Mahankali Dinesh, CEG 2017 EEE, has secured AIR 48 in GATE 19. He worked as a Maintenance/Project Engineer at ITC Ltd for a year. He quit his job last year and decided to prepare for GATE 19. After one year of strenuous preparation, when he checked his result on March 15, he knew that he has secured a place in the top 50.
Interviewer: Vignesh R, II Year, Printing Technology
- Congratulations on the first-hand bro. How does it feel now being AIR 48?
Actually, it was expected. Whenever I gave mock tests, I would come in the top 20. So naturally, I anticipated a rank within the top 50. It feels good after the results.
- Okay let us come to your college life, being an other-state student, how did you adapt yourself to CEG’s environment?
Yeah. It was odd. At first, I really thought of moving to other colleges like NIT (by writing JEE). I spoke to my family. They convinced me that CEG is the right place to be with very good placements. So I somehow managed to stay. It took me 6 months to really understand what people are speaking. After 1.5 years, I learned the language.
- At what point did you decide to give GATE?
It was my brother who introduced me to the GATE exam. He suggested it was the entry to PSUs. He is also EEE. When I took his preparation books, most of the problems were solvable. I solved the Circuit Theory problems at ease. I was strong at the basics.
- Did you prepare during college days?
I and Srinath(Classmate) joined ACE Academy during the third year. But we just attended the classes. Sometimes we did skip some subjects. At the fourth year, I made a blunder without deciding whether to go for GATE or placements. My seventh semester time was dedicated to placements. I got an offer from ITC. We just prepared around 2 months for GATE. I got AIR 874 in GATE 2017.
- How was your work experience at ITC?
It was 50% of what I expected. My role was maintenance – during the first two years, we can learn a lot. But the job gets saturated after that.
- But I’m from Printing dept bro, for us, ITC is like a great place to work in.
Yeah, for Printing, it is the best place to be in.
- How did you take a decision to leave your job and prepare for GATE?
When my seniors heard that I got 874 in GATE 17, they suggested me to give it a try again. And also my heart was in the exam. I knew I was strong in the technical subjects. So I quit my job in 2018 and enrolled in ACE Hyderabad.
- What is your review of ACE Hyderabad?
It is pretty good. The teachers are really experienced there. They have been teaching for around 10 years.
- This year, it has been said that the GATE EEE question paper was very easy, what are your thoughts on that? Did it affect your result in anyways?
Good question. The toughest paper is GATE 2007. We were even prepared for such a worst-case scenario. But this year the question paper was the easiest. Whenever the paper is difficult, you just compete with the top 100. But when it is easy, everyone comes into the competition and silly mistakes can really push you backward. After the exam, we were really afraid of the results.
- During your preparation days, how many hours do you spend daily? What was your routine like?
Whatever taught in the class did 90% of my preparation. Being strong in basics gave me a head start. The key is consistency. The number of hours is subjective Even if you prepare two hours a day, it is enough for some. But if you leave any gap in your preparation, you’ll forget things.
- Any tips for CEG GATE aspirants?
From 4th semester it would be ideal to learn your subjects. When you reach the sixth semester, if you are strong in basics, one year of preparation can take you heights. You should be focused. It’s better to buy some materials from coaching institutes and solve the numericals from that.
Those materials consist of topics relevant to gate. Textbooks are good but they consume a lot of time for covering all topics.
- Is it possible to learn everything after college even if you failed to grasp basics during your college?
Yeah, for sure. Many aspirants are like that. Even if the coaching is for the whole day, they go home and prepare for 5 hours in the night. They make up for what they missed in college. When the exam was nearing, I could see them catching up with guys who’re strong in basics. The trick is concepts, practice, and mock tests.
- What are your future plans? Will you join PSU or MTech?
I’m rooting for PSUs. I should start preparing for the interviews. It will occur in May.
The Guindy Times wishes Dinesh good luck for his PSU interviews and the future.
