Dear Reader,

I am planning to post my progress towards GATE preparation in this blog.I will make notes in this blog as I prepare, which might be useful to fellow students.Feel free to follow my blog and post commeents, suggestions and queries. Syllabus and useful links appear below blogs.Follow my blog to get regular updates about my posts. Go through blog archive(right hand side of blog) to access earlier posts. You can email me to minupradeep@hotmail.com, if you need more preparation material, older question papers etc.

don't miss this post

http://gateprep-architecture.blogspot.in/2013/11/formulals-conversions-and-data-required.html

update: I qualified GATE 2014 with a score of 892 and all india rank 6....

If anyone of you want to contribute to/update the blog, kindly write to my email minupradeep@hotmail.com. I will add your contributions with proper credits

Also, if my blog has helped any of you clear GATE, do let me know, I would like to publish your names, scores, ranks, contact info etc. , so that future aspirants may contact you and be inspired from you

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Success story- Shankhoneel Ghosh- GATE 2016 AIR 3

Dear fellow apsirant,

My name is Shankhoneel Ghosh and I am about to graduate with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Jadavpur University, Kolkata in 2016. I qualified GATE 2016 with an All India Rank of 3 and a GATE Score of 920.

Personal and emotional reasons aside, I think that the best way to prepare for GATE is to first and foremost accept that you may be faced with the minutest detail that was taught during the four and a half years of architectural education. Thus, it is imperative that you should have kept your eyes and ears open during that time.

Once you have achieved the desired mindset, delve into old question papers. Yes, I know that questions from previous years are seldom repeated, but the trick here is that, instead of working your way through the entire GATE syllabus topic­by­topic, which can be never­ending and inconsequential, you make your way through the syllabus question­by­question. Since every next question in the papers is from a different subject than the last, your brain is always on a circuit. This won't happen if you, say, start with a particular subject, e.g., 'History of Architecture', because your brain is concentrating on one subject at a time and the other subjects take a backseat. So, always circuit train, because that's what competitive exams are all about.

Two, practice question papers. Yes, I cannot stress enough on it. Here's a thumb rule. Practice the last five years 3 times, practice the five years previous to that 2 times, and practice the five years previous to THAT 1 time. I practiced 2015­2011 three times each, 2010­2006 two times each, and 2005­2001 one time each.

Start with sufficient time in hand. I began preparing right after the end of my 4th year 2nd semester, which is about 8 months prior to the examination, although I lost 3­4 months in between during August­November due to work related to design submissions and thesis. Go into beast mode during the last month, i.e., January.

During the initial stages of your preparation, take your time through each question, there's no need to rush. If you think that you have any doubts regarding the underlying concept of any question, leave no stone unturned in getting to its depth. Because remember, the questions do not remain the same, but the concepts do.

As you roll back through the years, it's okay to cut yourself some slack. Because you have done the lion's share of the work while working out the last 5 years' questions.

Another thing is that, when you're working the same question for the second time (or third time), one benefit you receive is that your mind recapitulates the concepts that were involved. The other benefit is that getting the answer correct (even from memory) does your confidence a world of good.

You need quality study material, because you have to keep the volume of study from getting out of hand by making it concise. It goes without saying that the internet is of great help. Aside from that, Ms. Minu Pradeep's blog inspired me and took me a long way; check it out. http://gatepreparchitecture.blogspot.in/

And if you indeed need some volume, this set of 7 books available on amazon.in has the important aspects covered. This is not an advertisement, but credit should be given where credit is due.

http://www.amazon.in/GATE­ARCHITECTURE­Reference­BookQuestion/dp/B018PMF7TI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1459535163&sr=8­3&keywords=gate+architecture 

It's a bit costly. I purchased it from amazon.in for Rs. 4,721. May be available elsewhere too. Contact the content owners at http://gatearchitecture.com/ Once again, this is in no way an advertisement.

Finally, exercise everyday, eat at regular intervals, and get plenty of sleep, because these are the pillars of life.

Thank you for reading,
All the best,
Shankhoneel

Sunday, October 5, 2014

How to crack GATE

If you prepare smartly, cracking GATE is no big deal. Solve as much question papers as you can. Study portions  based on previous question papers. This worked brilliantly for me. 
Most questions in GATE are very basic. Your understanding of the concepts is what they test. 
I started preparation right after i applied for the exam. Started solving old question papers. The first 2 paper took me two whole months. By the time they were finished, most of the portions were covered. the next set of papers went quickly. I have collected most material from the internet in the blog, and it will save you some time. Keep a note of all formulae and conversions. You don't have to be a math wizard,  just have to know basic math. Try searching for topics on youtube, videos are a quick way to learn
They will mostly ask pritzker prize winning architects. So go through the pritzker prize website. Also go through the tall buildings. Those are some things missed out in the blog. 
You can use some elimination techniques with caution for answers you know partly. Do not attempt answers you do not know at all if there is negative marking. Numerical entry questions do not have negative marking, so try to attempt them all (do conform if rules are changed)
for eg 
Q.43 Match the features in Group I with their architectural periods in Group II
Group I Group II
P. Caryatids               1. Roman
Q. Hypocaust             2. Gothic
R. Pylons                     3. Greek
S. Lofty Pinnacles      4. Egyptian
                                     5. Romanesque
(A) P-1, Q-5, R-4, S-2 (B) P-5, Q-1, R-3, S-2
(C) P-3, Q-2, R-5, S-4 (D) P-3, Q-1, R-4, S-2

I knew that pylons are egyptian, there are 2 options with R4, a and d. 
I was not sure if caryatids are greek P3 or roman P4..., option a has p3 and option d has p4
usually  correct matches appear in more than one option, you can see p3 repeats here, so i went with option d, and it turned out to be correct.  

Good Luck

Friday, January 24, 2014

Tall Buildings

One Trade Centre(formerly freedom tower by daniel libeskind) New York- Architect David Childs(som)
104 storey(+5 basement floors)
pinnacle height 541m
roof   417m
current rank -4
OneWorldTradeCenter.jpgformer                                                                                                                                             freedom tower

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Books and Authors

Amos Rapoport     On the Cultural origin of Settlements

Andreas Falludi         Planning Theory

Arthur B Gallion        The Urban Pattern

Ayn Rand                The Fountainhead

Christopher Alexander  A Pattern language:Towns, Buildings and Construction
                                    The Timeless way of Building
                                    A New Theory of Urban Design
                                    The Nature of Order

Ebenezer Howard   Garden Cities of tomorrow

Edmund Bawn       Design of Cities

E. F. Schumacher  Small is beautiful (human scale)

Francis D K Ching  Form, Space and Order

Ian McHarg             Design with Nature pioneered concept of ecological planning

Jane Jacob              The death and life of great American cities

Kevin Lynch            The Image of a City
                               What time is this Place?
                               Site Planning
                               Good City Form
                               The view from the Road
                               City Sense an City design

Leo Jacobson & Ved Prakash    Urbanization and National Development

Paul D Spreiregen   Urban Design: Architecture of Towns an Cities

Sigfried Giedion     Space, Time and Architecture