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FAILURE DOESN’T MEAN YOU’LL NEVER MAKE IT...IT DOES MEAN IT WILL TAKE A LITTLE LONGER
Name: - NAMRATA DASH
Qualification: - B. TECH in ECE (2014 pass-out with 83%), 12th (84%), 10th (91%)
Final Selection: - LIC AAO 2016 (Roll No. - 2661011912)
Category: - GENERAL
Belong to:- Bhubaneswar, Odisha
It’s not a success story; because “Success is not final, Failure is not fatal.” Still you can say it’s a hard fought battle won by me. ‘Life’ Insurance Corporation of India became my ‘life’ line. You may think
all these things which I have written here are rubbish, but I feel relieved while expressing my thoughts through writing. I will be very happy if you go through my story entirely. I want all my fellow aspirants to learn from my mistakes and take an experience. So my appeal to all of you is to kindly go through it even if it is long and forgive me if you find it boring. Well, I will take 10-15 minutes of your time only! You may be thinking that I am MAD! You might be thinking I am writing all these things as if I got IAS! (I aspire to become an IAS also one day, this is just the beginning!) But for me, it is more than that, quite a relieved moment! You will get to know as you proceed.
Just two days before my birthday, I got a “SPECIAL GIFT”; I can say a “SURPRISE GIFT” on 7th September 2016 in the form of LIC AAO. The PROUDEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE arrived when my NAME was in the FINAL SELECTION LIST of LIC AAO 2016. That 17-page PDF changed my life. I am so habituated to sadness that I am unable to feel the success and be happy at this great moment.
Termination from Infosys & Infosys Nostalgia:
After passing B.Tech in ECE, I joined Infosys (selected in written, interview) through the so-called campus placement by our college. But after only 3 months of training, I was terminated from Infosys, because I could not secure a mere 65% marks i.e. minimum (I secured 56%) in their training programme exams. I couldn’t write a JAVA program and DBMS Oracle Query! I was depressed and I went through depression for few more months. Then gradually with passing of time I forgot that scar as well as sweet memories (Infosys’s world class training centre with world class facilities, delicious foods, and multiplex) and time healed me. And today I can say those past memories have been deleted from my mind automatically and permanently. I no longer have any relationship with the bitter truth (Termination).
There are two darkest days in my life till now. First; the day when I was thrown out of Infosys and second; the day when I didn’t qualify IBPS PO-V Main Examination. Coming to the first one, when Infosys fired me, I was plunged into darkness. Infosys gave me only 2 days to vacate their campus that too upon my request. Then I immediately called my father and he said it was very difficult to get air tickets in 2 days. Still he managed to book 2 flight tickets of Rs. 20,000 each for to and fro journey. I cried the whole night of the termination day and the remaining one day stay at Infosys. My friends who were there with me tried to make me feel better by saying that, “Everything in life happens for a reason. Something better than this, is waiting for you. You go out of here and enjoy.” But I didn’t know what to do, which way to go, for which job to prepare for, so many thoughts clustered my mind. I was completely shattered. I was nowhere. Some of my friends there had earlier persuaded me to cheat in the training exam and get passed. But I am not a cheater, whereas some of them cheated and passed the exams. The only difference between them and me was that; they got their job confirmed by passing the exams by cheating from each other’s computer screens and I lost my job because of no cheating. After coming home my parents also told the same thing, they asked me, “Why didn’t you cheat in exams? Your friends were giving you the opportunity to cheat, but you were a fool. What did you want to prove; that you are the most transparent image in the whole world? Why did you want to show off? If you cheated at that moment, you could have been doing job in Infosys today like your friends!” I wish my ears were not there to hear all these things!! I do not have the power to CHANGE this type of LOW MENTALITY of such HIGHLY EDUCATED and QUALIFIED PERSONS.
I have a REASON to succeed i.e. “Unsupportive Parents” as stated in one of the success stories I have read in Gr8AmbitionZ recently.
Then the real story began; I struggled with myself mentally. Those people, who once poured their blessings for my getting into Infosys, started ‘cursing’ me. In the mean time, I decided not to run after private sector jobs and showed interest in banking sector. So to get start and guidance, I joined Mahendra’s coaching classes and started my preparation for banking exams formally in December, 2014. My parents and other family members were simply disappointed at my decision to go for banking sector. They had only one question; after spending 6 lakh rupees in studying Engineering, will you do job in bank where a normal commerce or BSc. Graduate is there ?? The million dollar question indeed!!!
