Shutting Up "4 Log kya kahenge"-- Success story IBPS PO

ABHAY SHARMA-- IBPS PO-- BANK OF INDIA

This is a very long article-have patience to read . It contains everything you need- strategy for every stage of IBPS PO, what not to do with examples, life lessons etc

or else

DISCLAIMER---If not interested in Story - can jump to THE STRATEGY HEADER

THE STORY

My Name is Abhay Sharma- age 26- an average student with perseverance and dedication. This was my First Attempt and also my 1st serious attempt of any Bank Exam. (Previously gave SBI PO and Canara PO just for self evaluation). My story till graduation remained same as most of the Indian teenagers. 10th-->Maths Science--> (Failed in IIT and AIEEE)--> Got admission in Pvt Engg College (Computer Science). Then I decided to take my Govt. Job aspiration seriously-- opted to study for UPSC during graduation. But not everything happens as per your aspirations . I got selected in TCS via Campus Placement- cleared written (Quants+ Reasoning+ English ) test of all 3 companies I appeared for. My average knowledge helped me do that. I Joined TCS and worked as ASE for 1.5 years (I can call it the best experience in my life-- Trivandrum-->Kolkata-- One of the most contrasting places in India to be , in terms of development and Human Development). The experiences of both places initiated a debate within me - Are these cubicles of IT sector will be my life or I want to change something around me, outside of the cubicle. I decided to choose the latter one.

But you need to have a reality check before you take big decisions like these. For eg. I was earning a handsome amount;  I will be unemployed, with no source money for enjoying the way I was enjoying luxuries at that time and most important of them all--- Am I capable of clearing the Govt exams which in today's India gives anyone chills ,on seeing the number of applicants. So I decided to give SBI PO in 2017-with little bit preparation-- Obviously didn't cleared the Prelims but by margin of 4 marks. This boosted me that with proper preparation I will clear Banking exams atleast.

I resigned on 2nd October 2017 with the strategy that I will prepare with all my heart for UPSC but If I fail than Banking will become my Safety Net. From New years eve of 2018, with dedicated mindset of clearing UPSC Civil Services Exam 2018, I started my preparation. In between, I wanted to give another reality check to myself- gave Canara Bank PO exam, result-- failed but margin of failure was 15 marks - Not bad with no preparation. 

Now came the testing time- appeared for UPSC CSE 2018--(prepared at my home- with no guidance)-- was unable to crack it-- missed cutoff by 12 marks-- Got 84/200. This was not bad at all with self preparation of 5 months (atleast today I can say that) #POSITIVITY. After that I went to Bangalore for IAS preparation- got completely indulged in it-- Ya it has CSAT paper but 33% is what is required to qualify it. 1 year of no preparation for Quants, Reasoning at all. I appeared for CSE Prelims 2019-- cleared it by atleast margin of 15 marks. I was going to write mains-- this confidence can make you feel OP (Overpowered). But I was aware of the Dangerous consequences of what can go wrong in all this (ie-- failure in interview even by 1 marks will start a complete new cycle of whole year of preparation and appearing for UPSC). This awareness led me to fill form of IBPS PO 2019 (Today I think so this was one of the best decision I have taken). I gave UPSC Mains exam with my full preparation (last half of September). Post that I wanted to relax as UPSC exam process make your brain feel tired. I did not focused on IBPS PO pre preparation. I just went and gave the exam-- for my surprise- I cleared it( ENGLISH was my savior) . But here comes the catch-- I was too confident of my UPSC selection at that time that I took PO mains lightly but not that lightly. I opted for crash course by BANKERS Adda and used my analysis and Reasoning. ( which I will be detailing later). I gave PO mains exam and after coming out of examination hall I was not feeling content with my performance. BUT when I saw Good attempts -subject wise I was able to gain some of my confidence back. After that it was all about waiting for results of UPSC Mains-but Time tests you , the result got delayed due to some court case. But here comes the surprise for me , the result of IBPS PO mains came before UPSC- I was selected for Interview (that was pleasant for me as atleast my backup plan was working).

But here comes the date 15/01/2020- I would say one of the toughest day of my life-- at 5 AM in morning I opened UPSC website just to check declaration of result out of curiosity and YES this curiosity ruined my whole month of January. My roll no was not on the holy PDF . I was devastated, this was the nightmare which used to haunt me . For next 2 weeks, I was not in any mood other than thinking of what blunder I had made. But I have to recollect myself for IBPS interview and I did (PERSEVERANCE and SITUATIONAL AWARENESS) , gave the interview with whatever confidence I was able to show to the Panel. It was a nice conversation in the end. After the interview, I left again for Bangalore for further preparation of UPSC.

