Journey from Nothing to SBI PO

Dear Readers,

Hello and my warm greetings to everyone. With blessings from my parents, efforts put in by my teachers and their blessings, well wishes from my friends and lots of hard work, I have cleared SBI PO, 2016. 

Special Thanks: I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Career Power, Jhansi and its very helpful and a resourceful faculty, headed by Sourabh Joneja Sir, for helping me get through such a difficult examination. I am also truly thankful to my friends in Career Power who were always very helpful, especially Vibhor, Antra, Bhoomika, Rahul and many others. Sourabh Sir, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been standing where I am at present. Thank you!

The road to success is always full of ups and downs. To begin with, I started off my preparations for banking in mid 2015 with Career Power Jhansi. When I started off, I had failed thrice in CA Final and was totally broken when I joined this Institute. Never did I know that this place will give me a new hope, a new rise to bring back the self respect that I had lost.

Although I was late in joining and also depressed, Sir motivated me and told me that I will have to push a little harder to reach the level of other students. Each student was personally attended to by the faculty and this really helped a lot in the beginning. All the weaknesses got eliminated. I did not get sufficient time to prepare for SBI PO, 2015 ( only 15 days, to be precise) but I was able to clear my RRB PO Written Exam in first shot. At the last stage, I fell short by two marks. I felt a little disheartened but on the contrary, I was also positive on the note that not many candidates clear a PO level exam in first shot.

2016 arrived, I was all set this time. For the first half of the year, I kept on going through NEWS daily for half an hour and kept on solving questions everyday for an hour at ‘maximum’, to stay in touch with the tricks and tips provided by the teachers. I was in constant touch with the faculty (Sourabh Sir) for guidance and elimination of doubts, if any. 

Notification of SBI got out. As many as 2200 jobs were available this year and all of us were ready to grab the opportunity with both hands. I started preparing. 

Prelims: I started off by giving Speed Tests of Career Power, one test in a day. I was always a little slow than the others so I tried working on my accuracy levels. Everyday after giving the test, I analysed my score and tried my level best to eliminate the marks I lost in negative marking. I practised the questions that I did wrongly in the mock and made sure that such mistakes don’t repeat in the next mock test I give. This improved my accuracy to above approximately 96% just before the exams. Speed test gave me the confidence I needed and I could clear my Prelims with ease, with approx 51 marks. I was satisfied.

Mains Exam, the real test: After the Prelims, I did not wait for the result and started off with the preparation for mains. Due to my background of CA, I was strong with the Banking part but very weak with current affairs. I downloaded the Career Power Capsule pdf  and started going through all the current affairs. Capsule covers almost 80% – 90% of the questions that come in exam. I also gave a few Mock Tests of Career Power to acquaint myself with the new pattern of examination. 

I was weak with 3 Variable Puzzles and Input-Output, two topics which were expected to come so I asked Sourabh Sir for personal guidance on the same to which he replied: “We are always there to help you”. I was provided with sheets full of questions that I worked on which helped me to gain confidence. 

The Exam: The SBI Mains exam I gave was one of the most unexpected exams that I had ever encountered. The level of questions was so high that some of the candidates lost all the hopes and literally started crying while giving the exam. I recalled the words of my teachers, “If the exam is tough for you, it is tough for everyone”, I realised that I should not lose hope at all. Some questions were of 2 marks which I tried doing before others. I also noticed that lengthier looking questions were the easiest ones and most of the candidates panicked just after looking at their size! I tried my best to keep my calm (which I believe was the most important thing, now I realise!) and attempted about 80 questions carrying 94 marks. I was totally horrified by the experience! After the exam was over, I called Sir, and he told me to take it positively and wait for the results. 

Result day: I got shortlisted. I still remember that I wasn’t able to find my Roll No. since I had never expected to get shortlisted, but I did. If I could do it, everyone else in the whole world can! I mean it.

GD/PI: Out of 4700 candidates selected for the interview, 2200 had to be recruited. Being an avid reader of all the events happening in the economy and a confident speaker, I was extremely confident about my GD/PI, and my friends and teachers were already like, “Be ready to give us a party!” However, it wasn’t as easy as I had thought it to be.

I was out of town due to some reasons, so I could reach Jhansi only 2 days before the Interview. Sir took mock GD’s and Interviews which actually helped me understand the nitty gritties of a GD and even Interviews. I made many mistakes in the mock which Sir told me to take care of. 

2 days later, I gave the GD and PI and both of them went amazingly well. Whatever was taught in that one day by Sourabh Sir was extremely helpful! The article on what happened in GD/PI requires a detailed show which shall be posted and shared soon. Rest of it is known. I got selected.

I shall always be grateful to people who supported me including my friends and my teachers. Thank you.

A Word for my friends: IBPS Aspirants.

Hi! This is Vicky Khiyani, a failure. That is what I was called for the past 2 years since 2014, when I failed thrice continously in CA Finals. People kept on calling me a loser and that I won’t be able to do anything in life. Some days I got depressed, but then I decided not to listen to any of them, rise from the ashes and follow my heart.

Today, I am an SBI PO. Trust me if I can become a PO, we all can! The only thing that made me stand out was my attitude to not give up. I did not give up! I tried hard, I failed, I tried harder, I failed again and I tried and kept on trying, always with much more intensity.

We have to stop thinking negatively about ourselves. This is the first step to success.

When you change the way you think, you change the way you feel. 

When you change the way you feel, you change the way you act. 

When you change the way you act, you CHANGE YOUR LIFE! 

It all starts with our thought process. 

Hard work mixed with Confidence is the deadliest weapon available to all of us. It destroys failure and takes us on a road to success. I am no super human who is extremely intelligent. All I did was a bit of hard work along with keeping a positive attitude.

If I can, you can. Yes you! You surely can become a PO in this very attempt! Work hard. We all have the potential. I am sharing something that I used to clear the exams:

1. Giving an online speed test is absolutely useless if you don’t analyse your mistakes properly after giving the test. If one hour is required for tests, take atleast 2 hours to work upon the mistakes in that test. Make sure mistakes don’t repeat.

2. Studying for 2 hours everyday is much better than studying for 10 hours once a week. Routine development is extremely important. Stick to your routine. Be punctual.

3. Quality study is more important than Quantity. I had learnt only half of the General Awareness Capsule but I learnt it by heart. Make sure you don’t mess up everything in your head at the last moment.

4. Always! Always stay in touch with your teacher. He has loads of experience and can help you a lot and guide you through it. It wouldn’t have been possible without my teachers’ help. Eating a teacher’s brain would increase your brain, not size wise but knowledge wise. I ate. A lot of it. 

5. Don’t copy anyone. Your strengths are solely yours. You might be good at reasoning, I am good with english, others at maths. It doesn’t matter. Others would play by their strengths, you play by yours. 

6. Enjoy. I joined guitar classes while preparing for SBI PO. I am a strong believer of the fact that one should not stop ‘living’ in the quest of clearing an exam. An hour or two of leisure and relaxation is a must. 

7. Stay Positive. Sir always says, If a question is tough for you, it is tougher for everyone else. We all have to have that attitude in ourselves no matter what happens!

8. Stay happy! Happiness always comes before success. If you’re not happy, you wont be able to focus and you would eventually fail. Happiness is must. 

9. Last, but the most important of all, work hard, very hard; work so hard that you dont have to depend on luck anymore! Let your luck salute your hard work.

I wish you all the success ahead! 

Regards,

Vicky Khiyani