How I scored 109 in IBPS PO 2013 - Interview

Hi readers, as all of you know IBPS declared PO marks, so today I decided to interview toppers from each category. Today I am going to interview Davendra Gurjar from Jaipur. He is from OBC category and he scored 109 in IBPS PO 2013. You can see his score in the below screenshot. Davendra shared some cool tips and strategies to crack IBPS PO and other recruitment exams. Post your queries in comment section if you want to ask anything from Davendra, I hope Davendra will answer all queries.

Tell me something about yourself.

hello everyone. I am Devendra Gurjar from Jaipur. I completed my B.Tech.(Electrical) degree in june 2013. Despite being good in academics, i didn't have interest in technical field. Two of my cousins are already PO. They inspired me to do preparation for IBPS.

You scored 32 out of 50 in reasoning which is really very good score. How you did that?

Thank you for appreciation. :) from starting, I used to love solving reasoning questions so more and more practice is the only key. apart from that, there were no 'non verbal' questions. :D 

Which books you followed for preparations?

• Reasoning - verbal and non verbal - RS aggarwal - 
• Analytical reasoning - MK Pandey - 
• Quantitative Aptitude - Quicker Maths by M.Tyra for short tricks of mathematical calculations only (multiplication, square etc). Since I am from maths background i didn't need some other book. i used old papers for practice. - 
• English - book by arihant publication for practice. didn't refer any book for basic though i am bad in english. - 
• Computer- I had IT subject in 1st semester so for revision i used 'Computer fundamentals' by PK Sinha. you can get it from any family member who is a engg student. - 
• General Awareness - I read newspaper and pratiyogita darpan for current affairs. for banking knowledge i referred 'Barons of Banking' - 

Did you attend any coaching institute ?

no

How often you visit BanExamsToday.com ? Is it helpful?

I regret to find this website late, else I could score more but now I am a regular reader.

Have you purchased notes provided by Ramandeep Singh ?

Yes, notes were really useful. Learnt a lot from reasoning and quantitative aptitude ebook. Many questions were repeated from notes.

Please give some tips to readers who just started their preparations.

First of all, I would like to talk about coaching. if you already have basic knowledge of each subject, then you need not to waste money. you should go for self study.have faith on almighty. it will also keep you self motivated. Second, go through old papers. it will give you rough idea about exam pattern and level of questions, though IBPS changes pattern and level every year.

REASONING

Start with analytical reasoning because its very interesting part.use MK Pandey for it. each and every question is well explained in it. use RS aggarwal for verbal reasoning, but never use it for analytical reasoning because both MK pandey and RS aggarwal have some same questions but with different answers and i found MK pandey correct (as
per my knowledge) use venn diagram for statement-conclusion questions, it will save precious 5-6 minutes. Solve all 5 questions of a puzzle in one go else you will have to solve it again from ground.

Aptitude

Don't use tricks for each and everything. There are thousands of tricks. Use only that much tricks only which you can be used everywhere not in specific cases only. rather i would say, use tricks only for basic mathematical operations only (multiplication etc) IBPS CWE require lengthy calculations, so practice for it. Data interpretation is the easiest part of the section. some of DI question can be solved simply by analyzing the graph properly. Data sufficiency question of Aptitude should be at last preference to solve. (personal opinion only)

English

• Build vocabulary by watching english movies, reading english newspaper etc
• Passages are bit lengthy, so practice more and more.

Computer 

You only need to have basic knowledge of computer

General awareness

Read any standard newspaper regularly and use pratiyogita darpan to fill up gaps.
Focus on IR(International Relationship), PIN(Person In News), Sports, awards, economy page for basics of banking, read 'money, banking and finance'...go through all chapters except one related to various committees...its last edition came out in 2009, so various rates and data may be wrong so
don't refer it for data visit RBI website regularly. make notes of its FAQs, Press releases and notifications

Start solving old/model papers because it will improve your speed teach you out to manage time for each section and which question should be attempted and which should not be.

Don't wait for next IBPS notifications. start from today only. All the best. wish me good luck for interview :)

When you started IBPS preparations? According to you how much time is enough for IBPS PO preparation ?

I started preparing in mid August with 2-3 hours per day study, in September I studied 4-5 hours/day which went upto 10hours/day in October.It happened because i couldn't follow time table from starting
itself. According to me, 4 hours/day study for 4 months is more than enough.

Will you share you preparation tips and techniques in future ?

Yes, sure :)