to each and every section. Remember - failure to clear even one sectional cutoff and you are out of the race.

Even though 2800 people eventually clear prelims, atleast 4000 people must have cleared the overall cutoff but couldn’t progress because of bad score in quant (and sometimes in reasoning). Hence ordering of sections to attempt becomes very important. I do not advocate any particular ordering but I am writing my order of sections.

I started with GK and my effort was to complete GK + para-jumbles in 30 minutes. Sometimes when GK itself took 30 minutes then I would leave PJ otherwise GK+PJ in 30 minutes. So now 90 minutes left for 115-120 ques. Then I would attempt the non-DI part of quant in about 20 minutes. So 70 minutes left for some 100-105 ques.

Then I would attempt the whole reasoning section in one go. This took 55 minutes (I never attempted more than 45 question in reasoning). So now I am left with 15 minutes with 25 questions from english and 2-3 DI caselets of quant. I would complete 20 english questions in 8-10 minutes and would choose the easier of the DI caselet and solve as many questions in it as the time permits.

Bottomline - don’t waste your time in any one section. Given the time one can solve all the quant questions and both the PJ and comprehension but that would be a foolish thing to do when you are weak in reasoning section (like I was).

So find your strong and (more importantly) weak areas, work on them, convert them to your strong points but if that’s not possible then leave questions from these areas in exam.

1. GK - 60.5/80
2. Quant - 11/30
3. Reasoning - 30.75/60
4. English - 21.25/30
5. Total - 123.5/200

Interview is worth 50 marks. I did not prepare anything for interview and rightly so didn't get good marks in it, so I won't be writing about it. Though I am attaching my interview transcript so that people can get an idea of the sort of questions asked.

I was the third person to be interviewed that day. As soon as I entered M1 quipped that people go to IIM for MBA and you went to IIM for internship. I nodded sheepishly. Then I greeted everyone.

Chairman : what is financial engineering. I could not define financial engineering but I started with what the course was all about and what was the curriculum structure. But he cut me short and said that he wanted me to define financial Engineering which I wasn't able to.

Then M1 asked me how to use financial engineering in a company? I told him that I can do the analysis of its balance sheet and look at it stock and determine its future prices. M1 again interjected and said that this can be done by any m com graduate.

Then I told that at IIT we were taught the quantitative aspects of Finance very rigorously. To this the chairman said that where in India is finance not taught in a quantitative manner. I paused and then replied that it is just a name of a course.

M1 : How can you use financial engineering in a company? Answered.

Chairman : what is financial re-engineering and how can it be used in RBI? I answered satisfactorily.

M1 : you could have gone to investment banking why do you want to join RBI? I gave the usual answer. M1 : what was the role of financial engineers in the 2008 global financial crisis? I answered.

M1 : what was the 2008 global financial crisis? Answered, fumbling as he expected me to answer in purely technical terms. As a follow up question he asked why it cannot happen in India. To this I initially told that our fundamentals are strong we have SLR we have CRR but manager intervened and said that this is available in every other country What is so special? I replied that we have a professional institution like RBI managing our banking sector and our banks have good capital adequacy ratio. He seemed satisfied.

M2 : You qualified ACET exam so why didn't you take the other actuarial qualifying exams? I answered. But he prodded. So I told him that I will attempt the exams once I join the RBI. To this the whole room had a hearty laugh : D

M2 : so you are a statistician. You have a good record in statistics. (thank you sir). Tell me what is inflation expectations. I was beginning to reply in lay man term. But then he asked me what is the statistical model behind inflation expectation. I told him that I am not able to recall it at the present moment.

M2 : what is deflation and what is inflation. Answered. What is more dangerous? Answered. Which countries are facing deflation and what are they doing to move out of it? Answered. Why is deflation more harmful tell me by an example. Answered. He seemed satisfied.

M3 : what are the currency management functions of RBI? Answered. What are the factors which RBI take into account to determine the amount of currency to be printed? Answered. what is counterfeiting currency is it law and order problem or the problem of RBI? Answered. Why do we blame Pakistan for all the ills that happen in India? Defended. Recently Pakistan allowed its cricket team to come for World T20 tournament. I appreciated the move over which he asked - then why are you saying that relation between India and Pakistan are not normal? Defended by bringing in inability of Pakistan to prosecute terrorists. Then chairman asked that like Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan Arnab Goswami in India also advocates Anti Pakistan stand so should he be prosecuted or not. Of course that was a stupid question and I defended my position well. After this they told me that your interview is over and now you can leave.

