http://gatehelper.blogspot.in/2009/07/any-competitive-exam-whether-it-is-of.html http://www.inspirenignite.com/gate-2011-a-complete-guide/ http://gate-study-material.blogspot.in/ http://www.mediafire.com/ mtw2utt9!vr"#$f9s%9pm!

2iyot

&iscreate'(athamatics http://www.cs.odu.edu/)toida/ner%ic/content/web*course.html http://mrunal.org/2012/0+/aptitude-permutation-combination-made.html

,s http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/-ebcourse-contents/../c-0123/,perating 420/ystems/2ew*index1.html

Computer - Computer Algorithms - 2

http://www.youtube.com/course category56niversity427/cience4278omputer 42"20/cience4271lgorithms9list5:80708:"912:81#1:99feature5edu ;robility http://www.youtube.com/playlist list5;<"0:09709::87+=119feature5plcp

1lgebra http://www.youtube.com/playlist list5;<&:2#870#0&+1+0219feature5plpp

Few Good Blogs written by PG students of different IITs : IIT-M http://karthrags.wordpress. o!/"##$/#%/&'/iit-iit-inter(iew-tra(eails/ IIT-B http://abhina(!aurya.blogspot.in/"#&&/#)/ad(i e-for-people- onsidering- se-iit.ht!l II* http://sites.google. o!/site/(ikasgargiis /useful-infor!ation-for-iis -aspirants IIT-+ http://floatingpoints.wordpress. o!/"#&#/#,/"$/iits-and-gate- uttoff-story-"#&#/ http://ha k!aster.in/blog/"#&#/#%/!y-e-perien e-and-inter(iew-at-iitk-kanpur-part-ii-the-writtentest/ IIT-G http://sa!eerbsws.blogspot.in/"#&&/#)/gate-"#&&-ad!ission- se-in-iits-lowest.ht!l IIT-. http://iitbakar. o!/enpun h/ a!pusfun/a-day-at-iith/ IIIT-/elhi http://iiitd-the-year-that-was.blogspot.in/

0The Best 0 1ourse for Theory 2f 1o!putation: http://www.youtube. o!/playlist3list4P5)#F/6#7F167#B8'#9feature4pl p 8d(an ed 8lgorith! ourse Fro! IIT-+: http://www.youtube. o!/ ourse3 ategory4:ni(ersity;"F* ien e;"F1o!puter;","#* ien e ;"F8lgorith!s9list461BF#16,<8"618$&6<9feature4edu 2pen 1ourses fro! IIT and II*1 : http://www.!yopen ourses. o!/ http://www.!yopen a!pus.in/ho!e 8sso iated Blog to get updates http://blog.!yopen a!pus.in/ M8T.6M8TI1* &. Probability http://www.youtube. o!/playlist3list4P5,B6#<7#<661F)%889feature4pl p ". 1ollege 8lgebra http://www.youtube. o!/playlist3list4P5/6"$1F#$B/)&)B"89feature4plpp ). 1al ulus http://www.youtube. o!/playlist3list4P5F,6""""'',</")/< '. /ifferential 9 Integral 1al ulus http://www.youtube. o!/playlist3list4P5&B6)#"76F,'<17/& 12MP:T6= >6T?2=+I>G &. .. Balakrishnan @MITA http://www.youtube. o!/(iewBplayBlist3p4%,),7'$F,</18'$' ". Profs. =aC Dain @2*:AE http://www. se.wustl.edu/FCain/ se'7)-&&/inde-.ht!l 12MPI56= *T=:1T:=6* : &. *tanford http://www.youtube. o!/playlist3list4P5FB<617B$F6<%)6B$9feature4pl p

". MIT http://o w.!it.edu/ ourses/ele tri al-engineering-and- o!puter-s ien e/%-&7"-perfor!an eengineering-of-software-syste!s-fall-"#&#/(ideo-le tures/ ). :1 Berkeley http://www.youtube. o!/playlist3list4P5')6)6B&1/F%&,7F) 2P6=8TI>G *G*T6M 12:=*6* : &. :1 Berkeley http://www.youtube. o!/playlist3list4P568F61%&%#/8/17889feature4pl p ". IIT-+gp http://www.!ediafire. o!/3ukH$ibH#"(7(n ). :ni(ersity of >otre /a!e http://www.youtube. o!/(iewBplayBlist3p48B7/,1876"%"B#6" Few useful ?ebsites to enhan e your knowledge about 0 Theory of 1o!putation 0.. &. http://!atho(erflow.net/ ". http://sta ko(erflow. o!/ ). http:// stheory.sta ke- hange. o!/ Pla e!ent *tatisti s in /ifferent IIT. *alary =ange for M-Te h students ' to &) 5P8 without Finan ial offersE8(erage % 5P8 . IIT-M http://students.iit!.a .in/thefifthestate/"#&"/#,/ a!pus-pla e!ents-"#&&-"#&"/ IIT-+GP http://www.s holarsa(enue.org/"#&"/#&/"%/pla e!ents-"#&&-&"-phase-&-analysis/ IIT-+8>P:= http://www.!yengg. o!/engg/info/&)77&/iit-kanpur-pla e!ent-"#&&/ 1o!plete *et of *tudy Materials For Gate 6-a! &. http://www.!ediafire. o!/3!tw"utt<'(r,$I!yfiles 8n 6- ellent *ite To 5earn 1 5anguage http://www.online. s.washington.edu/ To download Free 6 Books http://!irtitles.org/"#&&/#</#,/igor-e(genye(i h-irodo(/ 5ots of >ew 1ourses https://www. oursera.org/ ourses http:// slibrary.stanford.edu/ /igital E right fro! Professors /esk : http://web.iitd.a .in/Fshouri/eel"#&/le tures.php

2* http://www.!ediafire. o!/3ukH$ibH#"(7(n More 1JJ http://www".fK-Cueli h.de/(ideo/ pp/ he k this blog for P*: related Huestions and study !aterials http://r'k),h.blogspot.in/ http://gate-study-!aterial.blogspot.in/sear h/label/G8T6;"#B=I55I8>T;"#T:T2=I85 http://free(ideole tures. o!/blog/"#&#/&"/'##-free-online- ourses-youtube/3 ut!Bsour e41list9ut!B!ediu!4link9ut!B a!paign4GT nter(iew 6-perien e : MI1=2*2FT I/1 http://algo"geeks.blogspot.in/"#&&/#</!i rosoft-id -inter(iew.ht!l Intel http://so!das-bandyopadhyay.blogspot.in/"#&#/&"/intel-inter(iew-e-perien e.ht!l F816B22+ http://aayushlifeatiitb.blogspot.in/"#&#/&"/inter(iew-with-fa ebook.ht!l Gahoo http://www. se.iit!.a .in/Fsandeep!/pla e!ents/yahooBinter(iew.pdf

:ngineering'(athematics'
The engineering mathematics section may seem daunting due to its generic and vast nature. However, it is one of the easiest sections to prepare for. The trick with this section is just to scratch the surface. No need to go deep into any of the subsections. During my preparations, I mostly concentrated on understanding the definitions of all the terms and only the most important results. gain, as in all of the ! T" prep, the operative word is #understanding#. $ld ! T" papers were more than enough for practice. Now, I will try to walk you through each section. (athematical'<ogic: I personally did not use any material for preparation of this section. %ust solved &uestions from old ! T" papers and that was it. $ne only needs to understand what all the operators mean and just around '()'* basic formulae. $ne can safely rely on old &uestion papers for preparation of this section. ;robability:

+or the basics any good ',th level book will do. Thoroughly understand the concepts of event, sample space, conditional probabilities. -ayes theorem is especially important. I did not cover mean, median, mode and std deviation as I was already comfortable with them. I think ',th level statistics should cover it in ade&uate depth. +or understanding random variables and other .somewhat/ advanced topics .eg. distributions/, # +irst 0ourse in 1robability# by 2oss should be enough. %ust be very selective, no need to go beyond the basics. /et'>heory'9'1lgebra: I studied this part from 3chaum4s Discrete 5athematics. $ne just needs to know all .around ,() 6( odd/ definitions and how to read the lattice diagrams. 8ombinatorics: I did not study combinatorics for this e7am as I am very comfortable with the topic. 3raph'>heory: I covered all of graph theory from wikipedia and it was more than enough. %ust look up the relevant articles in wikipedia and try to understand important definitions and theorems. gain, don4t go in too deep. <inear'1lgebra: +or the basics, stick to your ',th te7tbook. Do !aussian)elimination from !ilbert 3trang. +or eigen values and vectors, you just need to know what they are and how to solve for them. nywhere you can get this information is fine. I think !ilbert 3trang does a good job in this area too. 2umerical'(ethods: 89 decomposition is part of !aussian)elimination, and that you should have covered in linear algebra. +or the rest its wikipedia all the way. 8alculus: I did not cover this topic. :new enough of it to answer asked &uestions. 5ostly they stick to ',th level stuff. nyway, very few &uestions are asked from calculus. ;ou may leave this subsection .at your own risk/ Hope this helps. Do pitch in with your comments and &ueries.

.nterview'?uestions'for'8omputer'/cience'

..>'0ombay '/ <uestions on !enerating functions and recurrence relations. ,/ <uestions on favorite subject. ..>'(adras '/ <uestions on research interest. ,/ -.Tech. 1roject details. ..>'@anpur '/ -asic 5athematics .!raph of Trigonometric functions, 8ogarithmic function/ and !eometry. ,/ Data 3tructure, $perating 3ystem .1aging, =irtual memory, -ootstrap loader/, Theory of 0omputation. 6/ 3ome <uestions like how system boots> ?/ bout your favorite subject. ..>'&elhi '/ Database ,/ T$0 6/ Networks. ..>'3uwahati @ritten test had &uestions on following topicsA '/ Data 3tructures and 0ompilers .82 parsing/ ,/ 0omputer organiBation .pipe lining/ and $perating 3ystems .5emory 5anagement/.

How to Prepare for GATE?

'* $ctober, ,((C by runanand T . Hi all, . ll bout ! T" -hat ' is ' 31>: ' all ' about ' ! T" is organiBed by IITs and II3c, which have pioneered advanced education at masterDs level in India. The sole purpose of ! T" is not only to conduct a test for admission but, which is also the major goal, to identify the suitable engineersEresearchers in various areas and make them to

choose their area of choice in which they can pursue their master degree. s you know by now, ! T" is only organiBed by IITs and II3c which always try to innovate and introduce new systems to test the basic knowledge of candidates in various fields. s a part of that innovation, the previous year ! T" papers were fully objective type. This year also the same pattern is being used, and mathematics addedF lthough this made the job relatively easier for the evaluators, the candidates now have a bound choice to cover all the topics. s you know, the setting of &uestions papers at IITs and II3c in itself is very interesting. The designated faculty in each of the areas who provide the syllabus of a particular stream have the burden to set the &uestions which is finally combined to a full length paper. -eing set by the highly &ualified faculty, the &uestions papers are not like a very traditional one. They always try to test the very basic of candidates in respective areas by bringing the element of innovation in these papers. It is not surprising that sometimes the &uestions are mere applications of basic concepts in their area of research. The implication of this, it seems is that cracking ! T" with a very high percentile is merely having the basics cleared. NoF bsolutely notF s innovations are always a part of the &uestion paper, one needs to be able to apply the basics in a new application, too. That is why similar to %"", ! T" is altogether different from other competitive e7ams. Here in ! T", one needs to prepare thoroughly by understanding the basics. ItDs not at all the mugging up the end results .formulae/ and directly applying themG instead, you need to know the principle in the derivation of those end results because in most of the cases the &uestions are based on the basic principle involved in the derivation, or the case where they may ask the behavior of the system under some other conditions or simple application of that result. To secure a very high percentile you should always remember the fact that you are adjudged relatively not absolutely. Hence, your rank obviously depends on how you performed relative to your competitors. 5any times, it happens that the candidates are sure of getting many &uestions correct. -ut one should always know that although the &uestions have only one correct answer, other probable choices are deliberately put there to confuse the candidates. In that sense, preparing the choices other than the correct one is also a part of the bringing the element of innovation, which really makes the life hell for a test taker to arrive at the very correct choice. The &uestion that poses itself to the ! T" aspirants now is, how does he prepare, what methods he should adopt that would ensure his admission in the esteemed IITs or the II3c. How to 1repare Aow ' does ' one ' prepare ' for ' 31>:B ' specifically ' 31>: ' 2010 ' -efore the marathon begins, the HrunnerD puts in months, even years, of effort before he actually runs the race. s the saying goes I get your fundamentals right. ! T" is an e7am that tests you on your fundamentals. The &uestions are generally derivations of the fundamentals. 1reparation for ! T" is an ongoing process, and is supposed to happen in stages. +irst get your fundamentals right, and then test yourself on those fundamentals. @hen you have done this, you should pit yourself with the competition, which means a mock test which would give you a percentile to let you know where you stand amongst competitors.

How do you choose which coaching material to go with. This is something that is &uite subjective. coaching material cannot be assessed until you have gone through it. 3o, you could go by the word of your seniors as to what coaching material they followed to prepare for ! T". Here are some parameters on which you can decide whether you should go for a particular coaching institute, use a particular coaching material, or testsA '. 9ni&ueness in their study materialA 3tudy material provided by the coaching institutes is of little assistance if they are compact copy)paste or rewrite of materials taken from other books. If the reading of such material doesnDt increase interest and enjoyment then they are not worth it. There are plenty of standard books on each subject by good authors, which can make your study enjoyable during preparation. ,. 0ollection of &uality books in their libraryA During the process of theory conceptualiBation and building application capabilities, you need good books, which can really put your brain on e7ercise. 0heck out their libraryF 6. +le7ibility in the 0oaching 5odelA @hat happens when your pace of learning is much faster or slower than the average> Is there any mechanism by which the model can identify e7actly where you need help and provide the same> Is it possible in that coaching model to minimiBe the wastage of your time> ?. <uality of &uestions discussedA Number of &uestions discussed is not that important. -y discussing and solving '()'* conceptual &uestions on each topic you can build a good application capability. $n the other hand solving many tricky non)conceptual &uestions will simply waste your time. *. Tests and evaluation modelA How is the progress of your preparation tested and analyBed> To what e7tent the feedback helps in identifying the areas for further work> Here I must say that this is the most crucial part of the preparation. This is the area where most of the students fail due to lack of proper test materials which can help them to build in themselves a real)test)like environment and temperament. $nce you are able to choose the correct assistance for your ! T" journey, it will be an enjoying and thrilling e7perience. Aere'are'some'things'apart'from'worCing'on'your'engineering'conceptsB'that'you'should'do' for'a'complete'preparation'for'31>: '. 3olve previous yearsD ! T" papersA 3olving previous yearsD papers gives you a fair idea of what the actual paper would be like. It also brushes up your basics and e7poses your Hareas of improvementD. ,. 3olve test papersA 3olve as many test papers as possible. This actually is the best way to keep improving as you prepare for ! T". 6. nalyBe A nalyBing your test results is a very important part of taking the test. If you do not analyBe, the test does not add value. ;ou should minutely analyBe and define as to where you

could have scored moreG analyBe your accuracy rates in various topics and maintain a topic wise datasheet which lists your performance topic wise for different test papers. ?. Take up an all India test series which gives you your percentile and ll India 2ank A This is very important to avoid the Jfrog in the pondK syndrome. 3tudents tend to take it easy if they attain a high score in the tests. However, ! T" is an e7am in which people are selected on their relative scores. 3o even if you have scored C*L it does not essentially translate to a percentile of C*. ;ou are competing with the best in India, and to get through ! T" you should know where you stand to be among the Htop fewD selected for the interview. test series of this sort is being provided by ! T" +orum .www.gateforum.com/. *. 3imulate actual test environment A This is very important. The actual test happens in a classroom, and is timed. @hen you take up the test, switch off your cell phone, have a timer which times your tests, and avoid taking any breaks. lso, if possible, take up a mock test series which enables you to take the test in a classroom environment. @e are presenting below a series of interviews of some of the toppers in ! T"

Li(ek by "#&& ' rank .i MeenalE 8s for your HuestionE nMlog@nA is o@"MnA. Take log @base "A on both sides and it be o!es easy to see. Gour ontention is wrong. 8s for prepE prepare for *ubCe t G=6 instead of G8T6. The syllabus and pattern are si!ilar and !atter is !u h !ore truthworthy. The e-a! is of higher Huality than G8T6 and !akes G8T6 a lot easier to handle. /2 >2T T=:*T any solution gi(en by any oa hing institute. 2n an a(g I find around &#; errors in their solutions and usually errors are on eptual and hen e tend to offset oneNs preparation a bit. Try to finish your preparation by the ti!e of *ubCe t G=6 @>o(.A. I prepared using all the standard !aterial 8lgo- 1or!enE5E=E* /BM*- >a(athe >ets- ?illia! *tallings @probablyE 2= was it hardware 2= were both books by *tallings3 dont re!e!berA 2*- Gal(in et al /igital .ardware- .annesey Patterson and one other book for basi s@donNt re!e!ber the na!eE !aybe *tallingsA

Graph theory and Maths - ?ikipedia and /is rete Maths @* hau!sA 1o!pilers - The dragon book P5 - a !ultitude of books and net @did things fro! here and there as found no single book to be appropriateA 2ld G8T6 papers and old G=6 papers. 2ne online guide @pdfA for G=6 ontaining &##-&,# e- ellent Huality Huestions *oftware 6ngineering: I hate the topi and will ne(er o(er it if !y life depended on it. *in e these books represent Huite a hea(y body of knowledgeE one needs to be (ery sele ti(e and keep to rele(ant portions @rele(ant an be defined as ha(ing been asked atleast on e in pre(ious &#"# yearsA 8lso old G8T6 papers are the best pra ti e proble!sE ration the! wisely. /2 >2T *66+ *25:TI2>* :>56** G2: .8L6 GIL6> 8 F6? M2>T.* T2 8 T2PI1 @not few !onths of intensi(e studyE Cust asual ru!inationA. *ol(e the! yoursel(es. 5ea(e so!e tests untou hed for pra ti e towards end. /o not try to atte!pt proble!s gi(en in abo(e books @e- ept for so!e proble!s in *tallingNs booksA. They are too good for this e-a! and will waste your ti!e. 6gE If I was to appear again I would lea(e say "##% and "##$ papers untou hed till the last !onth to gauge !y final prep. 8 note about a!biguity: 6ngineering 4O dealing with real world 4O a!biguity. Try resol(ing a!biguity using o!!on sense and your knowledge. The o!!ittee is right in asking Huestions whi h are apparently/a tually a!biguous. 855 8=6 ?6512M6 to !ail !e at (i(ek&#&"7<Pyahoo. o!. /o e-pe t !e to take !y ti!e replying as I a! (ery busy. But I will reply. 8lsoE this is not !y real na!e and I use this I/ when I dont want to gi(e !y real I/. *oE your !ails !ay get lost in deluge of spa! I re ei(e on this address. To a(oid that in lude G8T6 "#&& Q:6=G in subCe t line so that I !ay easily filter you !ails.

Toppers4 =iews /ourav'&utta': I2 ', IT, ! T" ,((M

(.>ech'D8/:EB'..>-@anpur 0.>ech'from'Fadavpur'6niversity 0.>ech'8;.':'9.+0 ;lacement'during'0.>ech':'1dobeB'>8/ ?.'-hen'and'why'did'you'decide'to'go'for'(.>ech 1: I liked the core couses of IT which started in ,nd year, that4s when I decided to go for higher studies. ?.'-hen'did'you'start'preparing'for'31>:'in'full'swing 1: 3tarted in *th sem. vaise bhi placements were in Nth sem so I had to start studying anyway. ?.'Aow'many'hours'a'day'on'an'average'did'you'devote'to'31>:'preparation'in'this'period A 6)? hours regularly ?.'-hat'was'your'mode'of'preparation 1: 3elf)study O test series from ! T"+orum which gave a pretty good idea of preparations .I was usually ranked under * in them/ ?.'&id'the'college'curriculum'interfere'with'31>:'preparation '.f'yesB'how'did'you'manage'it 1: Not really ?.'&id'you'appear'for'31>:'in'your'>hird'year '&o'you'thinC'itGs'a'good'idea'to'do'so 1: No, but it4s a good idea to appear in 6rd year to gain e7perience. 3ince the ! T" result is valid for two years agar 3rd year me acchha score aa jaye to chill ho jaata hai. A/ I didn4t do so because I wanted to appear one)time with full preparation. ?.'-hat'was'your'way'of'studying/'what'should'be'the'way'of'studying 1: 3tudy in depth, read as much as you can. 0oncepts are important. 3peed is most important, that4s where time)bound tests play their role. I used standard books mostly, and reference books wherever things were not clearEe7tra reading. $ne should take the classes seriously, it helps in the end. I used to jot down important points briefly in my notebook. ?.'-hat'would'you'suggest'about'the'last'days'DsayB'one'weeCE'preparation 1:2evised my notes. ?.'Aaving'so'many'optionsB'why'did'you'choose'..>-@anpur ' 1: I had applied for three places) II3c -angalore, IIT)- and IIT):. I was not eligible for II3c 5.". program because my background was IT .Information Technology/ and not 0omputer 3cience. It is well known that IIT)- is very good for placement and IIT): is best for academics. I wanted to learn that4s why I chose IIT):. lso, I am good in systems as my background is IT. Theory attracted me to IIT) :, so that I can be in a stronger position. ?.'1re'you'satisfied'with'your'decision 1:No grievancesFFF

?.'-hat'are'your'future'career'plans 1: I want to do job for some time. If after two years, I find myself motivated enough to do research, then only I will go for a 1hD. 1eople usually have a 4kar lete hain4 attitude towards 1hD, but its a long)time commitment and I go for something only when I really want to do it like I had left dobe for 5Tech. ?.'Aad'you'covered'all'the'topics'in'31>:'syllabus 1: ;es. It is very important that a ! T" aspirant covers the depth and breadth of each topic as any selective study is close to hara-kiri for such an e7amination. ?.'1ny'other'message 1: $ne has to be highly motivated for 5Tech, because people usually flock around for 5- and the environment around is not so conducive for ! T" preparation. I think 5.Tech is much more rewarding than 5- ) 4 its better to shout at yourself and come out with something new than shouting at others to raise the sales.' @hy to do engineering if you are interested in management> 5any people prefer IITD for I 3 coaching, I think its a waste of resources.

Test and Interviews in Different IITs

Posted: May 7E "#&" in 8d(i e For Gate Preparation Tags: Gate Inter(iews

&)

$ Lotes

..>-&elhi' IIT)D can ask you about your favorite subjects but according to programme your subject should match. EET@IIT A 0omputer rchitecture, 0 1rogramming .

sked 0 programming, 0omputer architecture, data structure, $3, some &uest on mathematics. !"#@IIT A data structure and lgo , mathematics .probability/ $"%@IIT A generally dbms is not preferred, D3 P lgo is preferred, mathematics E probability is included by default. sked at least 6 subjects of choiceQ >ype'of'HuestionsA checking the clearness of basic concepts and application of basic concepts in solving problems. they can give problem and can ask approach to give solutions. they can ask last topics on your subjects of interestQfor e7ample.. if you say utomata..they can ask 5ulti tape T5, other versions of T5 and how they are e&ual in power with standard modelQ if you say 8!$ they can ask N1)0ompleteness ans N1)HardnessQ..some N10 and N1 Hard problem and many &uestions on thatQ $oral of storyA prepare 6 subjects completely for interview. from start to end in breath and from basic to deep in vertical. mathematics and probability is by default. #&'(T $#T)E$#TI"% !enerally Discrete mathematics is askedQ..probability , 0ounting , 3olving recurrences, set I relations I functions , graph theory and graph algosQ.these topics are very important . ..>-@anpur' written test )interviews @ritten testA *( &uestions ,.* hrs R Data 3tructure and lgo, theory of utomata, $perating 3ystem S)'N &uestions Rmathematics , propability , mathematical ptitude S) 6? &uestions InterviewA depends on your choice of subjects but in my opinion you must be comfortable in data %tructure and #lgo* +robability * mathematics in order to &ualify the interview.in C()C*L cases they ask d3 P lgo and more importantly mathematics , probability in interview. In IIT): we have seen that logical &uestions based on 0oordinate geometry , 1ithogorus theorm , theorms based on triangles . theorems on geometry / was asked particularly in interviews. $ne more thing TU prime number concepts and mainly number theory should be clear to you. IIT): H$D in 03" prof 5anindra grawal is master in it. ..>-0'I1'-written'test'interviews: @ritten testA ? sections

'. 0omputer science R Ds P lgo, $3, D-53, Network 0 S I '( &uestions ,. general ptitude I ,E6 &uestions 6. 1rogramming I '( &uestions ?. mathematics) ,E6 &uestions for correct ansA O? marks for negative ansA ), marks InterviewsA depends on your choice of job but linu7, dbms, networking,project,j,ee are mostly asked. IN IIT- written test mathematics section there was &uestion based on number theory * congurence modulo and relations. In'..>I written test they also ask some &uestions on probability , graph theory ,relations and counting. In 2oorkee there is no algorithm courses in 5.tech and a friend of mine who is doing 5.tech 03 in IIT)2 told that they are forced to study a lot of electronics subjects there and that they donDt have good emphasis on maths and programming. +or /:I8'../c''written'>est'and'.nterview': In case of II3c . There are four branches '. computer science ,. Internet sciences . no difference between them as far as i know / 6. system science and automation ?. 3"20 Interview V3"20 A It started with an elimination test which consisted of &uestions testing mathematical and computer aptitude. It does not re&uire any preparation. If selected, it is followed by an interview in which the interview panel tries to gauge how comfortable you are with programming .any one prog language suffices/, and basic concepts of matri7 algebra like eigenvalues, eigenvectors, matri7 inversion, matri7 multiplication. $ne course from your background is generally asked, say digital logic. gain, some basic &uestions on the subject were asked . n adviceA They do not look for correct answers rather, check your approach towards problem solving. 3o, donDt lose hope, be confident, and, succeed. 3ample < A

&. ?hat do you understand by eigen(alues and eigen(e tors3 ". Gi(en three !atri es 8E BE and 1 with their siKe spe ified. Gou need to al ulate 8RBR1. .ow would you go about it3 @8RBAR1 or 8R@BR1A3 ). .ow to delete a non 6!pty .idden /ire tory in :ni-3

$oral of storyA prepare maths well , and c , cOO in written test they will ask u objective &uestion related to maths n programming. 1repare integration, differentiation, matri7 algebra, numerical methods well. nd revise c, cOO basics they will ask u simple T2I0:; &uesQ..refer gate &ues for this topic . ..>'3uwahati': '. process status ,. normaliBation 6. D+ , N+ ?. on paging *. single bus architecture N. 2ecursion &uestions from c W. propositional logic M. 3ome networking bandwidth related &uestions . Here subjective &uestions also come and mathematical &uestion of dept subjects. 3o Networking, $3, D-53, 8!$ and T$0 this are more important. No aptitude . The written test was descriptive with ,? <ADs and C( mins. 3ample <uestions A )<A To prove that .WXn O*/L6Y( using 5 THA induction. )some <Ds on -inary and n)ary trees.mostly generating formulas/.. )1rove that a nfa with n states can be made to an nfa with one state.or something like that / )find time comple7ity of T.n/Y.n/X.*ZT.nX.*/O n ) <A on group ND ID"NTIT; "8"5"NT )<ADs on writing some 3<8 <ueries.. ) simple <A on ')level paging with T8- .to find "5 T/.. )one problem on T01EI1.i had no idea/ )' <uestion with ? TE+ 3ub)<ADs )<A to find whether a grammar was ambiguous or not. )some simple <ADs from !raph theory

