Rohit Shirsat did not begin his banking preparation with a long-term plan or months of preparation behind him. A final-year law student at Government Law College, Mumbai, he had initially set his sights on the judiciary. But when eligibility requirements changed, Rohit had to rethink his career plans. What followed was an unexpected shift towards banking and eventually, success in SBI JA 2025.
His preparation began in July 2025, leaving him with very little time before the exam. A cousin who had cleared a banking PO exam and was already familiar with Oliveboard recommended the platform to him. Rohit enrolled in an Oliveboard course, attempted his first few mocks, and quickly discovered exactly where he stood.
His First Mocks Were a Reality Check
Rohit’s initial mock scores were far from impressive. English was his strongest section, where he could score around 40/40, but Quant was a completely different story.
“In the first five or 10 mocks I could not even cross 10 marks in Quants.”
Reasoning was another weak area, with his scores generally ranging between 10 and 15. Instead of allowing those scores to shake his confidence, Rohit began using every mock to understand his preparation gaps.
After each test, he identified the questions he could have attempted, noted the topics he was struggling with, and went back to those concepts through classes and practice. Gradually, his preparation became more targeted.
Watch his full strategy:
How Oliveboard Classes Helped Him Build His Basics
With limited preparation time, Rohit did not try to master every possible topic. He focused on areas that could help him secure reliable marks. He followed Oliveboard’s classes for Quant and Reasoning. He used their recorded lectures to strengthen his fundamentals and revisit difficult topics.
For Quant, he worked on simplification, approximation, number series, percentages, ratio and proportion, quadratic equations and data interpretation. For Reasoning, he focused on building his basics and supplemented his classes with additional puzzle practice.
Rohit particularly credited his Quant classes for making difficult concepts easier to understand.
“No other maths teacher in my life has taught so easily.”
This combination of Oliveboard recorded classes, practice and mock tests helped him turn his weak areas into manageable scoring opportunities.
One Full Mock Every Day Became Part of His Routine
Rohit was preparing alongside college, which ran from 8 AM to 2 PM. Once he returned home, his preparation followed a structured routine. He would begin with calculations to improve his speed, attempt sectional mocks, attend relevant recorded lectures and then take a full-length mock at night.
But taking the mock was only half the process. Mock analysis became equally important. If Rohit noticed an easy question he had missed, he would understand why he missed it. If a particular topic repeatedly caused problems, he went back to the relevant lecture and practised more questions.
He also found Oliveboard’s mocks useful because their difficulty level gave him an idea of what to expect in the actual exam.
When the Actual Exam Felt Difficult, He Trusted His Strategy
The SBI JA mains exam put Rohit’s preparation to the test. Ironically, English, his strongest section, turned out to be difficult. Some of the passages were complicated enough to make him panic.
For a moment, he wondered whether he should leave them. But instead of abandoning the strategy he had built during preparation, he reminded himself of the marks he needed from the section.
“I told myself that if I mess up, let’s mess up, but I will attempt all the questions.”
He stuck to his plan and eventually scored 83.25 marks. Based on his response-sheet calculations, he scored approximately 34 in English, 27 in Current Affairs, 18 in Quant and 8 in Reasoning.
The Biggest Lesson From Rohit’s SBI JA Journey
Rohit’s success story is not about having exceptional mock scores from the beginning. It is about what he did after seeing those scores.
His advice to aspirants is to identify their strongest subject and maximise those marks while steadily improving weaker sections. Most importantly, he believes aspirants should not let a poor mock score define their preparation.
“Use the mocks as a tool to improve your scores and not take the mock score seriously.”
From a law student who started banking preparation in July to clearing SBI JA 2025, Rohit Shirsat’s journey shows that even limited preparation time can be productive when every mock, class and practice session has a clear purpose.
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