Edit 1 - After looking at the mains exam marks and interview roll no. of about 100 of the selected candidates (we have tabulated it neatly) I have deduced that you can get a fair idea of your mains exam marks just by looking at your interview roll nos.!!! The roll no. for prelims and mains exams are the same however RBI changes your roll no. when it gives you interview letter. For a particular interview location the roll nos. are arranged in the descending order of marks in mains exam. So suppose there are 15 people called for interview on a particular date, the first person to be interviewed will have the smallest roll no. and the highest marks in mains among those 15 people. So now you can qualitatively know your performance in mains exam before you even face your interview!

1. Logical Reasoning
2. Puzzle
3. Input Output
4. Coded Inequalities
5. Syllogism
6. Ranking/Direction/Alphabet test
7. Alphanumeric Series
8. Coding Decoding
9. Seating Arrangement
10. Data sufficiency

1. Fill in the blanks
2. Sentence Correction
3. Reading Comprehension
4. Para Jumbles
5. Error Spotting
6. Close test

1. Percentage & Averages
2. Profit & Loss
3. Simple Interest & Compound Interest
4. Mixtures & Allegations
5. Number Series
6. Simplification
7. Data Interpretation
8. Work & Time
9. Ratio & Proportion
10. Sequence & Series
11. Probability
12. Permutation, Combination
13. Time & Distance

1. Current Affairs
2. Banking Awareness
3. Static

Then comes the most important and deciding factor which is PRACTICE. Do lots of lots of mock test and analysis or the mocks is also important as it helps you to find weak areas. Pick up weak areas and work on them .

Keep track of mock scores and try to improve gradually over a span of time. Once you start hitting required scores in mocks then you start getting selection. And once you get in one bank exam you clear all in a row so keeping the momentum is key. So start preparing and be ruthless in exam.

Every day I used to solve at least one paper. I always gave myself 1 hour 45 mins to solve paper.

I had decreased time because it helped me in increasing my speed. Now after solving each paper I used to check my paper and analyze it carefully.

My analysis consisted mainly 2 things. The questions which I was not able to solve and the questions which I solved but was wrong.

Now for the questions which I was not able to solve, I used to see the solution and practiced the similar kind of questions from books like R.S.Agarwal.

Questions in which I was wrong I used to find my mistake and write them down on a paper. Then every day before solving a paper I just went through those mistakes so that I don’t do them again.

This highly increased my accuracy. Sometimes we make very silly mistakes, you should also write them down because it will not only cost you negative mark but also 1 mark which you would had scored if you did not made that mistake.

So please maintain your accuracy. I used to complete this process until 3 pm then I took a bit rest and later used to practice different topics which I felt were hard for me. This generally covers all your topic which are reasoning, quant, English, banking and computer.

Give 40 - 40 mins to Quant and reasoning, 20 min to English,10 mins to current affairs and 10 mins to computer.

In the same way you can devise your own strategy which is best suitable for you.Paper will be easy normal ibps clerk level but competition is tough. So I think 160 would be a good score to get selected

Important Exam Information

1. Mode – Online
2. Nature- Sectional Cutoff
3. Negative Marking- 1/4th

Topics to Ignore in Quantitative Aptitude

1. trigonometry
2. Geometry theory except the area, volume, perimeter (AVP).
3. coordinate geometry
4. quadratic equations
5. logarithms

In this section question are asked from topics related to Basic of Computers, Computer Organization, Generations of computer, Input & Output Device, Shortcuts & Basic knowledge MS word, MS Excel, MS power point, Memory Orientation, Internet, LAN, WAN, Modem, Computer Abbreviations, Modern day Technology.

Candidates can easily score in this sections because syllabus is not so vast. Questions ask on operations which a persons generally done on computers.

This part is less time taking also so it can help in solving more no. of questions in Reasoning & Aptitude

1. Thoroughly read the GATE syllabus.


2. Create a list of reference books to read and what sections to read in them . Do not read coaching class material for study it is prepared by unprofessional people .


3. Start from June and get your Concepts cleared by the end of November.


4. Now try to solve all previous year gate papers from 1987–2016 by the end of December.


5. Now join a good test series and give a paper daily and backtrack your mistakes to the concepts you got wrong, as this is the best way of concurrent revision.


6. If you do the above mentioned things surely you have a high chance of getting a good rank in Gate.

1 year that’s too much. You can secure above 80 marks in GATE ( in mechanical engineering) if you are sincere with your studies for 7–8 months ( not sure about other branches though). First of all you should do a thorough analysis of the exam. I am doing it for mechanical engineering here.

