The 150 km Experience
The first question to ask is why "150 km Experience". Right at that point I was working in Pune and Bombay is approx 150 km from Pune. Next serious question will be "What is the aim of this Blog?". It is to give you an insight regarding the written test and interview for IIT Bombay RA category.I will also try to give reference material wherever I can.
Now, What is M.Tech RA? It is a three year M.tech program at IIT Bombay in which you will be assigned some duties by the institute apart from your academic work as opposed to TA category in which only teaching duties are assigned. If you read the information brochure of M.Tech IIT Bombay carefully you will find that there are two categories of M.Tech one is RA and the other is TA in which RAs are selected through a written test and interview apart from your GATE Exam. The students with ranks in three digits can fulfil their dream of being selected in one of the India's best technological institute. There are two types of RAs :-
1) Institute RA's :- They need to work in the lab while completing their M.Tech studies. They are paid by the institute. Their work can be divided into three broad categories.
a) System Administration :- Deals with system administration of various servers and computers in the department.
b) WEL Labs :- It is the largest lab in the electrical department. Your responsibilities include conducting lab sessions for students of institute
c) Electrical Machines Lab :- Only electrical B.Techs are allowed in this lab.
2) Project RA's :- They will be working for a sponsored project while doing their studies. They are paid by the sponsorship of that project.
Coming to the D - Day there will be a seminar in which all the ongoing projects will be described. Be sure to listen to them well. Then there comes the written test. It consists of three sections :-
1) Mathematics, Control Systems and Power Electronics
2) System Administration and Communication
3) Analog Circuits, Electronics Devices and Circuits
I will suggest you to take the Section 2 seriously as it consist only of some simple Linux commands, SQL commands and C code. So brush up these concepts as they will help you a lot. You can get a course on Linux system administration here. Sections 2 also consists of communication questions generally related to digital communication like FFT, DFT ,DTFT etc. For Section 1 gate level question will be enough. For Section 3 go through the analog circuits notes by Made Easy which are available online and the lecture series on "Introduction to Solid State Devices".
After clearing the written test there will be interviews for Project RA and a lab test for Institute RA. For the PC lab be sure to prepare one programming language (preferably python), SQL commands and Linux Shell Commands. For the WEL Labs be prepared to make your hands dirty on breadboard as there can be some complex circuits to be made on them.
For the Project RAs professors will ask according to the fundamentals required in that project. For analog and mixed signal be sure to brush up the MOSFET and RC circuit concepts.
Last but not the least stay calm. Professor mostly check your approach rather than final answer and are generally student friendly. You might also get a chance to ask them questions so clarify your doubts with them.
1) Institute RA's :- They need to work in the lab while completing their M.Tech studies. They are paid by the institute. Their work can be divided into three broad categories.
a) System Administration :- Deals with system administration of various servers and computers in the department.
b) WEL Labs :- It is the largest lab in the electrical department. Your responsibilities include conducting lab sessions for students of institute
c) Electrical Machines Lab :- Only electrical B.Techs are allowed in this lab.
2) Project RA's :- They will be working for a sponsored project while doing their studies. They are paid by the sponsorship of that project.
Coming to the D - Day there will be a seminar in which all the ongoing projects will be described. Be sure to listen to them well. Then there comes the written test. It consists of three sections :-
1) Mathematics, Control Systems and Power Electronics
2) System Administration and Communication
3) Analog Circuits, Electronics Devices and Circuits
I will suggest you to take the Section 2 seriously as it consist only of some simple Linux commands, SQL commands and C code. So brush up these concepts as they will help you a lot. You can get a course on Linux system administration here. Sections 2 also consists of communication questions generally related to digital communication like FFT, DFT ,DTFT etc. For Section 1 gate level question will be enough. For Section 3 go through the analog circuits notes by Made Easy which are available online and the lecture series on "Introduction to Solid State Devices".
After clearing the written test there will be interviews for Project RA and a lab test for Institute RA. For the PC lab be sure to prepare one programming language (preferably python), SQL commands and Linux Shell Commands. For the WEL Labs be prepared to make your hands dirty on breadboard as there can be some complex circuits to be made on them.
For the Project RAs professors will ask according to the fundamentals required in that project. For analog and mixed signal be sure to brush up the MOSFET and RC circuit concepts.
Last but not the least stay calm. Professor mostly check your approach rather than final answer and are generally student friendly. You might also get a chance to ask them questions so clarify your doubts with them.
Best of Luck!!
