Knowing the Answer Isn't Enough

Day 16 was a little different from the usual office-and-commute routine.

It was Tuesday, so I took leave from office. It was also my regular Tuesday fast and temple routine, which meant the day wasn't exactly following my normal schedule.

Still, I managed to make some progress with GATE preparation.

Switching Chapter: Completed

The main academic target for the day was to complete the Switching chapter in Computer Networks.

There were three lectures, and I completed all three.

Unlike the previous day, when I had used my commute to finish Routing Protocols, I wasn't going to the office on Tuesday. So this time, the Switching lectures were completed at home.

That distinction is worth mentioning because recently I've been relying quite heavily on my commute for lectures. Once I get home after office, watching lectures becomes much harder because I'm usually tired.

Since I had taken leave, I had the opportunity to complete them at home instead.

So, another Computer Networks chapter is now off the list.

Switching: done.

TCP Timer Management Notes

Along with the lectures, I also worked on the pending notes for TCP Timer Management.

I've been trying to keep my CN notes updated instead of leaving everything until the very end. There are still some pending notes from previous topics, so whenever I get the right opportunity in October, I want to clear those as well.

The actual syllabus completion is still the bigger priority right now, though. With October starting tomorrow, that priority is about to become considerably more serious.

Mixed Practice: 9/11 in Data Structures

I also did some mixed-question practice in Data Structures.

I solved 11 questions and got 9 correct, giving me an accuracy of roughly 82%.

The interesting part was that the two incorrect questions weren't really conceptual mistakes.

They were silly mistakes.

I didn't read the questions properly and interpreted them too quickly.

Basically, I saw the question, thought, "I know this. I'll finish this in a second," and then proceeded to prove that confidence is occasionally a very expensive emotion.

Those two marks were lost because of overconfidence, not because I didn't know the underlying concepts.

And honestly, that's useful information.

When I make a conceptual mistake, I know there is something I need to study again. But careless mistakes are slightly different. The solution isn't necessarily another lecture or another chapter.

Sometimes the solution is simply:

Read the damn question properly.

Especially for GATE, where a small word or condition can completely change what a question is asking, rushing through something just because it looks familiar is dangerous.

A Different Kind of Study Day

Since I was on leave, the day didn't follow my normal routine.

It was also my Tuesday fast. I hadn't eaten since morning, went to the temple in the evening, and later had Prasad.

So it wasn't one of those extremely structured, perfectly optimised study days.

But I still completed the Switching chapter, worked on TCP notes, and did some mixed Data Structures practice.

That's enough for me to consider the day productive.

The bigger thing I'm taking away from the DS practice is actually not the 9/11 score itself.

It's the reason behind the two mistakes.

I'm starting to notice that there are different kinds of errors in my preparation.

Sometimes I genuinely don't know something.

Sometimes I understand the concept but apply it incorrectly.

And sometimes I know exactly what I'm doing and still lose the mark because I didn't bother to read the question properly.

The third category is particularly annoying because there isn't much sympathy available for it. 😅

Tomorrow: October Begins

And now we're basically at the doorstep of October.

From 1 October, the preparation schedule becomes much more rigid. The target is still to complete the remaining GATE CSE syllabus by 31 October, after which November will be focused much more heavily on revision, tests, and analysis.

So September was largely about getting things moving again and building momentum.

October is going to be about execution.

No more vague "I'll finish this soon" planning.

There is a deadline.

There are chapters left.

And there are only so many days to fit them into.

For today, though:

Switching: completed.

TCP Timer Management notes: worked on.

DS: 9/11.

And two silly mistakes officially added to the growing collection of things I need to stop doing.

One day at a time.