I am not writing here the things which my parents used to tell me as it is public platform and I have no rights to criticise them publicly. Anyway, those verbal abuses to me by my parents made me stronger and motivated me to work harder and excel in exam and interview. I am thankful for them for this purpose. Often my eyes were filled with TEARS by listening to their harsh words, but I didn’t pay heed to them. Tears are good for eyes!! I was on the path of my preparation. I was on my way and they were theirs..My father forced me to again apply for private software companies like TCS, Infosys etc. but I didn’t listen to him. My mother used to give examples of my two cousin brothers (elder to me) and say, “See, they are earning huge amount of money in dollars in foreign countries; you are nothing in front of them.” Most often, my mother was uttering the word ‘Infosys’ like chanting a ‘Shloka’ of Bhagvad Gita! She used to hurt me intentionally by blaming me and my inability to perform at Infosys. She was stuck up at ‘Infosys’ as if it was the greatest among all and highest paid job! She was repeating the sentence “You failed in your previous job, you couldn’t do it, so you also cannot achieve anything more in life” as if that was the ‘only’ job available on ‘earth’! She was refusing to move further. Every sentence she uttered, she included the ‘Infosys drama’. My parents were against me. I was fed up with all these, but didn’t give up. The impact of termination from Infosys was so powerful that I developed an unusual type of anxiety (a strange sensation in my eyes) , according to my eye doctor. With passage of time, it became normal.
When I returned from Infosys after one month, my mother had a New Year party with her school days’ friends. All the family members were invited. But my mother refused to take me to the party because of shame, as she feared that what her friends would think of her whose daughter has been thrown out of a renowned company!! I ate my lunch at home (she had cooked for me only). I was weeping silently after they left.
‘If you have lost a job, remember this: There are other jobs out there, may be better than the one you lost!’
My childhood friends; Umakant and Rubi stood by me. They fully supported me and my decision. Umakant referred me the wonderful website ‘ExamPundit’ and Rubi suggested ‘AffairsCloud’....and without AffairsCloud’s 1-month online course named ‘STRATUS: LIC AAO 2016’, I couldn’t have scored more marks in LIC AAO written exam. And I myself discovered other banking preparation websites (mentioned in strategy part) gradually.
I bought some bestselling motivational & inspirational self help Books such as:
“The Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale
“The Power of Now” by Echkart Tole
“Who will cry when you die” by Robin Sharma
“YOU CAN WIN” by Shiv Khera
“TOUGH TIMES NEVER LAST, BUT TOUGH PEOPLE DO !” by Schuller
“The Magic of Faith” by Joseph Murphy
“Success is Never Ending, Failure is Never Final” by Schlluer
“Finding your strength in Difficult Times” by David Viscott
“Believe in Yourself” by Joseph Murphy
“The Power of your Subconscious Mind” by Dr. Joseph Murphy
I took help of the above books and those books were my resources, they were like my friends and everything and will be friends forever. That’s why I am alive today taking a positive view towards ‘life’. The first five books I mentioned above are amazing, the best and of must buy! Read at least one page from these books everyday and you will definitely get inspiration. While studying and working, remember those words, sentences and move ahead.
In order to forget the Infosys incident(flashback), almost every day I kept listening to motivational songs(of Hindi films) like; ‘Aashayein..’ sung by KK, ‘Tu na jane aas paas hai khuda..’ sung by Rahat fateh Ali Khan, ‘Itni Shakti Hame Dena Daataa..’ etc... Do the same. It surely helps to get your spirit up.
I was always the centre of attraction and discussion. My parents fought with each other over my job. Sometimes I thought World War-III was going to happen any time! They think I am alive only to give them explanations of each and everything. They find out every possible way to annoy me. But as I love remaining silent (by nature), I tolerate everything without having spoken a word. They never let me speak; they never give me a chance to share my own thoughts regarding study, job or any other issues. Since I speak very less, it becomes easier for them to show their dominance over me.
I don’t believe in the words; ‘Destiny/Luck/Fortune’. I only believe in “work”. But my parents want instant success without any hard work like 2-minute instant maggi noodles! Even I don’t believe in Astrology. But my parents are quick believers and lovers of astrology; as they are protestors of ‘work’. So they have to believe in Luck and those Gemstones prescribed by astrologers. So they forced me to wear two costly gemstones and yes, I couldn’t escape it! I am still wearing them forcefully against my interest!