1. Apti and English - 15 marks (easy and scoring)


2. Maths - 15 marks (easy to moderate)


3. Production - 13–18 marks ( easy to moderate)


4. Strength of materials - 8–10 marks ( moderate to difficult)


5. Theory of machines - 6–8 marks ( easy if you are taught by amit kakkar/ nptel videos are very good too)


6. Thermo+ ic engine + powerplant - 13–15 marks ( moderate to difficult)


7. Hmt + fluid mechanics + machinery - 12–15 marks ( moderate to difficult)


8. Material science and RAC - 5–6 marks (easy)


9. Machine design + engg mechanics - 8–10 marks ( easy to moderate)
10. Industrial engg - 4–5 marks (easy to moderate)

First of all these are not exact marks they vary from set to set so does the difficulty level. Hence it is a general overview of the paper.

Well if you look at the point 1,2 and 3 you can make it out that those three subjects should be given priority otherwise you are doomed. I got 15/15 in (apti+eng), 9/13 in maths, 13/16 in production. Approx (37/44) but then in Tom,Som and Fluid hmt i got (31/35) (all are approximate calculations).

But again one should analyse his strengths and weakness and then choose accordingly i was not so good in english until march 2015. But now i am quite comfortable with it ( got 83/100 in ESE 2015 and 75/100 in ESE 2016).

Well if you look at the point 1,2 and 3 you can make it out that those three subjects should be given priority otherwise you are doomed. I got 15/15 in (apti+eng), 9/13 in maths, 13/16 in production. Approx (37/44) but then in Tom,Som and Fluid hmt i got (31/35) (all are approximate calculations).

But again one should analyse his strengths and weakness and then choose accordingly i was not so good in english until march 2015. But now i am quite comfortable with it ( got 83/100 in ESE 2015 and 75/100 in ESE 2016).

Being an engineer you are expected to be good in aptitude and yeah you have the luxury of using a calculator too(though i never used it). If you are not good in apti you should try to solve previous year paper of gate for all the branches as this part is common. Go for basic books like R.S.Agrawal and made easy notes you can also go through video lectures in youtube. But you should be comfortable in handling apti ( easy bearing fruit don’t lose on this).

English is a very funny language isn’t it,not for us right? We all did our engg in english for 4 years but we are not comfortable with it Are we? Ok enough of pun coming back to the point. English consists of vocab part and grammar part. There is a saying “Vocab can’t be built in a day”. One stop solution for vocab is WORD POWER MADE EASY by Norman Lewis yeah the book with the red cover small and thick. I read it twice or thrice from cover to cover.

Believe me guys if you read it thoroughly you will feel quite comfortable with the words asked in gate, be it altruist,martinet or any other word. This book is a must read you can compliment it with reading The HINDU daily ( if you are an ESE aspirant) jot down the difficult words and find out their meaning. Editorials will help you in improving your grammar skills. For grammar there are around 100 rules given in Hari mohan prasad book solve it, try to remember the rules (you can’t mug it up) but if you do practice them you will remember it.

One of the reason I practiced it extinsively was- I was a serious ESE aspirant it helped me with english as well as current affairs ( secured a decent 148.88/200 in General ability). I mugged up 3000 words of GRE using “MEMRISE” app. But it is redundant for GATE. Made easy material for english is very good and it will suffice. Having a superior vocab will not only help in GATE but in exams like CAT,SAIL,CSE,SSC-CGL so cost to benefit ratio is high. If done once you will remember it forever.

It is very easy and scoring part. Solve B.S.Grewal ,made easy thick book and previous year GATE papers. Mug up all the formulae and rewrite them again and again. Engineers are good at maths aren’t we?? I am leaving it upto you for any queries you can message me.

So here it is the most important technical subject of mechanical engineering carrying around 15 marks. Just one word for it “MONDOL SIR KA JUGAD” made easy guys would have understood it. For others please purchase Mondol sir’s book it is more than enough ( no further question on this point).

I solved it 4–5 times mugged up all the formulae and except for 1 autocad question solved it all. Solve all the previous year questions. Most of the questions will either be same or of same type. I didn’t studied any book. Mondol sir notes + previous year ques+ test series don’t go beyond that.

Again mondol sir taught me SOM I did his notes 5–6 times. And got all the questions correct except for one mistake i did with units ( answered 84 instead of 84000 kilo mega mistake :/) . For SOM mondol sir notes and test series is more than enough. No books until you are pursuing research in design.

What i did was amit kakkar sir notes,made easy workbook, previous year gate and ese questions and test series. Give emphasis on vibrations and gears. One can refer NPTEL videos they are really very good,I referred it for CAMs. It is a difficult subject so try to understand it conceptually. I got 8/8 in TOM.

