IBPS Clerk 2019 (BOI): Success Story of Abhishek

IBPS has declared final results for IBPS PO, IBPS Clerk and IBPS SO. Many of BYJU'S Exam Prep users have cracked these prestigious examinations. We are sharing the stories of their hard work and dedication that have led them to the door of success. They are sharing their experience and strategies in their own words. Today, we are sharing the success story of Abhishek Mishra.

We are sharing the experience in the Q/A form so that it will become more lucid and interesting.

Interviewer: So, Abhijeet, The first thing that any banking aspirant wants to know is that; what was your preparation strategy? and, How you approached the exam?

Abhijeet: I started with solving previous year/ memory-based papers to understand the trend, topic weightage and depth of difficulty. My strategy was totally based on previous years paper and cut off analysis that I used to get from BYJU'S Exam Prep articles. For maths and reasoning, I used to watch free videos from YouTube and for English, it was my newspaper reading habit that helped me a lot. I also used to test my preparation using free mock tests, regularly

Interviewer: What was your strength and which were areas that you think you lacked at the start of your preparation? and, How did you overcome your weaknesses?

Abhijeet: My strongest area was English, I never had to mug up those grammar rules because I have been regularly reading English newspapers since the time when I was in high school. My weakest area was Quants (Maths) as questions from ‘DI’ and ‘wrong no series’ used to give me a very tough time.

What difficulties did you face while preparing for the IBPS Clerk 2019?

Abhijeet: I had just quit my private job due to the lack of growth that I aspired to achieve in my career, plus, due to my family’s financial condition, I could not afford to opt for an offline coaching class. These constraints added more to the mental pressure that I had as an aspirant. Thus, my strategy was totally revolved around free YouTube videos and study material provided by BYJU'S Exam Prep.

Interviewer: And, How did you manage pressure during the preparation of the exam?

Abhijeet: I tried to self-motivate myself by watching or reading about how students, before me, had achieved success by following their dreams consistently and working hard for them. I quit social media except for Whatsapp. I improved my lifestyle by cutting down the time I used to spend on all the trivial activities and got away from the friend circles that pulled me away from concentrating on my exams. I used to get strong moral support from my family and close friends. Achieving daily targets of solving 20 to 50 questions or completing at least 2-3 topics in a day used to boost my confidence.

Interviewer: How you prepared in the last two weeks before Phase II of IBPS Clerk 2019?

Abhijeet: With very less time left for learning any new concept before the mains exams, I continued revising the concepts that I was already well aware of. However, I spent more time in solving higher level and lengthy questions of those topics. I also focused on covering GA/BA of last six months from BYJU'S Exam Prep monthly digest and Madhav Arora sir’s video lectures on General Awareness and Banking Awareness. GA and BA are very important for the mains exam and your performance in this section determines your chances of final selection.

Interviewer: Tell us about your strategy for attempting the exam?

Abhijeet: As English was my strength, I tried to maximise my attempt in it to boost my scores, this would nullify the effect of a low score in my weaker subject. Then I had set up a target of a safe attempt in Reasoning and Maths based on the cut-offs of last year. For e.g., if my state had a cut off of 65 marks last year for IBPS Clerk Pre last year, I had strategized a target of attempting at least 75 questions with a minimum of 90% accuracy.

Interviewer: What role did Mock Tests, Previous Year Papers, and Daily Quizzes play in your preparation?

Abhijeet: I was a regular follower of all the previous year paper, cut off analysis that I used to get from BYJU'S Exam Prep. Along with this the daily quizzes and mock tests helped me to stay in touch with the updated type of questions that would appear in the exams because we all know that every year IBPS tries to come up with a new type of question in any of the subjects. So, the mocks and daily quizzes helped me to stay updated with these new types.

Interviewer: Were you also preparing for other exams along with the IBPS Clerk exam?

Abhijeet: Before, IBPS Clerk 2019, I had given IBPS PO exam in which I failed to qualify prelims by 3 marks. But even missing this by 3 marks was a great motivator for me because I could do it without joining any coaching, this motivated me to work harder for the next exam that I gave, and that was LIC Assistant. I easily crack the prelims but the mains of LIC Assistant proved difficult for me as I had no prior experience of appearing in the mains exam. However, these marginal growth-points made my preparation stronger for IBPS Clerk.

Interviewer: Can you tell us why you quit your previous job?

Abhijeet: Yes, I had left a corporate job to achieve my target of getting a job at a Public Sector Bank. My salary was pretty decent, but my previous job lacked prospects of steady career growth.

Interviewer: What advice or experience do you want to share with fellow aspirants?

Abhijeet: Get out of your comfort zone, challenge yourself for a secure and exhaustive job at a Public Sector Bank and be the part of the system. Avoid all demotivating theories and stories that govt job is very tough to achieve. The kind of assistance that BYJU'S Exam Prep provides, with previous year analysis articles, free previous year papers, mocks, quizzes and General Awareness/Banking awareness PDF (very useful for mains exams), nothing is impossible. If I could do it without any coaching at my first attempt of IBPS Clerk, then everyone can!

Interviewer: Can you tell us more about how BYJU'S Exam Prep helped you in your preparation?

Abhijeet: My failure in LIC Assistant mains exam was primarily due to a low score in GA/Financial awareness. After this, I came across GA/BA videos of Madhav Arora Sir on YouTube channel of BYJU'S Exam Prep which helped me a lot in scoring good marks in IBPS Clerk Mains. Majority of the questions asked were already covered in his videos and at such depth, that even a so-called ‘tough gk question’ did not trouble me at all. These videos played an important role in my selection.

Interviewer: What feature of the BYJU'S Exam Prep app, you think, was most useful to you?

Abhijeet: Providing pdf of monthly current awareness, memory-based paper, sample papers, live free videos of GK/GA and mock tests.

Interviewer: Any suggestions for us?

Abhijeet: Make more videos of all the difficult type of questions, conduct video-based MCQ tests.

So, this is the experience of the Abhijeet who cracked this year's IBPS Clerk 2019. He has provided insightful points on how he prepared for the exam and how anyone with enough hard work and dedication can crack any exam.

akshay.khandelwal@byjusexamprep.com

sheetal.goyal@byjusexamprep.com

Akash.mishra@byjusexamprep.com

Kanika.ralhan@byjusexamprep.com

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