)to formulate the e&uation for the N$A $f onto functions possible )one problematic <A on carry look ahead adder.i had no idea how to do it/ )a <A on the forest data structure. )one <A on routing )very few theory <ADs too )one programing <A from $$1 )also a single <A was there with options , it was on union formation using an n)ary tree. Though the <uestions were of average toughness G time was less, it being a descriptive paper, were writing steps are also important. IIT !Ds main research area is algorithms . -asically &uestions vary from paper to paper and hence year to year but IITs .IIT:, IIT-, IITD/ check your mathematical aptitude. so you can not go to these IITs without be sound in discrete mathematics and in touch with intermediate mathematics. if you will go TI particularly in IIT: T)fair chances that your name will not on notice board after written test or interview . !enerally what 3ate':xam'checCs is thatA '.How efficiently you know your subject > ,. 0an you complete your work within the stipulated'time > During interviews IITs checkA '. whether you can think on your feet or not > ,. 0an you apply your mathematical and 03 concepts in any new problem > 6. can you think a new solution by observingE analyBing e7isting solutions > Not only knowledge but concepts applicability , innovation in applying concepts to derive new solutions are also considered. +ew useful descriptions about IIT)- 2 A In case of 2 , the interview depends heavily on the topic you have opted for. If u applied for Institute 2 ship .not any particular project, more vacancies you will get to know about these once you come for testEinterview /. The interviewers .had a panel of N to W profs/ can ask u based on ur -" final year project and few obvious &uestions like J@hy 5Tech>K J@hy this 2 ship>K which you can make out from the presentation itself. If you have industry e7p and you have opted for a project where you can use your skill, then definitely be prepared for &uestions related to your work..sometimes it can get solely technical. +or 2 ones you get call everything depends on your test and interview. Though in case of a tally gate score may be given weight)age. I have seen people with *(( rank not being selected,

and those with '?(( something rank being selected. There are people in range of '?(( rank who are doing e7tremely good here, better than some T s. The form for 2 and T is same. ;ou just have to check the bo7 corresponding to T as well as 2 . The interviews for 2 are in late june. IIT- does not give 53. It has a 2 category for m.tech program. 2 is a 6 years program as compared to , years for T . -ut if you are getting a good branch than it is worth to spend ' e7tra year as 2 . The course content and number of courses are the same but 2 s are supposed to take less courses per semester as they have additional 8 - and project work. lso the stipend of 2 s is more than the T s, C:,'(: and '': in the three consecutive years. 2 s are also of two categories, project 2 in which you will be selected for a specific project and will not have the choice of selecting ur 5.tech project, and insti. 2 , in which you will be a lab assistant in some lab, but will be free to select your guide and m.tech project. nd getting 2 is easy than other IIT 5tech
=eply

IISc and IIT interviews for M.Tech admissions and MS , Ph. !esearch posotions
Posted by =ekha Go(indaraC on Dune )E "#&&

..>'and'../c'tests'and'.nterview'experience'after'results': I applied to II3c,IIT- ,IITD,IIT:gp and IIT! in ,('(. I have shared my e7periences and also some tips here..Hope it helps you..A/ pplication submissions date and admission shortlisting processes go on according the order of ranking of Institutes in India.jst my observation/ ..3oon after IITs , NITs and then other local colleges within states.. +irst test was 0"DT.0enter for "lectronics design and Technology/ test for 5.tech admissions to electronics dept. +or more information on 0"DT here. 3ome of &uestionsA Test consisted of both objective and subjective &uestions..FF material used in heat sinkA luminium Design a digital circuit such that if number is divisible by , set a bit ."7tra bit for indication/ and reset if not.

Isometric projection of solid of which top view is given. I remember only these many &uestions.. I.>'0ombay'interview'and'written'testA IIT- "0 dept shortlisted ranks up to W(( ."0 !ate paper/ and lower ranks from "lectrical !ate paper students. @ritten test was similar to ! T" followed same ! T" syllabus. Important topics areA +ourier series and transforms, $1) mp circuits, -%T amplifiers, Diode circuitsQ lmost like ! T" again..FF In interview they asked to justify our answers in written test and many more practical knowledge testing &uestions and e7perience in the field . ll were screwed nicely.A1/ . nd for shortlisting from written test they might have considered our profile .e7perience/ and other skills and test performance I think because we were asked to fill a form in which they had asked about all these. ItDs according to my survey with my friends who attended interview. ..>'@haragpur'interview: Interview was cool..A/ I was bit nervous to face IIT professors but managed to make it finally. 0heck out IITkgp 0ut off ! T" marks and interview marks of different departments A +inal Interview results IITkgp ,('( ;ou can check out my friend -havadeepDs blog for more interview &uestionsA httpAEEbhavdeep((C.wordpress.comE,(''E(*E('Einterview)&uestions)at)iit)kharagpur)for)ece) deptE ../c'(./.'and';h.&'interviews: They asked about the backgrond and e7perience in the subjects we applied. I had applied for 0"DT .agn/,3"20./ and "lectrical departments.Telecommunication and analog and Digital =83I subjects were there/, 0omputer science Dept. I got call from all departments .for research cut off will be low only important is e7perience in field and interview performance/. 5athematics was important again +ourier 3eries and Transform here.. [)transform, D0..and more important is -.TechE any projects done so far .A/ 05$3 inverter.. 1lot the curve given an e&uation and +lip +lops .simple ++ circuits and some &uestions about hold time , +re&uency etc../ How do you find 3in and 0os using a 0)program.. lgorithm..A/

solid state devices also.. canDt say tomorrow they can ask anything, nothing or even everything..A1. It depends on panel and the first impression you leave on the panel.FFFF They test our thinking ability,practical skills,confidence and interest in the subject. Number of professors in panel vary from ,E6 to '( .along with few 1h.D. 3tudents in panel sometimes/. If you are given admission which subject and topic you choose to work on>>.a &uestion to check our interest and idea we have about research field/.-e confident while mentioning this &uestion. @ear a smile and be confident about wat u speak and wat you answer. It is jst only ur knowledge and luck matters ..FFF 5y interviews were satisfactory and finally managed to get 5.3. In 0omputer 3cience department .0omputer Networks/. -ut my interest is "mbedded system and =83I system design i.e. "lectronics Hardware and by the time I got offer I had admission in IITkgp and I was happy with the course.5.Tech in =I1"3.=isual Information 1rocessing and "mbedded 3ystems/ and thought about futre opportnities in II3c for 1h.D. 3o I selected to go for IITkgp itself. Interest plays a major role for research.we should get more deep into subject I felt I may miss opportunity to look back at "lectrnics Hardware if I choose 53 in computer networks/ and as we are settled in -angalore I will always have opportunity to carry out research in II3c. @ith these many thoughts and calculations in mind I landed up with 5.Tech =I1"3 specialisation at IIT :haragpur. Now in IIT 5adras has tests and interviews to shortlist only for research not for 5.Tech..purely on score/. 3o I didnDt even visit IIT5. bout IIT! I didnDt attend the interview as it was far for me to travel and just didnDt go for it..A/ nd if you have any &ueries and need any help that I can do for 9. %ust drop a mail to rekha.grajVgmail.com. ;ou are always welcome..A/ Hope you enjoyed reading..A/ ll the -est ..A/ hope for the best..A/ 3et a goal and work towards it..FFF

.nterview
8r hi(ed Posts fro! this 1ategory

%une ,6, ,(',

IIT Interview Experience Part IV (IITKGP & IITD)

Posted by *arthak Parui under G8T6E Inter(iew S Tags: GateE IIT /elhiE IIT +haragpurE Inter(iew 6-perien e S T"U 1o!!ents

+ollowed from IIT: "7perience. If you wanna have a fresh start, you can jump to the +I23T post of this weblogF nyway, after IIT :anpur, it was time for IIT :haragpur and I must say, IIT :haragpur is the most helpful institute if you face problem regarding schedules. In the application form, they had a range of M days, among which you can choose your preferable date for interview. nd if you ever get Jdate-collisionK with interview)dates at some other IITs or your semester e7am or anything like that, they will change the date for you, even more than once, if you re&uest them. IIT :haragpur has the largest campus among all the IITs and itDs full of greeneries. They took interview in two sessions and each session began with verifying original documents. 1rocedure was parallel and hence, efficient. nd, while waiting for my turn in the interview, they served biscuits and cold drinks and told us that everything would be cool, Jno need to take tensionKF @aoFF Interview panel for me was very small I only two professors were there. They asked for my introduction and then my favorite subjects. I told them D3 and lgorithm. They asked for more. I said J utoamata TheoryK. They asked for more again. I said JDiscrete 5athematicsK. They looked at me in a way that they never heard of these subjects beforeF nd finally after a moment of silence, they started asking me &uestion from Network 3ecurity and IE$ P signal. <uestions were like difference between 3N T P DN T, 1ro7y +irewall configuration etc. nd I tried to answer them, but it didnDt go well. nd I seriously regret for not preparing any of the subjects from 3ystems for interview. -y default, I thought, one would be asked &uestion from D3E lgorithm. :!1 was the e7ceptionF fter all, wind of change is blowing over the sky of @est -engalF I have some objections regarding IIT Delhi Interview call and final selection. -ut not now, may be some other dayF 0ampus was not that big. I reached there at around '' in the night coB my flight got cancelled and the security personnel arranged my stay in care taker cum security guardDs roomF @hat a fascinating e7perience it wasF room without any lockable door with a couple of cots. 8ight isnDt working, you have to use your cellG but !od is gracious I the fan above the cot at least rotates, whatever be the speed isF -ut still the night went sleepless coB the mos&uitoes over there had a feastF nyway, ne7t day, interview began sharply at '( am and it consisted of * panels. 8ess the number of panel, merrier you will be, trust meF 5y panel consisted of two professors and interview last for around ,( minutes. They asked me my favorite subjects after a couple of H2 &uestions. <uestions were I

&. /efine B tree and BJ tree. ?hatVs the ne essity3 .ow does the sear h happen3 ?rite the pseudo ode and the re urren e relation. ". /esign an algorith! for a proble! that one of the! fra!ed. It was related to graph theory. 8nd then they asked !e to find the o!putational o!ple-ity of the algorith! that I suggested. ). Question regarding Pu!ping 5e!!a for regular languages.

$ne thing for sure that, if you were not asked any algorithm &uestion anywhere else, you would be asked at IIT Delhi for sureF

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%une 'W, ,(',

IIT Interview Experience Part III (IIT Kanp r)

Posted by *arthak Parui under G8T6E Inter(iew S Tags: GateE IIT +anpurE Inter(iew 6-perien e S & 1o!!ent

+ollowed 9p from "7pVIIT5 IIT :anpur 3election procedure was on W)M 5ay. I liked the IIT: 0ampus very much. It is beautiful, full of peacocks. The two days I wereVIIT:, I used to wake up early in the morning to see a peacock fanning its tail while I brush my teeth. ccommodation provided by IIT: was best among all IITs, I visited.

$n Wth morning, they conducted a written mc& based test, which lasted for ,.* hours. -ritten'>est: "ach &uestion carried 6 marks, a wrong answer fetched )' marks. There were a total of *( &uestions from "NTI2" ! T" 3yllabus e7cept 3oftware "ngineering and @eb Technologies with a lot of emphasis on Discrete 5athematics . lmost *(L/ 3ome &uestionsA
&. > !od &# 4 <E > !od < 4 $E W E > !od " 4 &X ?hatVs >3 ". 8 ouple of arrange!ent Huestions ). *o!e graph theory Huestions '. Mathe!ati al 5ogi based Huestions ,. Find output of gi(en 1 Progra!s %. Ti!e o!ple-ity related Huestions 7. 2ne Huestion fro! sorting $. Questions fro! 8uto!ata Theory @=anging fro! Type) to Type # gra!!arA <. Question fro! 5e-i al 8nalyKerE 8!biguityE 5=/585= Parsing &#. /ata FlowE *liding ?indowE T1P/IPE 1ongestion 1ontrol related proble!s &&. Questions fro! 1on urren y 1ontrolE >or!aliKation &". PipelineE 1a he related proble!s

They selected appro7 MW people for interview, out of which around 6W people were from reserved category. They provided time slots for interview which kept on getting changed. During the interview, they asked one &uestion from counting and recurrence relation and another &uestion from algorithm. typical interview, here, took appro7 6()6* minutes and you need to a lot of work in the board. It seemed to me that they didnDt like the fact that IDm currently in an IT organiBation. I guess my panel would have liked fresh bloodsF 5ove ahead and see what happened at IIT :haragpur and at IIT Delhi.

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%une '*, ,(',

IIT Interview Experience Part II (IIT !adras)

Posted by *arthak Parui under G8T6E Inter(iew S Tags: GateE IIT MadrasE Inter(iew 6-perien e S T)U 1o!!ents

+ollowed from H"2". IIT 5adras interview e7perience was pretty good for me. If I am not wrong, in the brochure, it was mentioned that selection procedure will take place in mid of 5ay. -ut I really donno why they were in hurry and finally they fi7ed ,N),W pril for the entire procedure. I reached IIT5 0ampus at around '( 15 on ,?th. @e were to report at 00@ for accommodation. This particular e7perience was really bad for me. 2ooms provided on double) sharing basis an those were not cleaned at all. nyway, ne7t day we were to report at 0omputer 3cience Department at M 5. @ritten "7am commenced at C 5. -ritten':xam: 1art 'A ll 0ompulsory, 50< and +ill in the blanks type, <uestions from &uants, 0, D3, 0$

Total <uestionsA '()', .appro7imately/ TimeA 6( 5inutes .iirc/ Not ll &uestions had negative markings. 3ome &uestionsA
&. *ear h ele!ent in 5inked 5ist ". ?hat will be printed by following state!ent : printf@Y;dZEs anf@Y;dZE9nAA ). Basi Boolean 8rith!eti '. Quantitati(e Huestions fro! ti!e and distan eE per entage al ulationE proportion and ratio and si!ple ounting

1art ,A 3ubjective Type, <uestions from lgorithm, 1rogramming, Discrete 5aths, Digital and 0omputer $rganiBation There were total M e&ual marks &uestions, out of which you needed to attempt only *. TimeA 'hr '* 5inutes. 3ome <uestionsA
&. Question fro! /is rete MathE donVt re!e!ber e-a tly ". Proof of a Fibona i identity ). Find ti!e o!ple-ity of a re urren e relation '. Pro(e that in a group of % peopleE there are at least three !utual friends or three !utual strangers. ,. 8n algorith! Huestion to write a pseudo ode @easy array operationsA %. Question regarding designing of seHuential ir uit 7. Question regarding al ulation of !e!ory a ess ti!e @1al ulators were not allowedA $. /onVt re!e!ber

They selected appro7 W()M( people for interview. 2esults were declared around ,A6( 15 fter document verification, interview started at around 6 15. .nterview':xperience: 1anel was huge and thatDs what I liked. They kept faculty with e7pertise in every possible area you say as your choice.

0hoices were D3, lgorithm, utomata, 0ompiler, $3, D-53, Networking, 0$ etc and they asked to choose one. I chose both D3 and lgorithm saying that they go hand in hand +irst <uestionA 1olynomial "valuation and recurrence relation solving regarding that 3econd <uestionA 8inked 8ist and rray Implementation of 3tack and <ueue, pros and cons They asked a lot of H2 &uestions too. They didnDt ask me about any projects. -ut at some point of time during the interview, panel was silent for some unknown reasonFF nd I felt uncomfortable and to break the silence, I spoke about my projects and papers and they let me speak. 3o, thatDs how it came to an end. The campus is really big, but bus service is fre&uent. ;ou will find a lot of deers roaming here and there. -ut the weather was very hot and humid. part from mess food, you can find some food Bone and food &uality is not that bad. 0heck out my e7perience VIIT :anpur

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%une '(, ,(',

IIT Interview Experience Part I

Posted by *arthak Parui under G8T6E Inter(iew S Tags: GateE Inter(iew 6-perien e S & 1o!!ent

+ollowed from THI3Q 3o, IIT Interview "7periencesF It starts with planning, coB train tickets, these days, are unavailable from day ' and flight fare increases at alarming rate at last momentF -ut what happened to me was, I spent all my time in planning only . nd it happens to most of us, inferred from other blogsF/. !enerally a common &uery comes into the picture. @hat should I prepare for InterviewsF @ell, generally .not necessarily/ the panel would ask you one or two of your favorite subjects and will grill you in that area. 3o, prepare two subjects well and have another subject as backup, if you want. 2evise your gate syllabus once before the interview race commences which would suffice the Jbasic needsK. IDll briefly sum up my interview e7periences VIIT 5adras .53/, IIT :anpur, IIT :haragpur and IIT Delhi in my ne7t posts. nd yea, you have to have a JIndia tour J if you donDt rank in singleEdouble digits and you canDt simply apply T31 there. I prepared Data 3tructure, lgorithm and utomata Theory as my preferred subjects and my e7perience suggests that itDs better to have at least one subject from systems as wellF @hy> ;ou will find by yourself when you visit my e7perienceV IIT :!1. +ollow what happened VIIT 5adras H"2".

M.Tech admission Schedule or Calendar

"#&# *epte!ber ) by [ahid tags: 8d!issionsE M.Te h

I tracked 5.Tech admission for consecutive two years, and sometimes missed 5.Tech admissions notification in ,((C and I concentrated only for NITs. During 5.Tech ,('( admissions the studentsD community grown big and came forward to help me in not missing a single 5.Tech admission notification, though few notifications were posted little late, but mostly were posted with greater accuracy.

@hile making a complete guide for ! T" and 5.Tech admission ,('' I decided to make a generaliBe calendar for 5.Tech admission to help me and many students to track 5.Tech ,('' admissions. The general calendar for 5.Tech admissions is as follow, I tried to make it as accurate as possible, but there may be some changes but I hope we will track every admission notice and this time I will add deemed university admissions too, which was not covered last year.
Month Institutes release M.Tech admission notifications

Februar I*I +olkattaE D>:E II* E IIIT .yderabadE IIIT BangaloreE 1o hin :ni(ersity of y * ien e and Te hnology Mar h IIT Bo!bayE IIT /elhiE IIT GowhatiE IIT +anpurE IIT +haragpurE IIT MadrasE IIT =oorkeeE IIT .yderabadE Pondi herry :ni(ersityE TeKpur :ni(ersity @8 1entral :ni(ersityAE IIIT 8llahabadE Indian * hool of Mines @I*MA /hanbad 8ligarh Musli! :ni(ersityE Banaras .indu :ni(ersity @IT-B.:AE :ni(ersity of .yderabadE /r. .arisingh Gour Lishwa(idyalayaE Da!ia Millia Isla!iaE >IT 8llahabadE >IT BhopalE >IT .a!irpurE >IT *uratE IIIT M +eralaE IIITM GwaliorE IIIT /M DabalpurE IIIT /elhiE Bengal 6ngineering and * ien e :ni(ersity @B6*:AE BIT* PilaniE /efense Institute of 8d(an ed Te hnology @/I8TAE Institute of 1he!i al Te hnologyE Dada(pur :ni(ersityE >etaCi *ubhas Institute of Te hnology @>*ITAE Post-graduate 6ngineering o!!on 6ntran e Test @PG616TA 8ndhra Pradesh % >ITs o!!on ad!issionE >IT 8gartalaE >IT DalandharE >IT Da!shedpurE >IT +urukshetraE >IT >agpurE >IT /urgapurE >IT *il harE >IT *rinagarE 1o!!on ad!ission to +erala :ni(ersitiesE 1ollege of 6ngineering Pune @126PAE Guru Da!bheshwar :ni(ersity of * ien e 9 Te hnologyE LDTI Mu!baiE ?est Bengal :ni(ersity of Te hnologyE PG16T +arnataka >IT =aipurE /elhi 1ollege of 6ngineering /16E .BTI +anpurE P61 Te hnologi al :ni(ersityE =GT: Bhopal >IT PatnaE T8>16T @Ta!il >adu 1o!!on 6ntran e TestAE PunCab Te hni al :ni(ersity @PT:AE =aCasthan Te hni al :ni(ersity @=T:A

8pril

May

Dune Duly

8ugust Gauta! Buddha Te hni al :ni(ersity @GBT:A

Do not miss to visit lternative e7ams to ! T" and Non ! T" 5.Tech admissions tips to cover all 5.Tech admission process. T N0"T, 1!0"T, and 1!"0"T are conducted by Tamil Nadu, :arnataka, and ndhra 1radesh respectively for admission to state universities and private colleges that offer 5.Tech admissions. Do follow 5.Tech admissions ,('' post after ! T" e7am, it will be updated as and then the notifications for 5.Tech ,('' admission are released by the institutes.

Do subscribe by email for email updates on inspirenignite and also us on facebook by clicking like button. 1lease feel free to drop comment in case you have doubt, suggestion or a &uestion. Do share it with your friends on facebook, orkut or other social networking sites.

Hey Naveen, 3eems like you were looking for 5", Don4t worry, i was in the same position last year and i will help u out... -efore telling u what to do i will tell my e7perience.. please take pain to read it..

I was a brilliant student up to my intermediate. -ut after getting admission to a good college i ruined my career. I had N,.(' L only in -.tech and had arrears more than '?.i am not sure about its number/ in total for b.tech I some how cleared all by ?th year.,((C/ and off)course i was jobless.. The whole ? years of -.T"0H was just a 1 2T; time for me. I had no proper concepts about the 03" subjects after the ? year course was over.. -ut i was a very good 0 programmer and that i got from my O, education as i had studied 0OO there.. I was very good at that 3IN!8" thing and have won some debugging prices in 0, in Tech fests conducted in other colleges.. nd being the recession time i went to 0" for gate coaching.. nd all i had there was !$$D 0 knowledge but Bero concepts about the cse theory subjects.. nd i too, just like you attended less classes only there, because at hyderabad also i was just partying with my friends.. but i had studied a few subjects. 8!$, D3, $3, T$0 , 12$1 bility and graph theory/ well there.. nd after all that when the result.of gate ,('(/ came i was doomed..

I had only C? percentile and my room mates in hyderabad, both of them did not even &ualify for ! T".. 3o u might have understood the kind of life i had in ace.. -9T 3$5" 5$3T = 89 -8" things i got from there.hyderabad/ was belief in god.above all/G i am a christianG and a few seriously oriented good friends.. +rom them i got a picture about the life in IIT as a student and the opportunities of getting a placement in highly reputed 2PD4s.. s my rank was less i attended vit entrance e7am and i got very easily into =IT for mtech .there e7am is very very easy/.. I thought that it was good, as india today said that =IT is rank Mth before IIT !. -ut when i reached here in vit, i understood that it was all pure fake, it was a money made stuff.. In real it will have a ranking of the last nit4s to be frank.. +rom vit , if we take mtech we will get placements but only b.tech kind .service oriented/ of placements.T03, 0T3, etc with a bit more than the b.tech package/.. The high meritorious studs might get an internship into honeywell.. but getting a job there after that is very very doubtful.. 3eniors who went for such internships told that it4s all a set up by them using their money.. 3o i was again doomed , and i thought of preparing for gate by being in vit itself, that is taking risk on to the studies of vit. .=it m.tech was mugging up theories of btech only/.. @hat i did was, i took gate forums online tutor which is about W((( 2s. and using the internet connection and the !$$D library of =IT i started my gate studies.. nd thus forth i wrote gate ,('' and now my marks is in between *C and N6.. !ood enough to get into a good IIT i believe.. 5ore than the gate score my computer science concepts have became strong.. nd that matters a lot , u know.. Now I am looking forward very keenly for march '*th.. 3ome of my friends asked me that how i dared to take the risk of studying gate by sacrificing the m.tech studies.. the answer was) #I believe in the true god and i am sure that he won4t forsake me..# I had the feeling that everything is for good..

If i had a good rank in gate ,('( i would not have that relationship with god, which i have got now.. That is my small success story and i truly believe that god who lead me this far will be with me on march '*th too.. N$@ N =""N , 3"", @H T I 39!!"3T 9 +2$5 5; "\1"2I"N0" I3 T$ !$ +$2 T" 0HIN! %$-.IN N; 0$88"!"/ ND TH"N D"DI0 T" ;$92 TI5" +$2 ! T" ,(', @ITH TH" D2" 5 $+ IITs ....going for a software job and then preparing for gate wont be a good option in your case because from your b.tech marks i think that your concepts are not that good/ -ut go for gate ,(', only if u really want to crack it and if u have the enthusiasm for studying more.. ")tutor classes of maths.whole math/, algorithms, dbms and toc is far far better than that of ace.. -ut 0"4s 0N, $3, dld and co are the best.. 3o if u plan for gate ,(', take e)tutor and study by keeping that in mind I heard that Now its also available in D=D form and that would be better because internet is not that reliable at times.. D$ 2"!I3T"2 +$2 T 2! T" 83$, TH" '( 3"2I"3 H"813 ;$9 T$ I512$=" +T"2 " 0H "\ 5.. D$NT 5I33 "="N 3IN!8" $N".. D$NT -8 5" I+ 9 +IND IT " 3;.9 5 ; +IND 3$5" T"3T3 ="2; " 3; 3 9 5 ; 30$2" -$=" W(43 $2 M(43 5 2:3 $9T $+ '((/ %93T T2; T$ 30$2" 3 -"3T 3 9 0 N.. T TH" 8 3T * T 2! T" "\ 53 T2; T$ 30$2" -"8$@ I2 '(( $2 -"8$@ I2 *( $2 -"8$@ 6(, IT3 N$T T$9!H +$2 3"2I$938; 12"1 2IN! !9;.. I 3 ; IT +2$5 "\1"2I"N0".. T2; T$ TT"ND IT IN TH" "\ 5 H 88 IT3"8+ T TH"I2 ="N9" ND D$N4T -" 8 [; $+ !$IN! TH"2".. 3$5" 8 [; !9;3 @I88 118; +$2 1$3T 8 -9T IT3 $+ N$ 93", 9 @2IT" TH" "\ 5 IN TH" H 88 ND 9 @I88 3T9D; TI5" 5 N !"5"NT @HI0H I3 ="2; ="2; I51$2T NT +$2 ! T" 8I:" "\ 5.. I 93"D 3T2 T"!; $+ N3@"2IN! TH" 5 \I595 N$A $+ <9"3TI$N3 , IT @I88 @$2: %93T +IN" 12$=ID"D TH T 9 :N$@ TH" 0$N0"1T3 @"88.. If u know the basic concepts very well, !ate is a very easier e7am to crack. cracking by I2]6((/. -ut else, u would find it very very tough.. 3o u have to sharpen your basics from e)tutor and ace materials and then go for previous gate

paper solving.. "ven after studying the concepts if u don4t get answers to some of the previous gate &uestions u better leave it... tough &uestions in gate are trap and waste of time.. u will find it true when u answer gate ,((N, which is the toughest gate cse e7am ever made where I2A' had just W' out of '*(.. 5any answers for tricky &A4s provided my leading gate <A banks will be wrong , best egA 5ade "asy4s gate paper <A bank which makes many mistakes.. -ut buy it, so as to get the &uestions only.. dont believe all their answers.. solve by using your logic and it would be just fine.. -ut first up all pray to god and throw away your slackness and be '((L percent motivated to achieve it.. @ork hard by falling in love with the beautiful concepts in computer science and prepare a good time table for the studies, i assure you that u will get it.. "ven my preparation for gate ,('' was not at all up to the mark, i had a hard time studying gate and m.tech .. -ut still i got it because)) if we loose something for 'st time and then again the ne7t time if we go after it, then it will eventually come towards us... that4s what e7perience taught me... #fortune favors the brave#... I+ 9 H =" D2" 5 !$ H 2D +T"2 IT ,12 ; T$ !$D, TH"N !$D @H$ 02" T"D 93 @I88 !I=" IT T$ ;$9.. 1"2I$D.. @ith prayers brother..