FM is a difficult subject refer NPTEL if you are not in made easy. Main focus should be on boundary layer theory,laminar flow,dynamics and kinematics. Mug up all the formulae as they are confusing and difficult. HMT is easier as compared to FM give preference to heat exchanger,shape factor problems, forced convection and lumped analysis.

I secured (6/6) in HMT,it was one of my strongest subject. No book needed i did made easy notes + prev year GATE and test series. Machinery can be avoided or put in less efforts in it.

Thermo is favourite subject of most of the mechanical engineers isn’t it? In Thermo concentrate on entropy, available energy and second law problems. No need to solve PK Nag it can be read for theory only for ESE. Do solve previous year papers theoritical questions might be tricky.

In IC engine just mug up diesel,otto and dual cycle formulae and questions of if heat addition is same which will have higher efficiency type question. Though this year they asked a question from oxidation reaction of fuels. Powerplant is very easy do brayton cycle and rankine cycle theory and numericals . Though compressors was added last year there were no questions.

It is easiest of all remember all the formulae focus on PERT/CPM,Linear programming and inventory. Do solve previous year and test series.

It is somewhat difficult and conceptual understanding is required. Focus on brakes, rivetted and welded joints,clutches and S-N curve. Do solve previous year questions 4–5 times.

Weightage is low so no need to read them thoroughly. Read heat treatment, iron carbide in MS. In RAC vapour compression and properties of moist air is very important. You must remember formulae for specific humidity, relative humidity etc as numerical questions are asked mostly . Don’t put in too much efforts in these too.

Focus on trusses, friction and rolling. It is easy if you are comfortable with physics,wasn’t easy for me worked hard got (6/6) marks in it.

1. Uninstall whatsapp and deactivate facebook. It is quite essential i was in an exile for 11 months. Didn’t went for a movie, didn’t watched a cricket match, stopped talking to most of my friends studied daily for around 12–14 hours ( including coaching).


2. Maintained a timetable where i made weekly plans, 3 day plan and daily plan and gave my best to complete it.


3. Enjoy your studies dont take it as a burden if you enjoy it you will definitely make it through.


4. Competition is fierce in GATE even s small mistake will make your rank fall from 100s to 600s and you are out of the race. So don’t think if you leave english and focus only on technical you can secure a good rank. Yes you can but remember there are guys like me who will not leave any stone unturned so we should cover all the subjects properly.


5. And last but not the least if you work hard enough you will succeed and even luck will be there with you. I do remember a question on charpy’s test was there which i saw 2 days before GATE so yeah “God helps those who help themselves”.


6. I worked hard for 11 months (i gave ESE too) gave my best and then again i installed fb,whatsapp and whatnot. Your fight is not against the 2 lakh aspirants it is against yourself if you do have the patience, perseverance you will sail through or you can be one among the 1,99,500 aspirants thinking what went wrong.

I got 5 job offers this year just because of my shear hard work and determination. You can watch motivational videos too in youtube i will share the links. Just give your best and leave rest upto the GOD. So guys this was my analysis of mech engg. Apti,english and maths section remains the same for all the branches. Message me or comment for any queries. All the best guys. :-)

7. PS- It took me more than an hour to write this answer .Although i have tried to avoid grammatical and spelling mistakes still if there are some,avoid them ;-). I started preparing from 1st July 2015 and ended in 29th May 2016 so exact 11 months. Right now i am working with NTPC got 12 interview calls attended only 4 (Bpcl,Ntpc,Iocl and Ongc) converted them all. I will share my interview transcripts when i do get time :)

I would like to mention the following things first :

1. Hard work beats talent and proper planning and its executions beats Hard work.




2. One should know his/her energy level. Means after how many hours one gets bored. What is ideal for relaxation.




3. Never do targeted hours study. We are not a worker. 1.Initital Plan

First of all I’ve grouped the subject according to my comfort level and the understanding of them. Again I’ve sub grouped and studied them as some of the topics and concepts are interrelated.

Like following :

Primary Subjects :

1. Programming, Data Structures, Algorithms




2. Networking and security




3. OS ,DBMS and Digital

Secondary Subjects:

1. TOC and Compiler




2. COA




3. Maths




4. Apti and Verbal Ability

Phases

Phases were like

1. Studying for few months




2. Studying and building up all the core things and Working on weak areas




3. Practice and Solving all gate question and subject/topic tests and again working on weak areas and Adding time constraint while solving




4. Giving mock test with until we get comfortable and again working on weak areas and Time constraint will be most important here as well as approach to solve the questions.




5. Most important part is in between revisions of the topics or subjects so that you wont forget subject or topic over long period.




