Success Story of Apabrita Acharya Cleared IBPS PO

We are bringing to you the success story of Apabrita Acharya who cleared IBPS PO. Let’s hear what she has to say about her success:

Please brief us on when did you start preparing for the competitive exams and how was your preparation journey.

I started preparing for banking exams at the start of 2022 after completing my graduation in 2021. While preparing I also sat for all esic, ssc exams that were being held at that time but i could not clear a single one. For months my attempts were not increasing and i did not see any improvement in my performance. In the RRB CLERK exam I scored only 39 points which made me lose all hope. I was pretty sure that i would not clear any exams in 2022. Next came the IBPS clerk exam and to my surprise I cleared it even though the cutoff this year was pretty high. This gave me a boost of confidence. I cleared IBPS PO prelims too. I realised that in these 8 months of preparation i never focused on the mains syllabus. I had zero idea about the exam pattern even. For the IBPS clerk mains i had about 10 days to prepare, that included studying current affairs of three months as well as getting comfortable with the mains exam pattern by giving mock tests. It did not go well, i ended up guessing too much. Then for the IBPS PO mains i got around 3 weeks of time and i spent all day studying current affairs as it is a very scoring subject. I cleared it and cleared the interview too.

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Which exams did you appear in till date and what were their results?

I appeared for SSC MTS, SSC CHSL, SSC CGL, ESIC UDC, IBPS CLERK, IBPS PO, SBI CLERK, SBI PO, RRB I cleared IBPS PO and am waiting for the final CGL results

How did you prepare for the English section?

I strongly believe that reading grammar books is not enough to build your English. I grew up reading story books and watching shows in English and I think that helped me a lot. My English is not very strong but it was enough for me to get good marks. Even though I don’t remember tenses, narration or active/passive voice I can still mark the right answers just by the sound of it. Reading articles, newspapers and watching English shows should help a lot!

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How did you prepare for the Quantitative Aptitude section?

The only way to prepare for Quantitative aptitude is practising, a lot! First i started solving the topics i was already confident in and for the other topics i watched videos on YouTube. I also learned short tricks for quadratic equations (also on YouTube). Keep practicing topic wise and occasionally take mock tests, that should be enough.

How did you prepare for the Reasoning section?

Reasoning is the same as Quantitative aptitude. Practice is the key. I watched videos on YouTube for the topics i was weaker in (inequalities, syllogism) and kept solving.

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What was your strategy for the General Awareness section?

I did not study GA all year round. Only after the prelims results were out, I printed the adda247 monthly pdf for the last 3 months and spent all day and night marking and memorizing them. Memorizing was never my strong point which is why it took me a long time to figure out a way to do it. I would make my family members question me from the pdf. I also studied with friends who were preparing for the same exams, we would question each other on call.

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What was your overall strategy? Did you follow a study schedule? If yes, please share the details.

I did not follow any study schedule. From January to August i studied very leniently. I did not have any fixed hours to study. I barely studied for 2-3 hours a day. Sometimes I even skipped studying for a day. After qualifying prelims I gave it my all for the few days we got before the mains. I did the same after the mains results were out. I believe everyone has there own study method. Some people can study for 8-10 hours a day but it seems impossible to others. Do what works for you. Studying efficiently is the key.

Did you face any hurdle as well? How did you overcome it?

I faced two big issues while preparing for these exams. One was lack of motivation and concentration. One day I would decide that I was gonna start studying properly and give it my all, but the next day I would go back to my usual routine. No matter how hard I tried I could not change myself. This is when i got to know about a self study library that recently opened in my town. I joined the library and got a daily 3 hours subscription. There were many kids who were seriously preparing for competitive exams. When you go to a place where everyone is studying for 6 hours/9 hours continuously with full concentration, in that environment you simply cannot get distracted or touch your phone. The other issue was frequent mental breakdowns. When all your friends start getting jobs or join higher studies while you’re stuck in your home with an uncertain future, mental breakdowns are expected. The only person who can help you overcome this is yourself. Never lose faith in yourself.

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Did PracticeMock help you in your success? Please elaborate.

I got the practice mock subscription after clearing the IBPS PO prelims. It helped me a lot in clearing the mains exam.

What’s your message for the fellow aspirants who are preparing for competitive exams?

Just like I said previously, don’t lose faith and keep working hard. If you read the whole thing you’ll know I’m a pretty average student who doesn’t even work that hard. If i can clear the exam so can you! You just need to make sure that you’re putting effort in the right places!

This brings us to the end of her success story in which she has explained really well as what strategy you should try adopting in order to ace the examination. Stay tuned for many more success stories.