"ow to start preparing for #AT$

"#&# 8ugust "& by [ahid tags: 8d(isesE G8T6

$nce you are decided to take up ! T" e7am and read important information related to it, you are ready to go ahead with preparation. I have few suggestions for students who are serious about cracking ! T" e7am. I divided the whole process of preparation in few steps and every individual student who aced the ! T" will follow these in one or the other way. These are just simple guidelines but the most important thing is your dedication and determination. If you read these steps and appreciate them but donDt follow them then these are of no use. Therefore, I recommend every student to be very sincere and give a good try. The steps are as follows.

Buy or get a opy of pre(ious year Huestion papers if possible with solutions. .a(ing a hard opy is (ery i!portant and we are going to refer it again and again during whole preparation. =efer to syllabus and analyKe the nu!ber of Huestions asked in ea h subCe t. 8s all subCe ts donVt ha(e eHual !arksE few subCe ts are preferred o(er others. I !ean few subCe t !ay ha(e !ore Huestions asked in e-a! than others. I donVt ha(e this subCe t break up for G8T6. If you ha(e done this e-er iseE please share with us to share with !any other students and also we an ha(e a dis ussion o(er its (alidity. Make a priority list of subCe ts based on !arks or preferen e gi(en it in pre(ious e-a!s. Marks distribution of subCe t will help you prioritiKe and allo ate preparation ti!e to different subCe ts. If distribution is not prepared we usually end up in a rando! preparation and finally will ha(e tough ti!e dealing with i!portant subCe ts.

%ust for e7ample, in ! T" 03 and IT paper, around '*^,(L is from 5athematics, and then 1rogramming and Data 3tructures, Theory of computation, $3 and digital logic.

8llo ate realisti ti!e for ea h subCe t. 8nd read it allE as there is huge to o(er and itVs easy to ask few !arks Huestion fro! anywhere in a subCe t. Finish through reading of a hapter of subCe tE !ake short notes of i!portant pointsE this will help you at last !o!ent to re(ise what you ha(e read. 2n e finish a hapterE go ba k to G8T6 Question papers and sol(e the proble!s fro! that hapter. These days there lots of Huestion banks a(ailable in !arket for G8T6 do buy one and pra ti e. 8lso to try to get Test *eries fro! other friends. *ol(e all of the!. This will help you to assess yourself for le(el of understanding of the hapter you read. :se a single note book for Huestion answer solution be ause you !ay refer it while re(ising. Finish detailed reading at least one and half !onth before. +eep one !onth for re(isions and learing lefto(er doubts. .a(e a look of Huestion you sol(ed during preparation for G8T6 and re!e!ber how you sol(ed the!. +eep last &, days for fast pra ti e and re(ision. *ol(e as !any papers and Huestion banks as you an get fro! any sour e. +eep do u!ents related to G8T6 likeE a knowledg!ent of appli ationE like hall ti ketsE appli ation nu!ber and other detailsE in a safe pla e. Gi(e it to !o! or so!eone responsibleE who an gi(e that ba k to you when you need the!. This is to a(oid last !inute tension for ob(ious things.

I hope these points will help many of to take a start off. 1lease donDt waste time and take a start. The one who start early and work consistently reach early and hope see IITs for 5.Tech. ! T" is a simple e7am just needs constant effort to crack it. DonDt worry about competition by number of candidates appearing for ! T", make highest marks as your competition. This post is a part of a series of posts called ! T" 1reparationA complete !uide. ;ou may find many useful articles related to ! T" there. This series is made to help students appearing for ! T" e7am and want to score really high to join IITs and NITs.

DonDt forget to subscribe by email to get updates in email and also do not hesitate to become a fan on facebook or drop a comment. @ish you all a wonderful luckQ

"ow To Manage Time %or #AT$ Preparation

"#&# *epte!ber && by [ahid tags: 8d(isesE >on-G8T6

Time management is a real trick for achieving any goal in life. ! T" is no e7ception. 2ecently, I have been receiving many emails and &uestions regarding time management for ! T" e7am. The &uestioners are either having full time job or students of final or pre final year. The answer is not easy, and every great thing is not easy in life. If someone has a full job or college to attend they need a give an e7tra effort by managing their time tightly. +or managing time first one need to find where is the time that they can use. I have few points to share with you all regarding time management.

1he k daily routine and write down these a ti(ities on a paper with hours. /onVt need to be (ery hard and stri t about ti!ingE donVt need to !ention e-a t hour and !inutes of the a ti(ity. 2n e we ha(e a list of a ti(ities we do in a day we also ha(e a good idea of what we are doing in a day. Figure out a ti(ities we are doing for fun and an be o!pro!ised for ertain ti!e. Make use of this ti!e for G8T6 preparations.

@hen I was student I noticed that usually I spend time in traveling and with friends without doing any productive work. 5y college was '6 :5 away from home and used to take about 6( minutes to reach there. The first thing I did was started using public transportation. nd second thing was to go little early. -y which I can get a seat in bus to go to college and I spend that travel time either for reading, revising or taking rest in bus. I was a student so I used that early hours to sit in library and prepared ! T" and other e7ams. nd another thing I did was to leave college very late may be at library closing time. I tried to make best use of library. @hen I finished my -.Tech, everyone knows where I am, if I am not in class. To make it great we need to sacrifice and need cut some of the thing which we love. "very time we make a hard decision by knowing what are we are doing, it will benefit us in long run. The hard work always pays us, one or the other day, in one or the other day. The common distracters for students are

'. Travel long distance driving our own vehicles on regular basis. ,. T= serials 6. Too much unproductive time wasting friends ?. Too much sleeping *. 3pending too much in markets N. @atching movies almost every weekend, watching them from bed till return to bed. These are few common time consumers in life. If we manage them properly we can do many things miraculously on time. The last point is to be very consistent in our preparation. ItDs not a one day job itDs a consistent effort achieve big result. ! T" is big opportunity for student who didnDt have a chance to prove, because of image issue with lectures in -.Tech. They have a golden opportunity to prove. ! T" is totally an open competition and you may beat the best student of your college with consistent efforts. ;our friends may tease for your change, please donDt worry about them much. They will also cherish your great achievements in future and feel great to associate themselves with you. Hard work with consistency will take you there. This is a part of ! T" 1reparation !uide , you can refer to many other articles there. 1lease be a fan on facebook and subscribe by email to get updates in email. @ish you a wonderful luck ahead. DonDt stop keep going you are there at destination.

&hat Are &e oing 'n This &ee(end)))

"#&# *epte!ber ") by [ahid tags: 8d(i esE Beat the bestE Personals

@e usually donDt realiBe the potential of using our weekend for studies. Have you ever caught in a situation where you donDt have anything to do on weekend> ;ou donDt have a friend to talk, no one at home, nothing is being planned for the weekend. 9sually in this situation we either try to sleep or sit in front of T= and change channels, try to call some friend or just find a way to pass our time. If we think a little, we actually need to make a situation like this to make best use of this time for ! T" preparations. To make best use of weekend, letDs make an environment like, there is no plan or commitment on weekends, no friends, no family members, no T=s, no phone calls and no going out. DonDt ever think that life is boring that way. 9sually students get into wrong association between wasting time and entertainment. 3imilarly they associate some useful act, such as studying, reading a book or novel, playing skilled game as boring life. This will usually

keep them away from constructive work, making all constructive effort as boring and time consuming. I always told my friends that if we want to be called lucky we should be either genius or hardworking. I am saying lucky because these are the people make best of their lives and time. @ith genius I donDt mine the talkative, I mean the real sharp mind that understand and remember everything in one short. They are god gifted and very few of us are blessed with this. nother attribute is hardworking that will definitely an alternative to not being genius at certain level. I am not a genius for sure, but I am good in giving a try in a best possible way, whether physical or mental. @hat I learned in 5.Tech was a great asset to me and a building block for growth so far. 0ontinuous hard work with clear focus will take you to a place where most of the genius struggle or miss to reach. If a smart guy understands something in an hour and a normal guy understand the same stuff repeating or rereading the same stuff three times, he should do it. nd always remember if that smart guy goes out for a day and the normal guy study that day he is already ahead of him. If he keeps doing it continually, we see that he already ahead of the best known in class. $n the other hand, the worst thing is being an average student and not having a motivation and patience to beat the best in class. @e need three hours to understand and we are not patient enough to give it an hour, then we can understand where we will be. The laBy attitude is like cancer, kill a human being slowly and finally take us to a very painful death our dreams. 8etDs decide what do we want in life, are we ready to give our nights and weekends for that> If not then we should not take the challenges and live a life that takes us somewhere we donDt know. If we want a life that goes according to our dreams, we need to give hard work with patience to realiBe them. nd I strongly believe, this will make us happy and on the same time, family and friends will be proud of us. The bottom line is there is no alternative to hard work with consistency. $pportunity only knock our doors when are prepared to welcome it, otherwise opportunity never look like an opportunity itself. 8etDs tighten our waist and work hard for the coming ! T" e7am. @e donDt have time to waste, as e7am is too close and there is so much to cover. +or other details do visit ! T" preparation guide. I really wish you all a wonderful luck for ! T" preparation and I hope you will make the best out of it. I m planning for a series of posts for motivating students under the heading J-eat the best in 0lassK, similar to 5ust read articles for 5.Tech aspirants. I hope to cover the procedures, habits, and motivation re&uired to compete with the best or smartest students of the class. 1lease do suggest me a good name for the series of post if you have one. ;ou can also share it with friends on +acebook and orkut by pressing the share buttons above and below the post. 1lease feel free to suggest, share information or comment on the post. Do not forget to subscribe for updates. ;ou can also like Inspire n Ignite on +acebook

&e "ave A *o+ And It,s All -p To -s &hat &e %ill In

"#&# >o(e!ber , by [ahid tags: 8d(i esE Personals

@hen I think about studies and being best in class, it reminds me of a small talk I had with a very successful person when I was at high school. 3orry, it was not a personal talk, it was a public lecture for *^W minutes and thatDs it. t that time I felt unsatisfied with the length of his speech and wanted to listen more from him, later realiBed that he made the audience e7plore the endless application of the advice. The simple idea was just mapping a human brain to an empty bo7 and the things we remember and think about are the things, which we fill in the bo7. "very one of us knows what is important for us and what is not. 3o it is just that donDt fill your bo7 with the unwanted and unimportant things. The more valuable or e7pensive bag means successful and a great life. @hat make a bo7 valuable> ;es, it is its contents. Now the &uestion comes what is this precious content. It depends on person to person. +or me everything that helps me realiBe my dream is precious. nd my dream was to go to IITs and be the best there. +or some friends, it was early money and so called cool life, later they realiBed I was on the coolest route. s my goals were clear, I tried to fill my small bo7 with the most important stuff I needed to go there. The siBe of the bo7 varies. I have a very small bo7, that mean I remember much less than other people do. Therefore, I have to be super choosy about what goes in it. I cannot afford to remember things that donDt help me with my success and growth. This approach helped me to discard everything from this little magic that is distracting me from my dreams unconsciously. -y discarding I donDt mean to live a boring life and sit in some jungle or stay alone with books. @e need to be smart to not get into things too much by which they occupy a tiniest space in our brain. +or e7ample listening to music by not remembering the lyrics, going for a movie and watch it but donDt discuss too much about it. Do everything but donDt die for it. 5ake sure if you are busy you can easily avoid it for ne7t time. +or e7ample, a new movie in town and you are dying to watch it, and make plans and think about it. new drama series and all girls die to watch the ne7t episodes and discuss them. new girl in class or college, guys spend hours discussing about her. These things occupy ones brain more than real stuff. +inally one realiBes that he or she cannot do anything now and give up and end up screwing their children to realiBe their dead dreams. I ask you to give importance to important things instead of loosing focus. @e live in a very competitive atmosphere where people work hard day and night. There are great number of very smart people, who just can crack any test in the world. If they go out and die to watch movies and memoriBe songs and act cool that suites them. 3orry to say, I cannot afford it, I am an

average student and need to use my bo7 efficiently to stand with or little ahead to all those smart kids. Think about yourself and decide what is the siBe of your bo7> @hat and how you are filling it. If you sense anything wrong with it, go ahead and change your settings .priorities/ and follow them. 8ive your dreams and donDt leave your dreams for ne7t generation. This is part of series of mails for ! T" preparation and staying focused. Do visit ! T" preparation guide for more articles. I wish you all a great focus and wonderful luck ahead.

Time Is The Most .alua/le Thing Man Can Spend0 "ow id 1ou Spend 22324
"#&# /e e!ber &< by [ahid tags: 8d(i esE Personals

Today I am little feverish, as temperature gone down to )'? degrees. @hen I reached office I received a desktop background saying JTime is the most valuable thing man can spend, how you spent ,('(> This is really a &uestion worth asking individually. I do plan and evaluate my year since my engineering .university/ days. 1lanning and evaluating is always good for every single individual. If you read management books they even say that having a written long term plan and its short break downs will help you stay in focus and ultimately reach your goals. @hen I was in final year of "ngineering studies, I was totally confused about what is ne7t> I always want to do something great but donDt know what it is, as most of you must be having same spark in you. I studied in private engineering college in a remote place and there were not good opportunities after "ngineering. @anted to go to New [ealand, ustralia or 0anada for higher studies but there was no proper guidance and confidence. +inally waited and joined a better university for 5.Tech. $ne day I fell sick and a generous H$D took me to hospital. $n the way to hospital, he asked me why you did I joined here for 5.Tech. nd told that I guess you would have tried one more year and joined IITs. t that time I was too desperate for 1hD, I told him 5.Tech is like a bridge to me and not a final destination. I cannot wait another year for a better bike to cross it. 5y ultimate goal is to cross it and go to ne7t level as soon as possible. He told you will definitely go there. -ut I had to face enough to get into 1hD, will share that e7perience in coming posts. The point I wanted bring here is, stay focused on what you are looking for. 9ltimately your knowledge in one or the other form will help you to do what you desperately desire for. ;earend

indicates itDs time to evaluate oneself, remember the mistake happened during whole year. +ind out the reasons for failures and make a plan to overcome them in coming year. -y evaluating I donDt mean to the very serious and donDt cherish the good moment with friends and welcome New ;ear. I mean give a bumper start to the New ;ear with new energy, new goals and celebrate the success in previous years, and learn from past mistakes. 3tay focused on your goals, without being too obsessed with the celebrities and their shows on yearend and their multiple telecasts on the T= for months together. They are not going to write your e7ams, they are not going see your results, and they ultimately they are going to help you if could not challenge the competition. If we are average, remember nothing can save e7cept our hard work that we do when everyone else is having good time. nd our good time reserved for us and whole world would be waiting for it to cherish. -elieve me that day will come. :eep working hard there is too less time for ! T" ,(''. 3tay focused, be sincere and stay humble.

%ive Months To #o %or #AT$ 2232 5'nl6,

"#&& *epte!ber "" by [ahid tags: G8T6E G8T6 "#&"

Have you ever saw bank che&ue amount written in words> However big the figure is, you see only after it. It indicates that whatever money is no money. 5apping it to ! T" preparation no time is long time for ! T" preparation. DonDt ever think that you just applied for ! T" and you have enough time to start preparing. Though I said five in the title, in real it is far less than that. If you look deeply into the preparation process you will feel why $N8; is the right word to use. There are many subject to cover, apart from !eneral ptitude and 5athematics there are at least '( or more subjects to be covered. -ased on this you e&ually assign work to each subject you get hardly '* days for each. During this time you not only need to cover subjects but also practice the &uestions from previous years and &uestion banks. @ith all these ones head do you think that you have enough time to open book and start preparing> If you have higher goals, then you have sleepless nights ahead of you. ItDs not that we competing with only our class that have more half students worthless. The whole nation is after it, students dropped a year or two, dedicated themselves for ! T" preparation to see IITs not sleeping for &uite a long time even before the ! T" notification itself. @ith all these facts and tight time frame, if we still sit in front of T= sets watch dramas, movies, cricket, favorite shows all, we will sit there forever in our lives. If you and I want to see

ourselves in a different world and in a different position in coming days, we need to leave our comfort Bones. The time has come to decide what we do in future. @e have to make choice between our T= sets, friends that leave us soon, other time wasters on internet and a career that makes everyone proud, a achievement that not only contribute in personal growth but also make nation cherish. Time move faster than anything, I posted ! T" ,(', preparation guide in 5ay and ! T" ,(', notification on ,* ugust. The time moved fast and in few days you will appear ! T" e7am. Time will go and it all depends on you what you make out of it. ;ou use it and make everyone proud or just hid yourself and lock in T= changing T= channels or taking bike out and not coming back with the fear of getting scold if your dad sees you. @ith this I call you all to make best use of your time, divide it properly among different subjects and stay focused every single day till you finish ! T". @e are on the way of starting forum to help students to get updates do subscribe by email and like Inspire n Ignite on facebook to get updates. @ish you all a great luck. 3tay focused stay tuned.

"ow to Prepare %or #AT$ &ith 'ne Month to #o

"#&& Danuary < by [ahid tags: 8d(i esE G8T6

s ! T" e7am is just a month around, most of the students started heating up for ! T" e7am. This is the time when students are done with their regular engineering e7ams and itDs time to get really serious about ! T". If someone misses this month or doesnDt get serious with preparation then cracking ! T" would just be a nightmare. @ith a short time to prepare for ! T", that consists of four years of engineering courses, it can be a really a confusing task. "ven students preparing yearlong could be puBBled about their approach for preparing for ! T". In this post I tried to give my approach toward competitive e7ams specially at the verge of the e7am. I know most of the students think that saying it is easier than doing it. -ut remember that to be successful, doing and trying hard is more important than just keeping on thinking. @ith this post I call all of you to leave your beds for a month. "7haust yourselves, work hard and stay focused for ! T". -elieve me you will make it happen or at least you will feel great that you gave a sincere try. If you want to do great in ! T" then there are five essential things you need to follow at this moment.

&. Easy subjects first ?hen ti!e is less for preparationE the best thing do is to start preparing with the subCe ts you feel easy about. 8s I !entioned in !y earlier post that !akes a priority of subCe ts when you ha(e suffi ient ti!e to prepare and lear your doubts. If you analyKe deeplyE !ost of the subCe ts ha(e al!ost the sa!e weight age. 6asy subCe ts will finish Hui kly and !ake you !ore onfident. 8s soon as you finish a topi you will see !ore energy and e- ite!ent of ra king the G8T6. ". Use Short notes Try to olle t short notesE su h as brilliant tutorialsE G8T6 foru!s or so!e other study !aterial. This will help you speed up your preparationE as the notes donVt go into e(ery detail of the subCe tE o(er the essential on epts needed for the e-a! and sa(e ti!e. /o follow only one note as different notes !ay use different analogy and !ay lead to onfusion. ). Get Question banks .a(e a Huestion bank or G8T6 HuestionsV answer book for sure. 8s soon as you finish a topi you an refer to different types of Huestions that an be asked. /onVt worry if you annot sol(e all the Huestions. 8t least you will get an idea of the type of Huestion you an e-pe t and where do you stand. '. Previous year a ers 6(ery G8T6 aspirant !ust sol(e pre(ious year Huestion papers. First and fore!ost it gi(es an idea about the G8T6 Huestion paper. *e ondlyE so!eti!es you !ay get so!e Huestions fro! pre(ious papers. ,. !void readin" from soft co ies ItVs (ery o!!on a!ong student to sear h and download the soft opies of the books and notes. These soft opies an be easily foundE downloaded and shared. But the disad(antage with soft opies is that you will read the! on o!puter and an be easily distra ted to other things like !usi E (ideosE internet W et . It is always benefi ial to !ake a hard opy of the i!portant pages and a(oid o!puter to on entrate well on the desired subCe t. Gou an also write down so!e i!portant points if donVt want to ha(e printed opy. The idea is to a(oid all kind of distra tion that pre(ents G8T6 preparation.

I would strongly recommend you to avoid all time wasters till the ! T" e7am. Time wasters can be T=, 5ovies, 5usic, "7cessive Internet, +riends, and any other thing that consume your time without being beneficial for ! T" preparations. This is a part of ! T" ,('' preparation guide. Do read other articles to know more about ! T" and ! T" preparations. If you have a &uestion or want to share some information, please feel free to drop a comment. Do not forget to subscribe for updates in email or facebook. Do share the post with friends on facebook and help them to stay concentrated and focused for ! T" e7am.

How to "a#e a proper ti"eta$%e?

by Gate 1se on ?ednesdayE Duly &&E "#&" at &":")a! \

To prepare for a o!petiti(e e-a! E the first and fore!ost thing is deter!ination. It is like 0If I want to do itE I will do itE >o !atter how0. 8n 6-a! is Cust like a battleE gi(e your e(erything to itE but stay al! as well. Fi- s!all targets like I will o!plete this and this topi in this week. This is the ti!e for conce t buildin". 5earn !ore and !ore on epts and learn the! by heart. Gou need to plan a tually e(ery day a ording to the le(el of preparation you ha(e done. Gou need to look out on e(ery aspe t of ea h subCe t and ha(e to de ide how !u h ti!e to gi(e to ea h topi . 6(ery day when you wake upE !ake a list of topi s you will o(er by the night. *tri(e to a hie(e the target. and if you failE ha(e a new start ne-t !orning. This is all about how much fight you can put. Slee in" is also i!portant. It freshens you up. *leep of at-least % hrs is (ery (ital. /o not sleep too !u h also as !akes you dull and ina ti(e. In the s hedule you need to take so!e short brakes of about &#-&, !inutes after e(ery "-) hrs of study. /o not get disheartened if you are not able to keep up to your plans E !ake another plan and keep trying. +eep your spirit high. 8s far as concentrationE you an also try !editating. It helps in rela-ing your brain and on entrating. If you take adeHuate sleep with proper diet and de(ote the rest of the ti!e in properly planned study with breaks in about e(ery "-) hrs of regular study you an surely get through this phase.

Hi vi7rockB, I have reproduced my earlier post about prep below. It is 03 specific, but you may find something useful in it. nd my name is nshul. I actually declared that I will secure C? 'E6 marks before the results were out and to save my aZZ did not give my real name. A/. 3o here goes my postA Hi 5eenal, s for your &uestion, nXlog.n/ is o.,Xn/. Take log .base ,/ on both sides and it becomes easy to see. ;our contention is wrong.

s for prep, prepare for 3ubject !2" instead of ! T". The syllabus and pattern are similar and matter is much more truthworthy. The e7am is of higher &uality than ! T" and makes ! T" a lot easier to handle. D$ N$T T293T any solution given by any coaching institute. $n an avg I find around '(L errors in their solutions and usually errors are conceptual and hence tend to offset one4s preparation a bit. Try to finish your preparation by the time of 3ubject !2" .Nov./. I prepared using all the standard material lgo) 0ormen,8,2,3 D-53) Navathe Nets) @illiam 3tallings .probably, $2 was it hardware $2 were both books by 3tallings> dont remember/ $3) !alvin et al Digital Hardware) Hannesey 1atterson and one other book for basics.don4t remember the name, maybe 3tallings/ !raph theory and 5aths ) @ikipedia and Discrete 5aths .3chaums/ 0ompilers ) The dragon book 18 ) a multitude of books and net .did things from here and there as found no single book to be appropriate/ $ld ! T" papers and old !2" papers. $ne online guide .pdf/ for !2" containing '(()'*( e7cellent &uality &uestions 3oftware "ngineeringA I hate the topic and will never cover it if my life depended on it. 3ince these books represent &uite a heavy body of knowledge, one needs to be very selective and keep to relevant portions .relevant can be defined as having been asked atleast once in previous '(),( years/ lso old ! T" papers are the best practice problems, ration them wisely. D$ N$T 3"": 3$89TI$N3 9N8"33 ;$9 H =" !I="N +"@ 5$NTH3 T$ T$1I0 .not few months of intensive study, just casual rumination/. 3olve them yourselves. 8eave some tests untouched for practice towards end. Do not try to attempt problems given in above books .e7cept for some problems in 3talling4s books/. They are too good for this e7am and will waste your time. "g, If I was to appear again I would leave say ,((N and ,((M papers untouched till the last month to gauge my final prep. note about ambiguityA "ngineering YU dealing with real world YU ambiguity. Try resolving ambiguity using common sense and your knowledge. The committee is right in asking &uestions which are apparentlyEactually ambiguous.

w&' (o for a "aster)s

I had on e stu!bled into the offi e of a friend of !ine who was an .= in a o!pany that I was working in. I saw hi! sifting through resu!es. .e had around a hundred of the! on his table. .e further !entioned that he had se(eral hundred !ore in his hard dri(e. I instantly fra!ed the opinion that probably he was on so!e kind of a !ass re ruit!ent dri(e. .e pro(ed !e wrong in a few se onds by !entioning that this was a part of his daily Cob. This is unfortunately true about pri(ate se tor in IndiaE and to a lesser e-tent in other orners of the world. There is a !assi(e a!ount of o!petition for Cobs. For so!e of the good Cobs in top M>1 o!paniesE the o!petition is e(en !ore fier e. 1onseHuentlyE the need to differentiate and distinguish oneself is rather i!portant. Ideally speaking you want to be the first to be hiredE and the last to be fired. 1onseHuentlyE it is always benefi ial to ha(e that little bit 0e-tra0. 8 MasterNs degree is one !odest effort to gain that little bit 0e-tra0. ItNs effe t is not as pronoun ed as a Ph./. >onethelessE it does help to differentiate a resu!e. It is not a resu!e that a .= !anager will throw out at the first glan e. Further!oreE in a MasterNs progra! students an typi ally spe ialiKe in a ertain dis ipline. They an take a few ad(an ed resear h oriented oursesE and do two to three se!esters of ad(an ed resear h. This will help the! get a fir! grasp on their area of interestE and will bring the! in tou h with state of the art te hnology. Instead of targeting generi o!paniesE they an look at o!panies that spe ialiKe in their area of interest. Their han es of entry into su h o!panies will be signifi antly higher. MasterNs is also a (ery good stepping stone to doing a Ph./. 8 lot of andidates are not sure if they want to pursue a Ph./. 8 MasterNs an gi(e a andidate so!e a!ount of e-posure to resear h. The andidate an then !ake up his !ind if he wants to arry on with a Ph./ i!!ediately or return to a ade!ia se(eral years later.

