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Age Just A Number: 67-Yr-Old Cracks GATE 2021, Aims To Pursue Research In Augmented Reality
Writer: Devyani Madaik
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Tamil Nadu, 25 March 2021 9:56 AM GMT
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Sankarapandian said that nobody thought of him as a candidate at the examination centre. "The staff thought I was accompanying a student," he recalled the moment at the centre.
A 67-year-old Sankaranarayanan Sankarapandian, a retired mathematician from IIT Madras became the oldest candidate to crack the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2021. He was one among the 17.8 per cent of candidates who qualified for the exam.
Having taught engineering students for more than two decades now, he aims to pursue research in the field of augmented reality (AR), an emerging domain in the field of virtual reality, News18 reported.
He took two out of 27 papers and has passed both of them with a score of 338 in mathematics and 482 in computer science. He wrote the two exams in different shifts on the same day.
He started preparations 30 days prior to the examination date. Speaking to the media, Sankarapandian said that nobody thought of him as a candidate at the examination centre. "The staff thought I was accompanying a student," he recalled the moment at the centre. The father of two and grandfather of three said that he was shown the way towards the waiting area for parents and guardians.
He said that he would have tried again if he had failed this time. "I don't fear failure. It is a competitive exam in which about 17 per cent cleared the exam. I was not nervous as my motive to pursue research is not to get a degree or an attractive package; I want to do research to know more for the pursuit of knowledge," he said.
Sankarapandian said the pattern was completely different from what it used to be earlier, the current being most comfortable. "I had appeared for GATE 35 years back in 1987 after which I got admission to IIT-Kharagpur. At that time, the exam was in the written mode and had two papers. The result, too would be declared after months. Now, the exam is a computer-based objective test. One can appear for more than one subject based on their specialisations. There is a provision to appeal if one finds the answers by organisers are not correct. The examination system has become very fast and comfortable."
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