Many aspirants ask about the number of attempts they can have for SSB interview. As such there is no limit on the number of attempts, so you can apply for SSB interview and attend it till you are eligible age wise for a particular course, irrespective of the result of your previous written or SSB interview. Let’s talk more in detail about how many SSB attempts one can have in their lifetime. In this article, we will discuss the number of SSB attempts for Indian Army, Navy and Airforce (it doesn’t include Indian Coast Guard PSB/FSB). So, let’s divide it with respect to different training academies and the educational qualification.
SSB attempts after 10+2 as minimum qualification
- National Defence Academy (NDA-Army, Airforce and Navy): Male candidates can apply for NDA exam during and after his class 12th, so mostly you can apply and write NDA written exam three times (In few cases you will get four chances, depending on your age). So if you can clear NDA written exam all the three times, you can have three SSB interviews for NDA itself.
- OTA Gaya (Indian Army 10+2 Tech Entry): As NDA is a non-tech entry; male candidates after 12th can apply for technical entry scheme of Indian Army which is also known as TES entry. One must have a good percentage in PCM i.e. Physics, Chemistry and Math to get shortlisted for TES SSB interview. TES cut off mark stays around 82-85% (in PCM). Everyone who is eligible mostly gets three chances (age factor), though there is no limit for you till you are eligible by percentage and age.
- Indian Naval Academy (Indian Navy 10+2 B.Tech Entry): Indian Navy 10+2 cadet’s Technical entry is more or less similar to Indian army 10+2 TES entry. You need to have good percentage in 12th% (PCM) to get shortlisted for SSB interview. Again, one can have around three chances for this entry as well.
That’s it, so a candidate who is having PCM i.e. physics, chemistry and Mathematics in 10+2 can one can have almost around 9 SSB attempts during and after 12th. However, those who don’t have PCM are restricted to NDA only.
SSB attempts after Graduation as minimum qualification
You can apply for Indian Army from pre final and final year onward. There are few entries of male candidates in Pre-final year and for male and female candidates in final year.
- Indian Army-University Entry Scheme (only for engineering graduates): B.Tech and B.E. male students can apply for UES entry of Indian army in pre-final year once. Hence you get one chance for SSB here.
- Indian Navy -University Entry Scheme (only for engineering graduates): This entry is similar to Indian army UES entry. Hence male candidates can apply for this once in their pre-final year.
- Army Technical Entries (Only for engineering graduates): There are two entries under this; one is Technical Graduates Course (TGC) and Short Service Commission (Technical). They both are direct entry schemes without any written exam, and held twice every year by Indian Army. TGC is only for male candidates but SSC-Tech is for both male and female. Starting from their final year, one can apply for this entry but males must lie between the age of 20-27 years (for both entries) and females must lay between 19-25 years at the time of course commencement. So if we calculate roughly, eligible engineering male candidate can apply for both TGC and SSC-tech twice every year that is two SSB for TGC and two SSB for SSC-tech. So in four years, a male candidate can have 16 SSB interview with TGC and SSC-tech, and a female candidate can have 8 SSB attempts with SSCW-Tech. Of course, you can only apply till your age allows and your percentage lie in the cutoff.
- Combined Defence Services Examination Entries (CDSE): CDS is a written exam which is conducted by UPSC twice every year. Male candidates can join IMA, AFA, NA and OTA and females can join OTA. If you want to join IMA you can apply for it twice every year till the age of 24 years, for AFA till 23 years, NA till 22 years and for OTA till 25 years. So roughly you will have 4-6 SSB interviews with this entry if you qualify CDS written exam every time.
- Air Force Common Admission Test Entry (AFCAT): This is also a written exam conducted by Indian Air Force separately for flying, technical and Ground Duty branches. Candidates both male and female can apply for flying till the age of 23 years, for technical till 28 years and for Ground Duty until 23 years (in some special type of graduation there is relaxation in upper age limit, refer to the dedicated article for details). An engineering graduate has more number of chances since he or she can apply for technical branch till the age of 28 years. One can have easily 6-8 minimum SSB attempts with this entry.
- Indian Navy Directly Entries: Indian navy keeps on rolling their different entries like executive, technical, pilot etc. for which one can apply directly, though they select candidates based on their percentage in graduation. If you have good percentage, you can apply directly for Indian Navy 5-6 times. These entries are for men and women both.
There are so many different entries with different educational qualification and age criteria. Above, we have just calculated a rough estimate of how much chances a normal graduate can have. So, we can assume that one can easily avail 15-20 SSB interviews including both direct and written test entries, but you must have correct educational qualification, good percentage and correct age to avail more chances.
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