[Tyson]

Mere clearing GATE doesn't ensure the opening of gates to IITs/IISc. There remain few hurdles yet to be conquered. Once you clear GATE, and apply at various IITs, you get a call from the respective IITs for appearing for the screening tests to procure a seat at the given IIT.

The screening tests in most cases comprise of two stages:


A. Written test
B. Interview

WRITTEN TEST
The stage of Written test is a bias free screening step. By bias free, I mean that even if you are GATE rank 1, you may be knocked out if you don't perform well in written test. I still remember the written test of IIT Kanpur wherein an aspirant who had GATE rank in Top 5, was knocked out after written test.

Different IITs have different patterns of written examination. IIT Bombay often basis it's written exam on the major subjects opted in 12th. Those with PCB background are drilled on Mathematics (11th and 12th standard); while those with PCM background are drilled on Biology. IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras set a mix of Aptitude, General Science and General Biology in written test. IIT Delhi mainly focuses on Biotechnological aspects (especially concepts pertaining to Enzymes, Bioreactors, Microbiology and Biochemistry). IIT Kharagpur often skips written test and one has to appear directly for interview. In most cases, IITs prescribe a pattern for their written tests as well once the dates of screening are announced.

INTERVIEW STAGE
I got the call for screening from all IITs, but due to clash and distance constraints I ended up appearing for only 3 IITs:
IIT Bombay
IIT Kanpur
IIT Delhi
Here I will brief you on the questions asked in the interview stage of the 3 IITs. One may read the complete details of my interview experiences at www.BiotechStudents.com (Exclusive --> My Story section). Links to the respective experiences are provided below:

IIT Bombay Interview:

I had cleared the written test for M.Tech in Biomedical Engineering at IIT Bombay. But I decided not to appear for the interview and rushed for appearing in the screening for M.Tech in Environmental Engineering at IITB. The key technical questions asked during the interview of IITB (Centre for Environmental Sciences and Engineering) were:

1. What is half life of a radioactive element?
2. Derive the formula for the same.
3. Why Carbon monoxide is harmful?
4. Why do we exhale carbon dioxide?
5. You didn't study Mathematics in 12th. How about that?

Read the Full Experience of IIT BOMBAY INTERVIEW HERE

IIT Kanpur Interview:

I had cleared the written test of IIT Kanpur as well, but despite being a 99.6 percentiler, I failed in the interview. The questions asked in the IIT Kanpur interview were:

1. Who taught you Downstream Processing in your college?
2. Can you tell any other mode of modulating the out put of an ion-exchange chromatography, apart from stationary phase and temperature?
3. Can you tell the mathematical reason of the fact that small molecules elute later on Gel permeation chromatography?
4. An on-board problem on PCR.
FIND OUT HERE: How I failed the IIT KANPUR Interview?

IIT Delhi Interview:


We got a surprise at IIT Delhi: We were exempted from written test! The questions asked later in the IIT Delhi interview were:


1. What made you land up in Lovely Professional University?
2. Which Book(s) did you follow for Microbiology and Biochemistry?
3. Can you draw the structures of basic units of starch and cellulose?
4. What do you understand by specific activity of an enzyme?.
5. What is 1 unit of an enzyme?
6. Reasons and significance of structural differences in Starch and Cellulose?
7. What is chemostat and washout?
My Complete IIT DELHI Interview Experience: Click HERE

I hope that these experiences help you guys in preparing well for the next stage of GATE, and eventually landing in an IIT/College of your choice.

All the best!

In case of any query, feel free to post your comments underneath.

Best wishes!
Sunil