"ome Page of !ama(rishnan 7annan

A%% *o +anted to Know A$o t !e,,,
(y';hilosophy
For doing higher studies you should really be !oti(ated beyond !oney and positions at o!pany. Gou need to put !ore effort to get into II* and passing out than getting up the ladder

at the organiKation. This degree !ay not help anyone for any pro!otions or in enti(es P offi e. But the knowledge fro! this degree will definitely help you ross !any artifi al barriers that you ha(e put in life for not working @too te hni allyA to your satisfa tion. *ele ting resear h as a areer has few hallenges. Lisit www.phds.org and www.phd o!i s. o! for !ore larifi ations on resear h areer.

Aow'to'go'about
&. Gou need to identify a professor of your interest area. Mine being e- o!!er e. The engineering hallenges/ resear h hallenges are always different. *o be areful before approa hing the professor. he k his websiteE studentNs website and the papers of hi! and his students. better to ha(e dis ussions with students before the dis ussing with professor. ". *tart intera ting with hi! and e-press you interest of Coining iis . no professor will sign i!!ediately for erp unless and until they see the o!!itt!ent of the student. so they e-pe t to work with the! for an year or so. definitely not !ore than an year. and then they will sign. ). Identify a resear h super(isor at organiKation. preferrably ph.d. '. ?ith your & year work with the professor you would identify a resear h proble!. ,. This is the ti!e you !eet the appli ation reHuire!ent at least. for applying you need a resera h super(isor in the organiKationE resear h super(isor fro! iis and a resera h proposal. you ha(e rossed )#; of the degree. %. Gou need to prepare in three te hni al areas. one in the area of the resear h proposalE one !athe!ati s area related to your resear h and one o!puter s ien e area. by default the o!puter s ien e area will be o!e algorith!s for !any. 7. Inter(iew is si!ilar to ph.d inter(iew. there will be %-7 professors sitting and will inter(iew you. toughest part. they will ask (ery (ery funda!ental Huestion. at the end of the inter(iew if you go through u will feel the inter(iew as easy inter(iewE if you dont go through u will feel bad thinking u dont e(en know su h basi things. :A. For !ore infor!ation about II* 6=P please (isit the link II* 6=P page.

/ubJect'.'/tudied
I sele ted 5inear 8lgebra and /atastru tures and 8lgorith!s as !y topi of interest for inter(iew.

#inear !l"ebra
The following are the fa!ous books under this subCe t. 5inear 8lgebra and its 8ppli ation by /a(id 1 5ay. 5ow Pri e 6dition osts around =s. )##. Introdu tion to 5inear 8lgebra by Gilbert *trang. 5ow Pri e 6dition osts around =s. )##. 5inear 8lgebra by +enneth M .off!anE =ay +unKe. 5ow Pri e 6dition osts around =s. "##.

+arthik and !yself prepared together this subCe t. The way we studied were we wat hed the (ideos of Gilbert *trang fro! 21? MIT &$.#% website and read the si!ilar hapters fro! /a(id 1 5ay. More than o!putationsE the on ept of 5inear 8lgebra need to understood deeply. 5ots of dis ussion will really aid. Lalidate your understanding by working out all the e-er ises @espe ially true or false and obCe ti(e HuestionsA in 5ayE e-er ises and e-a!ination fro! 21? MIT site. ?ork out the Pra ti e 6-a!s and =e(iew sheets fro! the http://www.laylinalgebra. o!/freeBsite/re(B!at.ht!l. Gou an always !ail /a(id 1 5ay and Gilbert *trang in ase you ha(e any doubts related to the subCe t. 8part fro! this whene(er you ha(e doubts you an also post it in the groups s i.!ath in groups.google. o!. Many professors respond to your Huestions. Preferrable install !atlab or s ilab and work on this. This will help you to on entrate on on epts and do the needed o!putations in s ilab/!atlab. +eep onsolidating whi h is a key strength. For e-a!ple a partially o!pleted 5inear 8lgebra onsolidation. The preparation ti!e will be around )-% !onths for nai(e !athe!ati s students. *a!ple inter(iew Huestions an be found below.

$atastructures !nd !l"orithms

The books that we followed are /ata *tru tures and 8lgorith! 8nalysis in 1 @*e ond 6ditionA by Mark 8llen ?eiss. 5ow pri e edition around =s. )## Introdu tion to 8lgorith!s by 15=*. 5ow pri e edition around =s. ),#. ?at h the (ideos fro! the website o w !it website. ?ork out e-er ises. Gou are ha(ing lots of resour es on the web for /atastru tures and 8lgorith!s. The key thing in /atastru tures and algorith!s is about onsolidation. The (arious datastru ture and its o!parison will be Huestioned. 8lso you will be Huestioned based on o!parison on (arious algorith!s. For referen e I ha(e put the onsolidation of sorting and datastru tures and operations. Try to for! a group and take sessions a!ong yoursel(es and dis uss as !u h as possible. Try to sol(e (arious Huestion papers a(ailable in the internet.

Gou an post your doubts to algorith! geeks group in groups.google. o!. 8lso there are !any foru!s and an post your Huestions to indi(idual professors.

Pro osal
1on entrate on your proposal for so!eti!e. ?ork with your resear h super(isor and internal guide fro! the organiKation and ensure you are in the right tra k. /is uss with the professorNs students. Gou an e-pe t si!ilar Huestions during inter(iew also. This will not only help you during inter(iew but also speeden your resear h after you Coin II* .

1bout'.nterview'
The inter(iew is intended to be a test of the andidateNs aptitude and suitability for resear h in the area of spe ialiKation to be pursued and thoroughness of ba kground in related ore subCe ts. 8 typi al inter(iew lasts for )# !inutes and the andidate an e-pe t Huestions on the proposed resear h proCe tE one or two subCe ts of andidateNs hoi e in Mathe!ati s and possibly 1o!puter * ien eE data stru turesE algorith!s and progra!!ing. The e!phasis will be on testing the depth of andidateNs understanding of funda!ental on epts. Thu!b of rule : Perfor! e- ellent in si!ple subCe ts@algorith!sE probabilityE linear algebraA rather than perfor!ing a(erage/poor in ad(an ed topi s@opti!iKationE al ulusE !a hine learning et A

/ample'.nterview'?uestions

%est Practices &$o's and $ont's(

/ont use Cargons unne essarily. :se plain and si!ple english :se board e-tensi(ely and think aloud. This will help the inter(iewers to help you. /ont write anything wrong in haste. Think on e or twi e before saying/writing anything. 8lways belie(e with your basi knowledge you will be able to sol(e the proble!. 8pproa h the proble! step by step. *plit the board into !any se tions and write the things you know related to the proble! in one side of the board. The right !i-ture of what you know should be enough to sol(e the proble!. .a(e o!plete knowledge on funda!entals. More than o!putation under on epts. =ead the first two pages in hapter thoroughly before starting the hapters. /ont read with the obCe ti(e of inter(iew in !ind but read for understanding the subCe t. This will get you through the inter(iew. There an be (arious starting points @for linear algebra it is eigen (alueE orthogonaliKationE sy!!etri !atri-E types of !atri-E syste! of linear eHuation et .A.

Based on the starting point the dire tion of the inter(iew will be de ided. Gou an gi(e a preferen e of your starting point if it is offered to you.

#inear !l"ebra
*tarting Points : eigen (alueE orthogonaliKationE sy!!etri !atri-E types of !atri-E syste! of linear eHuationE Le tors. . For sa!ple I a! gi(ing the starting point as eigen (alue. &. ?hat is a eigen (alue3 ". ?hat are eHui(alen e !atri es3 Pro(e. ). ?hat is positi(e definite !atri-3 Pro(e. '. .ow will be the eigen (alues of different !atri es @orthogonalE sy!!etri et A. Pro(e. ,. 8ppli ations of eigen (alues in differential eHuations %. .ow will you o!pute eigen (alues of higher roots 7. 1ayley .a!ilton theore!. Pro(e $. 6igen (alues of 8M"E 8M-&E "8E 8-" et . <. 8ppli ation of diagonliKation. &#. /ifferen e between fa toriKationE de o!positionE diagnoliKation et .

$atastructures and !l"orithms

*tarting Points : GraphsE TreesE *ortingE .ashingE 1o!ple-ity. I will be gi(ing here so!e sa!ple Huestions for 1o!ple-ity and Graphs here. Graphs : &. ?hat is the Graph3 ". ?hat is *hortest Path3 ). ?hat are the algorith!s you know for shortest path3 '. ?hat is the differen e between /Cikstra and Bell!an Ford ,. ?hat is a !ini!u! spanning tree3 %. ?hat are the algorith!s you know for M*T3 7. 1o!pare and 1ontrast +ruskal and Pri!s $. 1an M*T yield *ingle sour e shortest path@***PA <. ?hat is the differen e between M*T and ***P3 &#. ?hat is a greedy algorith!3 Gi(e an e-a!ple where it fails &&. Types of Graphs and their properties

1o!ple-ity: &. ?hat is the o!ple-ity of an algorith!3 ". ?hat are all the representation of o!ple-ity of an algorith!3 ). ?hat is big-ohE theetaE and o!ega notation3 '. Gi(en an eHuation o!pute big-ohE theeta and o!ega notation ,. ?hat is !asters theore!3 %. ?here will !asters theore! fail3 7. Gi(en a re urren e relation draw a re urren e tree. find big ohE theeta and o!ega by substitutionE !asters theore! and teles opi series $. Few !ore Huestions to test your understanding <. 8 progra!/algorith! !ay be gi(en and asked to o!pute o!ple-ity &#. Fro! this pla e it an either get into graphs or sorting

Pro osal
It is the toughest part. /ont !ake any !aCor s rew ups in this. This is the first pla e where you start your inter(iew. .owe(er good you do in other subCe ts this has a great bearing in the inter(iewers !ind. Be onfiden e in your deli(ery. Mostly they will try to probe your understanding on the proble! and your onfiden e. 6(en in ase if you dont get through first ti!e dont loose your heart. To do resear h you dont need to be a student of II* . Gour professor will always be happy to ha(e dis ussion with you and help you in nourishing at =esear h. For any further larifi ation !ail to !e. The ne-t i!portant phase after getting into II* is your general test. +indly refer to +arthik *ubbianNs note on General Test.

Comprehensive Test Preparation Guidelines

Comprehensive Test or "IISc famous" General Test is a two to three hour oral examination, where the quality of research work by the research student and the students understanding about some fundamental areas of his expertise are evaluated. In this page I have listed some guidelines not rules!, which I found useful. I have split this page in to three sections, ". #re$preparation% #reparing &yllabus, 'bstract #reparation, 'pplying for the (omprehensive )xam, #lanning for exam date *. #reparation% #reparing for the syllabus +. ,n$the$day$of$test% do-s and don.ts on the day of test Pre-preparation: ". #reparing the &yllabus

o o o o

(hoose three sub/ects to be probed don-t go less or more than +, + is an optimal choice! (hoose one sub/ect of your primary expertise I chose Game Theory!. (hoose one sub/ect around 'lgorithms I chose 0ata &tructures and 'nalysis of 'lgorithms! (hoose one sub/ect which is quite mathematical 1inear 'lgebra, #robability or 'nalysis would be a good choice here. In my case, Game theory was mathematical, so, I chose e$ commerce ! 0o not overload yourself with three mathematical sub/ects unless, you are confident in your abilities! (hoose sub/ects which you have already read during your course$work. This reduces all your efforts by half. 0etail your syllabus as much as possible. )ach sub/ect syllabus should be listed in detail for at least a page. I think this is the key to the success of a successful compre exam. )xaminers use this as the guideline to question you, so list topics, where you are good, comfortable and confident.

o o o

*. 'pplying for the (omprehensive )xam o o 'pply for (omprehensive )xam at least three months before you are planning to take it. I took it in 0ec *223 and I applied for it in ,ct *223! In the application form, you have to suggest at least four relevant! professors from other departments, who are working in this area. 4sually, your guide or supervisor in the institute will help you fill this form. Take his inputs for filling this column of list of suggested external examiners. #repare a one page abstract about your research work. #ut a picture in the abstract which would explain your idea! Take a printout of the syllabus and printout of your abstract and attach along with the application form.

o o

+. #lanning for )xam 0ate o o (hoose a date where you do not have exams. I choose 0ecember! If you are an )5# )xternal 5egistration #rogram! candidate, I suggest you should apply for leave in advance in your company and keep yourself ready at least two days before the exam.

Preparation: ". #lan your preparation with a calendar *. &trict to your deadlines +. 6eep yourself ready at least two weeks before your exam. 7. (reate a finite knowledge store based on your syllabus! in your brain. 8or every finite question from your syllabus asked you should be able to pick the right tool from your store and apply it.

9. ,nce you have finished your preparation read all + sub/ects!, revise your knowledge and syllabus! by looking at the syllabus copy which you submitted along with the application. 0o not open your note or text books, while you are revising note down the topics you are weak. 5evise them later along with the book. 0o this multiple times a day. This exercise builds a strong and solid knowledge store. 3. 'sk your lab mates or friends familiar in these sub/ects to probe your knowledge through mock interviews. It is a very useful exercise, in the first round of mock interview you will come to know all famous and general questions that would be asked. 'sk them to probe in$detail in some random sections of the syllabus. :. 5egarding the presentation of your research work, prepare intuitive slides, rather than mathematical slides. ;ring out the big picture, importance of your research work and your research contributions in the presentation. 'lso show a roadmap, where you are headed to in your research in next 3$< months. I would say presentation and questions in presentation goes for an hours. )nsure your presentation does not go beyond, +2 minutes.

On-the-day-of-Exam: ". If you are an )5# candidate, a week before the exam collect the invitation letter from your department, and give it to your organi=ational guide. *. 8or )5# candidates, ,rgani=ation Guide should be present during the exam hours. +. )nsure the multi$media pro/ector is in$place at least one hour before the exam time, in the exam room. 7. (opy your files at least an hour before the exam in the computer connected to the pro/ector. )nsure, all symbols, notations and colors are clearly visible as you expected. >y suggestion is to prepare a #08 format file from ##T, so all symbols will be visible irrespective of the pro/ector quality. 9. Take 3$: handout of your presentation. 3. 0o not read on the day of exam, /ust relax. 5eading on the day of exam, may not really increasing your knowledge to sustain the interview, so relax. This at least gives you creativity to think during the exam. :. &uccess of the exam is 32? $ Good presentation and 5esearch @ork, 72? $ (onfident delivery of studied syllabus content.

-etwor#s
Mar h &7E "#&" gatenotes 5ea(e a o!!ent

$3I 8ayersA '/ pplication 8ayerA 3ome of the functions at this layer and the associated protocolsEservices

file transfer I ftp, nfs email I smtp

name management I dns network mgmt I snmp remote login I rlogin, telnet 1resentation 8ayerA This layer presents a uniform data format by handling differences in formats of application layer 3ession 8ayer A 0reates, maintains and terminates connections Transport 8ayerA controls the reliability of a given link through se&uencing.flow control/, segmentationEdesegmentation, and error control. Note that T01 and 9D1 operate at this layer Network 8ayerA 1erforms network routing functions. Note that 2outers act in this layers Datalink 8ayerA It is subdivided to two. The 8ogical 8ink 8ayer .880/ multiple7es protocols and optionally provides error and flow control. The 5edia ccess 0ontrol .5 0/ layer determines who is allowed to access the media at a given time .using protocols like 035 E0D/. "thernet is an e7ample of datalink layer protocol. Devices like 3witches and bridges act in this layer. 1hysical 8ayerA t this layer, data is viewed only as se&uence of bits .no higher level view in terms of frames or packet/. Hub is an e7ample of a device that acts in this layer 2eed'for'<ayering The communication between two computer systems is layered. This is similar to layering in operating systems. 8ayering is important because it allows changes in one part to be made possible without affecting others. In short, it reduces the tight coupling. The $3I model defines W layers . httpAEEen.wikipedia.orgEwikiE$3I_model / namely pplication,1resentation,3ession,Transport, Network,Data link, 1hysical s a e7ample , consider the problem of re&uesting a web)page using a browser. The application layer uses the HTT1 protocol to send re&uest. The presentation layer translates the re&uest in terms of networking functions I .things like encrptionEdecryption takes place here/. The session layer maintains and terminates the link between two computers.Transport layer `implemented as tcp or udpa takes care of segmenting and se&uencing, error checking and correction. network .adds source and destination ip address/ 2outing takes place in Network layer. Datalink layer adds source 5 0 and destination 5 0 addresses and hands over to physical layer which actually transports the data .in form of electricalEoptical signals/. 2etworC'&evices Devices like hub acts in the physical layer, bridgesEswitches in the datalink layer, router in the network layer. In bridges, the routing table is maintained by software whereas in switches , the table is maintained in hardware. +or more details about hubs, switches, bridges and routers httpAEEwww.cs.umd.eduEclassEfall,(('Ecmsc?''Eproj('EpubEnine.html httpAEEwww.practicallynetworked.comEnetworkingEbridge_types.htm .;'address'vs'(18'address

5 0 addresses are N byte addresses. They are associated with the hardware .typically the Network interface card/. I1 addresses are assigned by the network administrator for logically grouping the hosts that communicate. 21.address resolution protocol/ resolves logical address) U mac address
1ategories: :n ategoriKed

.oo#s
Mar h &7E "#&" gatenotes 5ea(e a o!!ent

lgorithms 0ormenDs Introduction to lgorithms Data structures and lgorithms I ho, Hopcroft, 9llman The Design and nalysis of 0omputer lgorithms I ho, Hopcroft, 9llman lgorithms I creative approach I 9di 5anber

lgorithms O Data 3tructures Y 1rograms I @irth 1rogramming 1earls I -entley 1rogramming Interviews "7posed How to solve it by computer I Dromey !ries I 3cience of computer programming Discrete 5ath "lements of discrete structures I 0.8.8iu Discrete 5athematics I 2osen 1robability by +eller 0ombinatorics by Tucker Theory of 0omputation Theory of 0omputation I 5.3ipser 0omputers and Intractability I !arey and %ohnson

rchitecture 0omputer rchitecture I &uantitative approach I Hennessy and 1atterson

0omputer rchitecture $rganiBation I Hayes 0omputer $rganiBation by = 0arl Hamacher [vonko =ransic 3afwat [akay 0omputer 3ystems I $perating 3ystems $perating 3ystem I !ary Nutt Database 3ystem Database system implementation I !arcia 5olina Networking Networking I 8arie 8 1eterson , -ruce Davie 0ompilers Dragon book I ho 9llman 3ethi "ngineering a 0ompiler I 0ooper programmers 1erspective I by -yrant

/&o %d I (o to 0/ or E rope for a !/1 P&2D?

This is a very common &uestion that students, and their guardians ask us. 9nfortunately in India, this &uestion is a subset of a larger family of &uestions. ll the &uestions are of the same formatA

3hould I go to 93E"urope for ZZZ >

Here, ZZZ can be anything starting from high school to undergraduate education to a vacation to even designer shoes. This is just dependent on the amount of money a person has. Traditionally, using imported materials has been a status symbol. "ven in the 93, people make it a point to inform their guests that they have used Italian marble, fi7tures from -elgium, and upholstery from Turkey. I am pretty sure that in Italy, -elgium, or Turkey, people pride themselves about goods from some other countries. This points to a basic feature of human psychology, i.e. every oddity is a style. 3omething that is foreign, obscure, and in some manner sounds remote, is

reflective of opulence. 8et us take the case of tanning salons in the 93. tanning salon has a set of ultraviolet incubators. 1eople stay in them for half an hour to one hour, and come out with darker skin. This is also referred to as #tanned skin#. It is considered very fashionable in the 93 to show off one4s skin tan. The e7pensive way to achieve a tan is to go on a vacation to the 0arribean. -ecause of time and monetary constraints, a cheap and small)town way to achieve the same is to go to a tanning salon. n merican friend once jokingly told me that in any town in merica, you will find three thingsA 5cDonalds, @almart, and a tanning salon. This is probably true, or very close to the truth. The interesting thing to note here is that since mericans have fair skin, they consider tanned skin fashionable. In India, we have the reverse situation. 3ince we have a dark skin, people crave for fairer skin. This e7plains the popularity of fairness creams in the market. Here again, we see that for every culture, grass on the other side is greener. 8eaving lu7ury apart, let us take the case in which using imported commodities or services actually makes a tangible difference other than mere perception. $ne sector is definitely education, and the other is healthcare. @e cannot compromise on &uality in both of these sectors. 8et us consider medical treatment first. $ne of my friends in 5alaysia, once told me that he had to go to 3ingapore for an appendicitis operation. +ortunately, in India we don4t need to go to 3ingapore for an appendicitis operation. The reason for this is that the technology for such operations is very well established in India. n overwhelming majority of the operations are successful. "ven if there is a complication, it happens only for a vanishingly small number of cases. @e can say the same for a large number of medical procedures. 3econdly, every year more and more procedures are getting added to the list. In fact in some areas like stem cell therapy, or heart surgeries, India is a world leader. This e7plains why medical tourism has become so popular in India. 1atients from the 93, 9: don4t just come to India because of cheaper treatment. They are also finding a value for money, and world class care. However, we can4t make a sweeping statement for all areas of medicine. lot of advanced medical procedures especially related to organ transplants, and brain surgeries, are still not performed in India, or are not at an acceptable level. In this case, it makes sense to go abroad. @e observe that there is a line. -elow the line, it makes absolutely no sense to go abroad. Imagine a person going to the 93 just to treat a minor flu. Not only is this a bad idea, it is also not advisable from a medical point of view. The person is avoiding rest, subjecting himself to the strain of a long flight, and not gaining anything in the process. 3econdly, in India there are friends and relatives who can provide some support. Doctors are well aware of viruses prevalent in India, and can provide much better treatment. I know of at least two tragic cases in which doctors in the 93 could not diagnose cerebral malaria. This wouldn4t have been the case, if the patients would have been treated in India. If a disease is on the line, then of course it depends on the amount of money a patient has. nd, if the disease is above the line, then a patient should go abroad, and get himself or herself

appropriately treated if he or she can afford it. @e need to note that every year this line is going up. Ten years ago, patients use to go abroad for heart bypass surgeries. Now, doing so is not considered a very wise decision. It is advisable to get it done locally. @e have a similar situation in the case of higher education. 3tudents need to first know where the line is. 3econdly, they should try to evaluate if they are above the line or below the line. If a student is e7tremely e7ceptional and feels that faculty members in India cannot do justice to his or her talent, then he or she should definitely seek opportunities abroad. lternatively, if a student is interested in an area, which is not well represented in India, then also he or she should look at getting trained in the 93 or "urope. @e can classify these cases to be above the line. However, if a student is well below the line, and desires to go abroad just because it is fashionable, then there is a problem. It is similar to seeking treatment for flu in the 93. Not only will the &uality of treatment be similar or in most cases inferior, the additional overheads will become prohibitive. @e need to understand that when somebody goes abroad to study, he or she should be prepared to lead a very difficult life. +irst, the stipend that is offered is minimal. In fact it is a couple of hundred dollars below the poverty line. +or most Indian families, parents are not in a position to financially help their children studying abroad. 3tudents have to adjust to an e7tremely frugal lifestyle. 3ince there is no concept of a mess in most places, and eating out is e7pensive, students need to cook most of their meals. long with cooking, students have to manage all other basic tasks like washing clothes, ironing, and cleaning utensils all by their own along with a very heavy amount of course work. @e take all of these services for granted in India. 3econdly, the stipend is not enough to afford good &uality housing. 3tudents are typically forced to share rooms with one or two more students. 5ost of these houses have pretty bad &uality, and are often in unsafe neighborhoods. long with the lack of financial support, the other issue is the #culture shock#. It is hard for most people to adjust to an alien culture. The Indian academic system is characteriBed by a very good amount of interaction between students and faculty members at the personal level. This is not the case in the 93. 2elationships are e7tremely formal. 3tudents who have some special re&uirements feel left out in such situations. "specially, in the 93, the entire system is based on the simple notion of #survival of the fittest#. This makes the life of students e7tremely stressful. It does ensure a lot of productivity though, at a price. !iven, the tenuous situation, most Indian students who go to the 93 in the hope of doing a 1h.D, drop out after an 5.3. 3tudents who finish their 1h.Ds are those who feel that their 1h.D degree will finally outweigh all of this hardship. This is the case for students who are, #above the line#. $therwise, students also realiBe that the overheads of pursuing a 1h.D are prohibitive abroad, and drop out in the middle. !iven the fact that the difference between the west and the east is increasingly narrowing, a degree from a mediocre institution in the 93 or "urope for an otherwise good student has &uestionable value. person will not do a 1h.D again. Hence, he or she should be concerned about the brand value of the institution that he or she seeks to study at. If a person does a 1h.D from a top institute in India or 0hina, then at least he can say that he used the best available opportunity in his country. 3econdly, the prestige of these institutions is e7pected to increase with the rising !D1 of these countries. It is widely believed that degrees

from top institutes in developing countries like India or 0hina will stand the test of time. The obvious &uestion that arises here is how do students find if they are above or below the line. $verestimating oneself is basic human nature. 8eft to themselves, most students will consider themselves to be above the line, only to realiBe later in life that their basic presumption was wrong. In this case, it is the duty of academics and educators like myself to advise students appropriately about the right choice of career. The first thing that academics need to do is publiciBe their research such that students are aware of the nature of work being done in Indian academia. 3econdly, students in India also need to find out more about the nature of work being done locally. In this regard, students need to learn how to evaluate a list of publications. They should not go by the number of publications. They should rather look at the prestige of the conferences and journals at which the papers were published. It is possible to get the list of top conferences and journals in an area by just googling. $nce students have identified faculty members who are doing in their area of interest, they should initiate a process of dialogue, and find out more about the re&uirements for doing research in their area of choice. They should also look at the profiles of other students who have pursued research with the 1rofessor, and talk to them. fter this initial round of research, if students feel that their talents and aspirations are way above what is available locally, and faculty members also concur with the view, then the student should definitely consider pursuing a higher degree from abroad. Not only is it a very good thing for the student, it will also help academia and industry in India bridge the skill gap. However, if this is not the case, then it is probably more advisable to pursue higher studies locally, and make the best use of the opportunity. It is definitely possible to do world class research in India, and a lot of people are already doing it. @e just need to e7pand this community from hundreds to thousands.

Post #AT$ 2232 0 Admission Stats in various IITs and IISc in CS.
This post is about M Te h ad!ission ounseling s enario that happened post G8T6 "#&". *o!e pre(ious trends of ad!ission are ontinuing this year and so!e new une-pe ted pattern is also o!e up.I a! su!!ing those here: RRPlease note that all the info is totally based on G6>6=85 ategory rank. RR8ll infor!ation are based on o!puter s ien e depart!ent. RRThe stats are true 8F8I+. Please take todayNs date as referen e fra!e for (alidity of this infor!ation.

