Strategy for IRDAI Assistant Manager Exam 2017

Declaration: This post is absolutely my view and you have every right to disagree. Accept only if you find slightest  possibility of some benefit or if you can relate with it

Tentative schedule so that you can design your study plan accordingly.

	Last year's dates (Based on memory)	This year's probable dates* (Based on last year's experience)
Phase 1	27th Feb 2016	4th Oct 2017
Phase 1 result	9th March 2016	Within one week
Phase 2	3rd April 2016	Around 5th Nov 2017
Phase 2 Result	3rd May 2016	Around 5th Dec 2017
Interview date	18th May 2016	By 25th Dec 2017
Final Result	27th May 2016	By 31st Dec 2017
Joining date	3rd July 2016	29th Jan 2018 or 5th Feb 2018

* I may be wrong in predicting this

From messages/queries, I realized that most of you have confusions and doubts mainly regarding phase 2. Even we also faced similar confusions last year especially about what to refer and what not to.

First of all understand that this exam demands very basic knowledge of insurance sector touching few important aspects of it. We are not here for doing PhD. 40 days of focused study is absolutelly sufficient to gain this basic knowledge of insurance sector. Try to cover every topic given in the syllabus but avoid too much depth in that particular topic. 

Resources & Strategy:

A) For Insurance related topics in syllabus (Paper 2 and Part 1 of Paper 3):

1.Internet:

Through Internet, I got relevant newspapers articles from past, PDFs on insurance topics,etc which were important for our exam.

(While using internet, always keep in mind that you are appearing for generalist exam and you are not becoming research professional. You need to know where to put full stop while searching for proper information relevant for exam. That is the skill.)

2.Books by Insurance Institute of India (III)

You can refer to following 

IC-01- Principles of insurance

IC-02 - Practice of life insurance

IC-11 -  Practice of General insurance

IC-14 - Regulation of Insurance Business

IC-90 - Human resource management

IC-01 will be Bible/Gita/Quran for all of you. Those who dont know A,B,C,D of insurance field can become familiar with Insurance through this IC-01. Few of the Insurance related questions in exam will revolve around this IC-01.

Have selective reading of IC-02, IC-11,IC-14, IC-90

3.Video lectures on youtube for Insurance topic by Mrunal and Learningspace. I watched them twice/thrice. Both these channels were really useful for both the phases especially for Essay part.

4.Part 1 : Policies and Programmes of Annual report by Honorable IRDAI.  

This will provide you latest statistics in Insurance market.This will add weight to your answers.

B) For English:

Writing practice is key in this paper. You can actually write few essays  till 20th or 25th September depending upon your convenience. 

In exam, you won't get time to think and then write. Especially you will have to write Essay spontaneously. So, more you practice, more qualitative writing can be produced even if it is spontaneous.

Essay topics were not related with Insurance only. I remember that I wrote essay on some analytical topic related with Budget 2016-17. There was another topic on social media also. Essay topic names themselves were long ones requiring us to read the topic again and again. We needed to be careful in not loosing focus from central theme of essay topic. 

C) Management:

I would suggest you to refer Edutap management material (Very comprehensive ) and Public administration book by Laxmikant (I read it for some other exams but you can neglect this choice). IC-90 is also useful for this section, according to few of my seniors.

Around 40-45 marks questions were from Management section. I remember there was one question regarding Theory X & Y and other was on JoHari Window. Both were for 15 marks each if I am able to recall correctly.Also, there was one case study which i skipped because of paucity of time.

You can also refer to Management questions asked in RBI Grade B phase 2 when descriptive pattern was there.

Every candidate faced few issues while completing English paper and Paper 3 last year . Hence, keep in mind about speed of writing. 

Speed of writing will come from easy recalling of points.Easy recalling of points comes from good preparation. Good preparation comes from frequent and regular revisions. Therefore, I reiterate. Keep your resources to minimum and revise as many times as possible. Ten point formula will be very useful for your preparation.I will explain this in following paragraphs.

How I studied:

Much of my study was through online mode. I will say it was like 70% through online mode and 30% through III books.I prepared notes for most of the topics in syllabus from both Online and offline modes. I applied Ten point formula.That is, I tried to prepare around 10 points for every topic mentioned in syllabus. (I skipped few topics and also I could generate only 5-6 points on few topics).

Pick a topic from syllabus e.g. Insurance sector contribution in economic development. Google it. You will find good material on that particular topic especially newspaper articles, few small pdfs (max 5 page). I used to prepare notes from whatever I read, filtering unnecessary data.

I revised my notes for around 4-5 times. In exam, you wont have much time to think. So everything must be ready in your mind. For this frequent and regular revision is very much necessary.

ANSWERS to other queries:

• No numericals were asked last year.
• Banking related questions were asked both in Phase 1 and phase 2. In phase 2, monetary policy tools related question was asked. Also, questions were there on one of the principles of insurance and Types of risk. Both these topics were covered in IC-01.
• Actually insurance related questions were not there in phase 1 last year. But, this might change this year.