6. Again I would suggest that don’t copy others style of studying, try to check yourself in which way you are comfortable.

1. Study from textbooks or my engineering notes.




2. Clearing all the basic and core concepts so that I will not have a single doubt. If I still have any doubt I used to watch some related lecture on NPTEL/MIT/YouTube or I used to ask question or doubt on forums like GATE OVER FLOW site and FB groups.




3. Practice all the previous Gate questions related to that topic




4. Taking subject wise test.(After a subject completion you might get overwhelmed or underwhelm by the result, but you should not overestimate the results,a subjectwise test doesn’t matter a lot as per me.)

I have started my preparation in late October 2015 but I think it was bit late for me as as I was appearing for the first time for GATE I was little bit unable to manage the long term phase plans.

Qualifying a gate is very easy if you have very good understanding of Computer Science. But if you want to rank between 1-1000 earliest is the best way I think how ever it may vary according to students!

1. Algorithms and Data structures - introduction to algorithms Cormen




2. TOC - Ullman




3. DBMS - Database system concepts Korth




4. OS - operating system concepts Galvin




5. CN - tcp/ip protocol suite Forouzan




6. COA - computer architecture Hamacher and Zaky




7. DLDA - digital systems Morris Mano

This completely depends on the student. Some need coaching to become a topper in Gate and some don’t.

MTech scope is pretty vast as it might be research as well as core computer science oriented.

My main reasons to do Mtech are I’m very curious and passionate about CS, I wanted to improve the core subjects knowledge and wanted to do a good project and competitive programming.

1. I started casual preparations for GATE in my final year of B.E., however, I feel the ideal time to begin with preparations for GATE is in the third year of engineering, as there are many subjects in GATE from the syllabus of third year, hence studies can be combined.




2. To prepare for GATE, first of all, we need to clear our concepts. Studying and solving problems from reference books of each subject is very helpful.




3. As far as GATE CSE is concerned, there are certain subjects that are more important than others. Mastering these subjects is key to scoring well in GATE. These subjects are TOC, Compiler Design, Algorithms and Data Structures, Operating Systems, Computer Networks and DBMS. Main focus while preparing for GATE should be these subjects.




4. Solving as many GATE papers of previous years, or mock tests, is of utmost importance. It helps us get an idea of the type of questions that could come, as well as how to solve those challenging questions within time limit.

I did not really have a schedule. But I had maintained a target of what part of any subject was to be covered at the start of the day. My main goal was to achieve that target by the end of the day.

I started preparing towards the end of VII semester of B.E., that is, in November. However, I believe that to really score well in GATE, we must begin proper preparations in our third year itself.

1. E-books of most subjects are available online




2. Video lectures are also available on YouTube




3. NPTEL videos are very helpful

While viewing video lectures of NPTEL, I used to make a lot of notes. These notes help in revising in the 2-3 weeks prior to GATE exam.

E-books of most subjects are available online, Video lectures are also available on YouTube, NPTEL videos are very helpful

If a person is good in a particular subject, he can dedicate less time to it. However, they should not be ignored as well. Give more time to important subjects and try to master them as soon as possible.

1. IISc Bangalore




2. Old IITs




3. NITs




4. IIITs




5. New IITs




6. JNU, NSIT, DTU, BITS




7. VJTI Mumbai, COE Pune




8. Others

1. Tell me something about yourself.


2. Me : Born and brought up in Delhi. Final year of graduation. NSS Volunteer – social involvement. Learning Bharatnatym for seven years. Talked about my two internships – Delhi Metro and gas power plant. (Could have said more about fests and other stuff)

1. P1 : Ok . so which turbine is used in this power plant?


2. Me: combined cycle. Two gas and one steam.

1. P1: what are the capacities?


2. Me: told

1. P1: what is the heat ratio?


2. Me: I don’t know. (Never heard the term. I think it is related to mechanical)

1. P1: cost of generation of electricity?


2. Me: The bill charges 5 rs per unit. So must be around 3-4 rs per unit. (Could have talked about transmission and distribution losses and that every plant has a different cost depending on many complex factors.)

1. P1: which turbine is more efficient? Gas or steam


2. Me: don’t know exactly but In case of gas turbine, the process is faster due to instant combustion. So, probably gas turbine.

1. P2: So, why did u choose Bharatnatyam Dance and not any other


2. Me : sir, initially it was closest to my home that why. But then I really liked it and enjoy it a lot. It is really vibrant. That why

1. P2: Tell me the difference between Freedom of expression , speech and opinion.


2. Me: Freedom of speech is a subset of expression. It refers to only verbal expression. Expression is a broader term and can be through variety of means like cartoons, dance, paintings. Opinions are thoughts , they may or may not be expressed.

