Hi puys, as you all know that recently I am selected as Indian Overseas Bank PO 2011, here I would like to share my experience about bank exams.

I was in my last year of graduation and the year was 2008,at that time I thought of Bank Probationary Officer

. The date was 28/12/2008 when I posted first time on Pagalguy(on first thread of po exam prep) about po exam(now I think my query was so silly

). Here is the link
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/career-discussions/9853-probationary-officers-test-aspirants-78.html#post1313042But the thought was not firm enough to have my hard work or sincere efforts towards it. I was more focussed towards CAT and had made my mind of 1 year prep leave( actually after living 3 years far from home, I wanted to be at home for a year before MBA

). Even in my final semester of graduation I got admission of few decent private B schools, but I didnt join as I wanted to prep for CAT. After returning home(June 2009) I joined CAT prep coaching and started giving mock CAT(generally 75%ile,some time 85%ile). At that time my father(he is in SBI) insisted me to apply for november 2009, SBI clerk 11000 vacancies(later on 33000 were selected and 90000 were called for interview). I was reluctant, as I thought applying for clerk is too bad but finally applied. I was confident of passing it as I thought I was way above clerk level. But I forgot that bank exams are more about speed rather than accuracy. I gave sbi clerk with normal speed and shocked to see the result, I got failed.. Was not able to make to the list of 90000 candidates:nono:!!! Here I would like to tell that my maths is pathetic(even didnt prep Quant for CAT

) though reasoning and English is above average, GK, current affair, marketing is good(BBA in marketing).
PHASE I of po examsSoon I was again focussed towards CAT and appeared for it. Exam was ok and was expecting about 80-85 %ile,and was planning to take admission in one of the decent b school. After giving CAT I appeared for some PO exams(3 or 4), but was not able to crack them. One of the biggest issue was I had(I still have) phobia of maths and never prep for it.
Soon CAT 2009 results were out I dont know whether because of prometric or it was my fault, I scored pathetic 60%ile in CAT:-(, I was shocked and terrified about the future consequences. It was APRIL 2010, I was not expecting any call and my 1 year was already washed out. That was the one of the most depressing phase of my life. But by the god grace and unexpected CAT scores, I managed to get MBA( finance) at Lucknow University:). I had no other better option and joined the program.
Now, it was the time when I seriously thought about po exams. My father suggested me to join po coaching classes but neither I had time nor I wanted to join coaching classes,as I still thought that bank exam dont need any coaching. After joining MBA, BOI 2000 GBO(august 2010) was my first po exam,did very bad as because of my numerical ability. I didnt(still) like maths and didnt buy any maths book(like r s agrawal). After that didnt appear in any exams and continued my MBA life.
Phase 2 of po examsIt was December 2010 when my best friend who is my classmate also(now Allahabd bank po) and I, decided to give po exams. Then after my 2nd semester exam I bought previous papers for practice. Didnt buy any maths book was I was sure that I would not study it( I HATE MATHS YAAR

). I formed my own strategy for tackling po exams.
I prep GK NOTES- from pd, internet, bsc. Rest I practiced from previous papers.
My strategy was to give 15 mins to English, 15 mins to gk, 10 mins to computer,40 mins reasoning and REST(about 50-55 mins

) in maths. By giving 50-55 mins to maths I was able to attempt 40/50:biggrin:. Here I would like to mention that I always attempted exams with high accuracy. In none of the exam my score went above 55% of total marks that too by attempting on lower side. In phase 2, we both appeared for obc po(26 dec), indian po,union po,Punjab sind po,Uco po,Allahabad po,IOB PO(my worst po written exam

).
Result came and we both were able to carck 2 exams each. My friend cracked uco and allahabad and I cracked Punjab sind and Allahabad bank. I was very happy by cracking first po exam of my life. But unfortunately I was not able to crack any interview due to my low score. In between my friend got selected in Allahabad bank as po:). I was happy for him but was too depressed because of my results.:-(
Now no result was in pipeline except IOB po,in which I had no hope.SO, now I appeared for sbi(my dream bank

),sbi asso and cwe po. Now I analysed that I need to score more and improve my quants. SO after these exam

I FINALLY ORDERD R S AGRAWAL online

,for next cwe and other exams. As most of us, I too was waiting for these exam results and life became busy with MBA. In September 2011 IOB result was out and just for formality when I checked my result, I was shocked to know that I CLEARED iob po WRITTEN:biggrin:. Now I was very happy and prepared for interview. My interview too went good. Now wait for result was making me mad as it was my last hope of my phase 2 po exams.
Finally on 8 NOVEMEBER 2011, IOB final result was out and this time I got selected

. SO , now days I am very happy but have tension of my MBA 3 sem exams which are due in December 1st week.
HERE ARE MY SUGGESTIONS TO OTHER PUYS---
1-My strategy of just practicing previous papers and not preparing my weak point(maths) was not good so prep well for weak area. By doing so you will score good in written, which is most important.
2-Prep gk by making notes of monthly magazine(pd,bsc,internet sites):)
3-Previous papers are most important aspect prep.
4-MOST IMPORATNT--- HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF.

Best of luck to allThank you PG, thank you friends.

p.s- Even now havent opened brand new r s agarawal,will open it for RBI, hope so..