The ‘MADE EASY’ Drama:
After being terminated from Infosys in Dec 2014, I can say, my head (brain) was separated from my body. I was so mad about getting a ‘job’ that I unintentionally took some quick and wrong decisions/steps. I was somewhat driven by my parents’ words. In between attending bank coaching class, in February 2015, I took admission in ‘MADE EASY’ coaching institute for PSU(BSNL, Nalco etc)/GATE coaching by paying Rs. 10,000 in advance and then after paid the rest of the amount i.e. Rs. 48,500. So total admission fees were Rs. 58,500. After attending classes (6 pm-9pm) for first few days, I realized that I have made a big mistake! Those very high standard engineering subjects, questions/answers were going over my head. I thought, I was walking on the wrong path and suddenly changed my mind to discontinue going to ‘MADE EASY’. My friend Umakant also made me aware of the current job scenario, how difficult it is to get a job in core technical sector nowadays, on the other hand, rapid growth in banking sector jobs. But what to do?? I had already paid such a huge amount of money to the institute which cannot be refunded! I searched and found one refund option i.e. replacement of another student. I enquired about this in their office. The main co-ordinator said, “This process cannot be done, you have to continue for the whole 1 year.” He gave me another option that I can drop this year (2015) and attend classes from next year (2016). But I had already made up my mind that I would fully and only focus on banking exams and not waste my precious 1 year in this GATE/PSU coaching. So although he and other staff refused to listen to me, I used to request them every day to refund my money. I started spending sleepless nights and stressful days in this tension. Somehow, I arranged a Civil Engg student who wanted to take coaching there itself, we both agreed on this replacement proposal, but a few days later, again that small ray of hope instantly turned into despair for me; as she also changed her mind and denied to take admission and it meant I would never get my money (my father’s money!) back. I could not force her for my sake also. Then I went to their office and begged in front of them for my own money! The co-ordinator at first told he would himself arrange someone to replace me and assured me that he would refund money by deducting Rs. 10000. 2 months passed. I still had faith in him. But at last he himself called me over the phone and directly refused to return money. And the chapter ended there itself. So in this way, I simply threw away Rs. 58,500 into the dustbin. Then I have apologised to God for this unpardonable mistake. I guess my parents have already forgiven me as they are saying nothing regarding that incident. I had written an apology letter to God also. I think God also pardoned me after 1 and half year in the form of bestowing upon me LIC AAO. I got a lesson; I shall never repeat this type of mistake in life.
xxxx
Everybody called me a looser after returning from Infosys. On that day itself, I decided to prove and show my worth to the world. Whenever my parents say something to me, I become speechless and turn into a mute spectator. I don’t have any right to utter a word from my mouth.
About IBPS PO-V Debacle (a past event written in present tense, don’t be confused, these were all are my thoughts in my mind at that time only, no connection with the present):
The ‘dark’ future ended there at Infosys and a whole new ‘Bright Future’ was awaiting me. Then I never looked back again after getting started towards a bright future. Every day I used to tell myself, “I can get and do bank po job. I believe I will become a PO in a nationalized bank anyhow. I will qualify both written and interview (before conduct of exam) but exactly the reverse happened. I could not qualify IBPS PO Main. I am not in the IBPS PO race anymore. Now, I am feeling the same, exactly 1 year ago what I was feeling, when I was about to be terminated from Infosys. What matters most is; I lost the CHALLENGE with my father which he gave me to clear a bank exam in today’s cut-throat competition. Again I was shattered. He won, I lost. My success story remained half-way. It could not be completed.
But see, again 1 year later, I WON the challenge given by my father! My WIN => his DEFEAT. I think, it is the perfect ‘REVENGE’ of 3 things at a time; 1) Infosys,2) IBPS(because of ibps po main failure) and 3) my parents. I took the Revenge not by getting IBPS PO 2016, but by getting even a better one; LIC AAO 2016. I didn’t have to wait and go for IBPS PO-VI exam itself, though had applied for.
God’s delays are not God’s denials.
On 16th November, 2015 result of IBPS PO Main was declared. After seeing ‘Thank you for appearing’ on screen, I became totally blank for a while. Everywhere darkness was there. Then after 2 hours only, tears came into my eyes. I cried a lot and could not sleep that night at all. My eyes were swollen. I listened to a few slow songs and tried to sleep but in vain. At early morning 6:30 AM, I slept! It’s very heartrending to fail in the 2nd stage (Main Exam) after clearing the 1st stage (preliminary exam). One time happiness in seeing results, then another time negative result; unhappiness. That means no meaning in clearing the preliminary exam! Wasn’t that Infosys termination tragedy enough for me that God battered me with another tragedy?? I am crying as much as I can to forget this disaster, to come over from ibps po and start afresh for a new beginning. I think it will take some more time to recover from this. Some people said it (ibps po) was not my cup of tea. But every examination is hard; then which is my cup of tea?? (I don’t like tea, I like coffee!! Ha ha..) My target was not just to be a clerk in a bank (whether Grameen bank or nationalized bank). My target was to be an Officer (PO in bank). Whatever you say; I know God again betrayed me which I had not expected. As if He doesn’t want me to become a Probationary Officer in bank; He simply doesn’t want me to do a bank job. I can’t understand His intention. What He is expecting from me? I also hope at later point of time I will get PO (may be next year i.e. 2016) but when that ‘later’ will come? IBPS PO-V was a golden chance (with about 12000 posts). Exams will come and go but when I will find myself inside an office as an officer?? Anyone may laugh at me. I was writing a success story of myself so that when I get ibps po 2015, I would share it in websites like Gr8AmbitionZ etc. That will not happen now. The scenario changed completely. I have to believe now that, I am out of the ibps po race. Maybe I have to for 1 more year to get my success story posted in those websites. Dreams dashed, hopes dashed...Perhaps, it is my punishment by GOD for throwing away Rs. 58,500 in Made Easy, earlier this year. Yeah! That’s a possibility...Now after expressing some of my thoughts (out of many) I am feeling somewhat lighter (relieved from pain). Before that I was feeling heavy. Some of my burdens decreased. How to go ahead, please God tell me, please, please!! Can you hear me?? Life goes on like this...Still a long way to go...GET SET GO! I will solely depend on ‘TIME’. I have faith in Time. TIME only will HEAL everything. And it did actually!!! I will recoup, recover and come strongly in the battle field of competitive examinations. So my next TARGET will be LIC AAO 2016, whatever comes in the way! Till now I have believed in God. But from nowonwards I won’t. I will purely believe in myself only.