1. P2: you have not taken a clear stand. If you have to take a clear stand- should there be limits on freedom of expression or not?


2. Me: no. there should not be limits. But people must be made aware that they should use their rights responsibly.

1. P2: so, the French gov. didn’t do that? That’s why Charlie hebdo happened.?


2. Me: we as a society learn from our mistakes. And I think this message is clear now.

1. P1: But French gov. did nothing new in this direction.


2. Me: But many important people including the Pope have criticized the misuse of freedom of expression to offend a community.

1. P2: So, you are from Delhi. Do u think Delhi should be given full statehood.


2. Me: no. it is not practical because Delhi is very small geographically and will not be financially sustainable if made a state. Moreover, lot of central government machinery is in Delhi like the MPs and foreign dignitaries visiting. Hence, Centre must have the power to control them. There are two main reasons why Delhi people want statehood. One is law and order i.e the Delhi police is not answerable to Delhi CM. and land issue – state gov. needs permission from center on land usage. DDA is not under state gov. I think there are better ways to resolve these. Regarding police, one department of police can be made to report to CM. and regarding land- more representation of state in DDA and already some steps have been taken in this direction.

1. P2: So, is kejriwal mad. Making it an issue.


2. Me: no sir. There are issues. But full statehood is not practical. A better and middle path solution with devolution of more power to Delhi state would be better.

1. P1: But, there is even a country which is smaller than Delhi. Which one?


2. me : Vatican city

1. P1: how does that work?


2. Me: It is extremely dependent on its neighbors.

1. P2: what do u think about CCTV cameras being installed.


2. Me: I think it is a good step. But it is the second part towards ensuring a safe city. It will help in catching criminals. But we can not always wait for crimes to happen to catch a criminal. It needs to be supplemented with more awareness and gender sensitization and similar moves should be emphasized. (Could have also talked about terrorists and related activities)

1. P1 : So, what kind of books do you read


2. Me: it keeps on changing. But recently I have been reading social books about life of people. For instance, the last book I read was PRINCESS: THE LIFE BEHIND THE VEIL IN SAUDI ARABIA. BY JEAN SASSON. It is about a girl who is of the Al-Saud’s family and talks about her life as a woman in Saudi Arabia. And before that NOTHING TO ENVY: ORDINARY LIVES IN NORTH KOREA BY BARBARA DEMICK It explores the life of common people of North Korea under the dictator during the 1980s and the subsequent famine of 1990s. it is a compilation of interviews of refugees from north Korea by a journalist.

1. P2: what is Saudi Arabia doing about oil?


2. Me: It has refused to cut down oil production and because of this, oil prices have fallen

1. P2: what is the problem in opec?


2. Me: Saudi Arabia is a rich country with abundant oil and low cost of production. So it can afford to sell at a low price for long. Other countries can’t.

1. P2: should OPEC break ?


2. Me: No. their strength lies in staying together because then they can monopolize the market.

1. P2: why do u think Saudi Arabia is not cutting down production?


2. Me: told about the shale gas. If oil prices remain low, then exploration of shale gas in unviable and world would continue to depend on oil as an energy resource.

1. P2: any other reason


2. Me: market share

If Saudi Arabia cuts down production, it will loose out the market share to other countries like Russia.

1. P2: How is Russia’s economy dependent on oil?


2. Me : oil forms a huge percentage of Russia’s GDP and export. And due to the low price, it is suffering a lot.

1. P2: could this be the reason why USA is asking Saudi Arabia to not cut production?


2. Me: yes. specially because of the Ukraine – Russia conflict. A lot of other sanctions have also been imposed on Russia.

1. P1 : so, since you have read about North Korea, tell me something about the Korean war.


2. Me: the communist powers mainly USSR were supporting North korea whereas USA was supporting South Korea.

1. P1: year?


2. Me : 1970s.. I think

1. P1: sure?


2. Me: I am not sure sir. Sorry

1. P2: who is the dictator now?


2. Me: KIM JONG UN since 2011 after the death of his father. 94-2011 was KIM JONG IL.

1. P2: so what are the firsts about MOM


2. Me : three firsts- 1. First time in maiden attempt 2. First time in least cost 3. First Asian country

1. And overall it is a very good step 1. Firstly, this allied tech can be used in a lot of Page on places.eg.


2. Communication 2. Then, PSLV is ISROs expertise, and we get a lot of international


3. assignments for the same. It is great. 3. It inspires young kids to take up science


4. Hence, it is a great achievement for the country

1. P2: what is the full form?


2. Me : mars orbital mission

1. P2: think of some first related to that


2. Me : (thinking aloud) earths orbit to mars orbit. But that would be done by every rocket. So, I don’t know

1. 10th – 90.3% Maharashtra SSC Board

2. 12th – 85.8% Maharashtra HSC Board

3. B.Tech – 7.8/10

Not many significant academic achievements, but extra-curricular achievements include being the General Secretary of SRA and representing India at International ABU RoboCon 2014. Also started Eklavya – SRA’s mentorship program.

