Is it good to take a year drop after your B.E./B.Tech to write GATE?

 It's good to invest one year after b.tech to write GATE.

What happens with final year students is they are under much pressure of end semester exam and final year project because of which they are not able to give their 100% in GATE and even many topics are not covered in depth.

So I feel there is no harm in investing one year in improving oneself and appearing for GATE with 100% effort. And moreover, that gap is of around 7–8 months and not 1 year so you won't feel like you are taking a year drop.

Positives of dropping one year:

• A gap of one year won't create any problems in your professional career as most candidates go for it.
• You will have an edge over the other candidates who are going to appear for GATE as they will be somewhere busy in their life either doing a job or attending classes and you will be devoting your entire time solely to GATE.
• You can even prepare for other technical exams like ISRO, BARC, BEL, BSNL, etc. more efficiently as they require extra effort because the syllabus will be slightly different from GATE. And if you are doing a job then it will be tough to focus on such exams.
• And if you are planning to join coaching then you can easily attend classes on weekdays and analyze and practice questions on weekends. But with a job you have to join the weekend batch and things are going to get messed up. That's why many who prepare for a job quit quite easily.
• Even if you feel like quitting you can't because you don't have a backup like the one who is doing the job. I feel that if I would have been doing a job last year I would have given up on GATE as my personal life was not good around November and I was looking for any sort of temporary satisfaction.

There are not many negatives of dropping one year as even if you fail you will surely learn something which will help you in a positive way in future if you appear for interviews.

If you drop one year you will either succeed or you will learn something. There is nothing to lose.

Let's see both sides and then conclude.

Assumption: you are not an IIT / NIT b.tech candidate. (They have better job opportunities)

Now, what if you don't take a year's gap:

1. You will prepare parallelly with the job.
2. Study on weekends to compete for the syllabus.
3. May join some weekend classes.
4. Sometimes you don't get enough time to complete your daily Targeted study. (Increases your backlog ).
5. Give some mock tests and solve the previous year's papers.
6. Give the exam and wait for the results.
7. If the results are good (50% chance by the law of probability), you are fine. But if not (50% chance by the law of probability) you will think it would be better if I had dropped a year.
8. In worst case : you have your job .

Don't conclude here ….

Let's see the other case if you drop one year,

1. May join some classes or do self-study.
2. Do lots of practice, mocks, revision, etc.
3. Sometimes you will be in stress with negative thoughts, as you have dropped a year.
4. Give the exam and wait for the results.
5. If the results are good (50% chance by the law of probability), you are fine. But if not (50% chance by the law of probability) you will think it would be better if I had not dropped a year.
6. In the worst case: you have deep learning of your b.tech stream concepts and the experience of dropping one year.

Now let's conclude…

In both cases: you will definitely learn something. So where is the difference??

In most cases, the difference is in the span of preparation. When we are preparing for a job, we have a backup plan with us that is we have the job, even in the worst case. So people become stiff sometimes. And that's why they won't able to perform with the job and go for year drop.

Dropping a year doesn't guarantee that you will gonna crack GATE. But it will definitely make you strong both academically and emotionally.

After reading the pros and cons of both sides, You are smart enough to conclude. Dropping a year is Waste or not?

All the best!!

I hope after reading this post you might have got a clear idea. If YES, then please share this article with your friends.