From 52 Marks in Mocks to AIR 99: Ram Mohan Reddy’s GATE CSE Journey with Gate Wallah

Leaving a stable job for GATE preparation is one of the biggest risks that many aspirants hesitate to take. The pressure becomes even higher when the job already offers financial security, career growth, and a comfortable future. Questions from relatives, fear of failure, uncertainty about results, and the thought of “what if this does not work out?” become constant during preparation.

Ram Mohan Reddy faced the same situation during GATE CSE 2026 preparation. After working for nearly two years in a product-based company with a package of around 22 LPA, he decided to leave everything behind and prepare seriously for GATE. What followed was not a smooth topper journey from day one. It involved distractions, weak focus, low-confidence phases, mock-test struggles, and the challenge of rebuilding discipline from scratch. But through consistent preparation with PW, revision, and focused test practice, he slowly transformed that risky decision into AIR 99 in GATE CSE 2026.

Walking Away from a High-Paying Job for GATE Preparation

Ram Mohan Reddy is from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. After graduating in 2023, he got placed at BNY Mellon as a software developer through coding during college.

“I have got an 22 LPA.”

He worked on frontend, backend, and CI/CD systems while building a stable corporate career. But over time, he started feeling that long-term growth required deeper technical and research-oriented learning.

“I was able to sense ki software development okay four-five years chalega uske baad ek dead end aane wala hai.”

His growing interest in machine learning and research slowly pushed him toward GATE preparation. But the decision was far from easy.

While his parents eventually supported him, many people around him struggled to understand why someone would leave such a high-paying role for another competitive exam.

“This is my first and last chance.”

With that clarity, he stopped treating GATE as something he could manage casually alongside the job. Instead, he made a firm decision to step away completely from distractions and dedicate one full year entirely to preparation. 

Distractions, Demotivation, and the Reality of Full-Time Preparation

After leaving the job, Ram Mohan realised that full-time preparation brings its own problems. Without office schedules or college deadlines, maintaining consistency every day became difficult.

At the beginning, even sitting through long lectures felt challenging because his attention span had become heavily affected by constant short-form content.

“My brain was addicted.”

Because of this, he couldn’t sit for long stretches in the beginning and often found it hard to stay focused for even two to three hours continuously. 

To fix this, he completely stopped using Instagram and reduced short-form content aggressively.

“Instagram ko maine completely avoid kar diya.”

Instead of chasing unrealistic study-hour targets, he focused more on consistency and productive sessions. On average, he studied around six to seven focused hours daily.

“Interest se saat ghante bhi padho bahut hai.”

He divided his day into four study sessions and made sure at least two sessions remained fully productive no matter what happened.

“I will take care ki at least do session interest se padhu.”

Alongside distractions, self-doubt also became part of the journey.

“Rank aayega ya nahi, ye questions aate rehte hain.”

Rather than pretending motivation stayed high every day, he focused on recovering quickly after bad days instead of carrying frustration forward.

“Drag ko aage mat le jaana. Break it.”

Instead of letting a bad session or a low day linger in his mind, he trained himself to reset quickly. No matter how the previous session went, he treated every new block of study as a fresh start, making sure yesterday’s frustration didn’t decide today’s effort.

How PW Became the Backbone of His Preparation Journey

During preparation, PW became the main platform supporting his entire journey.

“Mera pura padhai pura PW se hi chala tha.”

From lectures to revision structure and preparation guidance, he relied heavily on PW throughout the year.

“I am really thankful for PW.”

One major reason his preparation slowly became stable was that he stopped running behind endless resources and focused on following one system properly.

His preparation strategy also became much more organised over time. He spent nearly five months completing the syllabus carefully instead of rushing through topics.

“June, July, August, September, October, five months mujhe syllabus khatam karne mein lag gaye the.”

Even while solving PYQs and mock tests, he focused more on learning from mistakes than obsessing over scores.

That consistency slowly started reflecting in his performance.

From 52 Marks in Mock Tests to AIR 99 in GATE CSE 2026

When Ram Mohan started giving full-length mock tests, the scores were far from perfect.

“It was 52 marks sir.”

Even during PYQ practice, his accuracy initially stayed around 50–60%.

“Mera 50 to 60% hi ho pa rahe the PYQ.”

But instead of changing resources repeatedly or panicking over low scores, he kept revising weak areas continuously.

“Jo mistake kiya hai wo phir revise kar raha tha.”

During the final months before GATE, his routine became heavily focused on revision, mock analysis, and correcting mistakes repeatedly.

Eventually, mock scores started improving significantly.

“Some tests mein 80 bhi cross kar rahe the.”

That steady improvement finally translated into AIR 99 in GATE CSE 2026 in his very first attempt.

Ram Mohan’s story is not just about leaving a high-paying job or securing a Top 100 rank. It is about staying committed during uncertainty, rebuilding focus slowly, and continuing preparation even when confidence fluctuates.

At multiple points during preparation, he faced distractions, fear, pressure from others, and questions about whether the decision was worth it. But instead of constantly looking for shortcuts or motivation, he focused on consistency, revision, and disciplined preparation through PW.