In March, the mains scorecard came, I got 92.13 which is 20+ marks more than cutoff, this gave me some hope regarding positive results from IBPS. And Yes my strategy was up to the mark, providing dividends of my investment. I think so, this behavior of strategizing and analyzing any exam, originated in me because of the nature of UPSC Civil Services Exam. (With huge syllabus along with no boundaries and unpredictability of exam-- you have to strategize and analyse)

THE  STRATEGY

My strategy is more about using your analyzing ability than doing Hard work with no analysis

First of all you have to analyse the Exam, the pattern, scheme and Previous year Question Papers and pattern of Questions also ( additionally- look at the cutoff to understand- difficulty)--- here you have to use the REAL reasoning. Now after this, You have to identify and understand your strengths and weaknesses. When you combine these two, you will be able to create a strategy which will be near perfect for you. But in this whole process, you have to be HONEST with yourself  because blunders in self analysis will spoil every hardwork and efficiency of you. The base must be strong and honesty with yourself will make it stronger.

My Score Card

PRE RESULT

                    

MAINS MARKS

 

FINAL MARKS

MY FINDINGS--- Subject wise.

• Quantitative Aptitude-- This was my weakness as I was not able to do practice and my speed of solving question is not even average
• For prelims- I gave free hand to myself- for first 3 min in 20 mins - I selected the questions which I can solve correctly- and I solved those Ques. only
• For Mains- You know cutoffs from past two years were around 4-6 marks-- what I analysed is 
• My weakness in Quants will not hamper me here much-- I can concentrate on 5 to 10 Question only for whole time slot-- Again 5 mins of time I utilized for finding these 10 Question--- I chose the simple BAR Graph Question- did all 5 Questions of it-- 10 marks done-- cutoff cleared-- tried 2 more but they came out to be wrong
• Reasoning-- I can weigh Myself as average in this 
• For Prelims-- 3 mins for selecting Questions-- rest time to solve
• For Mains-- 5 mins for selecting Question-- rest to solve
• But here comes the catch-- I didn't practiced Questions but only saw videos of Crash course of Bankers Adda--from it- The thing I analysed was -- If variables are more than 3, I cannot solve puzzles in stipulated time and this can lead to wastage of my time.
• I did not attempt any Puzzle in my Mains Exam-- I did all standalone 16 Questions- and Yes, I was confident in those as I got my answers matched with the options-- All 16 I did came out to be correct.
• English-- I weigh myself- Above average
• Strongest point for me-- I cleared this exam mainly because of my English - I have no shame in stating that
• But be confident in your preparation, not overconfident-- you have to analyse and view the type and structures of question -- so no surprise welcomes you in mains exam
• General Awareness-- as an UPSC aspirant- I was having knowledge of some facts and Economy basics-- average
• I watched all videos of Bankers Adda crash course, monthly magzines of Oliveboard and compilations of both adda and oliveboard-- I worked hard on this , like really
• because in UPSC concepts overpowers Facts but here in Bank Exams- its completely reverse
• But I made a mistake-- I prepared Current Affairs of 6 months ie May to October 2019-- and did not focused on November Current Affairs-even I failed to recognize my intuition( I downloaded compilation but failed to go through it)--And in exam 50% Questions were related to November.
• I still attempted 32+ Q but my marks were not that much- only 20 marks -- 
• If I have to give this exam again- for this section I will restratezise myself
• Summary
• Use your reasoning practically in analysis of exam as well as  your abilities- SWOT analysis
• Be honest with yourself in above process.
• Don't let your weakness hamper your strengths performance-- ALL SUBJECTS ARE IMPORTANT-- ALL MEANS ALL- ATLEAST CLEAR CUTOFF
• Yes an Average student can do much better than a Brilliant student in this exam--(Strategy is the Key)
• Give importance to all parts of Exam-- OTHERWISE- failure may Shock you
• For Example---GA STRONG- QUANTS is IGNORED
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• ENGLISH STRONG- QUANTS STRONG BUT- REASONING is IGNORED

