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GATE 2019 Topper (AIR-4, ECE) Chaitanya Kumar Shares His Success Story

Hi, my name is Chaitanya Kumar. I have secured AIR-4 in GATE 2019 from ECE branch. I am in B.Tech final year from NIT Jalandhar. I would like to congratulate IES MASTER for their incredible success in GATE 2019. I took IES Master Online Test Series.

IES Master Test Series is completely in accordance with the GATE exam pattern. It helped me a lot in acclimatizing in that environment and of course building the speed and accuracy that are required to crack this exam with flying colours.

What were your marks in GATE 2019?
My marks were 82 out of 100, and normalised score was 987 out of 1000.

What inspired you to go for GATE?
When I started my B.Tech, right from the beginning, I want an academic career and go for higher studies. In the second year, I came to know about premier institutes like IISC Bangalore and IIT Bombay. The mode of admission to these institutes is through GATE, so I started my preparation for GATE.

What to you is so special about these premier institutes?
I want to pursue a decent academic career. In India there is a problem with the ecosystem. Here academics is looked down upon as a career. So, if we have good people in academics also, then it would be great for our country and the academic situation in India. I want to pursue a decent academic career, to achieve knowledge, and contribute to the ever growing technology from these institutes.

Any specific subject you are looking for specialization?
I am interested in Device Physics i.e. the solid state devices that are the building blocks of all the electronic systems in the world. Today the main focus is on reducing the size of the chips, and increasing their efficiency while reducing the power consumption. So these things interest me a lot, and I want to go in this field.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
I want to do my doctorate from Ivy League University of the USA. So definitely in the next five years, I want to be in any one of those Ivy League universities pursuing my doctorate and doing high-end research.

It’s no mean task achieving such a good rank while pursuing B.Tech. When did you actually start preparing for GATE?
In my second year only I started focussing on the basics of each and every subject. Actually what we see in the whole B.Tech curriculum is that there are a few fundamental subjects that are really important and are basis of all other subjects. These subjects are EDC, Network Theory, Signal System, and some part of Mathematics and Digital. I started my preparation with these basic subjects through NPTL and standard books.

Once these subjects are strong, you can have the intuitive viewpoint towards all other subjects. So, this is how I started, and after having a strong command on the basics of complete syllabus, I started preparing through various study material like previous years’ question papers of GATE. After that when I came in the final year, and my placement session was over, I completely focussed on GATE without any fear. For around six months, I completely focussed on the test series, problem solving, practicing, and keep on revising the mistakes that I committed, and finally I got this rank.

Can you elaborate a little more on the sequencing of the subjects for GATE preparation?
As I mentioned earlier also, first study the basic subjects, for example, Network Theory, Control Theory, Signal System, EDC, Digital Electronics, and Mathematics also because it is certainly a scoring subject. Once you are through with all these subjects then you can go for derivative subjects like Communication System which is a derivative of Signal System, Control System and Probability Theory, Analog Electronics which is a derivative of Network Theory and EDC. So these subjects you can easily go with once you have strong grasp of these subjects. Once you are confident with the scoring subjects, you can go for these tougher subjects.

How did IES Master Test Series help you in structuring your preparation?
GATE is an online exam of three hours during which you have to completely maintain your cool and calm so that you can deliver your 100%. So to acclimatize to that online environment, you definitely need a strong preparation. IES Master Test Series is completely in accordance with the GATE exam pattern. It helped me a lot in acclimatizing in that environment and of course building the speed and accuracy that are required to crack this exam with flying colours.

How did you manage your GATE preparation while pursuing B.Tech?
Definitely there were challenges. When you are in NIT, there are so many things happening around you. Many people are preparing for CAT, some are preparing for high-package campus placements, for which they had started preparing right from the beginning. So there is always the doubt because in those three hours all your hard work of three years is going to be tested.

There is always an anxiety in your mind, and when I came in my final year most of my friends where getting placed in big IT companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Adobe, etc. They were getting packages worth Rs 27 lakh to Rs 40 lakh. These kinds of things definitely hit you when you see that you have to prepare for another six months, and then you will get a window of three hours to prove yourself.

So you have to overcome such kinds of anxieties. This was certainly a big challenge. Apart from this, managing between the institute academics and your preparation also requires a lot of time management skills.