OO T*urprisingU This year first list of IITB ended in 8I= '<. It was totally une-pe ted.There were '/, students who used G8T6 "#&& s ore. But in spite of thatE the de rease is huge if o!pared with stats of "#&&. In "#&& IITB 1* &st list went till 7% rank while this year it was !ere '<. OO TInfoU .a(ing the first list till rank '< IITB "nd list went till 8I= 7#.In 8I= 7# there were 7 people. In )rd list there were only a single na!e. *o )rd list a!e up to 77/7$ rank. >ow at least 7/$ G6> students are lea(ing their seat in IITB so hoping that IITB 'th and final list will go up to at !a- 8I= <#@In "#&& final rank got in IITB was &&#A. OO TInfoU II* first list for M6 1*8 dire t ad!ission went till ),/)% rank. OO T+eeping TrendU 5ike last few years trend in reasing nu!ber of top rank students are hoosing IITB o(er II* . Till todayNs info within top &# 8I= &E"E,E%E7 has hoose IITB o(er II* . OO TPositi(eU :nlike last year II* published !ultiple lists of andidate for ad!ission to M6 1*8 dire t ad!ission.Till 8I= ,< dire t ad!ission offer is gi(en in "nd list.But (ery few students taken the offer lea(ing IITB@8t !ost )/ ' has taken the offer fro! II* lea(ing IITBA. I was also in this list ha(ing 8I= ,'. I also hoose to be in IITB EreCe ting II* offer..owe(er a positi(e !o(e fro! II* . 5ast year there were few seats re!ain (a ant in II* M6 1*8 as II* did not go for subseHuent offer after its first list. OO TInfoU IIT+ dire t offer gi(en till gate s ore of $7,@"#&" G*A and $$#@"#&& G*A. 8s far as I know only one guy had a epted the dire t offer fro! IIT+ this year.

OO TInfoU IIT+ alled other andidate for written test and inter(iew. G8T6 "#&" s ore of at least 7"# and G8T6 "#&& s ore of at least 7,# was the utoff for eligibility for the inter(iew. OO TInfoU IITM offers only dire t ad!ission. Its first list went till $& rank. IITM "nd offer went till &"# rank. Probably final list will go till &,#/&,, rank at the end of Culy. OO TInfoU IIT= first list for ad!ission went around 8I= "&,..owe(er they alled andidate till 8I= ,,# for ounseling. IIT= did its ad!ission pro ess based on nor!aliKed gate s ore whi h is different for original gate s ore. The pro edure of al ulating nor!aliKed G8T6 s ore an be found in IIT= bro hure. OO TPositi(eU IIT/ before gi(ing offi ial offer asked andidate by sending one to one !ail that whether they will a ept the offer if gi(en. IIT/ published its list after IITB and II* o!pletes their first round of ad!ission. *o andidates who got seat in II* /IITB easily opted out fro! IIT/ pro ess Egi(ing han e to other deser(ing andidates. OOTInfoU IIT/ pro(ided dire t ad!ission offer to first "' top ranker andidate who applied in IIT/ ha(ing !ore than 7,; in B6 le(el. This offer goes till gate s ore $'7. .owe(er se(eral andidate who got in IITB/II* reCe ts the offer so subseHuent andidates ha(ing !ore than 7,; also got dire t offer.The other andidates were alled for inter(iew.The utoff for inter(iew was gate s ore 7%,. OO TInfoU IIT. &st list went till gate s ore 77'.IIT. "nd list went till gate s ore 7%&.IIT. is i!pro(ing its a eptan e in andidates !ind ea h year with respe t to IIT = and G. OOTBreaking TrendU IITG hanged its pro ess of ad!ission this year. In "#&& they alled till rank <&# and go for written test and based on that the sele tion happened. This year they go for dire t ad!ission based on G8T6 rank. IITG first list went till 8I= )''. OO T+eeping >egati(eU 5ike last year IITG and IIT= keep their ounseling in subseHuent days Ein reasing onfusion and tension a!ong students. OO T+eeping >egati(eU IIT+ did not go for refund for andidates who want to an el ad!ission.This !ay lead to so!e seat keeping (a ant for this session. They also do not go for "nd list for dire t offer. These are so!e of the infor!ation regarding the post G8T6 ad!ission in 1* (arious IITs in "#&". .ope this stats will help others aspirants of ne-t few years to get a predi tion where they an get ad!ission a ording to their rank/s ore.

3ate'

I have provided some information and resources for G'T), which may be useful for the students who are preparing for G'T) (omputer &cience!. Or at least I don't need to answer similar questions of my juniors again & again now %!

Books:-

1) DBMS:- 0atabase &ystem (oncepts 6orth, Aou may need to read few things for Bormali=ation from Bavathe but you do not need to follow

a separate book for &C1 e.g. Ivan ;ayross, whatever basic &C1 given in 6orth is enough for G'T).

) OS:- Galvin.

!) Di"ita# $o"i%:- >orris >ano.

&) Comp'ter Or"ani(ation:- (#4 (ontrol 0esign from Daky and Eamacher and rest from >orris
>ano.

)) Comp'ter net*ork:- Tanenbaum F 8orou=an I followed 8orou=an only for #hysical 1ayer, rest
I read from Tanenbaum!

+) C #an"'a"e:- 0ennis 5itchie G Aour experience ;ut If you are a beginner then first you should read 1et 4s ( by Aashwant 6anetkar even
there are some problem with the book and some non standard things are given in it !.

,) Data Str'%t're:- &chaum &eries

-) .#"orithms:- (ormen G ;ranch F ;ound and ;acktracking from Google or somewhere

else Hust an overview!.

/) 0nformation Systems and Soft*are En"ineerin":- I read it from 66 'ggarwal and Aogesh &ingh. )ven reading of slides given by writers will be enough!.

11) .'tomata2Theory of Comp'tation):- I read it from 6.1.# >ishra but please read the latest
edition.

11) Compi#er:- 'ho F 4llman &mall yellow color book F only these two writer! 8or code generation /ust read introduction e.g what is spilling,
number of registers needed to compute an expression!.

1 ) 3e4 Te%hno#o"ies:- 8rom Internet Google, @ikibooks, @+&chools ! G your experience 5ead
computer network 'pplication layer properly because that is base for it!.

1!) Mathemati%a# $o"i%:- It seems easy but questions in exams are generally difficult so be carefully for it. I read it from 0iscrete >athematics &chaum &eries book.

1&) Pro4a4i#ity:- 0iscrete >athematics &chaum &eries book G for distribution Bormal, Gaussian F other!,mean F variance either @ikipedia or some other book, but /ust overview.

1)) Com4inatori%s5 Set Theory 6 .#"e4ra:- 0iscrete >athematics &chaum &eries book.

1+) 7raph Theory:- Barsingh 0eo The content given in the book is more than G'T) syllabus so
/ust read what is needed for G'T)!.

1,) $inear .#"e4ra2Matrix):- I read it from E.6 0ass. Cuestion in exam would be easy!

1-) 8'meri%a# Method:- 'ny good book 5ead only selective things, ,nly topics given in G'T) syllabus, there will be /ust " question!.

1/) Ca#%'#'s:- It is a huge topic in itself but there will be /ust " or * questions in exam so there is no need to go into details, /ust ready from
some book. I read it from @ikibooks.

1) En"#ish:- Aour )xperience.

1) .ptit'de:- Aour )xperience F If you are good in mathematics then there will be no problem for
it.

Bote%$ "! It takes a lot of time to read from book. Aou may not need to read each and every single character. #lease check syllabus and use your common sense. *! If you got stuck at something even after reading *$+ times! then it is better to skip it for now F come back latter and interestingly at that time you would understand it easily because you would have more knowledge then.. %! 'nd even many times things are defined recursively e.g. when you read Introduction chapter of a book you find it quite confusing but after reading the whole book this chapter is the easiest one even if you are not good in that sub/ect.

Previo's 9ear :'estion Papers:- 8irst prepare your syllabus only then solve previous year
question papers of G'T) at least of last 9 years, even start from reverse *2"*, *2"", ... !. 'nd solve them with time constrains exactly like G'T) exam. Don;t #ook at 7.TE papers *hi#e readin" from 4ooks5 because G'T) paper are best to practice and to /udge your preparation so if you would know some

question already then it would be hard to predict about your preparation.

If you haven-t looked at the gate papers already and you perform well in G'T) previous paper then it is sure that you will get good rank in G'T).(But don't blame me

if it doesn't happen because e en there are people who got ery good ran!("#$% in B&'ech (rd year and got ery bad ran!()*$$% in B&'ech final year&&& %! %

Test Series:- (oaching is optional but you >4&T /oin some Test &eries, it will cost /ust around *222$+222 5s. ;ecause practice is also important. ;ut give more
preference to gate previous year question papers.

Coa%hin":- It depends on you and time available to you. If you have enough time e.g. you are in
;.TechI;) *nd,+rd year or you have complete one year then you can go for self study but if you have very less time and you have not studied very well during your ;.TechI;) then you should go for coaching. ;ut coaching would not decide whether you will crack G'T) or not, It would /ust make your preparation easier. 'nd it also depend whether you are good in self study. ;ut I did not do any coaching F even I did not /oin any test series for my preparation and I got good 'I5 in gate. ;ut in last few years G'T) paper was easier so I found that many student crack it /ust because they did coaching, because in coaching you will study selective things and you will solve a lot of questions.

<eso'r%es:- Aou can search for G'T) question papers, answer keys and various book on internet.
;ecause of copy right issues andIor not to advertise! I have put here only some G'T) question papers and answers keys that are available

,88I(I'11A at IIT >adras and IIT 0elhi sites.

+ote,- . ery answer !ey/ I ha e seen so far/ gi en by any coaching center(s%(0+O11I2I34% has some wrong answers&But official answer !eys are 2O55.2'&

)reack Gate*

;ou study from -ook properly ;ou are technically strong ;ou are technically strong ;ou can crack the ! T" easily ;ou cracked the ! T" FY ;ou are technically strong ;ou took coaching ;ou may not crack the ! T" ;ou took coaching ;ou may crack the ! T" ;ou D"0ID"D to do self preparationFY ;ou study from -ook properly ;ou study seriously for ! T" ;ou can crack the ! T" easily

Aow'to'solve'>est';apers'and'hence'how'to'prepare'in'&ecember'and'Fanuary'
Its al!ost 6>/ of the /616MB6= now. Its ti!e to hange the strategy now. Fro! >ow onwards one should sol(e and try out !ore and !ore obCe ti(es. 8nd i suggest that one should try out obCe ti(es fro! different subCe ts at a ti!e. It !eans that one should now start to sol(e the pre(ious years G8T6 papers or any paper whi h o(ers the total syllabus. =e!e!ber G8T6 is not /es ripti(e kind of e-a!. *o if one will go on Cust reading and reading that will not work. This kind of preparation an help one to ra k uni(ersity e-a!s or I6* kind of e-a!s. But this is logi al e-a!. *o its preparation is also different. 8nd one should not write paper Cust to he k how !u h he is knowing and he is orre t. 2ne should sol(e the paper as one of the learning tool. .ere i a! gi(ing one te hniHue that one an follow. 6(eryday try to o!plete at least half paper. 8nd re!aining ti!e de(ote for the subCe ts whi h are still to prepare or to re(ise.
&

>ow its how to sol(e the paper3 5ook at the obCe ti(e. If you know the logi then sol(e it out and he k your answer. >ow if the answer is wrong see where you are la king. These obCe ti(es are the only tools to !ake your funda!entals lear and strong. 2nly reading will not help in any way. >ow if your answer is orre t then go to ne-t Huestion. >ow it is possible that you ha(e done this subCe t before " or ) !onths. *2 you are ha(ing so!e faint idea about it. But you are a tually not knowing the for!ula or logi . Then Cust stret h your !ind. Try to re all. /onNt look at the referen e book or answer. let your !ind work and re olle t the infor!ation. >ow after trying for so!e ti!es if you anNt re!e!ber it then please go through the referen e and learn it again. Make a note in a separate diary or on the test paper only. >ow another ondition an happen that you donNt know anything about the Huestion. *o donNt worry at all. 8nd open the referen e book. Prepare that topi fro! it. In this way you an learn )# different logi in one day if you are sol(ing say ), or '# Huestions. 8nd along with that you are testing your prepared topi s too. 8nd you are also analysing that where you an !ake silly !istakes. *2 this is (ery useful !ethod. 8nd in a week write at least one paper in a ) hour ti!e li!it and preferably at the ti!e of a tually G8T6 paper. *o that you an he k the oolness of your !ind at the ti!e of e-a!. 8nd please donNt ti k the Huestions for whi h you are not sure. /onNt take risk. >e(er bluff. 855 ?I55 B6 ?655. :A Posted by parth at &:&% PM >o o!!ents:

!onda'3 Dece"$er 43 5667

.ts'&ecember'and'nothing'is'lostK'
For all those who belie(e that if they ha(e not prepared (ery well until now then they ha(e lost the han e i !ust infor! one thing that we ha(e well around %# days to go and nothing is lost. >ow the only thing reHuired is single !inded dedi ation for your final ai!. 6(en if you an gi(e 7 to $ hours a dayE you still ha(e a han e. *o if you ha(e worked hardE but not hard enough then this is the !onth you should start pushing ause after this it would be hard. 8s per !y personal opinion " !onths is good enough a ti!e for you to take the situation ba k in ontrol. Gou !ay start with few areas that you think you are weak in and pi k up on the! fastE after that you !ay start your refreshing of e(ery subCe t ause that is (ery i!portant. ?riting paperNs during this period is also (ery i!portantE you should atleast ha(e the habit to sit around for ) hours without getting bored and with full on entration. *o try gi(ing pra ti e testNs as !u h as possible. Posted by Tan!ay Ta!hane at ,:#< 8M ) o!!ents:

/at rda'3 /epte"$er 873 5667

/trategy'for'31>:'2010'
?ell the detailed bro hure for G8T6 "#&# is out and this is !y personal strategy that i !ight ha(e e!ployeed if i was going to appear for G8T6 "#&#. *( )oncentrate on Mathematics:- Mathe!ati s is &, !arks se tion and it is not i!portant only fro! the (iew of G8T6 but also after that be ause !ost of the studies that we fa e in !asters is related to differential eHuations and ad(an ed engineering !athe!ati s so it is good ti!e that you prepare your Math se tion throughly and gain enough onfinden e in it ause that will take you a long way. +( Pre are the General ! titude:- ?hene(er i would not ha(e been in a !ood to study te hni al i would ha(e pi ked up the book for General aptitude ause its fun reading and sol(ing those Huestions gi(es your brain so!e work out and refreshes youE !y preferen e during the ti!e of day when i feel bored like during after noon or night. This o(ers your &, !arks. ,( Pre are the most basic of the subjects first :- 6(eryone agrees that the tough and the i!portant subCe ts are nothing but e-tension of the basi subCe ts so if you ha(e your basi s in pla e that would gi(e you e-tra o!fort and !ake you feel onfident and then you !ight atta k the final tough subCe ts. 8nd if you ha(e prepared well in your ollege e-a!s then they are also not that diffi ult. *o in a way you ha(e dealt with all of the!. -( .rite some a ers/0 I would ha(e written atleast one paper in &, days and for that i !ight ha(e Coined any one of the test series be ause the pattern has hanged and you need to get a usto!ed with the hange. *till the pre(ious yearNs paper are not obsolete you an always go through the! for te hni al Huestions. Posted by Tan!ay Ta!hane at &&:'' PM & o!!ent:

1ddition'of'a'3eneral'1ptitude'section.'
This !ight o!e as a surprise to !any but it should not be that big a dealE 8 o!!on o!ponent of General 8ptitude has been added to all the papers fro! G8T6 "#&#E although so!e !ay argue why is it reHuired in a te hni al testE then well they !ight ha(e their own reasons and looking at past perfor!an e only they !ight ha(e added this. But its not a thing to Pani Cust prepare so!e basi aptitude and as one !ay see that it holds a healthy weightage of &, !arks its i!portant that this part should not be ignored be ause during final ranking e(en & !ark !eans a differen e of &## ranks so its i!portant. Those who do not yet ha(e a first hand e-perien e of sol(ing any aptitude Huestions should sit down and do that. 2ne reason i feel it should not be so!ething to pani for is be ause as su h e(eryone is going to sol(e ad(an ed engineering !athe!ati s and the general aptitude !ight ha(e so!e Huestions related to s hool le(el !aths so its not so!ething to pani for. My ad(i e would be that if one does not ha(e !aterial for General aptitude then they !ight start with sol(ing books like =.+.8ggrawal or they !ay borrow !aterial fro! their friends who are preparing for G=6 or 18T. Try to a Huire the

Huestion paper set or so!e basi booklets fro! your friends who ha(e Coined (arious 18T oa hing instituteE that !ight ser(e the purpose. 8lthough this being the first ti!e !any spe ulations !ay o!e up and it see!s the organising o!!ittee wants to !o(e away fro! a o!pletely te hni al test and do so!e balan ing a t. The underlying state!ent being that they want people who are not only te hni ally sound but also ha(e great aptitude. @But i still do not feel personally there should be the General aptitude o!ponentE its Cust a personal feelingA.

I>F2=M8TI2> GIL6> I> T.6 B=21.:=6 Lerbal 8bility: 6nglish gra!!arE senten e instru tionsE riti al reasoning and (erbal dedu tion. >u!eri al 8bility: >u!eri al o!putationE nu!eri al esti!ationE nu!eri al reasoning and data interpretation. o!pletionE (erbal analogiesE word groupsE

8s we an see that the ourse is so!ething si!ilar to that has been asked in 18T but i do not think that the le(el should be sa!e as that of Huestions asked in 18T so if you prepare fro! the !aterial for 18T then it should be suffi ient. But do not ignore this part its a (ery i!portant part and will help you a lot in s oring well o(er-all.

The detailed site has been laun hed and its address is http://gate.iitg.ernet.in/ Posted by Tan!ay Ta!hane at &":#$ PM , o!!ents:

(yth'about'time'for';erparation.'
There e-ist a gross !isunderstanding about the ti!e it takes for preparation. Ti!e for preparation is a personal thing. I ha(e !y roo! !ate who had prepared in ", days and got 8I= %" where as other people had an year or two years oa hing and they also ended up at the sa!e pla e so its !ore personal. *e(eral =easons for this differen e. *( Pre aration durin" colle"e e1ams:- If you ha(e prepared (ery well during your ollege e-a!s it be o!es (ery easy for you to refresh it and you an prepare early. 8s was the ase with !y roo! !ate who was the lass topper and had his basi worked out (ery well.

+( #evel of understandin":- *o!e people read things and they understand it in first go while others need to gi(e it enough ti!e before they an assi!ilate it and understand it. ?ell thatNs up to to e(eryone and thatNs one of the reason that people take ti!e. ,( The e1tent of the course you are aimin" at:- ?ell its Huite e(ident that sele ti(e study is the way to goE you need to hoose the syllabus you are going to gi(e your full energy on. 1ause its but natural that e(en if you ha(e one o!plete year you wont be able to finish ourse if you are trying to go in utter depth and trying to do e(erything so thatNs one !ore fa tor. -( )onfidence in the level of re aredness/0 *o!e people are onfident on whate(er they ha(e prepared and need not to go through it again and again. ?hile other need to go ba k and keep looking at it so they take ti!eE this fa tor is also Huite personal.

?ell these are few fa tor whi h deter!ine how !u h ti!e you would take for preparation. *o its up to you.

8nd on a lighter note all of us are 6ngineers and we are fa!ous for doing things in whate(er ti!e fra!e we de ide so its not diffi ult. Posted by Tan!ay Ta!hane at <:#% 8M % o!!ents:

/at rda'3 9 %' 8:3 5667

;reparation'0esides'8ore';reparation.'
8ny o!petiti(e e-a!E whether it is of defined @G8T6A or undefined syllabus @18TA ha(e so!e o!!on pe uliarities. ?e should keep these in our !ind while writing and preparing su h e-a!s. I a! trying to o(er so!e of these in !y post. &. G8T6 ontains negati(e !arking syste!. *o atte!pt the Huestions about whose answer you are &##; sure/ onfident. If you are in two !inds for any Huestion please donVt atte!pt. =ead the Huestion (ery arefully. 1arefully reading the Huestion is as !u h i!portant as you know the answer of any Huestion. They use o!pli ated language for a si!ple logi . *o o!prehending the Huestion is the !ost i!portant point. >e(er take a han e as you donVt know how !u h this will ost to you. For e-a!ple in !y ase I had taken a han e for a one "!arks Huestion. :nfortunately it had gone wrong. *o it has ost !e #.%% !arks only if we see. But #.%% !eans ", people had gone ahead of !e. 8nd unfortunately it has ost !e a seat at IIT Bo!bay. *o you an i!agine how dangerous it is.

". /onVt ount the nu!ber of Huestions atte!pted while writing an e-a!. 8s you ne(er know how hard or easy paper is for others. *o!e ti!es only ), to '# !arks out of &,# are enough to s ore abo(e <$ and so!eti!es ', out of &## are also insuffi ient. *o Cust play your natural ga!e. /onVt be greedy for !arks or atte!pts. ). Pea e of !ind while writing any o!petiti(e e-a!ination is the !ost i!portant point. *o I suggest you that donVt read anything on the day of e-a!. /onVt read till late nights before the day of e-a!. .a(e a sound sleep of $ hours. Take a deep breath before few !inutes of e-a! in the e-a!ination hall. Dust try to be o!e ool and al!. 8nd donVt think about the topi s whi h you ha(e not prepared on that day. Be onfident enough. 8nd !y personal ad(i e is to try to re all all the for!ulae on e before the final day. Dust go on re alling all the topi s and if you anVt re!e!ber so!e topi s then donVt worryE Cust ha(e a look at it fro! your books and note books. I pro!ise you that you will surely re!e!ber those in e-a!. 2n " days before e-a! write one of the pre(ious years G8T6 paper at the sa!e ti!e of G8T6. This will help in boosting your onfiden e. This will let you know what !istakes you an do in G8T6. ?rite it as sin erely as you are writing the a tual G8T6. 8nd in the last days try to sol(e !ore and !ore obCe ti(es only as your !ind should be habituated for obCe ti(e kind of e-a!. Gou donVt ha(e to write subCe ti(e answers so there is no !eaning of reading only theory part in last days. 8nd if you ha(e Coined any test series then please see the !istakes you ha(e done in those papers. '. 8nother Huestion o!es in !ind of e(ery aspirant that what should be atte!pted first and what at the last. This is the !atter of hoi e. But I ha(e done in this way. First I had atte!pted & !ark HuestionsE as they ontain only si!ple logi or one for!ula. Then I had atte!pted last &# HuestionsE as they are linked Huestions. *o if you know the logi then you an s ore ' !arks on the basis of that Huestion. Then I used to atte!pt the Huestions like !at hing and all first in " !arks Huestions. This is what I ha(e done. Gou an ha(e different strategy also. *o that is it for this post. >ow if you ha(e any Hueries then please ask. ?e are trying our best to

o(er all the i!portant points but we anVt o!e to know about what are the diffi ulties other than these a G8T6 aspirant is fa ing. Posted by parth at &#:)7 PM < o!!ents:

;rida'3 9 %' 843 5667

2ational';rogramme'for'>echnology':nhanced'<earning'
This is a spe ial post for all the students who want to prepare for the!sel(es or larify their doubts on (arious subCe ts. The link http://nptel.iit!.a .in/inde-.php will guide you to the le tures and presentations by the best fa ulties in India. ItNs an initiati(e by IIT the!sel(es to enhan e the Huality of edu ation in India and it has been ba ked by .u!an resour e !inistryE although during our preparation we were not able to go through this or refer this but for those students who want to ha(e stru tured instru tional study an surely go through this. 8lso for those students like !e who did not study in IIT during our ba helors progra! ha(e a great opportunity to study ourses here whi h would larify our basi s and help us (ery !u h in preparation. For !y first and se ond year friends i would strongly re o!!end the! to go through this. Posted by Tan!ay Ta!hane at &#:,, PM >o o!!ents:

/ nda'3 9 %' <3 5667

.mportant'instructions'during'preparation'contd'.'.'
Pre are the Tou"h to ics 2irst

2n e you ha(e indentified ertain topi s as diffi ult on ter!s of preparation and you are sure that sa!e are going to take ti!e to prepareE start with those topi s. 1o!pletion of these topi s will gi(e you a!ple onfiden e and will relie(e you of lots of pressure. 8lso as you will know the ti!e you take for preparation of these topi s you will be able to gauge the ti!e you will reHuire to prepare for the other easier topi s. If you start with easier topi s and take enough sla k for preparing the! then you ha(e in(ariably wasted ti!e on the topi s that you should not ha(e wasted and you would be left with less ti!e to prepare for other topi s. *o as per !e the best option would be start with tough topi s and !o(e towards the easier topi s. 3ee in touch 4ith other eo le 4ho are re arin".

This is one of the !ost i!portant things. 8lways keep in tou h with other people who are preparing for the sa!e subCe t. If possible I will ad(ise to for! a s!all group of people who are

going to appear for G8T6 in your own ollege or you own lo ality. This will gi(e you different perspe ti(e on what should be prepared and how should you go around dealing with different subCe ts. 8lsoE this will be an additional support syste! and will help you to keep yourself harged up for preparing for the G8T6. This in our ase was (ery i!portantE all three of us ha(e known ea h other fro! our ollege days and we ha(e been en ouraging ea h other to do better and this has helped us lot in preparing properly for G8T6. 8shutosh had already passed last year and he was a (ery helpful support for us as he ga(e us (ery helpful guidan e and if you an find so!eone who has passed the earlier year he will gi(e you a lot of additional inputs that would pro(e in(aluable. 8lso you an find people on so ial networking site like 2rkut or if so!eone in your a Huaintan e has leared then you an be in tou h with the! for the guidan e. But the guidan e is i!portant if you are going to prepare on your own. If you are planning to Coin so!e oa hing lasses than itVs not a proble!. Posted by Tan!ay Ta!hane at %:)# 8M >o o!!ents:

T& rsda'3 9 %' 53 5667

;reparation'
.i friendsE I ha(e pro!ised you in !y last post that I will share !y (iew on the (ery i!portant Huestion Y.ow to prepare3Z In the last post author has dis ussed (ery i!portant issues whi h should keep in !ind during the preparation. In this post I will try to show one of the ways to prepare fro! &st day of preparation to the day of e-a!ination-the total plan. Personally this is Cust an e-a!pleX one an ha(e oneNs own plan. *st ste / !naly5e the revious years G!TE a ers.