Now after this defeat, I will and I MUST take revenge of ibps by cracking ibps po-vi. But no need to wait till the time ibps po-vi notification comes. I am sure, I will crack a much BETTER JOB THAN IBPS PO-VI and I will be doing my job in my office. You might have heard a story in your childhood that a man (MIDAS) was there, who touched everything, turned into GOLD (‘MIDAS TOUCH’). Similarly, every exam I touched turned into failure (even by margin). Preparation for ibps po-v exam came to a tragic end. The difficulty level of this year (2015) exam put an end to all my efforts. Again another 1 year, Oh God!!
Earlier, I was dreaming of appearing in IBPS PO V interview (sitting in front of interview panel), even before appearing in online written exam. Was it my mistake?? Is it a fault to see a dream? I had never thought in my dream that I would not qualify ibps po main exam. At least I must have passed the written stage. Then rest interview would have been in God’s hands. Alas! It didn’t happen. God’s will is something different. I know, He will not again repeat that mistake of sending me to a place, where I cannot perform and I will perish (Infosys). He will give me a job or send me to a ‘safer place’ where I can perform well and live in peace. Keeping in mind this job termination fear factor, He is making me wait till a good job comes in my way. He is intentionally delaying the process of presenting me an Officer Job. That’s why He didn’t make me qualify ibps po mains 2015. He might not want me to enter into the banking sector! On the other hand, due to His prolonged silence I am in a dilemma. My future, my career is hanging in uncertain. However, I know He will never betray me. 2015 was not mine. 2016 will be completely mine. Mark it. And yes it is!!
Can you imagine a B.Tech graduate got disqualified continuously in two important exams only due to reasoning subject!!
IBPS RRB Officer Scale-I(by 1 mark)
IBPS PO-V Main(by 3.25 marks)
Now believe it! I cannot go to a different planet to study reasoning which people can easily solve without any special preparation. Ohh, I had forgotten something for some time. There is no reason to be surprised at my reasoning performance in those two exams. Now coming to the real point, I have always been very weak at maths i.e. calculative, mind/brain involving subjects. I only knew the process of ‘get by heart’ and score marks in exam and get a certificate. In fact, in btech also I used to mug up all the things. Things never came to me easily. This history itself speaks a lot of hidden facts about me. From the above facts it is quite clear that ‘problem solving’ is not in my hands.
All of us are aware of the fact that mathematics and reasoning are closely interrelated. If anyone can do reasoning, he/she can do maths and vice-versa. So the formula of getting by heart is not working here in recruitment examinations for getting a job. Then what?? Shall I have to search for an exam which doesn’t have reasoning as a subject! Earlier I was afraid of maths. But somehow I managed to clear the sectional cut off (although just 1 or 1.5 marks above cutoff) due to some easy shortcut tricks taught by Mahendra’s faculty. Now the only concern is reasoning. Can I improve my ‘puzzle’ solving skills anymore? I have already missed ibps po due to my own mistake. I could have picked up a single puzzle question (out of 4 puzzles) and solved it by giving it more time. But from the very beginning, I was totally upset to see the questions especially the puzzles of reasoning section. Since I was not clear in syllogism, I knew that I had to attempt at least 1 puzzle in order to clear the sectional cutoff, otherwise it was impossible to clear cutoff in reason without solving 1 puzzle. I had not taken the ibps po exam in order to fail. I went to become an ultimate po in bank. I have passed b tech and just because I have the degree certificate no one will call me and offer me a job. Some good percentage of marks throughout my career and bookish knowledge will not help me in anyway. Recruiters will judge you on the basis of all subjects taking together not only on GA (my strength). The same scenario was there in Infosys also. At Infosys, I was not able to write a JAVA program which other people were good at. The scenario is here also. Both Reasoning and Maths are important part of these competitive exams. I can never escape them, I know very well.
During the past few months I was imagining myself as a PO in a well known psu bank, was it my biggest misconception, without analyzing my calibre? Is watching dream a serious crime? I think, not. I know, failure is the pillar of success. But how many pillars may I have to take to build up success??? Because before appearing in ibps po-v exam I had appeared in a few bank exams and tasted failure. That’s why after 4-5 blunders ibps po could have been a success for me, then why not it happened in my case? How long shall I have to wait to taste success?
Wasn’t SBI PO (main) 2015 failure enough to get success in RRB PO 2015? Wasn’t RRB PO 2015 failure enough to get success in IBPS PO 2015? These are unanswered questions. I am asking all these questions to myself and wandering. This year (2015) in ibps po the reasoning section was relatively harder than other sections. Next time, ibps will set another section tough, and then what shall I do? I will be nowhere. Up to when this process of preparing for exams will go on? Is there any end point/stop to this exam preparation and appearing process?
