Data Structures & Algorithms
First pass, strongest subject so farDSA is the subject I came in most comfortable with, mostly thanks to a couple of years of solving problems for fun before GATE prep ever started. That head start doesn't mean I'm skipping it, though. GATE asks questions in a different shape than typical coding practice, more about tracing through an algorithm by hand and reasoning about complexity than writing code that runs.
Right now I'm working subject-wise: trees and graphs first since they show up most in PYQs, sorting and hashing after that, dynamic programming last because it's still where I slow down the most.
Topics I'm covering
- Arrays & Strings
- Linked Lists
- Stacks & Queues
- Trees & Binary Search Trees
- Graphs — BFS, DFS, MST, shortest paths
- Sorting & Searching
- Hashing
- Dynamic Programming
- Greedy Algorithms
- Time & Space Complexity
PYQ notes
PYQ pattern so far: graph traversal and complexity-of-algorithm questions show up almost every year, so those get extra rounds.
From the journey
One Test, One Lecture, and a Little More Self-Control
Attempted a Data Structures test scoring 16.23 out of 25 and made a small improvement in controlling phone use during the test.
DFA Done, But Not Everything Goes According to Plan
Started a Data Structures Linked List test but stopped after around 15 minutes because I wasn't feeling well.