] Fro! this and the syllabus a(ailable one will o!e to know that e-a tly what is to be prepared fro! ea h subCe t. I ha(e noti ed that Huestions fro! parti ular topi s of a subCe t only are being asked repeatedly. *o list down all su h topi s for a parti ular subCe t you want to prepare and follow this for all subCe ts. This will gi(e you orre t dire tion for preparation. 2r it happens !any ti!es that one spend a!ple a!ount of ti!e in preparing one topi whi h is either of least i!portant or not in a ourse e(en. ] >ow analyKe the paper in a different way for a parti ular subCe t. ?hat kinds of Huestions are being asked3 It The is types of learly Huestions !entioned in a paper in !ay the be G8T6 based on bro hure. following logi :

@iA 6ecall: These are based on fa tsE prin iplesE for!ulae or laws of the dis ipline. The andidate is e-pe ted to be able to obtain the answer either fro! his/her !e!ory of the subCe t or at !ost fro! a one-line o!putation. @iiA )om rehension: These Huestions will test the andidateVs understanding of the basi s of his/her fieldE by reHuiring hi!/her to draw si!ple on lusions fro! funda!ental ideas.

@iiiA ! lication: In these HuestionsE the andidate is e-pe ted to apply his/her knowledge either through o!putation or by logi al reasoning. @i(A !nalysis and Synthesis: These an be linked HuestionsE where the answer to the first Huestion of the pair is reHuired in order to answer its su essor. 2r these an be o!!on data HuestionsE in whi h two Huestions share the sa!e data but an be sol(ed independently of one another. For e-a!ple I ha(e noti ed that always " or ) Huestions are being asked fro! 18*TI>G. 2ne is of appli ation type in whi h one has to sol(e the proble! by al ulation for " !arks. *e ond is of either re all or o!prehension type. In ase of F2=MI>G they used to ask to sol(e & or " proble!s for " !arks Huestions. 8nd one o!prehensi(e type Huestion for " !arks. In !athe!ati s one an noti e that Huestions are of logi al type. 2ne or two step al ulation is needed at !ost. Gou an answer !any of these Huestions with out al ulation. For this you !ust know the basi s of !athe!ati s. *o they Cust want to know whether you ha(e understood the funda!entals of !athe!ati s well or you ha(e Cust learned !e hani al rigorous !athe!ati s. *o I hope one ha(e understood the i!portan e of pre(ious years G8T6 papers. +nd 5ist ste / down !naly5e the your topi s in stren"ths whi h you and are 4eaknesses. strong and weak.

separately

Fro! the analysis of the pre(ious papers you ha(e already o!e to know about the topi s whi h reHuire lesser efforts but fet h too good !arks. If su h topi s are of your weakness then gi(e onsiderable ti!e in preparing it. *o do prepare these subCe ts first. But if your weakness is the subCe ts whi h are (ery rigorous and too !u h ti!e onsu!ing and fet h less !arks then do on entrate on your strengths. Prepare subCe ts listed on your strength side first. In this way you will o!e to know the order in whi h you ha(e to prepare subCe ts.

Personally speaking ne(er ignore !athe!ati ,rd *o!e of ste / the Its points should time be to taken

at all and if possible prepare it first. re are are while too are hard. as follows.

preparing

&. Make on ise notes while preparing. It will help you to refer it in the last !o!ents. 8fter referring to all the referen e books do write basi funda!entals in your own language. 5ist down all the i!portant for!ulae. ". Try to understand the topi through its appli ation. 1onsolidate funda!entals by sol(ing related proble!s fro! standard books. Mark the (ery diffi ult proble!s whi h only are to be seen while re(ision. >o need to waste ti!e for the proble!s whi h you already know. ). 8fter this Cust sol(e the (arious Huestions only fro! G8T6 and G8T6F2=:M or Test series papers. '. 8fter o!pleting ea h subCe t re(ise it with the before o!pleted subCe ts. /onVt left any subCe t in o!plete. /o prepare all the subCe ts o!pletely. ,. 8fter doing this try to re(ise the whole ourse in a few days say & or "E then after try to re all all the for!ulae fro! all the subCe ts in one day. 8s you will pra ti e the re(ision ti!e will redu e onsiderably for the ne-t re(ision. >ote: It is not !ust to o!plete the whole ourse.<#; ourse is enough to s ore well. But this <#; ourse should be perfe t. Fro! other &#; prepare easy topi s. I a! insisting to o(er <#; ourse be ause so!eti!es it happens that one an not answer the toughest Huestions asked fro! the topi s he has prepared and also the easy Huestions asked fro! the topi s he has left. *o if one has prepared <#; ourse then at least he an answer all easy Huestions asked fro! all topi s and so!e hard Huestions fro! the topi s he has prepared well. *o friends I hope this will help you out. In !y ne-t post I will try to show you a typi al nature of any o!petiti(e e-a!. I will fo us on the issues whi h are !ost i!portant besides preparation. 8nd feel free to ask Huestions. 8nd post your suggestion too. Gour o!!ents be o!es dri(ing for e for us. Posted by parth at %:,$ 8M &# o!!ents:

+ednesda'3 9 %' 83 5667

.mportant'instructions'during'preparation.'

/uring preparation it is (ery i!portant that you keep in !ind so!e basi i!portant things. Gou would feel the! uni!portant at initial phase but they would really help a lot later.

&A )oncentrate on 4hat you read durin" colle"e e1amination :- Gour ollege e-a!inations are the best way to prepare for G8T6E unless you ha(e read and understood e(ery topi to its utter basi s do not think it to be o!plete. If you are preparing for G8T6 the results in the uni(ersity e-a!ination will take are of the!sel(es @this is !y personal e-perien e and !ay (ary fro! person to personA. If you want to prepare for G8T6 then prepare with only one ai! and i.e to understand and assi!ilate the subCe t and not for Cust learing the e-a!inationE that will help you a lot. 8lthough i do not prea h that you should ignore your uni(ersity e-a!inationsE but you should also keep so!ewhere at the ba k of !ind that you are going to appear for gate. If you prepare for your e-a!ination in this !anner it shall help you a lot for you G8T6 preparation.

"A Pre are a se arate notebook :- This a ording to !e is one of the !ost i!portant thing whi h you ha(e to do. This is not optional it is o!pulsory. Gou ha(e to !ake a detailed notebook of whate(er you prepare for G8T6. ?rite down all the topi s that you ha(e readE draw ni e detailed figures of the topi s that ha(e one. ?riting down the nu!eri al is optional. /o not lutter your notebook with too !u h nu!eri al. Instead !ake notes of so!ething that you ha(e understood in your own words whi h you will ne(er forget. 8lso keep the notes on iseE do not opy the whole te-t fro! the book instead write it in your own words only. The note book should be self-suffi ientE it should gi(e you all the infor!ation that you reHuire about a spe ifi topi . Gou should ha(e understood the topi perfe tly on e it is in your notes. The notes should be referred regularly. Prepare a separate note book Cust for the for!ulaNs if you an prepare one ause on the last !o!ent you an refer it. I ha(e !et !any people during !y ad!ission pro edure and i found that e(eryone use to prepare notebookNs so this is an essentiality.

)A Plan your studies :- Planning of studies is (ery i!portantE you should plan on basis of the ti!e period in hand and your le(el of o!fort with (arious topi s. The !ore o!fortable you are the less ti!e it should take to prepare. Gi(e a!ple ti!e for preparation onsidering all the e-ternal fa tors whi h !ay affe t your studies. But prepare the subCe t thoroughly. Best !ethod will be to start ba k al ulating fro! the day of e-a! but you an plan in the !anner you want to. 6(ery subCe t should be gi(en enough Custi eE do not skip or o(erlook any topi . The !ost i!portant part of your planning is to plan your re(isions. =e(ision of the topi s you ha(e already read is (ery i!portant. =e(ision fro! !y personal e-perien e i an tell takes al!ost " !onths. *o you need to start you re(ision at least at the end of >o(e!ber or start of /e e!ber and if you need to do that you should finish your preparation by that ti!e so you an easily ba k al ulate the !onths you reHuire to prepare. 8lso keep a tra k of what a!ount of ourse has been o!pleted and what a!ount is leftE this shall help you to plan your studies in a better !anner. Gou an also allot per entages to (arious topi s and tra k e-a tly what a!ount of

studies are left. ?ell allotting per entages is !ore of a personal task as no one an de ide the per entage you need to allot to a gi(e topi its your own gut feeling.

'A .ritin" do4n a er :- ?riting down papers is the best !ethod to keep a tra k of your perfor!an e and to keep on !oti(ating yourself to prepare for G8T6. Try writing at least " papers in one !onth i.e on alternate *undays if you an a o!!odate !ore its well and good. If you want you an Coin any of the test series of G8T6-F2=:M or B=I55I8>TE but re!e!ber that they are nothing but tests the a tual preparation has to be arried out by you. Gou !ay s ore good or bad in those papers is not of that !u h i!portan e. I!portant thing is to appear for the! and !ake an habit of sitting in one pla e for ) hours with your !ind full of on entration without getting bored. 8lso it helps you to get a feel of things to o!e during a tual G8T6. ?riting the papers prepare you for the type of Huestion you are !ost likely to fa e during e-a!sE you will ne(er ha(e sa!e Huestions being repeated e(er in any of the test or final G8T6 but you will ha(e an aptitude for the Huestions you will fa e. This is of !u h i!portan e and should not be ignored.

,A 2or doubts and clarification refer authentic books :- ?e ha(e used books during our ollege e-a!ination whi h would fet h us good !arks but when preparing for G8T6 learing our basi understanding of the subCe t is of utter i!portan e. *o it is i!perati(e to opt for books whi h are onsidered 0the book0 for a spe ifi subCe t. ?hene(er in doubt do refer this booksE if possible prepare fro! the!E but then its not always possible to prepare fro! the referen e books as they are far !ore in detail then one !ay reHuired during preparation for G8T6. But ha(ing the! for referen e is (ery i!portant.

%A Take hel of your Professor :- ?hene(er their is a topi going on during regular le tures or during preparation that you fail to understand kindly get your doubts larifiedE this is of !u h i!portan e as this will lear your basi s. The professor will gi(e you inputs whi h would pro(e in(aluable for your preparation. Their !ight be so!e fa et you would be !issing on the gi(en topi whi h !ight be !ade lear by the! so always stay in tou h with the! and get it larified. Posted by Tan!ay Ta!hane at &#:#, PM , o!!ents:

T esda'3 9 ne =63 5667

?ellE let !e start with introdu ing !yself. I a! 8shutosh Dani doing M.Te h in Ther!al 6ngineering fro! IIT Madras. ?hile writing this post I keep in !ind the aspirants for G8T6 "#&#. *oE first of all you should ask a Huestion to yourself.

?hy G8T63 .ow will your a ade!i life be on e you lear G8T63 I would reHuest all the students preparing for G8T6 to get rid of a !ental blo k that IIT is a pla e where only >6?T2>s and 6I>*T6I>s an rea h. IITs are not supposed to be the pla es for T.6 G6>I:*Ethey pro(ide you with a platfor! to !ake a Genius out of yourself. >ow o!es the Huestion. ?hy G8T63 If you want to write G8T6 seriouslyE ai! nothing less than IITE it is not so diffi ult as it is thought to beE but you an work sin erely in that dire tionE only if you are on(i ed about yourself pursuing a PG in your respe ti(e field. >or!ally you an opt for M.Te h. or M* ourse after learing G8T6. I would reHuest all to spare at least a few hours in surfing the websites of all the IITs before opting for G8T6. Get so!e !yths larified. 0Gou will get a (ery good pay pa kage on e you finish your PG.0 If you are after a good salaryE you should better opt for MB8 and not M.Te h.E M* or M.Phar!. 2f ourse you will get a brighter pa kage o!pared to the one you !ay get after your :GE but the differen e !ay not be sali(ating. Basi ally you should ontinue your te hni al edu ationE only if you feel the longing to re!ain onne ted to your fieldE or you feel like inno(ating. 08nother !yth is that you will be doing resear h in your M.Te h. ourse.0 M.Te h. is >2T about resear h. In !ost of the M.Te h. progra!!es a ross all the IITsE theory subCe ts are taught during the first yearE and proCe t is arried out in the se ond year along with a few ourses in the third se!ester. Gou annot e-pe t anyone to o!e up with a feasible inno(ation leading to !aCor i!pro(e!ent in a short span of one year. By doing M.Te h. you are spe ialiKing your area of interest and getting deeper into it. M* is resear h oriented ourseE where you get enough ti!e to arry out your proCe t workE whi h starts fro! the first se!ester itself and abo(e all M* does not ha(e any ti!e restri tion. 0Gou an get a Cob of a le turer only after doing M.Te h.0 To get this !yth larifiedE you should ha(e a look on e at the pla e!ent statisti s of IITs. >or!ally !ore than 7#; to $#; of M.Te h. students get Cobs in the industriesE and (ery few opt for tea hing professionE this is not an attept of pro(ing anything inferior or anything superiorE but it is a general trend that I would like to re(eal.

>ow on e you are on(in ed about writing G8T6E let !e share so!e tips for preparation of G8T6. ?hen you are about to finish your graduationE or youN(e already finishedE keep yourself away fro! asking the 1hildish Huestions like .2? M8>G .2:=* *.2:5/ I =68/ /8I5G3 .2? M8>G M2>T.* 8=6 6>2:G. T2 G6T 8 .8>/*2M6 *12=6 I> G8T63 2ne of our seniors ould se ure an IIT ad!ission without a dedi ated preparation for the e-a!X why3 Be ause he was thorough with his funda!entals and the approa h towards the e-a!. >or!ally a !onth of serious preparation should suffi e. ?hen it o!es to o!petiti(e e-a!inationsE your approa h has to be pra ti al. 2ut of !y e-perien es of writing G8T6 twi eE I an lai! that it is not all on eptual knowledge that is reHuired. Gou should be lear about all the on eptsE but try not distra ting yoursel(es fro! the other aspe ts of the syllabus. +eep in !ind the stru ture of G8T6 syllabus. /o not rely solely on any printed !aterial for preparation. /o refer the books that you used to refer during your :G ourse. 8long with that keep sol(ing !ultiple hoi e Huestions. Gou !ay refer to G.+.PublisherNs book for G8T6 preparation. G8T6 Foru! also pro(ides with so!e set of M1QsE but do refer the books si!ultaneouslyE as the redibility of the answers pro(ided by the! is not reliable in a good a!ount of ases. ThatNs it for now. ?ill o!e with so!ething !ore soon. 8ll The Best. Posted by 8shutosh at &:&' 8M " o!!ents:

!onda'3 9 ne 573 5667

;re-preparation'for'the'31>:'preparation'
In this post I will try to answer so!e of the i!portant Huestions that usually arise in the !ind of a G8T6 aspirant.

P7!SE */ To become familiar 4ith G!TE e1am.

I think I should start with the (ery basi HuestionE Y.hat is G!TE all about3Z

Gou an get the answer of this Huestion by si!ply (isiting the website of any IIT or II* . For your referen e I a! pro(iding one link below. 2ne an go through that. http://www.gate.iitb.a .in/gate"k</inde-.ht!

Please note that this infor!ation is about G8T6#< only. It !ay be subCe ted to hange for G8T6&#. The websites will be updated as for! for G8T6&# will be a(ailable. Generally for! is a(ailable in the !onth of 2 tober or *epte!ber end.

P7!SE +/ Pre aration.

For a G8T6 aspirant after getting answer of first Huestion the hunk of Huestions will arise regarding preparation. >ow I a! trying to answer all those Huestions one by one.

*. .hat is the correct time to start re aration for G!TE8

Ideally one should study all the ourses thoroughly at the ollege le(el. It !eans that the preparation for G8T6 starts as soon as one takes ad!ission in the engineering ollege. But I know this is the ideal thing and only few an do this.

8s in beginning no one an de ide whether he want to do M.te h or not. This !aturity o!es in the "nd or )rd year onlyE as now one an de ide whether he is interested in the te hni al stuffs or not.

8s far as !y personal opinion is on erned one should start preparation during the ) rd year. 8nd one should appear for G8T6 in the )rd year to ha(e a feel about e-a!E but if one ha(e not prepared well this will be of no worth. *o try to o!plete as !any subCe ts as possible @perfe tlyA before you appear for the G8T6 during the ) rd year. This will help you a lot to find out

where you are la king in preparationE how to !anage the paper in ) hoursE what is the effe t of negati(e !arking and all su h i!portant issues.

+. .hat is the authentic material for the re aration8

There are !any different opinions for the answer of this parti ular Huestion. 8s far as I a! on erned I had took lot of pain in the sele tion of authenti preparation. 8s this is the !ost i!portant aspe t of the preparation. !aterial for

There are so !any !is on eptions that the book fro! G+ publi ation is enough for the preparation or say (arious !aterials a(ailable fro! different oa hing institutes do the work. Frankly speaking all these !aterials a(ailable in the !arket are supple!ents only. They are not at all enough for the perfe t preparation for G8T6. The !ost i!portant !aterial is authenti books for a parti ular subCe t. 8lways prepare any subCe t fro! authenti books only.

I had approa hed to IITsV professors for this and I had o!e to know about the (arious authenti books whi h probably I had not used during !y ollege. 8nd I had e-perien ed the differen e too between books used at our olleges and these books. *o!e of the books were sa!e too.

I a! going to produ e a list of books to be used for different subCe ts of !e hani al engineering.

*. !dvanced En"ineerin" mathematics by

a. 6rwin kreysKig @Dohn wiley 9 sons publi ationA @strongly re o!!endedA b. /r.B.*.Garewal @+hanna publi ationsA @strongly re o!!endedA

+. En"ineerin" mechanic @stati s and dyna!i sA by

a. Beer and Dohnston @the Tata M Graw .ill publi ationsA

b. Prof. P.D.shah @few but (arious enough e-a!ples - good bookA ,. Stren"th of material by

a. G...=yder @6nglish 5anguage Book so ietyA

-. Theory of machines by

a. 8!itabh Ghosh and 8shok ku!ar !allik @ 8ffiliated 6ast ^?est press pri(ate 5i!itedA b. *.*. =attan @ The Tata M Graw .ill publi ationsA

Both the books are ne essary for the preparation.

9. Machine desi"n by

a. =.*.+hura!i @ *.1hand 9 sons publi ationA

Though this is not the authenti book but for subCe t it is !ore than enough for G8T6A

:. ;ibrations by

a. L.P.singh

<. 2undamentals of thermodynamics by

a. P.+.>ag @The Tata M Graw .ill publi ationsA b. Lan ?hylen @Dohn wiley 9 sons publi ationA

Both books are strongly re o!!ended and ne essary for total preparation.

=. 6efri"eration and !ir conditionin" by

a. =.+.=aCput @ther!al s ien e and engineeringA @5a-!i publi ationsA b. http://nptel.iit!.a .in/

This is the website de(eloped by the IITs. .ere you an get web ourses for al!ost all ourses. But the psy ho!etri pro esses des ribed here are too good. Please go through that.

>. !

lied thermodynamics

a. =.+.=aCput @ther!al s ien e and engineeringA @5a-!i publi ationsA

*?. 7eat and Mass transfer by

a. Gunus 8. engel @The M Graw-.ill o!paniesA

To understand the funda!entals properly I strongly re o!!end this book

**. 2luid mechanics and machines

a. /r.=.+.Bansal @5a-!i publi ationsA @strongly re o!!endedA b. Gunus 8. engel @The M Graw-.ill o!paniesA

To understand the funda!entals properly I strongly re o!!end this book

*+. Manufacturin" science by

a. P.>.=ao @(olu!e " and )A @The Tata M Graw .ill publi ationsA b. 8!itabh Ghosh and 8shok ku!ar !allik @ 8ffiliated 6ast ^?est press Pri(ate li!itedA . P.1.*har!a d. *.+alpakCian @Pearson 6du ationA @(ery ni e bookA @funda!entally strongA

8ll these books are ne essary for the o!plete understanding of the subCe t !anufa turing s ien e.

*,. Mana"ement science and @ erations mana"ement

a. .a!dy 8.Taha @operations resear hA@ prenti e hall of India pri(et li!itedA b. ?illia! D. *te(enson @ introdu tion to !anage!ent s ien eA@I=?I> pubA . B.Mahade(an @2perations !anage!entA @/orling +indersley @IndiaAPri(et li!itedA d. D.+.shar!a @operations resear hA

>ote. The topi na!ed YProbabilisti In(entory syste!Z is ni ely gi(en in the Brilliant tutorials. To understand the funda!entals properly I strongly re o!!end this book

%esides this revious *? to *+ years solved G!TE a ers are needed.

8nother Huestions regarding P=6P8=8TI2> su h as 7o4 to re are8 etc will be dis ussed in the ne-t post. Posted by parth at ):#& 8M < o!!ents:

/ nda'3 9 ne 5:3 5667

.ntroduction'
This blog has been !ade fro! the (iew of helping students who want to appear for G8T6 @Graduate 8ptitude Test for 6ngineersA. ?e will try to guide you on !atters related to how to prepare where to get !aterial fro! and other su h Hueries. Personally all the authors being related to Me hani al Field it would be diffi ult for us to guide on other subCe t but we will try to rope in new onta ts to help students who are really interested in the sa!e. 8lso the pro edure after learing gate is the toughest one and !aking proper hoi es and filling for!s properly an !ake a world of differen eE we would like to gi(e guidan e regarding the sa!e too. Posted by Tan!ay Ta!hane at <:## 8M &# o!!ents:

@eeping'a'tracC'of'your'application'
&. 8l!ost all the IITVs ha(e an online syste! where they update the latest infor!ation about the for!E kindly keep on looking at the! regularly. ". If status of your appli ation has not been updated before the last date of for! onta t the! and ask the! if for! has rea hed. 8lso sa!e an be tra ked on the speed post siteE keep tra king your ourier be ause you do not want your appli ation to get lost. ). If your speed post is not getting deli(ered you an all their enters and ask for update about your appli ation. '. +eep a separate alendar for where all you ha(e to go for inter(iew or written e-a!s ause that is (ery i!portant be ause you !ay !iss out on so!ething that is i!portant. ,. 8lso keep a separate sheet of where all you ha(e got ad!ission and where you are bound to get ad!issions. %. 8lways read all the rules about upgrading on e you ha(e appliedE i.e. do you need to send the fees for getting a higher preferen e or do you ha(e to pay fees only after final offer has been !ade. 7. 8lso send the /e!and /rafts well in ad(an e be ause postal delay !ight play a role. $. If they do not update your status on site about re eipt of /raft you !ay all before the end date so that it does not reate any proble!. <. 8lways keep the re eipts of *peed Post by whi h you send 8ppli ation and Fees they are (ery i!portant in ase of delays and any !ispla e!ent fro! the postal side. Posted by Tan!ay Ta!hane at <:,) PM " o!!ents:

;reparation'of'7orms' The gi(en guideline is Cust the basi guideline for filling up any for!. &. Be sure to fill in all your personal details like address as latest as possible if they are bound to hange fill in so!ething that would be !ore per!anent. ".Before filling up the preferen es be sure to go through the detail ourse stru ture gi(en on ea h of the IITVs site and also enHuire with the seniors if you ha(e any onta ts that would gi(e you so!e perspe ti(e.

).Be sure what you are applying for. Fill in the e-a t preferen es you would like to ha(e refrain fro! filling options you are not interested intoE if at all nu!ber of options a(ailable are still re!aining fill the not so useful options at the end. '. Gour preferen e should always be in the order you want ad!ission intoE ne(er keep the bran h in whi h you are bound to get ad!ission firstE keep the diffi ult one first and then subseHuently fill in the !anner where you ha(e surety of getting ad!ission. That is first fill up the preferen e where you ha(e little han e of getting ad!ission and the last one where you are bound to get ad!ission whate(er !ay be the ase. ,.Be sure to gi(e the e-a t details about your a ade!i sE i.e. if your per entages are ,<., then do not get te!pted to write %# be ause it !ay reate proble! at a later date. %. If you ha(e any e-perien e and you are able to furnish ertifi ate for the sa!e then you !ay fill in the details about the sa!e if they are asked. 7. 1he k e-a tly on whose na!e the /e!and /raft needs to be drawn on. $. /ouble he k all the details that you ha(e written and espe ially you G8T6 s ore 8 ade!i /etails and your YP6E2E6EA)ESB be ause they will !atter the !ost for ad!ission. @These are the basi guidelines also kindly go through for! thoroughly if their are any other !inor details. +indly send the for! well in ad(an e and if possible atta h a sti ker of your na!e in printed instead of writing ause that would be !ore legible and would a(oid and delayA ;reparing'for'test'and'interview'at'..>'@'and'interview'at'..>'&.'
/o refer to !y pre(ious posts.

.i FriendsE

I ha(e been getting Hueries on how to prepare for inter(iews and about !y inter(iew e-perien es. *o I de ided to write this post. I appeared in two inter(iews last yearE IIT + and IIT /. I will first gi(e so!e tips and then share !y inter(iew e-perien es.

IIT 3an ur:

?ritten Test: 5ast yearNs written test was of &,# !arks @,# Huestions J)E -&E ) hr durationA. The topi s stressed were Mathe!ati s @probability and set theoryAE 8ptitudeE T21E /ata stru tures and 8lgorith!s. 1andidates s oring abo(e around %#-%, !arks @out of &,#A were shortlisted for the inter(iew. Gou should atte!pt arefully and donNt ai! to atte!pt all the ,# Huestions. Gi(e suffi ient ti!e to the Huestions that you think you an sol(e. If you sol(e "$-)# Huestions @or e(en ", without any negati(e !arkingAE you would stand a han e of learing written test.

Inter(iew - There are ' professors in one panel. The first Huestion is !ostly - 0your areas of interests or fa(ourite subCe ts0. 1hoose " subCe tsE prepare the! thoroughly and list the! as your fa(ourite subCe ts. Then you are asked proble!s fro! these subCe ts and you are reHuired to gi(e solution on board. Gou will be asked only one or two proble!sE but the inter(iew is e-pe ted to last around )#-'# !inutes as they ross Huestion on e(erything you say. 5isten to the proble! arefully. If you donNt understand itE ask the! again. I would suggest you to first think arefully for about&-" !inutes on the proble! before starting to sol(e it @they gi(e you suffi ient ti!eA. 8lsoE it doesnNt !atter !u h whether your answer is orre t or in orre tE what they want to he k is your approa h and how you atta k a proble!. *o try to fo us on your approa h. *ol(e the proble! for!ally on board while e-plaining and Custifying your approa h infor!ally to the professors. 8nd as I saidE answer doesnNt !atter !u h but your approa h !atters a lot. If you !ake a !istakeE a ept itE donNt try to Custify yourself. They !ay try to onfuse youE so if you are sure about your solutionE donNt get onfused. They are !ostly (ery helpful and try to !ake you feel o!fortable. They e(en ra k Cokes in between. /onNt be ner(ous. +eep al! and ool. Think and talk as if you are with your olleagues or friends. .a(e a s!ile on your fa e. If you are not able to sol(eE they e(en gi(e you hints. 8nd so!eti!es they !ay tell you the whole solution. Then you should be able to appre iate the solution and should try to get an insight in the approa h that they told you. It !ay i!press the! that you are keen to learn. Gou !ay also be asked to sol(e one of the proble!s of the written test that you had atte!pted orre tly to he k your approa h and to !ake sure that you did not do guess work in the test.

5ast year around )## andidates appeared in written testE <# were shortlisted for inter(iew and ', were gi(en final ad!ission offers. 8lsoE your G8T6 s ore doesnNt play any role now at IIT +. The sele tion is solely based on written test and inter(iew.