Only ibps po was one such exam which I could have got easily. I think there is no other exam which I can get so easily, where I can excel. Be it sbi po or nabard, RBI; they have their own patterns. I personally feel there is no substitute to ibps po, whichever exam is there; either it is of clerical level or the top level like rbi/sbi/nabard officer. I thought if I didn’t get ibps po 2015, I would have died. I was feeling like dying after seeing my result status. But the self help books saved my life. Salute/kudos to those authors for saving my life!
I am now thinking of appearing in exams without much preparation. I felt, too much preparation and worry for exams spoiled the D-Day (ibps po main). I feel whichever exam I am appearing with not so much preparation or taking as it comes; I am succeeding in that exam. That will be my strategy for all future exams. I will not wait like a beggar until ibps po 2016. I will take up all the challenges (sbi po 2016) even if it is a difficult exam to crack and I am sure some wonder will happen one day. It is a must.
If preparation does not yield expected result, I will go unprepared, just the opposite I will do. I expected too much from ibps po v, I think that was my fault. But is it possible to take an exam with no ‘expectation’?? There is no treatment/medicine for each and every disease. I don’t have mastery over reasoning and maths and I will never have.... but see now I have!
Whatever seems easy (ibps po); finally becomes difficult. Whatever seems difficult (sbi po);_____. I am totally broken into pieces. So now I am collecting those scattered pieces to build up my ‘hope’ again.
Again 2015(ibps po failure) turned into a disastrous year like 2014(Infosys termination). I hope 2016 will be a prosperous year for me from my career/job point of view.
My mistakes were increasing exponentially. Now that I realized my mistake (reading for interview ahead of written exam because of interview phobia), I have again started from the beginning (Maths and Reasoning).
Oh God! I am not asking anything before you. My one last pray to you is; you give me that what I ‘deserve’. I know, I deserve an Officer post. Rest you decide, it’s upon you.
Failure succeeded failure. Again I failed in the same pattern (as ibps po main) SIDBI Grade A Officer 2016 exam (maybe due to impact of descriptive paper). I am not able to find out my fault; where I am lacking, don’t know what’s happening. God! If you cannot give me a good one, please don’t give me a bad one even (like idbi executive)(explained later on). It’s my earnest request to you. I will not expect any positive/good result. I will only move on with my studies/preparation which is my sole duty.
I have already used each and every resource for preparation starting from coaching institute to books (EP recommended ones), online video tutorials, websites’ quizzes, PDFs, notes, best online mock tests (Oliveboard and Practicemock) etc..Still nothing is working!
Again today (date don’t remember) a hurtful moment for me. It is taking me to Flashback of Nov 2015. It really hurts me when I see the candidates securing less marks (overall) than me had been shortlisted for interview of ibps po 2015. Shall I give away my life to qualify an exam??
Just imagine...how strange! Last year, on this day (14th February 2015) in IBPS IT Officer exam, I managed to attempt only 65 questions out of total 200 questions. See, after 1 year, on the same day i.e. 14th February 2016, I bravely and smartly attempted 132 (more than double of the previous attempt, 65*2+2) questions with 95% accuracy. Thanks to my endurance...
I am now touching 130-135 attempts in back to back exams (sidbi and ibps it officer), that means I am now closer to my GOAL! Then why ibps did injustice to only to po main exam on 31st October 2015?? Only becoz I was dreaming of becoming a bank po...And after that I am observing in every exam say, above two (sidbi and it officer) questions especially from maths and reasoning are coming really very easy (easier than po). The same ibps is framing easy questions now. I am able to solve almost all questions. Let’s see what is waiting for me in LIC AAO (the only hope remaining). I SWEAR, if I get LIC AAO 2016 I WILL JOIN without having a second thought.
And see today, that HOPE gave me result! And yes, it (joining) is going to happen in October 2016.
About IDBI Executive controversy:
I had appeared in the IDBI Executive (On contract basis) exam in May 2015. Thankfully, I cleared the online written exam. I prepared thoroughly for the interview (as I wanted to have an interview experience) and appeared in it. I was selected through second waitlist which was released on 3rd January 2016. The medical test was on 11th Jan. I was in a dilemma whether to join idbi bank or not. The reasons were; 1) the job was contractual (not permanent), the future seemed uncertain; 2) The bank is soon going to be privatised. Still, I went for medical test (wasted 1 day). I consulted EP and other aspirants regarding this.
Afterwards, I thought a lot and decided not to join as I was confident that, I have the capability to be an Officer. If I can become an Officer by waiting for some more days with big opportunities coming; why to waste my career in idbi?? Also at that time (idbi joining date) LIC AAO exam was coming closer. As written in idbi offer letter posting was at Mumbai, I rejected the offer and brought my focus back on lic aao.
As I didn’t join idbi, my father warned me, “Mind it!! You are throwing a job which you have got. So you are not going to get a job anymore in near future. It will surely cost you heavily. You have to pay the price.” He also gave me an example in this regard (funny) which I am not sharing here. I became SPEECHLESS as usual by listening to his discouraging words.
