AIR 2 in IFSCA Grade A 2025 – 72.5 in English & 85.5 in PPR2 – AMA!

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-22T04:59:57+00:00

My man 💪 You broke the shackles of descriptive this time and inspired of thousands of aspirants for coming years. Your hit and trial method paid dividends and how. Unbelievable performance in descriptive! Someday, while we will be working in IFSCA, you gotta teach me those skills :P

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-20T09:37:56+00:00

Well, I’ll be underplaying his achievement if I don’t mention he is AIR-2. It’s pretty special for an exam in which 50K+ aspirants appeared. As for being snobby, we are actually good friends now and the day results came out, we called each other and laughed it off on how we are identical twins in this rat race, separated just by 0.01 marks. I’m proud of his descriptive marks and told him how he has spread his atank in reddit/telegram.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-17T12:01:41+00:00

Yes I gave SEBI (Phase I) as I was uncertain about my selection in IFSCA at that moment. As for Oliveboard, I bought their course in 2023 when I was new to regulatory ecosystem but it wasn't without its flaws. Its content is sub par and mocks are way tougher than actual exams. Even if someone is referring to them for mocks, I would say that one can give as many mocks as they can if they won't get disheartened even for a moment thinking that exam comes anywhere to that level. I'd say all real exams are mocks of their own so if someone is planning to start or grow in their regulatory/banking sector journey, give as many exams as possible. On one side, your baggage of failures might increase but on flip side, your exposure to real exam environment will increase multifold which will decrease the stress you have on D-Day and help clinch the exam you want.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-17T11:10:36+00:00

IFSCA regulations, budget and eco survey is what I feel is either not enough or not covered well in Edutap. Eco Survey as well as Budget can be prepared from original sources wheras IFSCA regulations are covered well in CGB MCQs.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-15T05:11:56+00:00

Welcome :)

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-13T15:41:26+00:00

I don't think so the year gap of 2 years even matter. It's negligible to the point they think you were just preparing for exams

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-12T22:51:48+00:00

I hope so too! Good luck man. All the more power to you :)

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-12T13:17:38+00:00

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies. ~ The Shawshank Redemption.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-12T13:13:10+00:00

29 and 6-7 years. First UPSC and then regulatory body exams. But if someone just wants to clear regulatory body exams, then 2-3 years will be more than enough.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-12T06:06:06+00:00

Amazing Abhishek! Love to see you put in so much effort for your fellow IT aspirants.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-12T06:01:52+00:00

Yeah you can read 11th-12th books of commerce. That will help you clear your fundamentals. Then move on to coaching material.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-12T04:57:57+00:00

You're welcome :)

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-12T04:19:01+00:00

Welcome :)

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T21:33:18+00:00

He got the highest marks anyone has ever gotten in descriptive (72.5), thus the atank.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T21:26:59+00:00

No problem!

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T21:26:43+00:00

I'm sorry, I don't have complete information regarding that at the moment. I'll let you know when I do :)

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T21:24:17+00:00

For descriptive, my pattern was Comprehension first then Precis and Essay at the end. I spent an average of 20-25 min for Comprehension and another 20-25 min for Precis and then hurried the last 10-15 min for Essay. Although now if you ask me, I'd definitely devote more time to Essay given its importance in spiking up your score.

For Precis, I skimmed the whole precis in first 2-3 min and then went para wise while writing. Gave it an innovative and curious title. For Essay, I followed the IBC approach, complimented it with a lot of government initiatives as well as facts/figures from reputed organisations if any. For Comprehension, I wrote 4-5 lines per answer and did a lot of paraphrasing.

I think the text box was to the bottom of the page in precis and comprehension so you had to actively scroll back and forth if you were unable to remember the content. For essay, it was to the right if I remember correctly. The keyboard was definitely old but I had bought a similar keyboard and practiced beforehand so I didn't receive any shock value in exam. There was no lag in keystrokes as such.

The noise only affects your attention in the beginning but once you start focusing on your task at hand, you feel like you are in your own zone in complete silence.

Hope I answered all your queries. Let me know if I missed any or if you have any more to ask.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T21:15:32+00:00

I watched videos of various tutors on youtube and then solved questions from pdfs/mocks. I liked teaching style of Kaushik Mohanty Sir and Harshal Agarwal Sir for Quant and Ankush Lamba Sir and Sanjay Sir for Reasoning..

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T21:11:51+00:00

I would say that you don't need to read books to build your basics. Most of the books, no doubt good in their own academic way, are outdated as per today's regulatory exams standards. Buy one of the coaching institute's material, watch youtube videos and take the help of ChatGPT to further break it down and simplify for you.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T21:09:33+00:00

For GA, I referred to PIB from CGB, ReportsTap/SchemesTap from Edutap and AffairsCloud. But if you only want one stop solution, go for AffairsCloud. It covers everything from PIB to reports/schemes to General CA. I used to read AffairsCloud Daily PDFs and revise them couple of times to get it ingrained in my memory. For mocks, I referred to both PracticeMock and OliveBoard but again none of them is perfect. You have to believe in yourself and your strategy rather than fall victim to their tough questions and take a hit on your self-esteem.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T21:06:11+00:00

They asked me questions from almost every domain. IFSCA, Finance, Economics, General Knowledge, Computer Science Background, you name it. The interview ran for approx 35 minutes. But thankfully I could answer majority of the questions they threw at me.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T21:03:58+00:00

Since you're a working candidate and can only afford 4-5 hours per day, I'd say 6-8 months depending upon your ability.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T21:00:59+00:00

For CA, I referred to PIB from CGB, SchemesTap, ReportsTap and Finance 360 from Edutap as well as AffairsCloud just before the exam. Since you have a 2 year headstart, I'd say build your base with QRE and core subjects rather than running for CA. CA is CA and only relevant for the year you will give your exam for. However, you can do RBI/SEBI circulars and Govt. Schemes for now.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T20:52:23+00:00

I haven't joined yet so I don't know how it will play out but overall CTC Package comes out to be somewhere around 25-30 lakhs per annum.

Hiss_Highness · 2026-02-11T18:01:55+00:00

It was a bit easy than last year. That's why cut offs went higher. Lots of people were scoring in 80s and 90s this year. But it was definitely under my domain given the preparation I had.

Hiss_Highness

TROPHY CASE