My suggestions for Phase 2 Study:

Divide your study for phase 2 in two parts. First, before 20th or 25th September and Second, immediately after Phase 1.

Part 1:
During this part, get familiar with insurance related terms.Try to read maximum of the resources I have enlisted above. 

Also, few topics of phase 2 will be useful for phase 1. e.g. History of Insurance, Principles of insurance, Budget, Economic survey, current affairs,etc. Try to finish these overlapping topics first. Complete at least one readings of Management section. Start writing few essays and answers.

Part 2:
Write as much as you can. Writing practice will be crucial. More focus should be on writing. Get your answers/essays evaluated from your teachers/friends. Finish those topics which you could not complete in part 1 of your preparation.

Note:

I tried to find/recall questions asked in Phase 2 of last year for your reference purpose but could not recollect them. 

Phase 1 

This phase is the most important and most competitive of all the stages. Prepare current affairs for at least 6 months prior to September 2017 in reverse order. Budget and economic survey will be very important for both the phases.You can read summary of these documents. 

Phase 1 clear nahi karoge to main exam hi likh nahi paoge.

Hence, give much importance to phase 1 also. Solve as many Tests as possible. Don't predict difficulty level of any phase in advance. Try to solve difficult Tests also.Prepare everything and expect nothing

As told earlier, last year, insurance related questions in GK part of phase 1 were mising. Instead they asked few questions related with banking in phase 1. But, this may not repeat this time. Prepare for both banking and insurance basics/current affairs to be on safer side. 

All the best. I will be happy to give my further suggestions  on exam related aspects and solve your doubts / confusions. 

Also, if time permits, evaluation of few of your essays/answers can be planned. 

Thank you

Akshay Harishchandra Gholve

Some information provided above especially regarding last year exam is memory based. Pardon me if few mistakes are found in it.

This particular blog is in an attempt to reduce the disadvantages faced by aspirants especially those who can not afford coaching. I, myself , did not take/join any coaching or test series for cracking this exam. Also, I am not advertising any particular website,book,coaching class. I tried to share my experience of preparation for exam. I positively hope that it will help many of you serious aspirants.

IRDAI Assistant Manager: Job related details

Job Profile:

First, recently nomenclature for the post has been changed from Junior officer to Assistant Manager. We were recruited as Junior officers last year.

In any organisation, Job profile actually depends upon which department you are allocated to. But generally as an Assistant Manager, one imp common task performed on daily basis is Preparation office notes. Preparation of office notes and getting it approved from higher management is typical of most of the government organisation.

What is office note:
Official receives a file/documents containing around 50 to 200 odd pages on your table . Decision making on that particular file actually rests with Higher management. Due to paucity of time, Higher management can not read each and every thing from that particular file. Here, you become the eyes, ears and philosopher for your higher management. You need to simplify the complexities involved inside file mainly through your writing skills.You need to make management's life simple while arriving at decision.In short, Office note is an official document where you will summarize the issues involved in particular file.

Writing skills are very much important for this work. Hence, descriptive pattern of phase 2 of this exam is much more relevant  considering work you need to do as an Assistant Manager.

Work here is of very specialized nature and may become monotonous once you understand nitty gritty of your job.

Work-Life Balance:

Its typical 9.30 to 5.30 office job. Hardly you need to sit after 6 o'clock in office. Saturday,Sunday will be entirely yours. During office hours, you wont feel much pressure of work. You wont feel exhausted at the end of office.I will easily rank this job as Top job if work life balance criteria  is to be considered.

Salary:

You will get around 67500/month in hand. This is including HRA of Rs 27K. IRDAI wont provide any type of accommodation to you. 
If all other allowances like sodexo, maid allowance, petrol allowance, etc are calculated monthly basis, you will get around 20K to 22K additional per month.

Career Prospects:

Hierarchy is like below:
Assistant Manager - Manager - Assistant General Manager - Deputy General Manager - General Manager- Chief General Manager- Executive Director.
On an average after 5 years you will be eligible for promotion.

But these things are time dependent.This career progression may change in future.

Transfer Policy:

Last year, all 23 Assistant Managers joined at Hyderabad only. Currently IRDAI has offices at Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. Opening up of offices in other cities is under pipeline and make take few years.
Very negligible chances of getting posted or getting transfer in Delhi. Chances of getting transfer in Mumbai are comparatively good.

You will spend most of the time of your career in Hyderabad, considering recent organisational changes.

The training you will have after your selection will be one of the best training you would come across.

I can easily say that this job is definitely a dark horse amongst all the Finacial sector Jobs.This is one of the best jobs you can have considering work-life balance, Stability, Salary.

Request: Let us first crack this high profile,highly competitive exam and then discuss these issues in detail.Request you to focus now on exam related queries and avoid asking further on job related aspects. 

Thank you
Akshay Harishchandra Gholve