About not appearing in Clerk/Assistant Exams:
Many people were advising me to apply for SBI/IBPS CLERK Exam and get it (Also I know I can get a clerk job easily). But tell me one thing genuinely, is ‘CLERK’ the ‘substitute’ for ‘PO’? Clerk is not the SUBSTITUTE for PO! But for me, as of now, LIC AAO is the true ‘SUBSTITUTE’ for IBPS PO.
I wanted to be an officer only, not a clerk. So I decided not to apply for clerk/assistant exams, though I appeared in a few assistant exams in 2015 for practice purpose. My father at times insisted me to apply for clerk also and said, “You can get promotion and be an officer after working for a few years as a clerk. I never listened to him! My uncle (who is in SBI as Branch Manager) also told me that if I could not manage to get an officer job directly I should appear for clerical exams. He told that he had also joined SBI as a clerk long back and today he is Branch Manager.
Despite all these advice, I was not biased by anyone and kept myself stronger enough to get only the OFFICER Job and, today I proved it also (Assistant Administrative Officer in LIC)! I wanted to become officer means officer, nothing less than that. No one could stop me from becoming an Officer.
Setting your Target:
You might have heard the proverb “Jack of all trades, Master of None”.
If you are really interested in banking sector, then AIM for Bank Exams only and the same applies for SSC. If you are aiming IBPS PO or SBI PO then don’t think of preparing for SSC-CGL (My motto). I have seen many aspirants preparing for Banking and SSC simultaneously (I wonder, don’t know whether they get success or not, maybe they get but very rare cases). The fact is that the syllabus of bank exams and ssc exams is completely different although some chapters overlap, for this reason; you cannot focus well on one thing at a time. Even if studying for bank exams require less hours (6-8 hrs) in a day, stick to it. Whereas along with bank exams you can appear in various insurance exams like LIC AAO, NICL, NIACL, OICL, UIICL AO/Assistant etc.. Because both banking and insurance (both come under financial services sector) exams have the same syllabus and almost same pattern.
Preparing for bank/insurance exams do not require you to study for long hours, give much effort, only 5-6 hours after you attain a certain level, will do.
Target only one thing at a time. You are not going to do JOB at all places whichever you get. If you are getting failure in one or several attempts mean your success also lies there (maybe delayed).
As I have read in one book, there is nothing called ‘failure’. It’s not ‘failure’, it’s called ‘Temporary Defeat’. It is necessary. It again reminds you that a few more mistakes/things need to be corrected/rectified. Suppose say, I fail in ibps po, that doesn’t mean I will now change my mind and stop appearing in po exams further and switch to another exam e.g ssc and the vice-versa is also true.
My view on ‘Criticism’:
Criticism helps a human being to grow and advance in life. Yes, I was hurt with the statements given to me by my parents. But their criticism helped me stay motivated and work even harder. I am thankful to them for this. For getting success you must have some critics who always criticise you and your work very badly.
The ‘Waiting’ period :
I was praying to God every morning (just after waking up) that, “With God’s Help, I will get LIC AAO 2016. Please God, make me an Assistant Administartive Officer. This affirmation and imagination method was as per the book ‘The power of positive thinking’. You also apply it and see the results! It works!
The 4-month (May ’16-Aug ’16) long wait finally ended on a positive note for me. This time, it came with final selection! During these 4 months, I worked even harder than I had done for LIC AAO 2016. After appearing in LIC AAO interview on 30th April ’16, I was anxious and worried about my interview performance and hence final selection but tried to get out of it and prepared hard for next-to-appear two important exams i.e. UIICL AO(Generalist) and SBI PO 2016. I was carrying on my preparation in full swing for all upcoming exams including IBPS PO 2016, without thinking about and depending on the final results of LIC AAO 2016 and UIICL AO 2016.
EVERY END IS A NEW BEGINNING!
Hadn’t I been come out of Infosys, I wouldn’t have landed in a Govt. job today! So I am very much thankful to Infosys for this (I don’t have their emailid otherwise would have definitely sent a ‘Thank you’ Note to Infosys!). Hadn’t I tasted the failure in IBPS PO 2015, I wouldn’t have been able to find out my weaknesses (Reasoning) and succeed in the next big exam (after ibps po ’15) i.e. LIC AAO 2016!
Believe me; God has already set up everything for you. All you have to do is to follow HIS Path.
Failure doesn’t mean God has abandoned you...It does mean God has a better idea!
Here are some excerpts from the book ‘You can Win’:
REMEMBER
Nothing worthwhile in life comes without a struggle.
The world only sees success. They don’t see the struggle behind the success and say, “He got lucky, he must have been at the right place at the right time.”
All success stories are stories of great failures. The only difference is that every time they failed, they bounced back. Learn from your failure and keep going.
Failure is the highway to success. Tom Watson Sr, of IBM, said,
“If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.”
