Success Story - Mohan - Bank of India - PO & Clerk

Place : Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu)

Qualification : BE , MBA (Finance)

Work Experience : 6 years in IT

Allotment : BOI PO, BOI Clerk

I had pursued my UG & PG degrees from top reputed institutions in TN. Got placed on-campus in IT during my final years in Engineering. I was very happy to work in IT with good starting salary. IT gave me a very good experience and knowledge in banking and insurance field. 6 years passed by in a jiffy and I was looking for a change outside IT due to various personal and official reasons. Main reason of all was Job security. One of my college juniors hinted me about bank exams and its feasibility. I took a very hard + crucial decision and left my high profile job. Many of my friends and relatives told I have taken a very stupid decision but I did not lose hope. I started working on my goal. I had no idea about how to start with my preparation. I met my 12th maths tuition teacher who was a senior clerk in SBI then. He asked me to go for coaching in-order to get an idea. I searched for centres in my native but in vain. 

Finally got introduced to a coaching center in Pondicherry which is 30 minutes travel from my native. Also got good friends there. I made it a point not to miss any class (English too). Went for all days in a week for 3 months. IBPS PO was my first exam followed by RBI Assistant, IBPS clerk and other insurance AO exams. As per my guides coaching, I started reading HINDU daily and started following BA daily GK updates. I also took online test daily for PO for 2 to 3 weeks continuously in-order to gain time management skills.

HINDU paper was my encyclopedia. I mainly focused on the below pages in order of priority

1. FrontPage

2. Business (mainly RBI, banking articles)

3. Sports

4. Editorial

5. Rest only headlines & in detail if any new schemes/initiatives introduced in any state

Also read GK material in BSC (Banking Services Chronicle) magazine every month. Practiced question papers in BSC too. It gave me lot of confidence.

I always attended bank exams in the following order and time allotted. 

1. General Awareness (10 min)

2. Computer (15 min)

3. Reasoning (25 min)

4. English (20 min)

5. Quantitative aptitude (50 min)

Above rule will get you a good score in written exam. As IBPS follows 80:20 rule for final selection, your written marks will play a major role even though you average in interview.

I missed RBI Assistant by 9 marks (cutoff 150) and various other exams. But finally cleared both IBPS PO and clerk exams. My PO interview went really well as planned. Clerk interview was average as I did not answer few GK questions. Panel members asked fully in Current Affairs (ICC world cup especially). They were all in their mid 70s. Mostly retired people in clerk panels. But overall it was good experience.

My review about clerk interview is below
http://www.bankersadda.com/2015/02/interview-experience-ibps-clerk-mohan.html

Finally IBPS declared final allotment results on April 1st for both PO and Clerk. I was allotted Bank Of India in both. I was really surprised to get same bank in both. I am really thankful to everyone who helped me in all ways to achieve this result.

Those who are not selected till now, please do not lose hope. Something better is waiting for you in 2015. Hard-work will pay you the fruits of success one fine day. So keep trying. Also keep in mind that IBPS is conducting 2 tier exams from this year followed by Interview so prepare well and come out with flying colors.

All the very best guys !!!