Practice. MBA exams have questions, which anyone with a decent aptitude level should be able to solve, however solving them fast, and in the stipulated time is necessary to crack these exams. Focus on things you are good at rather than those in which you might be a bit shaky. Mocks are the key – CAT & XAT are about attempting the right questions and ignoring the wrong ones. A typical XAT paper has 70-80 questions but you need to get around 35-40 right to get a call for interviews. Therefore, if you manage to solve 50% of the paper but are 100% accurate – you should be through. This is the key. Practice mocks to identify your strengths and make sure you stay away from areas you are weak in

Not really if you are from an engineering background – there is a lot of free content available online. I referred to it most of the time. Solving books like Arun Sharma & Nishit Sinha helps a lot. But like I mentioned earlier – mock tests offered by caching classes help you to understand where you stand in the race

MBA typically gives you a decision making position – you are given the power to decide and are directly held responsible for profits and losses you make. Other MBA jobs are more of a strategy & planning jobs. MBA certainly gives you a more powerful position than what a B.Tech would give and that is something that you think excites you, I suggest you do MBA, if you prefer more core technology jobs and are more concerned about driving innovation yourself – stick to B.Tech jobs

MBA offers a number of specializations – mainly Finance, Marketing & operations. A few colleges offer Human Resource and Systems/Information Management as a specialization

IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, XLRI, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode, SPJIMR, JBIMS, FMS, IIFT

Syllabus is not restricted – but XAT had three sections – Verbal Ability, Decision Making & Quantitative Aptitude. VA & QT are similar to CAT and books like Arun Sharma can be helpful. Decision Making is what makes XAT special and your thinking mainly drives it – no amount of practice can help here but do look at pervious years XAT papers

I prepared for MBA entrance exams while I was working – so I did not have a well-planned schedule as such. Whenever I had time, I solved a few problems from Arun Sharma Books – I had subscribed to CetKing mocks, which I attempted on weekends. However, I feel 2-3 hours per day for 6 months should be sufficient for cracking entrance exams. As I mentioned above, these problems are nothing new, its speed and accuracy that you need to improve

I started preparing for CAT around May 2015 and XAT only a month before the exam in December 2015

It is tough to answer this – each person is comfortable in different subjects. Moreover I feel giving mocks and treating these exams as a combined effort rather than individual subject helps more. I studied for 2-3 hours per day for 6 months while managing a fulltime job.

1. I have seen many people do and myself done the same mistakes during the preparation phase – getting stuck with a particular subject which you find difficult and consequently neglecting others. MBA entrance exams are about speed and accuracy. In the exam you might be able to solve only 70-80% of the paper and even that should be considered a good attempt. So do not get stuck with a particular subject or topic. I observed that people are obsessed with Quant and neglect LR/DI and Verbal – at the end of the day you need to score well in all three and giving justice to all subject in preparations helps a lot

2. An MBA entrance exam is all about leaving the right questions – there are a few questions that take a lot of time to solve. These are included to waste a student’s time during the 3 hours of the test. The worst part is some of these questions appear to be easy and at times actually are easy – but have long set of calculations – it’s a trap! Identify such questions and ignore them – exam is all about playing on your strengths rather than challenging your weaknesses

3. DO NOT FAKE ANY ANSWERS. Interviews are conducted by college professors who have around 20 years of teaching experience – they handle around 400-500 students every year and can tell within a split second if you are faking any answers. Be honest. Also go through your resume and have an in depth knowledge of what you have done

Preparation for XLRI – as I mentioned in the common mistakes above – I focused a lot on quant section and ignored the verbal section. The result was that I got very low percentile in verbal section of CAT but survived the verbal section of XAT. An all-round preparation would have certainly given me the confidence to crack these exams and also a better score

XAT is the back-up for CAT and CET is the back-up for XAT. If you are a graduate from a college like VJTI – I’d suggest keep repeating these exams until you make it to the top 20 B-schools in India. Other MBA entrance exams are of not much use. Had I failed XAT, I had a job and would have continued the same, while still preparing for the next year

