Success Story of Prerna Payal – Cleared IBPS Clerk, OICL AO, BOB PGDBF, RBI Assistant, IBPS PO

Read Success Story of Prerna Payal, who never lost hope even after failing in almost 16 exams and kept attempting till she achieved what she aimed for. She faced many ups & downs during her preparation days but she took every rejection as an opportunity and went on to clear IBPS CLERK, OICL AO, BOB PGDBF, RBI ASSISTANT, IBPS PO.

More About Prerna:

Hello Everyone, I am Prerna Payal from Noida. I have been an average student since my school days. During my graduation, I did not have enough idea and knowledge about the other sector or domains where I could apply for after my 12th. So, at that particular time, B.Tech seemed to be one of the best options to proceed with. After completing graduation I did try for few  off-campus placements and started searching for places where I can start my professional career. After seeing the private job situation and conditions, I preferred to change my career option and started preparing for SSC CGL and Bank PO exams.

Having very less knowledge about these competitive exams, I joined a coaching centre in January’ 2016. Soon after joining the coaching, I realized that the coaching was not very helpful and so I started focusing more on self study and attempting mock tests. As SSC CGL got postponed, I switched to Bank PO preparation on full pace. During my preparation days, I found Oliveboard mock tests. I found these mock tests much better than other test series and thus I kept practicing from Oliveboard mock tests on a regular basis. Please note that just practicing is not going to serve any purpose, analyzing the attempted mock tests is equally important.

There were few things which I was determined about like, I would not stop till I had a job of my preference and I would not waste time in analyzing different aspects of a job rather I would get it first and then think about joining the same.

List of exams attempted by me till date:

1) LIC AAO 2016: Failed

2) RRB NTPC (Railway Recruitment Board): Cleared CBT-1 did not go for mains 

3) SBI Clerk– Pre cleared, 79.75/100(cutoff 59) : Failed in Mains

4) SBI PO 2016 :  Pre Cleared, 53.75(cutoff 47.50)— Failed in Mains

5) UIIC AO:  Failed

6) SSC CPO:  Paper I cleared(100.25/200)  —- PET failed

7) RRB PO:  Prelims cleared, 61.75/80(cutoff 52.25/80); Didn’t go for mains

8) NABARD Development Assistant-— Pre Cleared, 88/100(cutoff 76.75/100); Failed in Mains 

9) BOB PGDBF: Selected 119th batch , written 162/250(cutoff 138.25/250), GD-44/50, Int- 43/50 {Didn’t join there as I was not ready to pay for job}

10) BOM PGDBF— Failed in written, 119.75/200

11) Syndicate PGDBF: Failed. 96.75/200(cutoff 103.25)

12) IBPS PO : Prelims cleared, 67.xx,  Mains cleared, 63.25/200(cutoff 52.50/200), Inte- 65

Failed in final selection… total was 38.30/100(cutoff 39.90/100)

13) CWC Jr Superintendent 2016 (Single paper based recruitment)– Failed, 119.75/150(cutoff — 121.75)

14) IBPS CLERK  (Delhi Region)—Pre Cleared, 92.50/100(cutoff 67.25), Mains Cleared….43.13/100(cutoff–42.41/100) got UNION BANK OF INDIA. Joined there on 28th may 2017 to 4th July 2018 in GM Secretariat in FGMO Delhi.

15) NIACL AO: Pre Cleared, 77.75/100(cutoff 65.50), Mains Cleared, Failed In Final List

16) RBI Assistant 2016(DELHI Region): Pre Cleared, 90.50/100(Cutoff ) Mains Failed, 99.75/200 (cutoff 128/200)

17) IPPB:  Pre Cleared, Failed in Mains

18 ) NIACL ASSISTANT 2016 (DELHI): Selected for LPT (Didn’ t go for it as I had already joined Union Bank of India as Clerk by then)

19) SBI PO 2017— Cleared Prelims, Cleared Mains, Failed in Final Merit 45.08/100(Cutoff 46.59)

20) DDA ASO: Failed in Tier 1, 120.154/200(Don’t remember the cutoff)

21) OICL AO: Prelims Cleared, Mains Cleared, 118.25/200(Cutoff 110.25/200), selected through waiting list 

22) RBI ASSISTANT 2017( LUCKNOW & KANPUR REGION)- Prelims Cleared , 93.25/100, Mains Cleared, selected and joined in Lucknow office on 26th July 2019

23) IBPS PO – Prelims Cleared,52.25/100(Cutoff 42.75), Mains cleared 94.25/225( Cutoff 82/225) , INTERVIEW- 75/100, TOTAL= 48.60/100(cutoff 47.04/100) . Allotted  CANARA BANK (joined canara bank on 9th July 2018 till 24th July 2019)

24) AFCAT 2016: Cleared written didn’ t go for SSB at Dehradun

25) CWC Superintendent 2019: Cleared exam, interview awaited 

My preparation Strategy:

Reasoning – I used to love solving puzzles which helped me a lot in such competitive exams. Nowadays, we find more puzzles in these exams so keep a note of practicing at least 2 puzzles daily. Remember, there is no definite formula of getting a good score in reasoning…..so keep practicing as much as you can and learn the different methods of solving a question.

Quant – Quant is also more of a practice based section. One can score more after having good command on basics and practicing it thoroughly. Keep practicing regularly in order to improve your speed & accuracy. Remember that the time is limited in such exams and you will not get enough time to revise the attempted question, so be quick and accurate in the first attempt itself. 

English – I practiced for this section through mock tests only and after analyzing the pattern of exams I made my strategy of attempting some specific parts like fillers, sentence rearrangement etc. I always did comprehensive paragraph question in the end. I would suggest as everyone knows their strong and weak areas, so one should go for this section as per their strategy and requirements.

GK – I used to read daily gk updates through different channels and note down them on a regular basis. 4-5 months prior to exams and 5 days before exams I used to take capsule or previous months gk compilation from any source. 

Tips to Aspirants:

Keep practicing and analyzing your progress accordingly. Remember everyone has their own weaknesses and strengths…..so accordingly devise your strategy and follow that strictly.

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