{"id":1000,"date":"2026-10-21T07:14:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2026-10-21T07:14:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:14:40","slug":"building-success-one-concept-at-a-time-faizal-azeezs-nptel-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/2026\/10\/21\/building-success-one-concept-at-a-time-faizal-azeezs-nptel-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Success, One Concept at a Time: Faizal Azeez\u2019s NPTEL Story\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Faizal Azeez<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For months, Faizal Azeez followed a routine that rarely changed. He would begin his mornings watching lectures, solving problems and working through previous years\u2019 question papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Whenever a concept seemed difficult, he returned to NPTEL, searching for an explanation that would help him understand it better. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This routine eventually helped him secure an All India Rank 66 in Electrical Engineering and Rank 43 in Instrumentation in GATE 2026, bringing him closer to his academic goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Rajasthan, Faizal is now pursuing his M.Tech in Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. His association with NPTEL began during his B.Tech, when his professors recommended the courses for their quality and depth. His college also offered additional credits towards an honours degree for completing NPTEL courses, giving him another reason to explore the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His first course was \u2018Analogue Electronics\u2019, which he took during his second year. He followed the weekly lectures, completed assignments, and prepared for the examination. Over time, he completed around eight courses, cultivating the spirit of learning beyond curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NPTEL became particularly important when Faizal began preparing for GATE. After graduation, he took a gap year to focus on the examination and needed resources that could explain engineering concepts in depth. Instead of enrolling in coaching programmes, he relied largely on NPTEL lectures available through YouTube and the SWAYAM portal. Whenever he struggled with a topic, he sought out\u00a0 relevant lectures, followed the explanations, and worked through the problems demonstrated by professors. This approach helped him revisit subjects he had not explored deeply during his undergraduate studies and build a stronger conceptual foundation. \u201cWhat professors do in NPTEL lectures is quite unique,\u201d he explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThey take you from the basics to a level where you can understand the subject very easily.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Among the resources he found especially useful were lectures on \u2018Power Electronics\u2019 by Prof. Narayanan, a retired IISc professor, and a Control Systems course that covered the subject sufficiently for his GATE preparation. He also recommends \u2018Basic Electrical Circuits\u2019, describing it as a building block for electrical engineering because its concepts underpin many other subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, it was not a cakewalk.During his early semesters, balancing coursework and NPTEL assignments was challenging. He even missed passing one course by one mark. But he gradually learned that consistency mattered more than taking on too much at once.
His dedication also brought recognition. In 2024, Faizal was named an NPTEL Star and invited to the felicitation ceremony at IIT Kanpur. He also received a pre-doctoral fellowship through an NPTEL initiative, which he later had to leave after securing admission to IISc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having experienced the value of independent learning, he now encourages junior students to use NPTEL and recommends at least two relevant courses each semester. He believes that students can benefit from the lectures even if examination fees are a barrier, since many videos are freely available online. He does have one suggestion for the platform: more dedicated problem-solving lectures, particularly for students preparing for competitive examinations, along with mock tests featuring fresh questions rather than repeatedly drawing on previous GATE papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Faizal, the lesson from his journey is straightforward: success does not require taking numerous courses simultaneously. Choosing relevant subjects and putting in consistent weekly effort can make learning manageable. As he settles into life at IISc, he hopes to take more NPTEL courses in the coming semesters, this time to strengthen his research interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~written by Sania K J<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faizal Azeez For months, Faizal Azeez followed a routine that rarely changed. He would begin his mornings watching lectures, solving problems and working through previous years\u2019 question papers. Whenever a concept seemed difficult, he returned to NPTEL, searching for an explanation that would help him understand it better. This routine eventually helped him secure an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nptel-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1002,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000\/revisions\/1002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}