IIT $elhi/

8t IIT /E 7# per ent weightage is gi(en to G8T6. =est )# per ent is s aled between inter(iew and your B Te h !arks. Marks in &#th and &"th !ay also be onsidered. The inter(iew tips are si!ilar. They were asking Huestions fro! al!ost all the subCe ts. But N8lgorith!sN was fo used. The first Huestion is always about your fa(ourite subCe ts. 8nswer (ery arefully.

My e1 eriences:

Intervie4 at IIT 3: I was first asked about !y fa(ourite subCe ts. I replied T21. They asked !e whether I liked algorith!s. I said yes. They asked !e the following Huestion - 1onsider you are gi(en " separate arrays of n nu!bers ea h. Both the arrays are sorted. Gi(e an algorith! to find the !edian of the o!bined list. The first thought that a!e to !y !ind was to do !erge sort and then return !iddle ele!ent. But this see!ed tri(ial and sorting of the o!bined list was not ne essaryE only !edian was asked. *o I didnNt gi(e this answer. They told !e I ould use the board. I took the halk and was thinking hard. Then I started onsidering an e-a!ple of any two su h lists @8s I thought I shouldnNt re!ain idle for so longA. I wrote so!ething like this on board.

"E,E7E<E&) &E%E$E&#E&&

Then not knowing what to doE I Cust ir led the !iddle ele!ents of both the lists @7 and $ in this aseA. 8nd the algorith! stru k. 1o!pare the !iddle ele!ents. 2n the list whi h has s!aller !iddle ele!entE dis ard the left part of the list. 8nd on the list with larger !iddle ele!entE dis ard the right part of the list. ?e are left with " lists of siKe n/" ea h and the proble! is sa!e. 8pply the sa!e algorith! re ursi(ely. @Think about the base ase yourself as an e-er iseA. I told the! the algorith!. 8ll this was o(er within , !inutes. Then they asked !e to Custify the orre tness of the algorith!. 2n e(erything I said to Custify itE they ross Huestioned !e. They got !e (ery onfused. 8t one pointE i got (ery ner(ous and ould not say anything. They were trying to !ake !e o!fortable by ra king Cokes and I laughed. It was really helpful. But e(en after "#-", !inutesE I ould not properly Custify the algorith!. Then one of the professors saidE 02+E your algorith! is right. But without thinking for another se ondE tell !e the ti!e o!ple-ity0. I said 2@log nA. .e said 08re you sure30 I said yes. .e said- 0But I think it an be 2@nA in so!e ases0. I got onfused again and they all started laughingE and I laughed with the!. They asked !e to write the re urren e relation and I wrote it wrong. Then I saw the

sho ked e-pressions on their fa es and realised the !istake and then wrote the right re urren e relation @T@nA 4 T@n/"A J&A. They asked !e 0how do you al ulate ti!e o!ple-ity fro! this0. I said MasterNs theore!. They laughed and replied 0/o you always use Master theore!E e(en for su h si!ple ases. IsnNt there any other way whi h helps get insight0. I ga(e the! the re ursi(e solution of the relation i wrote. They were satisfied then and I was asked to erase the board and lea(e.

IIT $elhi: The first Huestion was about !y areas of interest. I said NTheoreti al 1o!puter * ien eN. They asked what spe ifi topi I liked in T1*. I said N8uto!ata theoryN They ga(e !e a sheet of paper and asked !e the following Huestion - ThereNs an infinite tape @infinite on both sides left and rightA and on e(ery ell N#N is written e- ept Cust one ell on whi h N&N is written. 1urrently tape head is at so!e rando! position whi h has a #. & !ay be on its right or left. /esign a Turing Ma hine whi h brings the tape head to the ell whi h has & and halt. I started thinking and !aking a state transition diagra!. They said 0donNt waste ti!e like thisE Cust gi(e us the idea0. I ga(e the following idea after thinking about a !inute: 1hange the urrent # to blank. Mo(e to leftE if its & halt. If its #E !ake it blank and !o(e to right until u get # or &. If & halt. If #E !ake it blank and !o(e left again until you get # or &. =epeat this. This guarantees that we are able to s an the tape on both the sides. They got (ery i!pressed by the idea. Then they asked !e whether it would be deter!inisti or non-deter!inisti . I saidE it ould be both @as a /TM an be reated for e(ery >TMAE but >TM would !ake sense as it would ha(e only " states @one ha(ing all the transitions and other halt stateA. But /TM would reHuire !any states. They were (ery happy with the answer. Then they noti ed that I had !y B.6 proCe t files. They asked for the files. ?hen they saw that one of !y proCe ts was in fa t 0Turing Ma hine *i!ulator0E they laughed and said - 0ohE we shouldnNt ha(e asked you that Huestion0. Then they asked what I liked other than T1*. I ould not think of anything so I said 8I. They asked 0what do you know about 8I0. I re!e!bered only one thing so I replied sear h algorith!s. They asked !e about the prin iple of dyna!i progra!!ing. I ga(e the answer @If B is an inter!ediate node b/w 8 and 1. Then best path b/w 8 and 1 is obtained by !erging best path b/w 8 and BE and best path b/w B and 1A. They were satisfied and I was asked to lea(e. .ope it helps. 8ll the best for your inter(iews. 8lsoE please donNt !ail !e your Hueries. 1o!!ent on the posts if you ha(e any Hueries.

-hat'if'not'..>s' '1re'there'other'good'options'for'('>ech'D8/:E' '

/o refer to !y pre(ious posts.

.i FriendsE

I ha(e been getting Hueries on what to do if one anNt !ake it to IITs. *o hereNs so!ething that !ay be helpful.

If you anNt !ake it to IITs through G8T6 but want to pursue higher edu ation in 1*6E then your preferen e should be as follows : IIIT 7ydrabad : 1ondu ts its own e-a! PG66. The e-a! is ondu ted in 8pril. The appli ations !ust ha(e started. The M Te h progra!!e here is offered in !any (ariants @1*6E 1o!putational 5inguisti s et .A The institute is (ery good. 1he k its website. ISI 3olkata : This is also de lared as an institute of national i!portan e by Go(t of India @Dust like IITsA. It has M Te h progra!!e in 1*6. It also ondu ts a separate e-a!. 8ppli ations !ust be starting (ery soon. 1he k website. )MI )hennai / 2ffers M* in 1o!puter * ien e. The institute is (ery good. 1ondu ts its separate e-a!. 1he k website @This ould also be preferred o(er IIIT .ydrabad if you are willing to do resear h and ai! for Ph/ in futureA AIT TrichyC AIT )alicutC AIT !llahabadC AIT SurathkalC AIT .aran"al @in this orderA : These are also (ery good. They gi(e ad!ission based on G8T6. If you get a rank under ",##E then you stand a good han e. %ITS Pilani 1ondu ts its separate e-a!. 1he k website for details.

IIIT %an"alore - 1ondu ts its separate e-a!. .as industry ollaborations. But fees is (ery !u h. Institute is good o(erall . 1he k website. IIIT Pune - 1ondu ts its separate e-a!. .as industry ollaborations. But fees is (ery !u h. Institute is good o(erall. 1he k website. IIIT !llahabad- 8d!ission based on G8T6. If your rank is within ),## in G8T6 then thereNs a good han e. @ther AITs - based on G8T6

If you ha(e applied in D8ME then M18 at IIT =oorkee is also a (ery good option. In the abo(e listE I would lassify institutes up to >IT Tri hy as (ery good and would re o!!end you to take ad!ission if you are serious about PG in 1*6. For institutes below Tri hyE you

should he k yourself if its worth it to take ad!ission. Gou should o!pare these options with your urrent Cob options and also try to foresee the opportunities in future. /e ide a ordingly. I would suggest you to find out !ore about these institutes @in ter!s of reputationE fa ultyE pla e!ents et A before taking ad!ission.

.ope the infor!ation helps you.

Good 5u k

1dmission'to'('>ech'D8/:E'in'..>s'Dsome'more'information.E'
=efer to !y pre(ious post before reading this.

I had added the following as a o!!ent in !y pre(ious postE but as I feel its i!portantE I a! adding this as a new post.

The following infor!ation is added with inputs fro! !y friend 8nkit 8garwal :

&A IIT .ydrabad : /ire t ad!ission for T8 ategory. 1loses around 8I= '##. IIT . also has =8 profile like IIT B. "A D18 @M Te h in 1o!puter 8ppli ationsA ondu ted Cointly by Mathe!ati s and 1* depart!ents of IIT /elhi : *tudents up to 8I= ,## !ay be alled for inter(iew. )A M Te h in 1o!putational * ien e at II* Bangalore : May all up to 8I= &### for written test and inter(iew. 'A IIT =oorkee !ay lose a little earlier - around 8I= '## ,A IIT /elhi and +anpur !ay be preferred o(er IIT Madras. 5ike I saidE it all depends on your interests. 8ll ) are eHui(alent.

Thanks 8nkit_

1dmission'to'('>ech'8/:'in'..>s'based'on'31>:'
.i FriendsE

G8T6 "#&" is o(er and results will be de lared soon. I re!e!ber (ery well that during this ti!e last yearE I was (ery onfused and had the Huestions likeE N?hat to do now 3NE N/o I stand a han e 3NE N?here should I apply 3N

8t that ti!e !any su h blogs helped !e a lot. *o now its !y turn to re ipro ate the fa(our by ontinuing the work and by helping !y prospe ti(e Cuniors. @FGIE I a! urrently in the "nd se!ester of M Te h 1*6 at IIT +anpurA

The ad!ission riteria of (arious institutes for M Te h 1*6 is as follows :

IISc %an"alore M6 in 1o!puter * ien e and 8uto!ation- /ire t ad!ission based on G8T6 s ore. 1loses within 8I= ,#. M Te h in 1o!putational * ien e - *hortlists students based on G8T6 s ore. Then ondu ts written test and inter(iew of the shortlisted andidates. Typi ally alls up to 8I= %## in G8T6.

IIT %ombay M Te h T8 ategory : /ire t ad!ission based on G8T6 s ore. 1loses within 8I= &##. May go till 8I= &"# if you are lu ky enough.

M Te h =8 ategory : *hortlists up to G8T6 8I= &### - &"## @or !oreA. Then ondu ts a written test and inter(iew. The progra!!e is as good as T8 ategory but the duration is ) years and hen e is generally not preferred by the students.

IIT Madras /ire t ad!ission based on G8T6 s ore. 1loses within 8I= &$# - "##.

IIT 3an ur *hortlists andidates based on G8T6 s ore @up to around 8I= ,##A. The shortlisted andidates are alled for a written test @syllabus sa!e as G8T6A. The andidates who pass this written test are inter(iewed and then the final ad!ission offer is !ade. The final offer depends on the perfor!an e in written test and inter(iew only. G8T6 s ore is not onsidered for reating the final !erit list.

/ire t ad!ission !ay be offered to top rankers of G8T6.

IIT $elhi *hortlists andidates based on G8T6 s ore @up to around 8I= '##A. The shortlisted andidates ha(e to appear for an inter(iew. For final offer 7# ; weightage is gi(en to G8T6 s ore and the rest )# ; is properly s aled between the inter(iewE B Te h !arks and proCe tE &#th and &"th !arks.

/ire t ad!ission !ay be offered to top rankers of G8T6.

IIT 3hara" ur *hortlists andidates based on G8T6 s ore @up to around 8I= '## to ',#A. The shortlisted andidates ha(e to appear for an inter(iew. For final offer 7# ; weightage is gi(en to G8T6 !arks @not s oreA and the rest )# ; is gi(en to the inter(iew. i.e your G8T6 !arks @out of &##A will be redu ed to its 7# ; and the inter(iew !arks will be awarded out of )#. The total of these !arks is used for final !erit list.

IIT 6oorkee /ire t ad!ission based on >or!alised G8T6 !arks al ulated as >or!alised G8T6 !arks 4 @your !arks out of &##/!a-i!u! !arks in that paper in the year sa!e as yoursA R &##. Typi ally after learing of waiting listsE ad!ission loses around 8I= ,##.

IIT Gu4ahati *hortlists based on G8T6 s ore @up to around 8I= 7,#-$##A. The shortlisted andidates ha(e to

appear for a written test @no inter(iew is takenA. Final !erit list is based on 7# ; weightage to G8T6 s ore and )# ; to the written test.

IIT 7ydrabad has also started M Te h progra!!es but I a! not aware of its ad!ission riteria.

8ppli ation for II* Bangalore !ust ha(e started by now. 1he k website. 8ppli ations for IITs start within , days of de laration of G8T6 results. +eep orresponding websites. he king the

8part fro! M Te hE M* progra!!es offered at IIT Madras and IIT /elhiE and M* @6nggA progra!!e at II* Bangalore are also (ery good options @if your are willing to do resear h oriented oursesA. For these progra!!esE students are alled for further s reening and ha(e to appear in a written test or inter(iew. Typi al shortlisting riteria is G8T6 8I= up to around ,##%##.

1* students are also eligible for M Te h in other depart!ents in so!e of these institutes. *o!e other depart!ents also offer o!puter s ien e oriented M Te h progra!!es @eg. 6le tri al /ept and Mathe!ati s /ept of IIT /elhiA. I a! not aware of the sele tion riteria for these progra!!es. 1he k websites.

If your G8T6 did not go well enoughE do apply in Indian *tatisti al InstituteE +olkata and IIIT .ydrabad. These are also (ery good institutes @ o!parable to IITsA and they ondu t their own separate entran e e-a!s @G8T6 is not !andatoryA. 8ppli ations for these institutes !ust ha(e started by now. 1he k websites.

Gour preferen e of IIT should depend upon your areas of interest. /o he k fa ulty profiles to see the resear h interests and ongoing resear h at (arious institutes.

For *yste!s * ien esE IIT Bo!bay is preferred. For Theoreti al 1o!puter * ien eE IIT +anpur and II* Bangalore are preferred. For 8lgorith!sE IIT +anpur and IIT /elhi ha(e an edge.

8 typi al preferen e order followed by !aCority of the students is sa!e as the order in whi h I wrote the ad!ission riteria abo(e. .owe(erE there are e- eptions. *o!e of !y lass!ates here had ad!ission alls fro! II* and IIT B. But they a!e here. *o it all depends on your interests. 1hoose wisely.

8lsoE the inter(iew dates of IIT +. IIT / and IIT +gp !ay lash. IIT +gp gi(es you option to hoose your inter(iew date fro! a broad range of around &# days. /o ask other IITs about their inter(iew dates in ad(an e and plan a ordingly. These dates !ay also lash with the inter(iew dates of B8=1.

There !ay be a lash in the written test date of IIT G and the ounselling and reporting date of IIT =. 1hoose wisely.

>ITs also gi(e ad!ission based on G8T6. *o!e >ITs !ay ondu t inter(iews for further s reening. 8ppli ations for (arious >ITs o!e in May. 8 typi al preferen e order often followed for M Te h 1*6 in >ITs is: >IT Tri hy >IT 1ali utE 8llahabadE *urathkal E ?arangal 2ther >ITs

>IT

Tri hy

is

undoubtedly

the

best

a!ong

>ITs

for

Te h

in

1*6.

B Te h students with (alid G8T6 s ore are also eligible for ad!ission to Ph/ progra!!es. Typi al shortlisting riteria is G8T6 8I= up to around &### along with a (ery good a ade!i profile and good referen e letters.

.ope you find the infor!ation helpful. /o tell !eE if there are any errors @in the statisti al data or any other error whatsoe(erA. *uggestions and feedba k will be helpful and are wel o!ed.

How to prepare for t&e GATE Exa"? > GATE Preparation /c&ed %es
The suggested ! T" e7am preparation schedules are listed below, classified on the basis of #H$@ 590H TI5" I3 8"+T +$2 TH" 910$5IN! ! T" "\ 5#. @e strongly advice the students N$T T$ =$ID TH" 2"=I3I$N TI5".

1lease note that as the time remaining for the ! T" preparation decreases, the chances of cracking the ! T" "7am decrease. $ur schedules are designed to ma7imiBe your chances IN !I="N TI5". @e cannot help you become a topper with a two weeks schedule. 1lease select an option below to obain your suggested ! T" preparation scheduleA I have $N" ;" 2 left for the ne7t ! T" e7am I have N 5$NTH3 left for the ne7t ! T" e7am @e advice you to try your best to adhere to these ! T" e7am preparation schedules.

How do I prepare for t&e GATE 568= exa"ination? I &ave a ti"e of ? !@-TH/ for t&e GATE 568= exa"2

'. +irst, you need to realiBe that even if you have N months for the ! T" e7am preparation, you are pressed between your semester e7aminations, 5id and 8ab e7ams which would ultimately give you about ? ) * months or so before the +inal ! T" e7am. ,. 9nless you have studied your regular "ngineering syllabus sincerely on a time to time basis, D$ N$T "="N THIN: -$9T 8" 2NIN! TH" @H$8" ! T" "\ 5 3;88 -93. Do not try to aim for more than W* L of the ! T" syllabus. tleast *(L of it must be mastered in a perfect manner. 6. 93" only "ngineering Te7t books. ;ou ll know why after you give the e7am. ?. Till the first week of %anuary learn all the topics you ve planned for. 3T$1 by the end of the first week. If you learn new topics beyond this point, you will not have sufficient time for revision and you ll lose marks in the ! T" e7am even in the topics you studied well for. *. Till the end of %anuary revise all the topics. N. In +ebruary, Take previous ! T" e7am &uestion papers with time limits. Dont take more than , &uestion papers a day. "valuate and solve the &uestions you went wrong in. Trust us, ;ou ll earn atleast ,(L of your +inal ! T" e7am marks from what you learn in this phase. lso solve the &uestions from the ! T" "7am papers that arenDt from your prepared topics. 8earn those models from the solutions. +or e7ample, 5echanical "ngineering students can learn the problems from 9nconventional 5achining processes from previous papers solutions which repeat a lot and involve direct formulae. W. $ne day before the e7am, only revise formulae and Important points. M. N$ N"@ T$1I03 IN TH" 8 3T 6( D ;3 F F F F

ll the best and hope we helped F F

+&' &ave 'o s ((ested a %ot of revision ti"e? Is it necessar'?

The e7am you are preparing for is ! T" "7am. 0an you think of any other standard e7am for engineers which tests knowledge gained for 6 years> No. !5 T, !2", 0 T, 5 T etc re&uire not more than ' year of learning. @hen we talk to students who cracked ! T" "7am in second attempt, we ask them why they couldnDt do it despite their high engineering aggregates in the first attempt. The most common answer we hear isA JIn "ngineering, we revise one subject for one whole day and give the e7am for 6 hours on that one subject. To remember ,* such subjects needed at least , revisions for , months. @e realiBed this when we gave e ! T" "7am the first time. 3o we found out how to approach the second time and scored wellK 3o provide revision with ample time in your preparation. Not less than ,(L. ;ou can thank us later. .No>/ @e wish you all the very best for your ! T" preparation.

AB/=:8 Discrete /tr ct res1Discrete !at&e"atics +e$ Bo rse !ateria% Last update August 2, 2009

>ote: =easonable efforts ha(e been !ade to test intera ti(e e-er ises and tools that ha(e been de(eloped here. .owe(erE they !ight still ontain so!e errors. Please use the! keeping that in !ind.

56G6>/ @in luding *GMB25* usedA click here P=6=6Q:I*IT6 G52**8=G click here

Ta$%e of Bontents
&. I>T=2/:1TI2> to /I*1=6T6 *T=:1T:=6* click here ". P=2B56M *25LI>G 8. Problem Solving click here B. Extrapolation click here

). 52GI1 8. Introduction to Logic click here B. Propositional Logic

1. Introduction to Pro ositional #o"ic Click here 2. Pro osition .hat Is Pro osition 8 Click here Elements of Pro ositional #o"ic Click here Truth Table Click here )onnectives Click here )onstruction of Pro osition Click here )onverse and )ontra ositive Click here E1ercises Click here 3. 2rom En"lish to Pro osition ;ariations of ifDthen Click here 2rom En"lish to Pro osition Click here E1ercises Click here 4. 6easonin" 4ith Pro ositions Introduction to 6easonin" Click here Identities of Pro ositions and $ual Click here Use of Identities Click here E1ercises Click here Im lications Click here 6easonin" 4ith Pro ositions Click here Proof of Identities Click here Proof of Im lications Click here

E1ercises Click here 5. Interactive E1ercises ---Has been repaired -- -2-09 C!ntrap!siti"e, #egati!n etc. Clic here $dentities and $%plicati!ns Clic here

'. Predicate Logic

1.

&h' (redicate L!gic ) Click here 2. &ell *!r%ed *!r%ula +&,,- !, (redicate L!gic ` (redicate Click here ` .uanti,icati!n Click here ` C!nstructing *!r%ulas +&,,s- Click here ` /0ercises Click here *r!% &,, t! (r!p!siti!n Click here /nglish t! L!gic 1ranslati!n Click here /0ercises Click here 2eas!ning 3ith (redicate L!gic ` 2eas!ning 3ith (redicate L!gic Click here ` /0ercises Click here ` .uanti,iers and C!nnecti"es Click here ` /0ercises Click here

22 22 22 22

` *6T T.62=G 8. Basics

1. 2. 3. 4.
B.

$ntr!ducti!n t! 4et 1he!r' Click here 2epresentati!n !, 4et Click here /5ualit', 4ubset, /tc Click here /0ercises Click here

athematical !easoning "lick here

1. Set #perations

1. 2. 3. 4.

4et 6perati!ns Click here /0ercises Click here (r!perties !, 4et 6perati!n Click here /0ercises Click here

` =61:=*I2> 8. !ecursive $efinition

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

2ecursi"e 7e,initi!n click here 8enerali9ed 4et 6perati!ns Click here /0ercises Click here :!re /0a%ples !n 2ecursi"e 7e,initi!n click here --- 6pti!nal 2ecursi"e 7e,initi!n !, *uncti!n click here

B. !ecursive %lgorithm click here 1. Exercises "lick here /. Proof by Induction

1. *irst (rinciple !, :athe%atical $nducti!n click here 2. /0ercises Click here 3. /0a%ple !, ;se !, :athe%atical $nducti!n --- (r!gra% C!rrectness click here 4. 4ec!nd (rinciple !, :athe%atical $nducti!n click here 5. /0ercises Click here

` =658TI2> 8. Introduction to !elation click here B. $efinitions

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

<inar' 2elati!n click here 7e,initi!n !, 2elati!n +general relati!n- click here /5ualit' !, 2elati!ns click here 2ecursi"e 7e,initi!n !, 2elati!n click here /0ercises Click here

1. Properties of Binary !elation& and #perations

1. 7igraph click here 2. 7igraph 2epresentati!n !, <inar' 2elati!n click here 3. (r!perties !, <inar' 2elati!n click here

4. /0ercises Click here 5. 6perati!ns !n <inar' 2elati!ns click here

/. Special !elations

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. =.
` F:>1TI2>

Cl!sures !, <inar' 2elati!n click here /0ercises Click here /5ui"alence 2elati!n click here /0ercises Click here 6rder 2elati!n click here /0ercises Click here

8. $efinitions click here B. Exercises "lick here 1. 'rowth of (unction click here /. Exercises "lick here

` I>/6a click here ` 5inks to =elated ?eb *ites click here

For any trouble contact

toida@c s.odu.edu

This material was originallhy given in Fall 1999 as an Internet course.

Peop%e w&o contri$ ted to t&is proCect (a%p&a$etica% order)

inyi )e Li Li %n*lica alla

'uillaume +er,ic ohamed #wis

Lan -ang Lei -ang "hunxiang .u /ia 0hu

De(end
)olor )ode %old red indi ates a ter! being defined or i!portant ite!. ;nderlined b!ld italic blue or underlined blue indi ates a link. If it is a ter!inologyE it has already been introdu ed earlier. %old "reen indi ates a ter! to be defined later or a heading %old black is used for e!phasisE and se tion headings.

@r"ani5ation of )ontents Pa"e 6a h ontents page onsists of three or four ite!s: *ubCe ts to be 5earnedE 1ontentsE in !any asesE TestE and 5inks to >e-t subCe tE to * heduleE and to Table of 1ontents.

Symbols 6ed and ur le sy!bols below show te-t sy!bols you an use in your e-!ailE M* ?ord fileE with >etMeeting to o!!uni ate with your instru tor. Gou an use red sy!bols to input into the Inferen e 1he ker. .owe(erE it does not a ept the purple sy!bols. #o"ic/ E E : logi al not E F : logi al and E ; : logi al or E 0G : logi al im ly E H0G : logi al if and only if &eIuivalent( E JG : logi al tautolo"ically im ly E HJG : logi al tautolo"ically eIuivalent

E K! : logi al for all E KE : logi al for some &there e1ists( Sets/

E Kin / belon"s to E KnotKin / does not belon" to E L / em ty set UC / universal set E Ksubset / ro er subset E KnotKsubset / not a ro er subset E KsubseteI / subset E KnotKsubseteI / not a subset E Kcu / set union

!i C Kcu &iJ* to n( !Di / union of n sets E Kca / set intersection

!i C Kca &iJ* to n( !Di / intersection of n sets C Kbar ! / com lement of set ! &!( C P&!( / o4er set of set !

C M / )artesian roduct !i C M&iJ* to n( !Di / cartesian roduct of n sets 6elation/ H aC b G / ordered air

H a*C a+C ...C an G / ordered n0tu le C HJ / recedes & artial order( 2unctions/

1i C Sum&iJ* to n( 1Di / sum of n 1i's @&f( C @&f( / of order smaller than or eIual to f o&f( C o&f( / of order smaller than f &f( C @me"a / of order "reater than or eIual to f &f( C ome"a / of order "reater than f &f( C Theta / of the same order as f

f&1( C lim&1 0G inf( f&1( / limit of f as 1 "oes to infinity

1able !, C!ntents, and C!ntents <ack t! C4 3 1 H!%e (age 4a%ple 4tud' 4chedule <ack t! C43 1 1ech/d $n,!r%ati!n (age

PrereE iste G%ossar'

congruent'modulo'CB' mod'C:' ''''''eHual'up'to'an'integer'multiple'of'CB'the'difference'is'an'integer'multiple'of'C' divisible'by'an'integer'C:' ''''''can'be'divided'by'C'without'producing'a'non-%ero'remainderB'thus'it'is'an'integer' multiple'of'C' even'number:'

''''''an'integer'that'is'divisible'by'2.'0'is'an'even'number' integer:' ''''''a'number'without'fraction'partB'a'whole'number' irrational'number:' ''''''a'real'number'that'is'not'a'rational'numberL'for'exampleB'the'sHuare'roots'of'2'are' irrational'numbers.' multiple'of'C:' ''''''a'number'that'can'be'divided'by'C'without'producing'a'non-%ero'remainder' natural'number:' ''''''a'non-negative'integer:'0B'1B'2B'+B'....' negative'number:' ''''''a'number'that'is'strictly'less'than'0' non-negative'number:' ''''''a'number'that'is'greater'than'or'eHual'to'0' odd'number:' ''''''an'integer'that'is'not'evenB'it'is'eHual'to'an'even'number'plus'or'minus'1' positive'number:' ''''''a'number'that'is'strictly'greater'than'0' rational'number:' ''''''a'number'that'can'be'expressed'as'the'Huotient'of'two'integersB'm/nB'where'm'and'n'are' integers' real'number:' ''''''an'integer'or'a'fraction'

.ntroduction'to'&iscrete'/tructures'---'-hats'and'-hys'
.hat is $iscrete Mathematics 8 /is rete !athe!ati s is !athe!ati s that deals with dis rete obCe ts. /is rete obCe ts are those whi h are separated fro! @not onne ted to/distin t fro!A ea h other. Integers @aka whole nu!bersAE rational nu!bers @ones that an be e-pressed as the Huotient of two integersAE auto!obilesE housesE people et . are all dis rete obCe ts. 2n the other hand real nu!bers whi h in lude irrational as well as rational nu!bers are not dis rete. 8s you know between any two different real nu!bers there is another real nu!ber different fro! either of the!. *o they are pa ked without any gaps and an not be separated fro! their i!!ediate neighbors. In that sense they are not dis rete. In this ourse we will be on erned with obCe ts su h as integersE propositionsE setsE relations and fun tionsE whi h are all dis rete. ?e are going to learn on epts asso iated with the!E their propertiesE and relationships a!ong the! a!ong others.

