DFA Done, But Not Everything Goes According to Plan

Yesterday was one of those days where my GATE preparation did move forward, but not exactly in the way I had planned.

My main focus right now is Theory of Computation, or TOC. I had decided to concentrate particularly on TOC this week, and I finally completed one important chapter: DFA, or Deterministic Finite Automata.

That was probably the biggest academic win of the day.

What I Studied

I completed the DFA chapter in TOC and am now moving forward to NFA, or Nondeterministic Finite Automata.

The next chapter is considerably longer. The NFA portion itself is around 22 hours of lectures, so I already know that it isn't something I am going to finish in a day or two. It will take some time.

My plan is to keep progressing through it steadily. Since my office schedule takes up most of the day, I am also trying to use my commute intelligently. Even getting one lecture done during the commute can make a difference when the available study time is limited.

For now, the goal is simply to keep TOC moving.

The Test I Couldn't Finish

There was also a Data Structures Linked List topic test scheduled for yesterday. I actually sat down and started it. This is important because initially I thought I simply hadn't given the test. But that's not exactly what happened.

I did start the test and attempted it for around 15 minutes. The problem was that I wasn't feeling well. I was continuously sneezing and dealing with a cold, and eventually I just couldn't sit through the test properly. So I stopped it midway.

Later, I had that annoying feeling of:

"Maybe I should have just pushed myself for another 30 minutes."

I had scheduled the test myself, so naturally, there was some regret attached to not completing it. At the same time, I know that I had already tried. I wasn't sitting around avoiding the test. I actually started it while I wasn't feeling well, but eventually my health got in the way. There were also some other commitments that took up time during the day. So the day ended up being less productive than I had originally planned.

The Part That Bothered Me

The unfinished test did bother me a little.

Not because I think missing one test is some massive disaster. It isn't. It was more because I had planned it myself and then couldn't follow through with it. That creates a different kind of regret. You start thinking about what you could have done differently. Maybe I could have pushed through another 30 minutes. Maybe I should have attempted it at another time.

But there is also a point where pushing harder stops being productive and simply becomes stubbornness. I wasn't feeling well, and I had already tried to give the test.

So I'm counting that as a small win too.

Not completing the test isn't a win, obviously. But sitting down and attempting it for 15 minutes despite feeling unwell is something I can give myself credit for.

Today's Actual Win

The biggest win from the academic side was definitely completing DFA.

That matters because TOC is one of the subjects I'm deliberately focusing on right now, and finishing DFA means I'm moving through the subject rather than just planning to study it.

The next challenge is NFA.

Twenty-two hours of lectures sounds intimidating when I look at the number, but I don't need to finish all 22 hours at once. I just need to keep moving through it. That's the current approach to my GATE CSE 2027 preparation. Study what I can, practice what I can, take tests, make mistakes, and keep moving.

Some days will obviously be cleaner than others. Yesterday wasn't a perfect preparation day. I didn't complete the Data Structures test, I didn't get as much study time as I wanted, and I wasn't feeling well.

But DFA is done. And NFA has started.

That's enough for Day 2.

What I Realized

One thing I am trying to get better at during this GATE preparation journey is being honest about what actually happened. It would be very easy to write something like "I completed my planned tasks and stayed productive throughout the day."

That would also be completely false.

I didn't.

I had other commitments, I wasn't feeling well, and I couldn't finish the test. But I also didn't completely abandon the day. I completed DFA and made an attempt at the Linked List test.

So I think that's what yesterday really was: a partially productive day that didn't go according to plan. And that's probably a more useful record of GATE preparation than pretending every day is perfectly productive.

Tomorrow, the plan is to continue with NFA and keep TOC moving forward.

One lecture at a time. One test at a time. And hopefully, slightly fewer sneezes. 🤧