•  Behave like humans in Exam-- Follow Survival of Fittest by Darwin
• If you want to do everything-- Many examples I can give you- of failure
• You cannot do all questions in Reasoning and Quants -( if you are average)-- Find out the weakness of the Question Paper and strike there only
• There are only 1% people who have scored 25+ in quants-- cutoff is 5.25
• THESE PEOPLE are more INTELLIGENT or HARDWORKING than ME-- BUT they failed in the most imp step ie  to Strategize and analyse
• Reason of Failure
• Ignorance of GA
• Overconfidence/ overdependence on Qunats 
• SO-- PLEASE THINK BEFORE you STRATEGIZE-
• ALL SUBJECTS ARE IMPORTANT

The Interview ( My Marks-- 72-74)-BHOPAL

• Again strategize -- Your interview will be of  minimum 5 mins to max 20 mins-- in  most cases it is 10 mins
• You have to understand- You are not going to be asked 200 words questions-- You will get at max 1 min to reply for one question
• The will ask atleast 5-6 questions- you can calculate the equation
• What to study---- 
• Current Affairs-- Anyway you are reading them for other exams
• Banking-- Yes focus on this- But here also scope is limited -- Eg Repo, Reverse Repo, RBI functions, NEFT RTGS etc etc
• Take Guidance from videos of Mr. ANIL AGARWAL's YOUTUBE CHANNEL
• Watch Mock interview videos on Youtube-- Many channels are there
• USE INTERNET wisely for your benefit-- Not to chat on platforms like Pagalguy and Telegram
• Most important thing is CONFIDENCE-- show your  2000% confidence in those 10-15 mins--- answer in whatever language you are comfortable
• Smile all the time- make them laugh if possible
• Yes One or two person will try to Grill you there - But show patience - because they are there to do that- its their JOB
• If you have prior experience of other Job-- Yes this is the play field for you-- they will ask you from this -- You have to be ready for hitting it for a boundary.
• Obviously, Dress properly-- For Boys--Try to wear 2 piece suit- because It will make you look smart- even if you are not that much in your life
• The posture it gives to you- it instills confidence in you.
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• Be Chill - enjoy the experience- Outside my interview room before the interview
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• AT last Enjoy your day- don't be nervous- They are there to select you and you have every reason to be confident as you are appearing for Interview after clearing two stages.

THE CONCLUSION

•  See you all know what you want to do in life-- all your marks in school, College become irrelevant when you appear for Government exams like these
• So either you are born Einstein level intelligent(5% cases) or you have to be hardworking (95%)
• But you can opt for SMART WORK- much needed in today's cut throat competition
• Don't get feared by the number of applicants in any exam-- Not all are serious
• Capitalism Lifestyle has made our nature-- unsatisfied at everything
• Some people have ambitions too (I am not judging anyone)
• EG-- UPSC form is filled by 10 lakh people- but only 5 lakh appears for it and in those 5 lakhs- at max 60,000 are preparing seriously for it
• so your competition is with those 60000 people-- but dont take it lightly also. Since these 60k will die for their selection.
• Don't get demoralize by your failures or by successes of others-- you can always learn 
• For example-- If I wont be able to clear UPSC in my available attempts , I wont feel that I have wasted my youth in UPSC because UPSC's preparation made it possible for me to clear IBPS with strategy than Hardwork.
• See in this era of Social Media-- Every one is using Article 19 of Indian Constitution (Freedom of Speech and Expression)
• There are both Positivity and Negativity around you-- And Negativity in present in much abundance 
• Everyone is trying to climb over other-- even if it requires unethical means like- bullying, demotivating, demoralizing etc-- BUT
• You have to keep your focus- ignore such people and Believe in Yourself

• Quote--" If you are good at heart and positive in attitude, no one can stop you even in this harsh word"

• Because -- The most famous dialogue from CarryMinati's deleted Video from Youtube-- THE END--" Ye Duniyaa.......................".

Thank You all, I hope You all be successful in your life. Most Important of all-- Make Your PARENTS Proud-- they have lived with sacrifices to see the day when you will make them proud. (especially your Mother).

Post Credits

• Those people who will hate me by saying- You will prepare for UPSC futher- taking a job of other deserving banking aspirant, Will not do justice to your Banking Job etc etc
• Answer-- The Article 19  of Constitution which you are using to EXPRESS yourself also provide-- other RIGHTS to me as citizen Eg. 19 (1) (g)
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• and also- FINANCE MINISTRY SECRETARIES (IAS)-- do need knowledge of Banking also