SBI PO + IBPS PO 2020

We continually keep thinking about adding more value to our offerings, and make changes accordingly, based on our observations and understanding of things. You may think of it as product enhancement that any progressive organization would want to do. Even this program will be significantly enhanced as compared to the one we offered last year. Apart from the usual updation/optimization of the content, we will add at least 55-60 new sessions to the course module, keeping in mind the latest pattern and the changing requirements of the exams. We will add the kind of questions that have been asked recently, their variations, and also the problems that we expect can be asked in the exam going forward. The idea is to give students more exposure to new and unseen problems, develop their thinking and problem-solving abilities, and equip them with the ability to handle anything that the exam may throw at them. Also, the mock tests discussed will be new, and even the other live sessions generally tend to be a little different every time. We can confidently say that this one will undoubtedly be Meritshine's most comprehensive preparatory program till date.

We have realized from our experience that most of our students like to watch the concept sessions in the pre-recorded mode since that gives them the freedom to learn at their own pace. So, we will cover all the concepts, fundamentals, solved problems, tips & tricks in the pre-recorded classes. You are still expected to treat each pre-recorded session like a live class and watch it on the day of the release itself. The delivery style will be very similar to a live class, and you will need to keep pausing the video in between and following the instructions. Depending on your comfort level with a particular subject, a pre-recorded session will take anything from 2 to 3 hours for you to complete. Since the pre-recorded sessions are more crisp, that enables us to add more content to them making them much more exhaustive. The live sessions will be dedicated to things like test analyses, higher-level problems, queries, doubts, general advice, motivation and other stuff that needs interaction. Most of the live sessions would be conducted after doing the concepts.

No, you don't need anything else. The sheets will be given after all the concept sessions. The number of questions will vary based on the requirements of the topic. So, a particular session can have 100 questions while another can have just 25 questions. But whatever we give you will be sufficient to practise solving questions based on what you have learnt in the session. And then you will have loads of practice material in the form of Oliveboard's Bank Elite 2020 package, for which you will get a free subscription along with the program. Though there is no end to the amount of practice one can do, the exercise sheets along with the Oliveboard's practice material, will be more than one can finish. Needless to mention, no sheets will be required after doubt/strategy sessions, advanced problem-solving classes and mock analysis sessions.

That will depend on the actual exam dates. It's easy for us to finish the syllabus in a hurry, but that won't serve the purpose. The important thing is your understanding. We do not dump a lot of sessions on the students in one go. We share a schedule with the students, and pace the course according to the exam dates. The idea is to ensure it is not too early, not too late. If SBI PO 2020 is announced, we will pace the program according to its dates (since SBI PO is expected to happen earlier than IBPS PO). In the unlikely event of SBI PO 2020 not happening, we will follow the dates of IBPS PO 2020 while scheduling the sessions. But the syllabus will be finished much in advance in either case, do not worry.

These two exams are very very similar. So, you prepare for one, and you get prepared for the other one automatically. Anyone planning to appear for IBPS PO should take SBI PO as well (if it is announced), and this program will prepare you for both.

Yes, absolutely. Though, it is targeted towards SBI PO and IBPS PO 2020, this program will prepare you for all similar exams, including even the insurance exams. You will just need to customize your preparation a little, to take care of the peculiarities of that particular exam and practise using its mock tests (which would be available in Oliveboard's Bank Elite 2020 package that you will get for free along with the program). That way this program will prepare you for all the banking/insurance exams you are planning to take this year. However, please keep in mind that though this preparation will help you in so many other exams, the schedule of this program will be made keeping in mind the dates of SBI PO and IBPS PO only.

No, the content of these sessions will be completely different from that of any of our YouTube sessions. We will not repeat the content/questions/examples anywhere. The only thing similar will be basic rules/concepts/methodology, for topics that we have done on YouTube, which cannot be changed. This program will build further upon the knowledge that a student may have acquired from our YouTube lessons. We will cover a much larger variety of problems in this. All these sessions will be designed to augment your understanding of the subjects tested in the exam, in line with the latest exam pattern, and will include all kinds of questions that have been asked in the exam and their reasonable possible variations.

