Hello everyone! Today we talk with Prashant Saini. He got All India Rank 22 in the CHSL 2024 Exam. Let’s learn about his success story.
Meet Prashant
Meet Prashant Saini, a determined and focused aspirant from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. With a strong academic background and a clear goal in mind, Prashant laid the foundation for his success early on. Here’s a quick look at his educational journey:
- Name: Prashant Saini
- From: Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh
- School: Asha Modern School, Saharanpur (10th & 12th)
- College: UIT Punjabi University (Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics & Telecommunication)
How He Felt After Success
Prashant and his family were overjoyed with his success. Securing Rank 22 in the SSC CHSL Exam gave him a newfound confidence and a sense of accomplishment. He also noticed that people started treating him with greater respect following his selection, which further motivated him to continue striving for excellence.
Prashant’s CHSL Journey
Prashant’s CHSL journey saw significant growth between his first and second attempts. In his first attempt, he relied mainly on YouTube for preparation but struggled with unstructured content and spent a lot of time figuring out what to study and how much time to allocate to each topic. Despite working hard, these challenges prevented him from clearing the exam. For his second attempt, Prashant came better prepared with a nearly complete syllabus and focused intensely on practice and mock tests. He took around 150-200 mock tests just for the Tier 1 exam, which greatly improved his speed, confidence, and overall scores, ultimately contributing to his success.
Why Oliveboard Mocks?
Prashant chose Oliveboard mocks for specific reasons:
- Relatable Content: The mock tests felt similar to the real exam.
- Prepares Well: They prepare you for the actual exam level and slightly above (about 20% harder), but without being irrelevant.
- Boosts Confidence: Because the content is relevant, it helps build confidence.
- Rank Variation: His rank in live mocks varied (from under 100 to 3000), but he didn’t focus only on marks.
- Learning from Mistakes: He focused on analyzing his mistakes in mocks and revising those topics.
School and College Life
Prashant was always a studious student and a consistent topper throughout his academic journey, scoring a perfect 10 CGPA in 10th grade and 89.6% in 12th grade. He cleared both JEE Mains and Advanced, which led him to pursue Engineering at UIT Punjabi University, where he maintained an impressive 8.2 CGPA. Initially, he planned to prepare for the GATE exam, but due to an injury, he shifted his focus. After completing his studies, he secured a job at Cognizant through campus placement and worked there for about a year. However, feeling unsatisfied with his IT career, Prashant learned about government exams like CHSL and CGL and decided to start preparing for them with renewed motivation.
Challenges During Preparation
Prashant faced a few challenges:
| Focus Area | Strategy / Details |
| Improving Speed | Used sectional mocks with strict time limits to develop time management skills for each question. |
| Improving Accuracy | After speed improved, accuracy dropped sometimes; practiced Previous Year Questions (PYQs) extensively to improve accuracy. |
| Score Stagnation | Faced difficulty increasing mock scores; identified weak points from mocks, practiced repeated question types, and reduced time on easy questions to save time for harder ones. |
| Health Issues | Occasionally faced minor health problems; took breaks as needed but continued preparation afterward. |
Fresher vs. Repeater
Prashant believes there’s a big difference:
| Aspect | Fresher | Repeater |
| Awareness | Limited understanding of content sources and syllabus importance | Has clarity on syllabus and content hierarchy |
| Time Management | Spends time figuring out what and how much to study | Utilizes time efficiently, focuses on important areas |
| Practice & Mocks | Practices less, takes fewer mock tests | Heavy focus on mocks and revision |
| Confidence | Relatively low due to inexperience | Higher confidence from prior attempts |
| Exam Pressure | Struggles to handle real exam pressure | Experienced in managing pressure and timing |
| Overall Advantage | Learning phase | Strategic advantage from prior preparation |
Advice for Beginners: Concepts vs. Mocks
For beginners preparing for competitive exams, striking the right balance between understanding concepts and practicing mocks is crucial. Clearing your basics lays a strong foundation, but equally important is applying that knowledge through regular mock tests. This approach helps identify weaknesses and sharpens exam skills effectively.
- Clear Concepts: Beginners must clear their basic concepts.
- Avoid Wasting Time: Don’t spend too much time only on concepts.
- Balance: Clear concepts quickly, then start practicing and taking mocks.
- Learn from Mistakes: Use mocks to find weak areas and practice them repeatedly.
Preparing for Tier 1 and Tier 2 Together
Prashant shares his approach of preparing for both Tier 1 and Tier 2 exams simultaneously, based on his analysis of past papers and the current exam pattern.
- Prashant prepared for both tiers simultaneously.
- Analysis: He analyzed past papers and realized Tier 1 and Tier 2 are not very different now.
- Difficulty Level: Tier 2 is not significantly harder than Tier 1 anymore.
- Strategy: Prepare for both together. Analyze PYQs to cover important topics for both tiers.
Can You Clear in 6 Months?
He discusses the challenges beginners may face when trying to clear both tiers within six months and offers advice on realistic preparation timelines.
- Prashant thinks it’s very difficult for a beginner starting from scratch.
- Reason: 6 months might be enough to clear concepts and maybe Tier 1 (which has easier questions), but building the confidence and depth needed for Tier 2 (mains) against experienced competitors is tough.
- Advice: Start preparing as early as possible.
Single Source vs. Multiple Sources for Mocks
Prashant highlights the importance of choosing the right mock test sources to maintain confidence and ensure focused preparation aligned with the actual exam pattern
- Multiple Sources Problem: You might end up practicing unrelatable content (e.g., overly hard mocks) if you use too many sources without checking relevance.
- Confidence Impact: Scoring low on irrelevant hard mocks can harm your confidence for the real exam.
- Prashant’s Advice: Stick to a reliable source (like Oliveboard) that provides relevant, exam-like mocks (easy to moderate difficulty, similar to the actual trend).
Time Management Strategy
Prashant’s daily schedule:
| Activity | Details |
| Wake-up Time | Woke up around 4:00 / 4:30 AM |
| Daily Goals | Set daily goals for each subject |
| Time Allocation (During Syllabus Coverage) | Focused on 2-3 subjects per day initially, mainly Maths & English |
| Maths | 3-4 hours daily |
| English | 2-3 hours daily |
| Reasoning | 1-1.5 hours daily |
| Sectional Mocks | Started sectional mocks when syllabus was 60-70% complete to build speed and efficiency |
| Adding General Studies (GS) | Replaced study time of one strong subject with GS while continuing mocks for completed subjects |
| Total Study Time | Minimum 10 hours daily, sometimes more; if a day’s goal was missed due to health, covered later |
| Key | Achieve daily goals consistently |
Prioritizing Subjects & Skipping Questions
Effective preparation isn’t just about studying hard—it’s also about studying smart. Prashant learned valuable strategies like prioritizing important subjects and skipping questions that consume too much time. By analyzing mocks and understanding which topics are frequently tested, he was able to focus his efforts efficiently and maximize his practice time.
- Learned prioritization and skipping techniques from teachers, saving time he could use for practice.
- Analyzed mocks to identify weak topics and frequently asked questions.
Final Thoughts
Prashant’s success came from structured preparation, focusing on practice (especially mocks from a reliable source like Oliveboard), learning from mistakes, consistent hard work (10+ hours daily), and smart time management.
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