Arsalan Khan is a B.Com graduate from Tilhar, Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, who initially prepared for CA but later shifted to banking exams due to family responsibilities and the need for financial stability. Despite facing failure in 13 exams, Arsalan remained consistent and continued improving his preparation strategy. His persistence paid off when he secured final selection in RRB Office Assistant, RBI Assistant at the Reserve Bank of India Lucknow office, and RRB PO at Baroda UP Gramin Bank. He is currently working in the banking sector and continues to grow professionally.
Interview with Arsalan Khan
Read about Arsalan’s journey below.
Question 1: What motivated you to switch from CA preparation to banking exams?
Answer: You initially started preparing for CA, but you realized that the course required a longer time commitment and uncertain outcomes. Coming from a farming family, you felt the responsibility to start earning and support your family. This motivated you to explore banking exams, which offered stable career growth and financial security. You decided to fully dedicate yourself to competitive exam preparation from 2016 onward.
Question 2: How did you handle repeated failures in multiple exams?
Answer: You faced failure in 13 exams, including missing cutoffs by small margins, which was mentally challenging. However, instead of giving up, you analyzed your mistakes and identified weak areas like general awareness and puzzles. You set clear deadlines and stayed focused on improvement. Your mindset was to treat every failure as feedback and refine your preparation strategy accordingly.
Question 3: What was your strategy for improving reasoning, especially puzzles?
Answer: You realized that puzzles were the most important part of mains examinations and also your weakest area. To improve, you started practicing puzzles daily from Online Puzzle Sets, Mock Tests, and Practice PDFs. You focused on understanding patterns and solving different types of puzzles regularly. Consistent practice helped you develop speed, accuracy, and confidence in this section.
Question 4: How did you prepare for General Awareness, which is a deciding section?
Answer: After scoring very low marks initially, you understood the importance of consistent GA preparation. You started making your own notes from Daily Current Affairs PDFs, Capsules, and Banking Awareness Videos. You revised these notes weekly and biweekly to strengthen retention. This consistent revision helped you improve significantly and score much higher marks in later exams.
Question 5: What was your preparation approach for Quantitative Aptitude?
Answer: Quant was your favorite subject, but mains-level questions required deeper conceptual clarity. To improve arithmetic topics, you studied from Quicker Maths by M. Tyra and practiced extensively from Arithmetic Practice PDFs and DI Sets. This helped you strengthen fundamentals and improve performance in data interpretation and arithmetic-based questions.
Question 6: How did mock tests help you in your preparation?
Answer: Mock tests played a crucial role in identifying your weak areas and improving exam temperament. You regularly attempted full-length mock tests and sectional tests, which helped you understand exam patterns and improve time management. Mock analysis allowed you to focus on mistakes and avoid repeating them. This process gradually improved your overall performance.
Question 7: How did Oliveboard help you in clearing these exams?
Answer: Oliveboard Mock Tests, Banking Awareness Videos, and Current Affairs Capsules helped you prepare at the actual exam level. The difficulty level of Oliveboard Mock Tests closely matched real exams, which improved your accuracy and confidence. Their GA Capsules and Concept Videos helped you strengthen your weak areas. Regular practice on Oliveboard played an important role in your final selections.
Question 8: What mistake did you make initially that others should avoid?
Answer: One major mistake you made was waiting for prelims results before starting mains preparation. This delayed your preparation and affected your GA scores. Later, you started preparing for mains alongside prelims, especially General Awareness. This parallel preparation significantly improved your performance and helped you clear exams.
Question 9: What advice would you give to aspirants preparing for banking exams?
Answer: You believe that consistency and self-analysis are the keys to success. Focus on improving weak areas and practice regularly using mock tests, current affairs notes, and concept PDFs. Do not get discouraged by failures, as improvement takes time. With the right strategy, patience, and consistent effort, success is achievable.
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Hi, I’m Tripti, a senior content writer at Oliveboard, where I manage blog content along with community engagement across platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp. With 3+ years of experience in content and SEO optimization related to banking exams, I have led content for popular exams like SSC, banking, railway, and state exams.