Mainly on my job, about my role and how it fits in and impacts the company. I was also asked about my role in SRA, VJTI and the things I worked upon. My interview was tough – it was a stress interview. I was asked a lot on US politics and their relation with US companies (since the US Presidential elections were around the corner and I was working with a US based firm) and I had no clue about these – I said I had no clue for almost 50-60% of the questions asked. Other questions revolved around my work and college life in SRA VJTI

XLRI is much tougher than VJTI. It is an elaborate course packed in two short years with 7-8 subjects to study in a span of 7-8 weeks. The level of competition is also high and there is a constant pressure of failure on the backdrop of a loan of 20 lakhs. However, this is what makes it challenging and exciting. Being ahead in the competition – beating the toughest and staying ahead in the race keeps you motivated. In addition, the subjects and exams are based on real life industry level problems unlike engineering where it is mostly outdated theory – making the learning a fun experience

1. Manhattan 5 lb. (the hot favourite) for Quant - being a lover of Maths, I solved all of the problems and tests in this.
2. ETS Official Guide - devour it completely! Burp!
3. ETS Quant Practice and ETS Verbal Practice books - the best ones to understand the type & range of questions asked and to develop your own strategies.
4. Magoosh Vocabulary Builder app - for the times when I used to take a break or while commuting or that eyes-wide-open-in-the-phone-light time before sleep.

1. Practice all types of questions from all topics. Don’t even ignore simple Algebra questions like “1+3=?”, for there must be a trick involved. Even once would do, if you grasp things quickly.
2. Then review the answers and keep jotting down the mistakes you commit. These should be helpful at the LAST MINUTE preparations. (For example, don’t ignore fractions and negative values in x2; double check DI questions; that new formula of ‘sample standard deviation’ etc.)
3. If you have time, do review the answers to the correct ones too - there can be some wisdom provided there too, e.g. in Manhattan and ETS books.

1. Practise RC as much as you can. It’s not important that you finish the whole book of RC99. I did practise only about 15-20 essays from the books that I’ve mentioned.
2. The important thing is to learn how to critically think about the questions and the choices. Every now and then, you’d have to reason with the choices like: “Hey! The passage does say that Apples are Bad. But it doesn’t state ‘specifically’ that they’re bad in taste. So eliminate.” Reasoning gets even more stringent than this. Learn to do it, and RC is your toy.
3. Also, speed reading in RC helps a lot. Verbal sections might be found to be time-taking by you.
4. SE and TC - Go with your instinct. Eliminate. Practice didn’t help me much I guess. But to be confident in the exam, do practise. :)

1. I don’t think I’m the right person to speak about it. I only read a few samples from the ETS OG, on the day before D-day. I like writing, and so I could write quite much in the exam as well.
2. All this I did within 10 days effectively. Lack of sleep didn’t bother me on the test day. (Might bother others, do sleep!)
3. However, during preparations, I believe sleep matters - for whatever you learn needs the warmth of the pillow to be happy to stay in your brain... :)
4. As much important are everyday chores and play - I used to play at least two games of Carrom everyday during my preparation. But DON’T do anything that brings that guilt in you of having wasted time.

1. Had slept only for 4 hours the night before, awoke at 6:30 AM, had only one banana for breakfast, and reached the venue at 7:30 AM. To my surprise, security check had already begun! :O Plus, to add to the torment, the ‘Prometric Intro video’ was playing on the TV there in loop! Grrr!
2. AWA topics were good, had ample thoughts to write. Time is also enough for you to write 400-500 words.
3. Happy to see the Quant section first! :D Got all the answers. However, it was trickier and lengthier than the second Quant section - so I knew that it was experimental.
4. And most of the verbal passages I got were related to Science - Astronomy, Chemistry, Botany etc. Lucky, for I love to read about those. :)
5. A Little Time Hack: Don’t press the Continue button when the section finishes. Take deep breaths. Prepare your mind to shift from Q to V or V to
6. Q. Then press Continue and enjoy an official break of 60 more seconds ... :P (Had read this somewhere, so implemented.)
7. Break time: Snickers. No wonder. (I think ETS should write this in the GRE conventions’ PDF now)
8. All went smooth. And the score screen. My eyes went to the Quantitative section first: 170. Emotionless. Fine. Expected. Then they turned to Verbal section: 159. I added it to my Quant score and... “WTF! It’s becoming 329! Perhaps my brain is too tired to do simple addition now”, I’d said to myself. I did the Math again. And then again on the yellow rough sheet - that’s when it settled in!
9. I smiled, filled in the Universities, and went straight to my friends waiting for a party. :)