Hi Aspirant! Hope you're having a great day.

I would like to inform you that cracking gate Mechanical is not that tough because it contains subjects which is all the more difficult that means the questions in exams are easy.

you have plenty of  time to prepare for GATE, so you can definitely aim for 2 digit rank. if  you prepare thoroughly.
self study is best weapon to crack the GATE , try to study yourself, if you are not able to cope up then you can think of coaching more ever you have sufficient time yet.

How to prepare?

1.First go through GATE syllabus completely.

2.Take IES made easy GATE previous year solved paper book.

3.Read standard text books, it will help for both GATE as well as your university exam.

4. Follow below methods for preparation.

• For   next one week before starting actual study,      try to  read whole  syllabus  once. You must remember entire      syllabus content  throughout the  preparation.
• Better take 2 subjects at a time (1 Theory sub + 1      problematic sub), so you can handle it better.
• Before   starting subject, again read respective      syllabus one more time and  go  through previous year questions on      that subject, even  if you  don’t know  the concept and answers      don’t worry, just attempt/read  the question.  (Initially it will take      time but you get familiar  with questions, while  reading you can      easily identify questions  which were asked earlier, you  will get to      know difficulty level  and how to apply concept for that  question).
• Then  start actual reading of subjects, again       before starting chapter go  through previous question on that chapter       and keep question in  mind then finish chapter and solve previous      year  questions on that  chapter.
• Every weekend try to revise  what you have  studied      in week days and again solve previous year  questions  related to one      week study..
• So keep repeat same thing for remaining subjects too      and see the outcome.

Here list of books for GATE preparation.

1. Thermodynamics -- P K Nag.

2. Fluid mechanics -- Bansal/ modi & seth /SOM

(Bansal   is simple and upto the mark.. Modi & Seth is good book for  clearing  concepts.. SOM is good book if you are good in vector  mechanics and  differentail equation)

3. Heat and mass transfer  -- Sachdeva/Holman

(Sachdeva & Holman books are same, fundamentals of Heat and mass transfer by sachdeva is Indian edition of Holman book).

4. SOM -- B.C. Punamia / Timoshenko.

(Punamia   is good for both concept and problems... Timoshenko gives full  clearity  of all concepts but you won't find GATE related problems)

5 . I C engine -- Mathur & Sharma / V Ganeshan

(I   used V ganeshan book its good and have sufficient problems... Mathur   & sharma is aloso good book i heard it from friend but i never used)

6. Material science -- Narula & Narula / Callister / IP Singh

(   Callister is very good but very vast, if you time then refer some   times.. Narula & Narula and IP Singh good books for GATE point of   view).

7. Theory of Machines  and Mechanical vibration– SS Rattan.

8. Machine Design --   Bhandari/ Shigley.

(Bhandari is perfect book for GATE and IES... Shigley is very good book for concept).

9.Refrigeration and Air Conditioning--  P. K Nag /CP Arora Domkundwar

10. Industrial Engg -- O. P. Khanna Buffa & Sarin

(for   Industrial Engg i used hand made notes, so i am not sure of how khanna   book is, you can take help of others to decide the book)

11. Operational research --- kanti swarup/ SD Sharma.

12.Manufacturing   process -- P N Rao Vol 1& 2/ R K Jain/ Hajra & Choudhary/S K   mondal notes which is available in major book houses.

Or A text book on Production Engineering- Dr. Swadesh Singh.

(   while preparing for MP be little choosy and stick to the syllabus,   because as per my knowledge no book will give you  complete  information,  but i am not sure)

13.Mathematics --BS Grewal/Erwin Kreyszig

(Both   books are good, if you like maths then go for erwin kerysing book,   really good book and vast... or else for simple GATE preparation  Grewal;  is more than enough)

14.Aptitude -- As a engineers i don't think we need book for GATE aptitude, but still one can refer Agarwal book..

For further info you can visit the site-:

https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/how-prepare-for-gate-mechanical-engineering