It is not mandatory for many topics, since we will do them from scratch. But it is still advisable to watch everything from our YouTube channel since the problems discussed would be different. We anyway believe that most of the students who enrol with us have already been through some of our content on YouTube. There are some parts like grammar, vedic math, puzzles, etc. that need to be done compulsorily from our YouTube channnel first. We will not repeat them in the paid program sessions (that would be a waste of time) and would rather do new sessions using their further applications to optimize the learning experience. We will discuss all this in detail in the orientation session of the program.

Through a closed community, much like the "Meritshine Study Group" on facebook, but much better managed and controlled since the number of students will be much smaller. Though we always try to respond to every single student on any of our platforms, please don't enrol if you expect "individual doubt solving sessions" from the teachers. It will not be a practical expectation. In fact, it is just a buzzword generally used for selling classroom programs. Nothing works better than collective wisdom if the people are smart, like-minded and focused. Moreover, most of the doubts are common. So, if you are regular and sincere, you would realize that most of the things you wanted to ask are getting answered automatically. In fact, you get to learn a lot of other interesting and useful things as well, by going through other students' queries and their responses. When a few good people interact, they learn from each other and are generally able to find solutions to even the most complicated of problems. Whenever needed, we will be available for contributing to the discussions and helping you with your questions. No queries go unanswered on the platform unless they are irrelevant or repeated. Our past students can vouch for that. If there is something that we feel requires more attention, we will take it up during the sessions. All the students are expected to visit the page regularly and participate. There will be no spam or useless talk over there. It'll just have what you need - relevant academic stuff.

Yes, it is very important. While our course, in itself, is very powerful in terms of content and pedagogy as compared to other ordinary video courses, this group is one of the reasons why this program brings a lot more value. Apart from what we have mentioned above, there are some activities which are just not possible to do individually. For example, we generally open a thread to give feedback on descriptive writing to the interested students. We can do it individually as well for a few students, but then it won't benefit everyone. So, we do it on the group. Even if one chooses not to put his/her piece for evaluation, one can still learn by looking at what others have written and the feedback they have received. That's the utility of a good community. For anybody, who feels facebook may prove to be a distraction, we advise creating a separate ID just for this program. Do not add any friends to it, do not browse, just use this group through that ID. And you will soon realize how powerful a tool FB can be. You just need to learn to use it optimally for your studies. It has worked for thousands of students earlier. It will work for you as well.

We understand it is a little tough to learn in a language which we are not used to, but you must have passed that stage already if you are reading this page, and have been through our YouTube lessons. Now, it is just a matter of continuing further and getting better at the language every day. Many of our students are from Hindi medium. They try, they face some problems, at times, initially, but then, they start getting it easily after some time. How should you deal with any weakness of yours? By taking it Head-On. It's the same that's needed here. Please understand that English is a language, not just a subject. It takes time to master unlike some other subjects. Start reading, writing, watching English News channels, and conversing in English, regularly. Make it a part of your life. Embrace it! You will get comfortable gradually. You need to be good at English, not only to clear this exam, but also to do well in your professional life. There is a reason they check your English skills. 90 out of 250 marks are allotted to English in this exam, isn't it... Why? Because basic understanding of English will be important even when you start working.

All of us are very comfortable teaching in Hindi. In fact, we thought about teaching in Hindi a few times, but the reasons mentioned above stopped us from doing it, every time. Being able to understand the basic English that we speak may be the first step in the right direction for many of you. That's our way of persuading you to get more comfortable with English. And it has worked for so many of our students, who now feel they carried this "English problem" for too long when they could have dealt with it much earlier.

