Success Story of Prashant Kumar (Bank PO in IOB)

April 02, 2014 19 Comments

Dear readers, Prashant Kumar, an ardent

reader of bankersadda has shared his
success story with us. Please  read on...

Dear Bankersadda,

Here is my story for the road to PO-III sucess

Qualification:
I am a B.Tech Computer Science Student
from Agra, currently pursuing M.Tech(CS)
from Agra itself.

Background:
Since the start of my graduation itself I had a
strong feeling towards government jobs,
preferably Banking Sector since I belong to a
family of bankers. I had an offer from TCS
through campus placement but still I was not
satisfied with the offer.

Study Plan:
Now finally I had to make a
plan for studying. I belong
to a weaker financial
background and also I had
no time from my hectic M.Tech schedule to
spare so the only option left for me was-Self
Study.

I had nearly 3 months to study the whole

syllabus. With all the chaos going around
about the sectional cutoffs in five sections of
the paper and very rare chances for a
mediocre general category student to qualify
in the first list...the first thing was to stop
listening to such discussions and keep the
mind away from it. After a few days I was
ready to study for the paper(although still I
was a bit nervous). I had a 9-10 hour
extensive routine (10:30-4:30 college and
then 5:00-8:00 PM traching at a coaching
class) but still I had a target to achieve: come
what may, I will be cracking this in the first
attempt only. I studied for the exam from 6
am-8 am then 10:00 PM-2 AM at night on
daily basis...approx hours with modest
breaks in between.
Subject-Wise Preparation

1. English-
Prepared this one month before the exam.
(around 11 PM-12 AM)
As I belong to ICSE school
background,english was quite easy for me
But still I must say looking at the current
pattern of IBPS, some sections of it are quite
confusing so u need to practice a lot. I
referred Objective English by Edgar
Thorpe(TMH Publications--it is a quite reader-
friendly book...you will love english after
reading it whatever your background is---
believe me!). I also practised from Last year
papers--they do help a lot but practice is
essential---study english like maths it will turn
out to be easy and scoring section in the
exam.

2.Quantitative Aptitude
Prepared it daily starting from 3 months
before the exam. Studied in the night(12:00-
2:00 AM)
 The next section was QA- means Maths. It is
believed that someone belonging to Engg
background will be 100% sure about securing
good marks in this section but this is not fully
correct. Although basics might be clear
already but the type of maths questions
asked in the exam can be a tough nut to
crack...the hefty calculations in Data
Interpretations are not solvable correctly and
fastly even by Engg background students
very easily.I first revised the basics from RS
agarwal...yes, not because I am weak in
maths, but I was to be sure and satisfied
from my part-it took me 1 month. Yes, I did
solve each and every questions from the
examples of the book. Next part was DI-for
this the best solution was Buy an Online Test
Series...and Give the practice/Speed tests,etc
it will make a timely judgement and it helps a
lot ,especially DI section. I did not give any
test full as it would cost me time and also it
diverted me to other sections (which I did not
want to practice for at that moment), I
attempted just one section from a test and
got marks for it(although the mock test
results showed me fail--as marks in other
sections were 0) and the time/comparison
with topper marks in the subject. Not only for
maths, I did the same for Other Sections--
gave 1 section each time(take care---dont
spend 120 minutes on that 1 section only...I
gave 30 minutes then I submitted my test )

3.Reasoning
Prepared it daily starting from 3 months
before the exam. Studied in the
morning(6:00-8:00 AM)
My Weakest section in all. I didnt want to
study it at all. But still, to pass the exam, I had
to do it. So, I bought M.Tyra (by going
through several blogs/forums)...it made me
prepared for the following topics-
Syllogism,Statement and Assumptions
Inferences,etc) but according to me it lacked
the Machine I/O topic(it had one chapter but
the questions were of  low level as compared
to the exam),Sitting arrangement(the exam
has puzzles+sitting arrangement types which
it didnt have). So for that I bought an
unpopular book "Test of Reasoning" by
Thorpe(TMH)...although it is not one of the
"best sellers" but it is quite good. There are
plenty of questions that fit in the correct
pattern of latest IBPS exam-has easier and
tricky questions both. This book worked like
a charm for me. Practiced it for a month and
I gained confidence in this section.I usually
studied reasoning in the morning(6-8 am)
time and it freshened my mind for the day.

4.General Awareness
Prepared it daily starting from 3 months
before the exam. Studied in the night(10:00-
12:00 AM)
Now comes this section...the most dangerous
one. I was in touch of Current Affairs as I am
a regular Internet(especially Twitter--follow
the new channels on it--really helps to
improve the current affairs) and Newspaper
reader.History,geography,etc I didnt prepare
as time was less for it and level could be any-
-I am not an IAS aspirant currently that GK is
handy to me..so I left these.Now left with
Banking Awareness which I totally was
unaware of...I spent some days(nearly 15
days to mine the internet to find the
"Sanjeevni Booti" for it and then one day I
came across bankersadda capsules. These
were amazing.I matched the level of
questions from the past papers and
bankersadda fitted in exactly to it. So, I
mugged up the PO capsule and was ready for
this section too.

5. Computers
It was a bit easier section for me as I had my
qualification in CS only.

My Advice
As I am not a success guru or a mentor for
anyone...I am not in any position to give any
advice to anyone but I say what I myself have
learned- Believe in yourself and never listen
to any of the negative discussions around
you...please STOP SURFING the net the time
a negative thought comes in your mind
regarding anything,leave such talks if you are
having any .Never speculate any cutoffs,etc it
will only bring down your confidence..or will
make you over-confident(either way it is bad
for your success).

Study regularly, a good job requires a deep

study. Never calculate the stats for any
exam/job profile after you have filled the
form or during studying for it..Nobody is
Einstein or Newton, if you are good that will
surely help you but you must always consider
yourself as a common man and prepare
accordingly. Give your 100% to everything
you choose for urself.