How is the life at NIT Jalandhar?
It’s a pretty decent campus. It’s located away from the noise and pollution of the city. It has all the amenities that a student requires in the campus. It’s a self-sustained campus, and the environment there is pretty competitive and good. I have made a lot of friends who are clear with their goals and who keep on striving hard. So these kind of people certainly motivates you, and moreover what you get in such kind of institutions is the cultural diversity as people from all over India from different cultures are united there. This helps you to know different parts of your country. So overall I had a great experience during these four years, and these would be the golden period of my life.

Tell us a little about your family.
I come from a nuclear family, and my family members include my sister, mother and father. My grandparents live in my hometown, and they keep on visiting us many times a year. I have a great bond with my grandparents. In fact, my grandfather is the one who is responsible for all the things that I have in my mind. He has been really sincere about my studies, and for my academics since my childhood. He has always motivated me to go further. Overall my family is really supportive to what I aspire to become.

AIR-4 GATE 2019! What was the reaction of your family in general, and grandpa in particular?
I can say that they were the happiest person on this earth, I can bet on that. When my grandfather heard that I have secured AIR-4 in GATE 2019, he was in tears while congratulating me. Actually I was travelling back from Jalandhar to Delhi. I was in train that time. So, I couldn’t meet them personally, but on phone I could feel the emotion that they had in their voice, my parents and my grandpa. It was really an overwhelming environment at that time.

Tell us a little about your native place.
I belong to Bihar. My native place is in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. My father is in government job. He is in ministry of agriculture, so I have been to all the parts of country along with my family.

Tell us a little about your schooling.
I had a kind of mixed schooling. I had schooling in all the places where I stayed with my parents. I did my schooling from schools in Hyderabad, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Bareilly, etc. So, it was a kind of mixed schooling.

From your school to NIT Jalandhar. How was the journey like?
When I came to 12th standard, I started preparing for JEE. I didn’t have any particular institute in my mind that I wanted to go. I just wanted to secure a decent rank in JEE Advanced and go to IIT definitely as almost all the aspirants of engineering aim for these premier institutes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t secure that decent rank that I could get anything of my choice in IIT. I secured a rank of 8,464 in JEE Advanced, so I couldn’t get the branch of my choice in IIT. So, I preferred NIT Jalandhar. Of course that was a kind of disappointment for me that hit me, but at the same time it was a motivation for me to perform well in GATE.

From NIT to becoming GATE All India Ranker, what was the reaction in your college campus?
All my classmates and juniors were really amazed and amused. They all were congratulating me. My project guide, with whom I have been working on my final year project, called me and congratulated me, and showered his blessings. All my juniors were so excited, so overwhelmed that they were putting my rank in their social media status. It was really a nice environment, and overwhelming response that I received from all my classmates and juniors. I am really thankful to these guys for their love and support.

What was your study schedule?
Right from the second year of my B.Tech, I started my preparation, and at that time I was not completely into this. I had a mixed balance of extra-curricular activities. I am into dramatics club, and technical society that builds automobile vehicles, I was into that also. The time that I get from all these things, I used to study my core subjects at that time.

I had a prolonged journey of three years, so it was never that any kind of pressure accumulated over me. I was completely relaxed during these three years that I have lot of time. In my second year, it was a fine blend of all these things. In the third year, I became a bit more focused particularly towards GATE after reducing all the time spent on extra-curricular activities and other societies, and completely focussed on GATE.

So, at that times I used to devote four to five hours daily after my classes. My classes were from 8.30 AM to 5.30 PM, and after indulging in some recreational activities, I used to study from 7.00 PM onwards till the time I went to sleep. This was my schedule for the last one year or so. At the time of semester exams, the time was a bit disturbed as at that time I used to focus on the exams also. You can say that for two or three weeks I used to study for semester exams, and then again resume my studies for GATE.

Do you have any role model?
I see Dr APJ Abdul Kalam as my role model. If I can be even a per cent like him, it will really be a great achievement in my life. Unfortunately, the day I joined NIT Jalandhar i.e. 27th of July, 2015 he left for the heavenly abode. It was an emotional time for me. I kept him as a role model, and proceeded further.

It is wonderful to have a gem like you associated with IES Master. Wish you all the best, and may God bless you in all your endeavours.
Thank you!

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