Exams I Appeared in 2015 :-
The journey was emotional, yet exciting! I was just applying for exams randomly without setting a target. So the failures were inevitable. Among them, first 10 were without much and consistent preparation, as at that time I had not come across all the online resources (websites like Gr8AmbitionZ etc). However, in most of these exams, my scores were closer to the cutoffs like in SBI PO and RBI Assistant.
SBI Associates Clerk (first ever experience without knowing anything, score-114, cutoff-148)
IBPS IT Officer (though read IT from Arihant book, no in-depth knowledge)
SBI Specialist (IT) Officer
SBI PO (Preliminary cleared with 47.5 marks, Main exam not cleared, Mains mark=86(objective) cutoff=80(obj), with descriptive(overall) marks I don’t remember)
IDBI Executive (got it, didn’t join, reasons above earlier)
LIC ADO (gave just for sitting in an exam, written qualified, interview appeared, no final selection thank god, u know it’s purely marketing job, not so good)
RBI Assistant (written not cleared, score-155)
IDBI Manipal PO (written cleared just touched cutoff, interview appeared, again thank god no final selection, u know reasons!)
IRDAI Assistant
UIIC Assistant
Then with some serious preparation and strategy, I went on to target IBPS RRB PO and the most important recruitment of the year IBPS PO-V.
11. IBPS RRB Officer Scale-I (failed in reasoning by 1 mark, overall marks just above cutoff though)
12. IBPS RRB Office Assistant (written cleared, my score-121 cutoff-118, no final selection after interview, again thank god it was assistant!)
13. IBPS PO-V (Score in Prelims=58 [attempt 57], Score in Mains=89.25 [attempts 103, cutoff 76, failed in Reasoning-> cutoff 10, mine just 6.75 with 13 attempts due to foul attempts in logical reasoning])
*I got this much total marks due to very high marks in ‘GA’ and English (20.25/40)
*My GA marks were 32.75 out of 40 [attempts 34]
That’s why I felt very bad at my failure!
14. RBI Grade B (In phase-I failed in QA by 0.5, though hadn’t prepared for phase-II)
15. NABARD Development Assistant (qualified in written, marks-169[attmpt 164] but alas! The recruitment was cancelled afterwards becoz of Modi Govt. declaring withdrawal of interview process from junior level posts)
Exams I appeared in 2016:-
1. SBI IT Officer (I was not interested in IT officer as I haven’t studied IT subject that much in b tech as my branch was ECE, still appearing becoz of my father’s persuation)
Then after I tightened my belt and gave much effort in the following exams. Then I started getting very closer to the cut off, for which I got the much needed confidence to give my 200% in all upcoming exams.
2. SIDBI Grade A Officer(Assistant Manager)
*This exam was the turning point and my gateway to LIC AAO; as I got inspired to secure more marks.
*My marks- 134.50 in objective [attmpt-135] (obj. Cutoff 125) But couldn’t clear the overall cutoff.
*My overall marks (obj.+descriptive)= 160.5 out of 250 (cutoff- 162.75)
3. IBPS IT Officer (qualified in written with very less marks in IT professional knowledge; appeared in interview, no final selection, IT officer was not meant for me as I lacked prof. Knowledge)
*However, good score in both Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude boosted me further, gave me more confidence.
Then it was the ‘turn’ of my life changing event!!!
4. LIC AAO (Finally Selected !!!) :
*Details of Score:->
I. Reasoning --> 89.75 (out of 90) Attempts-30/30
II. GK, Current Affairs--> 44.75 (out of 60) Attempts-24/30
III. Computer ---> 50.25 (out of 60) Attempts-22/30
IV. Quantitative Aptitude-> 86.00 (out of 90) Attempts-28/30
Total Weighted Score= 270.75 (out of 300) Total Attempts-104/120 (Excluding English) [I think lic has mistakenly interchanged my GA and Computer marks !]
English-> 17.75 (out of 40) attempts-23/40 [I did less in English knowingly as it was only qualifying]
• Note- English was Qualifying in nature. Marks not added.
Marks Secured in Interview- 42 (out of 60)
Overall(written+interview)=270.75+42= 312.75 [cut off- 306]
5. NABARD Grade A (Prelims qualified, my score-122.75 attmp-131, cutoff 112, but couldn’t appear in Main exam due to UIIC AO exam on the same day)
6. UIICL AO-Scale I (Generalist) [Written qualified, appeared in Interview (good), waiting for the Final Result, hope for its final selection too!]
7. SBI PO (Qualified prelims as usual 47.5, not qualified Mains)
*[But No Regrets, as I have already been waiting for 2 imp. Final results(LIC AAO & UIIC AO)]
Strategy’ to crack written exam:
I have marked one thing always, aspirants ask for strategy. So I am sharing the same below. I also followed some strategies shared by successful candidates in their success stories.
My Weakness- After ibps po-v debacle I came to know that, I was struggling in Reasoning High level puzzles and Syllogism’s possibility concepts related questions.
So firstly I watched Oliveboard’s all video lessons of all subjects as if I started my preparation again from the scratch, solved the examples, practice tests(both chapter and section wise) from Oliveboard. I cleared my doubts in Syllogism by watching some good YouTube videos.
