“Practice and analyze as many mocks as you can” Says Shivani Nanda; Cleared IBPS PO

We are publishing the success journey of Shivani Nanda who cleared IBPS PO. She took a lot of exams, identified her weak areas with the help of mock tests and improved upon them to finally clear IBPS PO. She shares her strategies for the different sections in her own words below. Have a look and see which strategy you can undertake to achieve success in your exam.

PM: Please brief us on when did you start preparing for the competitive exams and how was your preparation journey.

Shivani: I started preparing for competitive examinations in August 2019. I started off with banking exams but then switched to SSC, as I found banking examinations to be tougher for me. I could not clear the prelims of SSC CGL by a small margin and switched back to banking in January 2020 and appeared for SBI Clerk 2020. I missed the prelims by a margin of 1 mark, but it gave a boost to my self-confidence and I continued my preparation. 

PM: Which exams did you appear in to date and what were their results?

Shivani: I had appeared for the following examinations:

• SBI Clerk: which I missed the pre by 1 mark
• RRP PO and RRB Clerk: both of which I could not clear the prelims
• IBPS PO: in which I am finally selected
• SBI PO: in which I couldn’t make it to the final merit by a margin of 0.12
• IBPS Clerk: I missed the prelims by 3 marks.

PM: How did you prepare for the English section?

Shivani: I used to read editorials daily and note down the words that I had no idea about. I used to give sectional tests of English daily when I began my preparation. 

The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary- Download Free PDF

PM: How did you prepare for the Quantitative Aptitude section?

Shivani: First of all, I cleared all my concepts of every topic from YouTube and then started attempting sectional mocks for it as well. One needs to have a strong base and there’s no need for any short tips or tricks. After clearing the basics, I completely relied on mock tests. Apart from mocks, I used to solve PDFs of DI.

Daily Quantitative Aptitude | Reasoning | English | Current Affairs Quizzes for Banking & Government Exams

PM: How did you prepare for the Reasoning section?

Shivani: For reasoning also relied on sectionals as well as I used to solve many puzzles from pdfs, at my own pace, without using a timer. 

PM: What was your strategy for the General Awareness section?

Shivani: I relied completely on affairscloud. I read current affairs daily and then revised them on a weekly and monthly basis. Used mock drills by testzone and PracticeMock for the quizzes. 

Weekly Current Affairs- Download Free PDF

PM: What was your overall strategy? Did you follow a study schedule? If yes, please share the details.

Shivani: I did not have a very rigid study schedule. I used to start my day with a mock, and then analyzing it and finding my weaker zones where I need to put more efforts. After I started getting a decent percentile and marks in prelims, I started giving mocks for mains as well. After analysing all the mocks, I would go for current affairs and attempt quizzes. I did not have a fixed timetable, I just had my fixed targets for the day. 

Static GK- Download Free PDFs- For All Government, Banking Exams

PM: Did you face any hurdle as well? How did you overcome it?

Shivani: Yes, I did face certain hurdles like there was a pressure of getting a job and then there was pandemic, and being not very financially privileged, there were uncertainties and compromises that I had to make. My family’s unwavering support has helped me reach this height.

How to Prepare for Banking/Financial Awareness? Download PDFs

PM: Did PracticeMock help you in your success? Please elaborate.

Shivani: Right from the beginning of my preparation, I majorly relied on PracticeMock. The level of mocks is very good. The mains mocks of PracticeMock have really helped me a lot, as the real exam was relatively one level easier. 

Important Days/Dates 2020-21 with Themes for Banking/ SSC/ RRB NTPC/ Govt. Exams

PM: What’s your message for the fellow aspirants who are preparing for competitive exams?

Shivani: Perseverance and patience are all you need. Keep trying harder and harder. At the beginning of my preparation, I used to score hardly 40 in the clerk prelims but practice and practice is the only way to crack these exams. Practice and analyze as many mocks as you can after getting your concepts right.

Check out the importance Shivani has attributed to mock tests and sectional tests at various places in this article. It goes without saying that mock tests are the best tools for practice if you are preparing for any banking or government exam. If you also want to clear the exams lined up this year, start taking mock tests now. This is all from us in this article.

You can also submit your success story if you have cleared any exam.