As far as conducting a bilingual program is concerned, it will be a sheer waste of time, for us and for our students. The same thing that we teach in 60 minutes will then take 120 minutes, isn't it... We have tried it in the past, and it did not work well. In fact, that mode used to irritate everyone. Imagine what it would be like for:

Please give it a thought. We do not want you to enrol with us if you think you will not understand what we teach because of your current level in English. Then our advice for you is to start preparing with our YouTube sessions first. After going through those, your English will definitely improve. So many of our students say that their English improved by attending not just our English classes, but also by watching our quant/di/puzzles sessions. Yes, that's the difference exposure makes. However, if you are okay at English, you can understand most of it, and it is just a matter of coming out of your comfort zone, it is time to do it now. This is about your career!

You will get the schedule of sessions in advance for the next few weeks. It will have the release dates of the pre-recorded classes as well as the dates of live sessions.

It will vary based on the stage at which the program is running. We will start with just 3 sessions per week for the first couple of weeks, since we will give you certain tasks to complete initially, and then we will gradually keep increasing the frequency.

Sessions can be conducted both on weekdays and weekends. The students will come to know about the exact schedule for the next few weeks in advance, so that they can plan their studies accordingly. The time for both pre-recorded and live sessions will be 09:00 pm, irrespective of the day of the week. Since all the sessions will remain available till the expiry of the program, you need not worry about missing any sessions.

No, they will look and sound much better since they will be recorded for this purpose only.

Yes, it can be done by watching the video recording of the live session on your course portal. You will be able to watch the recording of any particular live session, a day after the session has been conducted.

There is no limit as such, to the number of times you can watch them. If required, you can do it multiple times, as long as you don't misuse it.

This program is designed for a single person, and has been priced accordingly. You are not supposed to share your login credentials with others. As long as you are not planning to do that, you don't have a reason to worry.

Though it varies depending upon the content of the session, the data consumed during a session rarely exceeds 500 MB. Most of the times, it is less than that. However, we recommend having a good data plan, since this course will require availability of good internet at every stage.

The size of these videos will generally vary from 200 to 500 MB, depending upon the type of content.

Yes, you can, if your device runs on Android 4.4 (Kitkat) or above.

No, the app required to run the videos isn't available for iOS yet. You will need either an Android phone or a computer.

No, you don't need to buy anything else or use anything else apart from what we provide you. It is more than sufficient.

Yes, we have made this change in the admission process of this program. What we had, wasn't really a selection/screening process, but a simple exercise to ensure we got sincere students who could understand and appreciate the way we teach. It was designed three years back, when we had started offering paid programs. We were very new to this back then, and most students did not know us well enough. The primary purpose of the exercise was to avoid any expectation mismatch, and counsel those students who we thought would not fit into the program. We did not even have a webpage like this at that time, to explain our program offering. So some students found it tough to understand our expectations. Now, after spending this much time in the industry, we have realized that most of the students who are interested in our paid programs know about us and have gone through at least some part of our YouTube content. Going through this page also helps them take an informed decision. It was also apparent from the quality of forms we received in the last couple of programs we offered. So we decided to do away with that exercise in the admission process and make it smoother for the interested students. Our expectation now from the students is to just read this page carefully and then take a decision on their own.

We have put loads of good, relevant, structured content on our YouTube channel for everybody to use, including but not limited to, the SBI PO 2017 program. Study from it, follow the advice, practise hard and you should do well. There genuinely are some people who are in a bad financial shape, and cannot afford any kind of paid program. So for them, it's a complete package. And that's the reason we don't intend to remove it and keep saying that it is complete in itself.
Our paid programs are meant to build further upon this understanding that you get from our YouTube lessons. They cover a much larger variety of problems, and are meant for those students only who want a deeper engagement with a focused group. So, if one understands the way we teach, and is willing to put in the extra effort, and managing the program fees is not too much of an issue, the program is definitely going to take him/her a couple of levels above from the current position. For example, if we discussed "x" problems of Arithmetic/DI on YouTube, here the number will be like "4x", with all the variety possible. So, the depth and the range will be much more. Basically, the idea is to anticipate and cover every relevant thing that can come in the exam. And familiarity with questions and their optimal solutions does help at the time you attempt the questions in any exam.
And always remember that it's a competitive exam, not your 10th Std. board paper. So there is no end to how much more you can do, unless of course you are AIR-1 already. Get as much as you can at every stage. Every mark counts. Ideally, try to get so much in the written part that the Interview/GE becomes just incidental. Take no chances!

