General

Dear Engineering Students,
I am Shankar, did my M.Tech in Power and Control from IIT Kanpur, B.Tech from JNTU Kakinada Campus and Diploma from Andhra Polytechnic Kakinada.
I worked in General Electric, Hyderabad for 6 years in the field of renewable energy sources. At present, delivering number of lectures in the field of power electronics (since 2007) and delivered lectures in Control systems as well (in the past) especially for GATE/ESE/PSUs. This blog is to explore the various opportunities for electrical engineering students especially preparing for competitive exams. I would like to utilize this blog as platform to share information as much as I can and requesting the continuous feed back for the improvement. I am maintaining this blog after my busy schedule as part of social service and giving back something to the society. If you like it, you can also be part of it

Thanks
BNSS Shankar

Learning gives creativity, Creativity leads to thinking,Thinking provides knowledge, Knowledge makes you great
Always try to learn something from your actions
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Competitive exams - preparation tips



How to prepare for competitive exams (GATE/IES/PSUs)
The basic syllabus for these exams is almost same i.e, Electrical & Electronics engineering subjects. The difficulty levels may be different. The secret of success in any competitive exam is confidence in the subject. Confidence will come with strong fundamentals. I would like to say that fundamentals in any subject are just like a foundation to any building. We all know that if foundation is not strong for any building it will not stand. If we do not catch this point simple questions will also scare us.

Few thoughts on how to gain strong fundamentals:
When you are ready to prepare for any of these competitive exams, do not restrict yourself to anyone specific exam in the initial stage of your preparation. Start like as you are preparing one exam in your core engineering branch (EEE in this case).

Anyone can learn basics of the subject when their mind is peaceful and more important is you should have interest in the subject. Your mind will have peace and can enjoy the learning when you do not have exam tension. So, I can say good time to start preparing for an average student is 7 to 8 months before the exam i.e, when you are in 4-1 semester. Of course, you can start any time after B.Tech also but consider that you need 7-8 months from the time when you started at the cost of 1-2 years break in your career. It is up to the individual.

My sincere suggestion is to start the preparation with a subject which is fundamental for all subjects. Example is electrical networks and mathematics for EEE student. Most important thing is never by heart any formulae just to solve an objective question as same question will not repeat in the exam. Try to learn the definitions of basic laws and their applications in the real time scenarios, derivations, problem solving methods rather than specific numeric problem even though it is objective exam. Now a days, I found that in several interviews, questions are based on these things only.

There are two basic ways to learn the fundamental
1.       Refer standard text books (at least 2-3 for each subject)
2.       Take help from subject experts and then refer text books based on their recommendation
I felt second way is best method for beginner. In this aspect, coaching will play a crucial role in better preparation. Please try to understand one point here, I am not saying that coaching is mandatory but it will definitely help you in time saving and structured way of preparing. More important thing, if you attend classes you will get the competitive spirit by seeing the crowd of people. If you prepare alone in your room, you will not know what is going on outside. Once you get the competitive mood and fire, automatically you will prepare effectively and you can learn so many things from your teachers, friends and sky will be the limit

In the initial stages of preparation (either self or coaching) I will strongly recommend to maintain notes on basic concepts. These notes will be very helpful before and after the exam. Believe me, even in my professional life also if I get any doubt or need to refer any concept, I will refer my UG/PG notes first rather than any text book. In future if you refer your own notes, you can quickly connect to the concept. Notes are my major wealth in my life and I am encouraging you too have nice notes. If you attend any interviews, notes are very useful and will provide quick summary. You need not to carry big & heavy text books

Importance of fundamentals

so many students are asking me in the following way:
“Is it compulsory to read standard text books for every subject to get <100 GATE rank? Otherwise these ACE material and online tests are enough to get that rank”

One thing I would like to say that fundamentals in any subject are like foundation for any building. I can consider these types of questions like “Is it strong foundation required to construct nice building”. Answer is obviously yes. If you construct your building without strong foundation, you cannot celebrate house warming ceremony and you cannot stay in that building.

Getting good rank without fundamentals is exactly similar situation. Getting good rank should not be goal, whatever the education you are having during your student life, it should give confidence to face all the challenges in your life. It can be professional life or personal life. You may feel boring these types of lectures when you are in student, but this is the fact. You will realize this as you are getting old from the student stage

Even in our power electronics also, out of all the components everyone is interested in fundamental component only as it is useful component. There will be no more counter argument for this statement

Until you prepare objective books and mugging up the formulas & bits, you cannot answer new questions and challenges, Always try to learn the procedure, concepts and the approach

For the corporate companies, what you are solving is not an important matter but how you are solving is important. What is the approach you are demonstrating is important and how differently you are reaching the solution will really make differentiation from others


Finally I would like to conclude with two rules:
Rule 1: Never loose time
Rule 2: Do not forget rule 1

I wish you all the best.
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