Secondly, I purchased the books (names mentioned below) recommended by Exampundit website (Mentor Anubhab) and practised from them(QA/DI & Reasoning).
1. Quantitative Aptitude:
Books- a) Quantitaive Aptitude by Abhijeet Guha (Tata McGraw Hill Publication)
b) Data Interpretation by K.Kundan(BSC publication)
Short-cut tricks and methods by Talentsprint’s videos on youtube and also shortcuts taught by Mahendr’s faculty helped a lot.
2. Reasoning:
Book- Analytical reasoning by M.K. Pandey (BSC Publication)
I used to solve reasoning Quizzes (containing Syllogism and PUZZLES) posted on Gr8AmbitionZ, EP and affairscloud daily.
3. English:
Honestly speaking, I did not read any book for English. I read ‘The New Indian Express’ newspaper everyday without fail and read The Hindu vocabulary given in Gr8AmbitionZ. I have a good command over English language. This section has never trouble me in any exam (except SBI PO Main 2016!!)
4. Computer:
Nothing special, no specific books I followed for this subject. I used to study from coaching class’ notes, attempt quizzes posted by EP, BA etc. Also referred PDFs shared by them. You can follow any book also.
5. General Awareness:
This was my ‘STRENGTH’. GA is an important weapon to use in exams. I scored 32.75/40 in GA in IBPS PO Main ’15, by following this strategy-->
For Current Affairs,
First of all, make a diary or notebook (usually a thick one) as per your convenience.
To study Daily Current Affairs (CA) Updates, the MORNING hours (7 AM-11 AM) are the BEST TIME, neither evening nor night. With fresh mind, you can remember everything very easily at that instant itself. No burden on you later at all. A particular day’s CA is finished and digested that day itself.
Note down important headlines from the English newspaper you read in the notebook.
Read Daily Current Affairs updates everyday without fail. (Important)
Ques) from where to read daily CA updates?
Ans) From at least 5 and at most 8 websites/blogs one after another..
Along with reading, write down all the headlines one by one in your notes as well as important points in that news if any. Every day after reading CA updates by the above method for 2-3 hours, then attempt all the CA/GA(static gk also) Quizzes posted on those sites daily.
The above work should be included compulsorily in your daily routine like eating, sleeping... The Earth may stop rotating for a while, but I never missed current affairs updates (reading+writing) for a single day from these wonderful websites.
Next step is; revise your CA notes whatever you have written in every 5 days. Then read all the monthly PDFs of all those websites immediately when they are uploaded. Finish studying a monthly pdf(say January) within first 10 days of the next month(February) as pdf of Jan is uploaded in Feb. After all these complete, you can just have a look over the ‘Master In Current Affairs’ Magazine (Error free not guaranteed!). And lastly, read the final GA PDFs (e.g. CA e-Magazine by EP, GA Capsule by BA etc..) which are uploaded for the particular exam you are going to appear (for the complete revision). Follow the posts regularly given in the above mentioned blogs so that you will never miss anything. To know how much month CA to be studied for an exam, search ExamPundit’s post on ‘How to prepare General Awareness for ibps po’. I am not elaborating that here. For GA, BA and EP are the best destinations. EP is the best to answer your queries; it is the only one which is very interactive having the best Mentor cum mod, Anubhab.
For Banking/Financial Awareness, I studied my notes (given by Mahendra’s faculty).
For static GK, refer pdfs shared on sites.
Note- Nowadays, as per the recent trends of banking exams, online sources, blogs, practising mocktests on latest pattern are much more helpful than books which are outdated. With the launching of Apps, free subscription of their youtube channels, preparation for exams has come with revolutionary changes. [At the time of my ibps po 2015, lic aao 2016 preparation, those things were not introduced.]
Especially, for LIC AAO 2016 exam, I followed the book ‘Kiran’s LIC AAO Practice Book’ recommended by EP. I solved selected questions of Reasoning and Quant. Aptitude from the practice sets of that book. It helped me a lot as the level of questions was very good and matched up to standard of real exam.
Online Mock Tests::
Finally coming to online mock tests, I took
Oliveboard (Best)
Practicemock (2nd best)
Go with anyone of them or if you need more practice, go with both.
‘Strategy’ for Interview :
For interview preparation (long term), I had kept a thick notebook. I wrote all the expected questions that can be asked along with answers (searched from Google, best buddy). Referred interview Q/A PDFs given in EP, BA etc...I revised my notes very often. I made 5 segments; 1) Personal/HR(prepared answers myself), 2)Graduation subjects and basics of computer/IT, 3) Banking and Financial Awareness, 4)Current Affairs(Trending topics/issues of last1-2 month before interview, Modi Govt’s schemes), 5) GK (static, & Who’s who e.g. cabinet ministers, CMs, Governors, CJI etc...) for easy studying at any time.
I recorded my answers in mobile’s voice recorder to listen my tone for rehearsal purpose.
“Winners don’t do different things. They do things differently.”
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