Hailing from West Bengal’s Bardhaman district, Raja Majhi has achieved All India Rank 1 in the electronics and communication engineering stream of the recently released Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2024 results.
After securing 84.67 (raw marks) and 1,000 GATE score, he now hopes to secure a seat in the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, or the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
‘Teaching is my passion’
Majhi has always dreamt of being a teacher like his father, who gives mathematics tuition, and he has decided not to quit his lecturer job even after achieving the top rank in GATE 2024. “I will take a study leave from the institute I am teaching at to pursue M Tech, but I plan to go back to teaching in the same college after completing my degree. My motive behind pursuing an M Tech is to upskill myself professionally,” he told indianexpress.com.
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The 29-year-old first appeared for GATE in 2016 after graduating from Jadavpur University and secured AIR 7. However, as he was also placed at Indian Oil Corporation, he decided to take up the job—a decision he regrets now. “At that time, I thought getting a job in a PSU (public sector undertaking) would be the ideal thing for me, but I quickly realised that I was unable to use my skills and knowledge in that job and I felt stuck. Since teaching was my first passion, I decided to quit my PSU job and take up teaching. In December 2021, I left Indian Oil and even though I had an offer from the ISRO, I decided to become a lecturer in a West Bengal college,” he said.
‘Prepare short notes from the start’
Majhi prepared for GATE 2024 while working a full-time job. Even then he dedicated 7-8 hours to GATE preparation during the week and a few additional hours on weekends.
“I took online classes from PhysicsWallah but made my own notes as it helped me prepare better. Additionally, I also made short notes at the end of every chapter. This helped me save time during my revision as I didn’t have to redo the notes making process. I highly recommend this strategy to future aspirants too,” he said.
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Another important aspect of GATE preparation according to Majhi is taking mock tests and solving previous years’ question papers. He believes this helps students identify their weaknesses and also focus on strengths. He started his GATE preparation in February 2023 but started solving mock tests in October 2023 after completing his syllabus. He used to take at least one mock test of the complete syllabus in a week and a few small chapter-wise tests. He later increased the frequency to at least two mock tests per week.
“I recreated the exam environment for every mock test that I practised. I ensured that I set a timer to complete the exam like we are given in the actual GATE exam, and I even recreated small details such as the virtual calculator and the space provided for rough work. Doing this immensely helped me be prepared for the nervous environment of the exam and identify my strengths and weaknesses,” he said.
Asked if he has any advice for GATE aspirants, Majhi said, “Practice is the most important part, be it mock tests, small chapter-wise tests or previous years’ questions because that is the only way you will be aware about your actual level of preparation.”
Online vs offline coaching
Majhi took online classes, which he believes suited him the best because of his professional life. After spending the whole day teaching in a college, online classes gave him the flexibility to decide his study hours and also the chapter and subject he wishes to study on a given day.
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“On some days if my mind is already overloaded with information and I do not wish to pick up a difficult topic, then I have that option in online classes. I also had the option of rewinding some specific bit where I lost concentration or couldn’t understand. True, we can ask teachers in offline classes, but I found online classes to be much more flexible and comfortable.
Why engineering?
Majhi’s mother is a government employee in the healthcare sector and his father a mathematics teacher. Since his childhood, he enjoyed maths and scored good marks in it. “My father used to give me mathematics problems that were at least one level higher than mine. That made it more interesting for me and I was also scoring good marks,” he said.
With this in mind, Majhi decided in his school days that he would be pursuing engineering after school—so much so that he was sure about not choosing biology in Classes 11 and 12.
He appeared for the All India Engineering Entrance Examination—now known as the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)—in 2012 and achieved AIR 988. However, since he bagged AIR 3 in the West Bengal Joint Entrance Exam, he decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree from Jadavpur University.