.hy $iscrete Mathematics 8 5et us first see why we want to be interested in the for!al/theoreti al approa hes in o!puter s ien e. *o!e of the !aCor reasons that we adopt for!al approa hes are &A we an handle infinity or large Huantity and indefiniteness with the!E and "A results fro! for!al approa hes are reusable. 8s an e-a!pleE let us onsider a si!ple proble! of in(est!ent. *uppose that we in(est b&E### e(ery year with e-pe ted return of &#; a year. .ow !u h are we going to ha(e after ) yearsE , yearsE or &# years 3 The !ost nai(e way to find that out would be the brute for e al ulation. 5et us see what happens to b&E### in(ested at the beginning of ea h year for three years. First let us onsider the b&E### in(ested at the beginning of the first year. 8fter one year it produ es a return of b&##. Thus at the beginning of the se ond yearE b&E&##E whi h is eHual to b&E### R @ & J #.& AE is in(ested. This b&E&## produ es b&&# at the end of the se ond year. Thus at the beginning of the third year we ha(e b&E"&#E whi h is eHual to b&E### R @ & J #.& A@ & J #.& AE or b&E### R @ & J #.& A". 8fter the third year this gi(es us b&E### R @ & J #.& A). *i!ilarly we an see that the b&E### in(ested at the beginning of the se ond year produ es b&E### R @ & J #.& A" at the end of the third yearE and the b&E### in(ested at the beginning of the third year be o!es b&E### R @ & J #.& A. Thus the total prin ipal and return after three years is b&E### R @ & J #.& A J b&E### R @ & J #.& A" J b&E### R @ & J #.& A)E whi h is eHual to b)E%'&. 2ne an si!ilarly al ulate the prin ipal and return for , years and for &# years. It isE howe(erE a long tedious al ulation e(en with al ulators. FurtherE what if you want to know the prin ipal and return for so!e different returns than &#;E or different periods of ti!e su h as &, years 3 Gou would ha(e to do all these al ulations all o(er again. ?e an a(oid these tedious al ulations onsiderably by noting the si!ilarities in these proble!s and sol(ing the! in a !ore general way. *in e all these proble!s ask for the result of in(esing a ertain a!ount e(ery year for ertain nu!ber of years with a ertain e-pe ted annual returnE we use (ariablesE say A, 2 and nE to represent the prin ipal newly in(ested e(ery yearE the return ratioE and the nu!ber of years in(estedE respe ti(ely. ?ith these sy!bolsE the prin ipal and return after n yearsE denoted by 4E an be e-pressed as 4 J A&* N 2( N A&* N 2(+ N ... N A&* N 2(n . 8s well knownE this 4 an be put into a !ore o!pa t for! by first o!puting 4 0 &* N 2(4 as 4 J A & &* N 2(n > 1 0 &* N 2( ( O 2 . 2n e we ha(e it in this o!pa t for!E it is fairly easy to o!pute 4 for different (alues of A, 2 and nE though one still has to o!pute &* N 2(n > 1 . This si!ple for!ula represents infinitely !any ases in(ol(ing all different (alues of A, 2 and n. The deri(ation of this for!ulaE howe(erE in(ol(es another proble!. ?hen o!puting the o!pa t for! for 4E 4 0 &* N 2(4 was o!puted using 4 J A&* N 2( N A&* N 2(+ N ... N A&* N 2(n . ?hile this argu!ent see!s rigorous enoughE in fa t pra ti ally it is a good enough argu!entE when one wishes to be (ery rigorousE the ellipsis ... in the su! for 4 is not onsidered pre ise. Gou are e-pe ted to interpret it in a ertain spe ifi way. But it an be interpreted in a nu!ber of different ways. In fa t it an !ean anything. Thus if one wants to be rigorousE and absolutely sure about the orre tness of

the for!ulaE one needs so!e other way of (erifying it than using the ellipsis. *in e one needs to (erify it for infinitely !any ases @infinitely !any (alues of A, 2 and nAE so!e kind of for!al approa hE abstra ted away fro! a tual nu!bersE is reHuired. *uppose now that so!ehow we ha(e for!ally (erified the for!ula su essfully and we are absolutely sure that it is orre t. It is a good idea to write a o!puter progra! to o!pute that 4E espe ially with &* N 2(n > 1 to be o!puted. *uppose again that we ha(e written a progra! to o!pute 4. .ow an we know that the progra! is orre t 3 8s we knowE there are infinitely !any possible input (alues @that isE (alues of A, 2 and nA. 2b(iously we an not test it for infinitely !any ases. Thus we !ust take so!e for!al approa h. =elated to the proble! of orre tness of o!puter progra!sE there is the well known 0.alting Proble!0. This proble!E if put into the onte-t of progra! orre tnessE asks whether or not a gi(en o!puter progra! stops on a gi(en input after a finite a!ount of ti!e. This proble! is known to be unsol(able by o!puters. That isE no one an write a o!puter progra! to answer that Huestion. It is known to be unsol(able. ButE how an we tell it is unsol(able 3. .ow an we tell that su h a progra! an not be written 3 Gou an not try all possible solution !ethods and see they all fail. Gou an not think of all @ andidateA !ethods to sol(e the .alting Proble!. Thus you need so!e kind of for!al approa hes here to a(oid dealing with a e-tre!ely large nu!ber @if not infiniteA of possibilities. /is rete !athe!ati s is the foundation for the for!al approa hes. It dis usses languages used in !athe!ati al reasoningE basi on eptsE and their properties and relationships a!ong the!. Though there is no ti!e to o(er the! in this ourseE dis rete !athe!ati s is also on erned with te hniHues to sol(e ertain types of proble!s su h as how to ount or enu!erate Huantities. The kind of ounting proble!s in ludes: .ow !any routes e-ist fro! point 8 to point B in a o!puter network 3 .ow !u h e-e ution ti!e is reHuired to sort a list of integers in in reasing order 3 ?hat is the probability of winning a lottery 3 ?hat is the shortest path fro! point 8 to point B in a o!puter network 3 et . The subCe ts o(ered in this ourse in lude propositional logi E predi ate logi E setsE relationsE and fun tionsE in parti ular growth of fun tion. The first subCe t is logi . It is o(ered in 1hapter & of the te-tbook. It is a language that aptures the essen e of our reasoningE and orre t reasoning !ust follow the rules of this language. ?e start with logi of senten es alled propositional logi E and study ele!ents of logi E @logi alA relationships between propositionsE and reasoning. Then we learn a little !ore powerful logi alled predi ate logi . It allows us to reason with state!ents in(ol(ing (ariables a!ong others. In 1hapter & we also study setsE relations between setsE and operations on sets. Dust about e(erything is des ribed based on setsE when rigor is reHuired. It is the basis of e(ery theory in o!puter s ien e and !athe!ati s. In 1hapter ) we learn !athe!ati al reasoningE in parti ular re ursi(e definitions and !athe!ati al indu tion. There are setsE operations and fun tions that an be defined pre isely by re ursi(e definitions. Properties of those re ursi(ely defined obCe ts an be established rigorously using proof by indu tion. Then in 1hapter % we study relations. They are an abstra tion of relations we are fa!iliar with in e(eryday life su h as husband-wife relationE parent- hild relation and ownership relation. They are also one of the key on epts in the dis ussion of !any subCe ts on o!puter and o!putation. For e-a!pleE a database is (iewed as a set of relations and database Huery languages are onstru ted based on operations on relations and sets. Graphs are also o(ered briefly here. They are an e-a!ple of dis rete stru tures and they are one of the !ost useful !odels for o!puter s ientists and engineers in sol(ing proble!s. More in-depth o(erage of graph an be found in 1hapter 7.

Finally ba k in 1hapter & we study fun tions and their asy!ptoti beha(iors. Fun tions are a spe ial type of relation and basi ally the sa!e kind of on ept as the ones we see in al ulus. .owe(erE fun tion is one of the !ost i!portant on epts in the dis ussion of !any subCe ts on o!puter and o!putation su h as data stru turesE databaseE for!al languages and auto!ataE and analysis of algorith!s whi h is briefly o(ered in 1hapter ". Before we start the study of dis rete stru turesE we briefly learn general fra!ework of proble! sol(ing. If you are a good proble! sol(erE you !ay skip that and go to logi . Ae1t 00 Problem Solvin" 2rame4ork !lternative 00 Introduction to #o"ic

;roblem'/olving'
Introduction 6(eryone !ust ha(e felt at least on e in his or her life how wonderful it would be if we ould sol(e a proble! at hand preferably without !u h diffi ulty or e(en with so!e diffi ulties. :nfortunately the proble! sol(ing is an art at this point and there are no uni(ersal approa hes one an take to sol(ing proble!s. Basi ally one !ust e-plore possible a(enues to a solution one by one until one o!es a ross a right path to a solution. Thus generally speakingE there is guessing and hen e an ele!ent of lu k in(ol(ed in proble! sol(ing. .owe(erE in generalE as one gains e-perien e in sol(ing proble!sE one de(elops oneNs own te hniHues and strategiesE though they are often intangible. Thus the guessing is not an arbitrary guessing but an edu ated one. In this hapter we are going to learn a fra!ework for proble! sol(ing and get a gli!pse of strategies that are often used by e-perts. They are based on the work of Polya. For further studyE his bookE and others su h as 5arson are re o!!ended @but not reHuiredA. ! 2rame4ork for Problem Solvin" The following four phases an be identified in the pro ess of sol(ing proble!s: @&A :nderstanding the proble! @see belowA @"A Making a plan of solution @see belowA @)A 1arrying out the plan @'A 5ooking ba k i.e. (erifying 6a h of the first two phases is going to be e-plained below a little !ore in detail. Phases @)A and @'A should be self-e-planatory. *. Understandin" the Problem

>eedless to say that if you do not understand the proble! you an ne(er sol(e it. It is also often true that if you really understand the proble!E you an see a solution. Below are so!e of the things that an help us understand a proble!. @&A 6-tra t the prin ipal parts of the proble!. The prin ipal parts are: For 0find0 type proble!sE su h as 0find the prin ipal and return for a gi(en in(est!ent0E :>+>2?>*E /8T8 and 12>/ITI2>*E and for 0proof0 type proble!s .GP2T.6*I* and 12>15:*I2>. For e-a!ples that illustrate theseE see 6-a!ple &E and 6-a!ple )E respe ti(ely. Be areful about hidden assu!ptionsE data and onditions. @"A 1onsult definitions for unfa!iliar @often e(en fa!iliarA ter!inologies. @)A 1onstru t one or two si!ple e-a!ple to illustrate what the proble! says.

2.'&evising'a'/olution';lan -here'to'start' ' 3tart with the consideration of the principal partsA unknowns, data, and conditions for #find# problems, and hypothesis, and conclusion for #prove# problems. To see e7amples that illustrate these click here. -hat'can'.'do' $nce you identify the principal parts and understand them, the ne7t thing you can do is to consider the problem from various angles and seek contacts with previously ac&uired knowledge. The first thing you should do is to try to find facts that are related to the problem at hand. 2elevant facts usually involve words that are the same as or similar to those in the given problem. It is also a good idea to try to recall previously solved similar problems. 3ee #3ome helpful tips# below for more. To see e7amples that illustrate these click here. -hat'should'.'looC'for' 8ook for a helpful idea that shows you the way to the end. "ven an incomplete idea should be considered. !o along with it to a new situation, and repeat this process.

/ome'helpful'tips There is no single method that works for all problems. However, there is a wealth of heuristics we can try. +ollowing are some of the often used heuristics. dd your own heuristics as you gain e7perience. .'/ Have I seen'it'before' That is, do I know similar or related problems > 3imilarErelated problems are ones with the same or a similar unknown or unknown may be different but the settings are the same or similar. 3ee "7ample , for e7ample. .,/ Do a little analysis on relationships among data, conditions and unknowns, or between hypothesis and conclusion. .6/ @hat facts do I know related to the problem on hand > These are facts on the subjects appearing in the problem. They often involve the same or similar words. n e7ample can be found below. It is very important that we know inference rules. .?/ &efinitions: 5ake sure that you know the meaning of technical terms. This is obviously crucial to problem solving at any level. -ut especially at this level, if you know their meaning and understand the concepts, you can see a solution to most of the problems without much difficulty. 3ee for e7ample "7ample ', and "7ample , below. .*/ 0ompose a wish'list of intermediate goals and try to reach them. .N/ Have you used all the conditions/hypotheses > A @hen you are looking for paths to a solution or trying to verify your solution, it is often a good idea to check whether or not you have used all the dataEhypotheses. If you haven4t, something is often amiss. 3ee "7ample ? for e7ample. .W/ &ivide'into'cases: 3ometimes if you divide your problem into a number of separate cases based on a property of objects appearing in the problem, it simplifies the problem and clear your mind. +or e7ample if the problem concerns integers, then you may want to divide it into two casesA one for even numbers and the other for odd numbers as, for e7ample, you can see in "7ample 6 below. .M/ ;roof'by'contradiction: If you make an assumption, and that assumption produces a statement that does not make sense, then you must conclude that your assumption is wrong. +or e7ample, suppose that your car does not start. number of things could be wrong. 8et us assume for simplicity4s sake that either the battery is dead or the starter is defective. 3o you first assume that the battery is dead and try to jump start it. If it doesn4t start, you have a situation that does not make sense under your assumption of dead battery. That is, a good battery should start the car but it doesn4t. 3o you conclude that your assumption is wrong. That is the battery is not the cause. 1roof by contradiction follows that logic.

In this method we first assume that the assertion to be proven is not true and try to draw a contradiction i.e. something that is always false. If we produce a contradiction, then our assumption is wrong and therefore the assertion we are trying to prove is true. "7ample 6 below uses this method. @hen you are stuck trying to justify some assertion, proof by contradiction is always a good thing to try. .C/ >ransform/Iestate the problem, then try .'/ ) .6/ above. .'(/ -orCing'bacCward: In this approach, we start from what is re&uired, such as conclusion or final .desired/ form of an e&uation etc., and assume what is sought has been found. Then we ask from what antecedent the desired result could be derived. If the antecedent is found, then we ask from what antecedent that antecedent could be obtained. ... @e repeat this process until either the dataEhypotheses are reached or some easy to solve problem is reached. "7ample ? and "7ample * below give simple e7amples of this approach. .''/ /implify the problem if possible. Take advantage of symmetries which often e7ist. :eep in mind that your first try may not work. -ut don4t get discouraged. If one approach doesn4t work, try another. ;ou have to keep trying different approaches, different ideas. s you gain e7perience, your problem solving skills improve and you tend to find the right approach sooner. 8et us now look at some e7amples to illustrate the topics discussed above. 2ext'--';roblem'/olving'--':xample'1' -ack to 3chedule -ack to Table of 0ontents

:xample'1 This is an e7ample in which you can find a solution once you analyBe and understand the unknowns and data. ;roblem: survey of T= viewers shows the following resultsA To the &uestion #Do you watch comedies >#, 6*, answered #;es#., To the &uestion #Do you watch sports >#, ,WW answered #;es#, and To the &uestion #Do you watch both comedies and sports >#, ',C answered #;es#. !iven these data, find, among people who watch at least one of comedies and sports, percentages of people who watch at least one of comedies and sports watch only comedies, only sports, and

both comedies and sports. 8et us try to solve this problem following the framework presented above. 6nderstanding'the';roblem: This is a #find# type problem. 3o we try to identify unknowns, data and conditions. The unCnowns are the percentage of people who watch only comedies, the percentage of people who watch only sports, and the percentage of people who watch both comedies and sports. The data are the three numbersA 6*,, ,WW and ',C, representing the number of people who watch comedies, sports, and both comedies and sports, respectively. Note that 6*, includes people who watch both comedies and sports as well as people who watch only comedies. 3imilarly for ,WW. The conditions are not e7plicitly given in the problem statement. -ut one can see that the percentages must add up to '((, and they must be nonnegative. &evising'a'/olution';lan: Here we first e7amine the principal parts in detail. +irst let us consider the unknowns in more detail. To calculate the percentage of the people who watch only comedies, for e7ample, we need the number of people who watch at least one of comedies and sports, and the number of people who watch only comedies. Thus actually two unknowns are involved in each of the re&uired percentages, and the real unknowns are the number of people in each of the categories, and the number of people who watch at least one of comedies and sports. Ne7t let us look at the data. +irst the number 6*, is the number of people who watch comedies. -ut that is not necessarily that of the people who watch only comedies. It includes that and the number of people who watch both comedies and sports. 3imilarly for the second number ,WW. 8et us use symbols to represent each of the unknownsA 8et 0 represent the number of people who watch only comedies, 3 that of the people who watch only sports, and T that of the people who watch at least one of those programs. Then we have the following relationships among the unknownsA C'M'129'5'+"2 S'M'129'5'277 C'M'S'M'129'5'> +rom these e&uations we can easily obtain C'5'223B'S'5'1 !, and T'5'"##'. Thus the re&uired percentages are .$4B'29.$4B and 2".!4, respectively. ll we had to do to solve this problem is to analyBe relationships between the data and the unknowns, that is, nothing much beyond #understanding the problem#. 2ext'--';roblem'/olving'--':xample'2' -ack to 3chedule -ack to Table of 0ontents

:xample'2 This is a problem which you can solve using similar known results. ;roblem: +ind the .length of/ diagonal of a rectangular parallelepiped given its length, width and height. gain let us try to solve this problem following the framework presented above. 6nderstanding'the';roblem: This is a #find# type problem. 3o we try to identify unknowns, data and conditions. The unCnown is the diagonal of a rectangular parallelepiped, and the data are its length, width and height. gain there are no e7plicitly stated conditions. -ut the unknown and data must all be a positive number. -efore proceeding to the ne7t phase, let us make sure that we understand the terminologies. +irst a rectangular parallelepiped is a bo7 with rectangular faces like a cube e7cept that the faces are not necessarily a s&uare but a rectangle as shown below.

Ne7t a diagonal of a rectangular parallelepiped is the line that connects its two vertices .corner points/ that are not on the same plane. It is shown in the figure below.

&evising'a'/olution';lan: Here we first try to find relevant facts. 2elevant facts often involve the same or similar words or concepts. 3ince the unknown is a diagonal, we look for facts concerning diagonal. Note that drawing figures here is &uite helpful. $ne of the facts that immediately comes to our mind in this problem is 1ythagoras4 theorem. It has to do with right triangles and is shown below.

8et us try to see whether or not this theorem helps. To use this theorem, we need a right triangle involving a diagonal of a parallelepiped. s we can see below, there is a right triangle with a diagonal 7 as its hypotenuse.

However, the triangle here involves two unknownsA % and y. 3ince % is what we are looking for, we need to find the value of y. To find y, we note another right triangle shown below.

pplying 1ythagoras4 theorem again, we can obtain the value of y. Thus y2'5'a2'M'b2 is obtained from the second triangle, and %2'5'c2'M'y2 is derived from the first triangle. +rom these two e&uations, we can find that % is e&ual to the positive s&uare root of a2'M'b2'M'c2'. 2ext'--';roblem'/olving'--':xample'+' -ack to 3chedule -ack to Table of 0ontents

:xample'+ This is a proof type problem and Nproof'by'contradictionN is used. ;roblem: !iven that a, b, and c are odd integers, prove that e&uation a%2'M'b%'M'c'5'# can not have a rational root. 6nderstanding'the';roblem: This is a #prove# type problem. The hypothesis is that a, b, and c are odd integers, and the conclusion is that e&uation a%2'M'b%'M' c'5'# can not have a rational root. The hypothesis is straightforward. In the conclusion, #rational root# means a root, that is, the value of % that satisfies the e&uation, and that can be e7pressed as m/n, where m and n are integers. 3o the conclusion means that there is no number of the form m/n that satisfies the e&uation under the hypothesis. &evising'a'/olution';lan: +or this problem, let us try #proof by contradiction#. @hen you are asked to prove the impossibility of an event or non)e7istence of certain things, this approach often is &uite helpful.

+ollowing the #proof by contradiction#, let us assume that the conclusion is false, that is the e&uation a%2'M'b%'M'c'5'# has a rational root m/n, where m and n are integers, when a, b, and c are odd integers. @e can assume without loss of generality that m and n do not have any factors in common. Then a&m'n(2'M'b&m'n('M'c'5'#'. )))))))))))))))))))))))) .'/ 8et us try to derive a contradiction from this. +irst let us make this e&uation simpler, that is, let us get rid of fractions. 3ince n is not e&ual to #, multiplying the both sides of .'/ by n2, we get am2'M'bmn'M'cn2'5'#'. )))))))))))))))))))))))) .,/ 3ince m is an integer, it is either even or odd. @e are going to consider those cases one by one. That is Ndivide'into'casesN. 8et us first consider the case when m is even. Then n is odd, since otherwise m and n have a common factor 2. Now am2'M'bmn is even, and cn2 is odd. Hence am2'M'bmn'M'cn2 can not be #. Ne7t let us consider the case when m is odd. -y an argument similar to the previous case, we can see that n is also odd. If m and n are odd, then am2, bmn, and cn2 are all odd, since a, b, and c are odd integers. However, the sum of three odd numbers can not be e&ual to #. Thus by assuming that the conclusion is false, we have arrived at a contradiction, that is m/n does not satisfy the e&uation. Hence our assumption must be wrong, and therefore the conclusion is correct. 2ext'--';roblem'/olving'--':xample'!' -ack to 3chedule -ack to Table of 0ontents

:xample'! This is another proof type problem and NworCing'bacCwardN techni&ue is used. ;roblem: 1rove that D'a'M'b'M'c'E2' D'ab'M'bc'M'ca'E'B if a) b) c are three sides of a triangle.

6nderstanding'the';roblem: This is a #prove# type problem. The hypothesis is that a, b, and c are three sides of a triangle, and the conclusion is that

ine&uality D'a'M'b'M'c'E2'

D'ab'M'bc'M'ca'E'holds.

&evising'a'/olution';lan: Here we try #@orking -ackward# heuristic. That is manipulate the conclusion possibly using the hypothesis and reduce it into something that is obviously true. +irst by multiplying out the left hand side of the ine&uality, D'a'M'b'M'c'E2'5'a2'M'b2'M'c2'M'2D'ab'M' bc'M'ca'E'. Hence if a2'M'b2'M'c2' 2D'ab'M'bc'M'ca'E'B then the conclusion holds. Ne7t, to see what we can try, note that we have not used the hypothesis yet, and see if it can help here. It is well known that the sum of two sides of a triangle is greater than the third side. Hence a'M'b'O'c'B b'M'c'O'a'B and c'M'a'O'b hold. +rom these we can obtain cDa'M'bE'O'c2'B aDb'M'cE'O'a2'B and bDc'M'aE'O'b2'. -y adding these three ine&ualities, we get a2'M'b2'M'c2'P'aDb'M'cE'M'bDc'M'aE'M'cDa'M'bE'5'2D'ab'M'bc'M'ca'E'.' Hence a2'M'b2'M'c2'P'2D'ab'M'bc'M'ca'E'.' Hence a2'M'b2'M'c2' 2D'ab'M'bc'M'ca'E'.' Hence D'a'M'b'M'c'E2' D'ab'M'bc'M'ca'E'holds.

2ext'--';roblem'/olving'--':xample'"' -ack to 3chedule -ack to Table of 0ontents

:xample'" This is a find type problem and NworCing'bacCwardN techni&ue is used. ;roblem: !iven a ? &uart pail and a C &uart pail, obtain N &uarts of water in the C &uart pail using these two pails. ;ou can fill or empty the pails and you can have as much water as you want. 6nderstanding'the';roblem: This is a #find# type problem. The problem is to obtain N &uarts of water in the C &uart pail using ? &uart and C &uart pails as measures. ;ou can fill either pail from the water source or from the other pail, and you can empty the pails any time. &evising'a'/olution';lan: ;ou can solve this in a number of different ways. Here we try

#@orking -ackward# heuristic. It starts with the desired solution and work backward step by step. t each step we try to find a state that immediately precedes the current state such that we can reach the current state from that state with one simple operation such as filling a pail or emptying a pail in this problem. @e repeat this process until we reach some easily reachable state such as empty pails, full pails, one pail full and the other empty, etc. $ur solution to the original problem is obtained by traversing this process backward to the desired state. 8et us denote the C &uart pail by * and the ? &uart pail by + for simplicity. In this problem, the desired state is to have N &ts in *.

Thus in the first step of #working backward#, we ask how we could get to the desired state with one operation. s one can easily see if we could dump 6 &ts from C &ts in *, then we would have N &ts in *. To be able to dump 6 &ts from * we need ' &t in +. Thus the state immediately preceding the current state is the one where * is full and + has ' &t in it.

In the second step, the &uestion we ask is how to get ' &t in +. It does not look easy to get ' &t in +. 3o let us see whether or not we can get ' &t in *. If we have ' &t in *, then we can certainly get ' &t in + without any trouble. thus we might say that the third state is to have ' &t in *.

In the third step, the &uestion we ask is how to get ' &t in *. This is relatively easy to accomplish because all you have to do is to get rid of M &ts from a full *, which can be done by emptying * twice into +.

3ince this state can be easily reached .all you have to do to get to this state is to fill * with water/, we stop here. $ur solution to the original problem is now obtained by going this process backward. Thus first we fill up *. Then dump * into + leaving * &ts in *. Then dump * into + again. This gives us ' &t in *. 1our that into +. Then fill * and empty it into +. @e now have N &ts in *, which is what is re&uired. 2ext'--':xtrapolation' -ack to 3chedule -ack to Table of 0ontents

Ieference ;olya: !. 1olya, How to 3olve It, # ,ew #s-ect of $athematical $ethod, 3econd "d., 1rinceton 9niversity 1ress, 1rinceton, N%, 'CM* )) in $D9 8ibrary <arson: 8. 0. 8arson, 1roblem)3olving Through 1roblems, 3pringer)=erlag, New ;ork, N;, 'CM6 )) in $D9 8ibrary.