Yes, there will be some similarities in the content and there will be a few common concept sessions as well. However, the two offerings will be quite different. A large number of sessions (70-75%) and also, other things like the flow of sessions, class exercise sheets, test series, mock analysis sessions, doubts & strategy sessions, etc. will be unique to this program.

No, that's not possible. We understand that prelims and mains are two vastly different exams and the approach to crack them is also different. However, the preparation is linked quite closely. One has to start working for prelims first, and then take it up a level higher for mains.

We are sorry; that's not an option. It is a comprehensive program covering the syllabus of English, QA/DI and Reasoning for both Prelims and Mains. We run our programs in batches, like real classes, and it's not possible for us to make multiple variations of those batches. If we try dividing the students subject-wise, the program would be reduced to just multiple video courses. And we do not want to offer video courses, not currently at least. What we offer is a very powerful complete preparatory program after which you won't need anything else to crack the exams. It offers all the functionality of a conventional classroom program, and much better features, powered by technology.

All such people should not enrol:
- Anybody who cannot work hard, and thinks just watching the sessions will get him/her selected because so many people attribute their success to Meritshine. That's not gonna happen. We guided them and they worked hard. That's how it happened.
- Anybody who expects special individual attention from us. That will be an unrealistic expectation. Though, we are always ready to answer any questions, we won't make you believe it will be like "individual tutoring". Don't join us if that's the reason. (However, all our students know, we try to respond to every single query even on our YouTube channel and our FB group. What we can say is that unless you have impractical expectations about personal attention, you will not feel disappointed.)
- Anybody who finds it difficult to understand the English spoken by us. Please check our YouTube sessions for that. The program will not be bilingual; it will be in English only.
- Anybody who wants to just learn the basics, and doesn't really expect to get selected. We discourage you to join the program since the program will be quite rigorous in nature. Watch our YouTube sessions first. There is so much to learn from there. Join our next program, once you are comfortable with how we teach.
- Anybody with poor internet connectivity and/or no decent device to attend the sessions.

No, our platform does not have the functionality of accepting part payments.

There are a couple of reasons for that:
- We advise all our students to make notes in the classes for revision later, the way you do in a conventional classroom. That is the way to study properly, not watching the videos again and again. It will be a waste of time. You should ideally finish a class in one session/sitting, by watching it at your own pace, rewinding/pausing/re-running select portions as per your requirements. After that session, it should just be the class notes made by you. If you do it like this, you won't need the videos after IBPS PO 2020 mains anyway. Hundreds of our past students can vouch for this. We want you to succeed this time itself. (If you are one of those who do not intend to finish everything before IBPS PO 2020 mains, for any reason whatsoever, you are better off avoiding this program.)
- There is a substantial cost involved with the maintenance and upkeep of encrypted content on the servers. When we did our calculations, we took into account this period only, otherwise the course fee would have gone much higher.

No, they will not work after the expiry of course validity.

There will be no separate sessions as such for Group Exercises and Personal Interview preparation in this program. However, there is a lot of stuff that we have already done for that on our YouTube channel, which is enough for anybody to understand what all needs to be done. Thousands of students have done phenomenally well in the personality assessment stage of various exams by using just that. We will do more, as and when needed. After that, it is your homework that makes you crack the personality assessment stage. Having said that, we are always open to a quick phone call from a sincere student going to appear for an interview. Our past students will vouch for that.

Yes, we will do that, and then expect you to work regularly towards it. That's the only way you start writing better. We encourage students to use the closed group to share what they have written and take feedback from others. When the main exam is approaching, we also conduct some exercise for interested students on the group to test their writing skills.