First of all go through latest syllabus of GATE completely. Read every single topic of each subject carefully mentioned in the GATE syllabus. "It is important to know what to study but
it is more important to know what not to study". Because you have to choose subjects to study as per GATE syllabus you do not need to study all subjects which you have studied in your B.E. / B. Tech. course.
Buy Made Easy / ACE Academy GATE previous years papers book with explained solution. It will surely help greatly those who are preparing self at home.
You need to read standard books, because standard books written by highly experienced Professors of reputed institutes / universities. Data available in those books are very well examined on theoretical as well as practical measurements. These books always comes with complete analysis and statistics which you can find on the start and last of the books.
GATE papers are designed by IISc, IIT, NITs highly experienced professor those who have written many international and national level books and articles. So always try to use standard books try to avoid mere knowledge books. Some standard publications are Tata McGraw-Hill (TMH), Prentice-Hall of India (PHI), Wiley etc.
Many would say 3 to 4 month serious preparation is enough but I would suggest you as per present competition you must start your preparation as soon as possible targeting GATE 2017 examination.
First of all make proper plan before starting your GATE preparation. What you have to study ? What you have already studied or in which areas you are weak and in which areas you are strong ? How many hours you have in a day for GATE preparation ? Specially if you are preparing for GATE with college study.
In free time try to read articles or guide notes written by previously qualified candidates or toppers. It will surely give you a good idea about GATE preparation because experience take time and you are getting it without Wasting your time. If possible try to communicate with them so that they can rectify your silly mistakes in your preparation strategy.
Always keep a copy of syllabus of GATE with you, refer it as much as possible because many time we try to ignore many topic and those topics have big portion in your GATE paper and that inversely affect your rank in GATE examination.
Try to solve as much as possible theoretical and numerical problems because as said "Practice makes man perfect". I will suggest you read only one subject at a time from only one book. That one book must good enough to follow GATE syllabus. So before starting GATE study, consult with your seniors or GATE qualifiers about books for GATE preparation.
Do not follow books without knowledge because all books don’t have good learning material it may lead you less marks in GATE exam.
Stay with a particular topic, understand what GATE paper designer ask from that topic, read all questions asked in GATE previous years, try to solve similar kind of question from as much as possible books.
When you find you have done enough questions for that particular topic then try to find some tricks that will help you to solve question with in shortest possible time so that you can utilize your remaining time in other questions solving.
Always try to develop some good tricks while you study at home because to be master in some kind of tricks you have to practice it as much as possible time.You can learn it from a magician he work for a single trick nearly 10-12 hours in a single day for just making one show of some minutes but what after introducing that trick ?
All the people in the hall just praise his work and clap for his trick same as that magician you must have to practice as much as possible to make your trick successful for that you need to study continuously for hours with very high concentration.
Mock tests are the most important part in your preparation because you are going to prepare for an exam not for writing a book. So if you will not try to prepare in exam like environment you will surely do some silly kind of mistakes in the exam that in return lead you less marks.
So if possible try to make some mock tests by yourself if you can’t afford any coaching expanses or try to collect some test papers from your friends who have joined coaching and taking mock tests. You can use those papers as your own mock test preparation just sit with your table and chair like in exam, set a clock for 3 hours exam like as exam hall and try to solve question same as you would solve in your GATE exam. If you can afford coaching expenses then you may join any test series of good coaching institute.
Mock tests give you a good idea about time management in the exam hall in which many fails due to some silly reasons. Like they forgot to bring watch with them or calculator etc. The whole plan of exam must be in your mind like you have given this exam many times even if you are giving it first time. It would only possible if you prepare yourself for this exam previously very well.
Always evaluate yourself, not just run like a horse in a race.
Make a plan for study. Study for 6 days in a week and left 1 day for revision purpose for what you have studied in last 6 days. Same do it for a month plan. Leave 2-3 days of a month in last for the revision for what you have studied in that particular month.
You need to revise what you have studied in your whole preparation like if you have 6 months for GATE preparation than you have to complete your whole GATE syllabus in just 5 months.
Keep last month for revision because you can't revise/recall everything what you have studied in last 5 months without revising it. If you don't have enough time to prepare the whole syllabus of GATE then first calculate in what areas examiner asked questions the most try to prepare them first then others.
If you need any kind of guidance or have any kind of query related to GATE examination preparation you may write it below through comment box.