Success Story of Debangshu Ghosh – Cleared SBI PO & SBI CLERK

Read Success Story of Debangshu Ghosh , who always believed that success can only be achieved through hard work and perseverance. His determination to join government sector and wise choices in his life  helped him to crack some of the prestigious exams like SBI PO, SBI CLERK & OIACL AO.

Here is his inspiring story:

Well, I come from a pretty ordinary family and both my parents were retired bankers, but I never was hooked onto becoming one. But I did have a fascination towards getting a Government job.

I completed my graduation in Computer Engineering from a tier-2 college in Kolkata and had secured two jobs from the campus placement but was not much keen on joining them. So, soon after my graduation was over, I took an extension from both the companies and started preparing for different competitive examinations which included MBA exams too.

My first exam was IBPS PO 2017 and against hope, I qualified prelims at one go but was later in a dilemma to give Mains or CAT as both were scheduled on the same day but I took the former as it was the tougher nut to crack considering the humongous competition.I am glad I took it because it made me realize how vital GK is to get into the final list. I missed by a whisker , mainly because of low GK marks.

Thereafter I wrote IBPS clerk 2017, OIACL AO 2017 out of which I cleared the former and got my first selection as a clerk in UCO bank. In between I wrote IIFT( Indian Institute of Foreign Trade)  with 95 percentile and TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences). But in 2018, a series of exams were lined up, after rejecting the offer from those two IT companies and further taking an extension from UCO bank, I sat for SBI PO, SBI Clerk , Nabarad Grade A and RBI Grade B 2018; sadly couldn’t sit for SSC as the exam didn’t even get conducted.

I cleared SBI PO  and SBI Clerk at one go with 64.5 in Prelims and 109.75 in Mains ( 26 in Interview) and in SBI clerk I got 79 in Prelims and 116.5 in Mains ( ranked within top 10 from state ). While in NABARD Grade A, I missed out due to low marks in Agriculture Section. In RBI Grade B, I reached till Mains in first attempt but due to poor marks in Economics couldn’t clear further.Finally, after not considering both UCO bank and SBI CLERK , I joined SBI PO in January, 2019 and am currently working there.

Now, coming to my preparation strategy, I would like to mention that GK played a major role for me and it was mainly due to my failure in IBPS PO 2017 that I could comprehend what I needed to do. So take your failures as your stepping stones and not an ultimatum, if you work hard and persevere, surely one day you would succeed.

So, for Quants, I mainly followed RS Agarwal and for higher level Quants used CAT books plus practice sessions on Oliveboard. Here Oliveboard played a major role as their standard was a bit high and having dealt with tougher ones you surely can do with the moderate ones in the actual exams. 

For reasoning, same strategy , RS Agarwal and Oliveboard mock tests along with CAT books.

For English, I did not need any particular strategy as I had an English medium background, but if you do need to improve then start with reading more and more,  preferably English dailies as that would also help you increase your Gk knowledge. Also, keep practisin , specially from Oliveboard mock tests, practice daily.

For GK, the icebreaker for me, I kept tap on various platforms , Oliveboard being the most important one, their daily Gk updates, then updates on other sites as well, Gk today and most importantly reading an English daily. Gk, though how much you read you will think you have missed out something, but trust me it does help you broaden your perspective and makes you a powerhouse of knowledge, you will get to know so many things, so read as much as possible from whatever sources you get with the three prominent I have mentioned above.

Also while attempting questions, go with Quality over Quantity because in normalization it helps you a lot , for me it did, as I almost always had 90% accuracy and sometimes got more marks than I had answered only because I had a tough shift and had given accurate answers, instead of increasing my attempts.

For interview, GD rounds I would say, thoroughly prepare about yourself, don’t fake it but rather be a genuine you and most importantly be prepared with GK, as a lot many questions will revolve around current happenings around you.

Now, regarding Oliveboard, whatever I say, it’s less, their mock tests are tough but they do set a standard so high that in the actual exams, it seems easier, except a few certain times, so for mocks specifically please go with Oliveboard.

Lastly ,  I would say that , if I can, so can you , don’t lose hope if you stumble a few times , instead identify and build on your mistakes. Create strategies that specifically suit you and even if you fail, remember it’s not the end, because something better is surely waiting for you. Keep going and surely you will succeed.

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