Topper Strategy by Samyak Bhandari: RBI Grade B 2022 Success Story

Our RBI Grade B 2022 topper, Samyak Bhandari, has secured an all-India rank of 10. He strongly believes that no exam is bigger than life. He has shared his preparation strategy and tips. Read on to understand better.

Topper Strategy by Samyak Bhandari – RBI Grade B 2022 Success Story

Education and Work Background

“I am a qualified Chartered Accountant. I have done three years of articleship and also have five months of professional work experience in one of the big fours in tax and regulatory advisory companies.

I am currently working in one of the world’s largest cooperative societies in the corporate finance team.”

My Strategy for Phase 1

General Awareness

“For GA, I mostly relied on the monthly magazines of the coaching institutes. Being a working professional and taking out time for multiple general awareness sources did not seem to be an optimum choice.

However, to have comprehensive coverage, I used to attempt mocks/pdf tests of other coaching institutes so as to identify areas that were not covered in the magazines to which I was referring. For this, I used to jot down the topics to cover them later.”

Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning

“Quants and Reasoning had been one of my strongest areas as I find myself quite comfortable with numbers and puzzles. I have not specifically gone through each and every topic rather I started my preparation with sectional tests and mocks.

Post attempting the tests, I used to analyse the areas which I should focus upon more and used to learn short-cut tricks to solve those questions on YouTube.”

English Language

“For English, I used to take up mock tests and later spent time analysing those mocks with detailed answers so as to identify areas on which I should focus more.”

My Strategy for Phase 2

Economic & Social Issues (ESI), Finance & Management

“For ESI and FM current affairs portion, my strategy was the same as mentioned for the General Awareness section of Phase 1. This was supplemented with coverage of PIB articles.

For the static portion of FM, I felt that my Chartered Accountant (CA) course and professional work experience had a significant role to play as I had a good understanding of the majority of topics. For other topics, I applied the reverse learning concept by first giving tests/ mocks and later reading those concepts in detail.”

English Descriptive

“I did not prepare for descriptive English specifically for this exam as I had fair experience in drafting thanks to my work experience at one of the big fours wherein the majority of my time was invested in drafting advisory notes and e-mails.

However, I did practice a few questions (RC, essay and precis writing) a few days before the exam on a not-so-good keyboard to have an actual exam-like experience with the interface.”

FREE Ebooks on General Awareness, ESI, FM & Miscellaneous Topics for all Regulatory Exams: IRDAI, RBI, NABARD, SIDBI, SEBI, IFSCA – Download

The syllabus of all the regulatory exams is somewhat similar, so practicing and learning from other exam-specific ebooks are also beneficial in the preparation. Here, we have compiled all the latest ebooks that will help you ace the exam.

RBI Bolt March 2023 Summary FREE Ebook

Top 100 PIB Current Affairs MCQs for RBI Grade B 2023: Part 1 – Download FREE

Top 100 PIB Current Affairs MCQs for RBI Grade B 2023: Part 2 – Download FREE

FREE Ebook on Introduction to Management

FREE Ebook on Indian Agriculture

Insurance Sector in India FREE Ebook

International Economic Institutions FREE Ebook

Top 50 Appointment News for all Regulatory Exams (March-April 2023)



Download FREE Ebooks on Government Schemes for all Regulatory Exams: IRDAI, RBI, NABARD, SIDBI, SEBI, IFSCA

FREE Ebook on Top 10 Govt Schemes from Ministry of Agriculture: Part 1 – Download

FREE Ebook on Top 10 Govt Schemes from Ministry of Agriculture: Part 2 – Download

Download Top 5 Government Schemes From the Ministry of Education

Download the Free Ebook on Top 6 Govt. Schemes from the Ministry of Finance

Ebook on Top 5 Initiatives of NITI Aayog – Download FREE

Download FREE Ebooks on QRE (Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning, English) for all Regulatory Exams: IRDAI, RBI, NABARD, SIDBI, SEBI, IFSCA

Download all the ebooks for FREE and enhance your preparation.

Ebooks on Quantitative Aptitude

Top 25 Number Series Questions for RBI Grade B 2023 – Download FREE

Ebooks on Reasoning

Top 25 Puzzle Questions for RBI Grade B 2023: Download FREE

Top 25 Syllogism Questions for RBI Grade B 2023: Download FREE

Ebooks on the English Language

Top 100 Idioms & Phrases for RBI Grade B 2023: Download FREE Ebook

Top 135 One Word Substitutions for RBI Grade B 2023: Download FREE Ebook

My Interview Preparation

“Out of the 3 phases, I felt that the interview was the stage where I had put in all the effort that I could.

The extreme interview score range of last year i.e., 3 to 73 marks out of 75 marks haunted me.

I felt that the interview is the decisive factor for someone to clear the exam.

Being a working aspirant, I started my interview preparation with the previous year’s transcripts and later on the transcripts for this year as they were also shared due to health and supporting the competition.

I used to mark the questions that I could answer convincingly and confidently as I need not refer to them again.

For other topics on which I had little or no idea, I made a word file of such topics in a table format and put in the brief summary/answers to those topics.

I also tried to cover facts and figures in the word file. The word file (approx. 30 pages) helped me a lot during the last few days before the interview.

I also attempted 4-5 mock interviews so as to gain confidence and identify technical areas on which I should focus upon.

I prepared crisp and precise answers for HR questions such as:

  • Tell me about yourself,
  • Why RBI,
  • Why do you want to leave your current/previous jobs?
  • Why we should hire you?
  • What things do you bring to RBI?
  • What are your strengths and weaknesses?
  • Which department in RBI would you prefer?

My actual interview went well and to be true enough better than I expected, thanks to my confidence and my background.”

How did Oliveboard Help in this Journey?

“I had taken my mock interview with Oliveboard. The interview was detailed and helped me to identify areas that I should read upon.”

Some Words of Wisdom for Aspirants

“My suggestion to future aspirants is to have a job in hand while preparing for regulatory body exams as these exams are unpredictable and only 200-300 candidates will get the job out of 2 lakh applicants.

I never believed in preparing full-time for these exams.

Remember, no exam is bigger than your career and life.”


Do not forget to check out all the videos for RBI Grade B, NABARD Grade A, SEBI Grade A, IFSCA Grade A, and SIDBI Grade A, IRDAI Assistant Manager- Subscribe to Oliveboard’s Regulatory Exam Youtube Channel

Join Oliveboard’s Regulatory Exam Telegram Channel for daily free study material and quiz for RBI Grade B, NABARD Grade A, SEBI Grade A, IFSCA Grade A, and SIDBI Grade A, IRDAI Assistant Manager.


DOWNLOAD THE RBI, NABARD, SEBI Prep App FOR ON-THE-GO EXAM PREPARATION

The app provides comprehensive study material in form of online courses to ace these examinations.
The study material ranges from online LIVE classes, video lectures, study notes, revision sessions, past year papers, topic tests, the objective plus descriptive mock tests, mock interviews, and much more.

Oliveboard Mobile App

List of Exams

1) RBI Grade B Generalist Posts
2) SEBI Grade A Generalist Posts
3) NABARD Grade A Generalist Posts
4) NABARD Grade A IT Officer Posts
5) NABARD Grade A Agriculture Officer Posts
6) NABARD Grade B Posts
7) SIDBI Grade A Officer Posts
8) FSSAI Recruitment – For Technical officers, Food Safety Officers, and Assistants

Get free video lessons, mock tests, and GK tests to evaluate course content before signing up!