Success Story of Anirban Paul – Cleared SBI PO, SBI JA, South Indian Bank PO, NIACL Assistant – 2018

“Success isn’t just about what you accomplish in your life; it’s about what you inspire others to do.” Similarly, Anirban followed his ambition and kept working hard to achieve success in his life.

Here is the inspiring success story of Anirban Paul -:

My name is Anirban Paul. I am from Guwahati, Assam. I am a BE graduate in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Assam Engineering College(2013-2017). Recently I cleared SBI PO 2018 in my first attempt.

My Journey:

After graduation, I was placed in a reputed private company in college placement but decided not to join as I was always interested in a government job. Initially, I started preparing for SSC CGL and cleared CGL Tier 1 of SSC CGL 2017 but failed to clear tier 2. During that time I also realised the lack of transparency and slow process of SSC recruitment and decided to switch to banking from January 2018 onwards. Since I decided to prepare through online resources by myself, I started with Oliveboard mock tests and prepared through free resources available online. Solving Oliveboard mock tests has been an integral part of my journey since it helps an aspirant to learn new concepts and question patterns and also get used to the exam format. I believe if one does the hard and smart work in practice; he will eventually get lucky in the actual exam.

Subject Wise Preparation:

Quantitative Aptitude/Data Interpretation:

For QA and DI, I started with basics. Free resources available on YouTube helped me clear all my concepts. Once my basics were covered I started giving Oliveboard mock tests and analysing each and every mock. I focused a lot on my calculation as it forms an integral part of this section. Learning the basic tables, quick calculation methods will come in handy if one faces difficulty in this section. Practice helped me increase my speed and confidence.

Logical Reasoning:

The basic concepts in Logical Reasoning are very simple and one can find them in YouTube videos online. Once the basics were covered, I started practising on a daily basis. Solving maximum number of puzzles helped me understand many problem-solving tricks. A key part in this section is identifying the tough questions and not getting stuck in a single problem during exams. This can be developed by practice and solving maximum number of mock tests.

English:

For English, I focused mainly on vocabulary and always made it a point to note down any new word I read or listen. My grammar basics were clear so I did not focus much on that section and tried to cover Reading Comprehension as much as I could.  One major source for my English preparation was Editorials from The Hindu. This had a two-way benefit for me as it also helped me with my descriptive paper of SBI PO mains examination.

General Awareness:

This is a very tricky section. Many people focus only on current affairs but this section covers banking awareness and also static awareness. For banking awareness part, I prepared from the online free monthly PDF’s which are available on Oliveboard blog (Oliveboard Bolt). For current affairs, I used to read from few apps on a daily basis and also followed the monthly PDF’s for last minute revision. Along with this, I used to give various daily GA quizzes available on many Websites/Applications. The static part is vast and I read mostly from previous years papers and some from the pdf capsules realised by various groups.

Role Of Oliveboard In My Success:

Oliveboard has the reputation of being the best mock test available in the market and it became my first purchase in the examination preparation journey. Oliveboard mock tests have always exposed me to new and updated questions. The oliveboard mock tests standard is best for an examination as unpredictable as SBI PO. Oliveboard mock tests actually helped me prepare for the unexpected. The questions are diverse and covered all topics and the solutions provided with mock tests helped me learn new ways to approach many problems.

Tip To Aspirant:

Always be open to learning new things and concepts. Practice as much as you can. As the saying goes  “The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat”. Take care of your health during the preparation phase. Most importantly believe in yourself and enjoy the journey of preparation.

All the best.

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