Hello, potential officers. I feel extremely privileged to have the opportunity to walk you through my pursuit to join the Indian Army. My story started in 2012, I had cleared my NDA written and was all set to join the esteemed National Defence Academy. For this I didn’t want to leave any stone unturned and also took coaching. I still consider it as the BIGGEST BLUNDER of my life, the coaching made me too much conscious and anxious. It placed a mental block in my mind and as a result, I was not able to think freely. It made me an IMPOSTER that too a bad IMPOSTER of a military leader.
As a young Delhi chap, full of Josh, I went to Allahabad, got conferenced out, it was a shock. After couple of months, I visited Varanasi, got conferenced out again, the MENTAL BLOCK still haunted me and I felt a sickness in me. This sickness came due to my inability of being GENUINELY MYSELF, the coaching I received had put a veil on my real personality and transformed me into a PET PARROT who repeats what he’s told without using his mental faculty. I longed for Freedom, I wanted to free my mind of this bondage. Then I came across a book “My Appointment with a Psychologist”, don’t worry! Its free and you can download it here. This book explained in detail the psychological profile of a suitable candidate for the forces, I read and re-read it many times till its lessons were ingrained in my mind. I felt liberated as the confusion surrounding the SSB slowly faded and I felt confident that I can be what they are looking for.
I didn’t look back from then on, I was not a good leader back then, I lacked persuasion, decision making, managing men n material, public speaking, mental and physical stamina. In the past 3 years I worked extensively on developing my leadership potential . I participated in various competitions, organized events and served at various leadership positions at NCC, co-curricular clubs, class representative etc. I did a lot of reading – newspapers, books, blogs etc. I kept hunting for knowledge about anything and everything relevant to FAUJ. I did a lot of adventure activities at various esteemed institutes in the country which includes Rock climbing, mountaineering, paragliding, rafting, skiing , trekking etc.
Some say that taking coaching shows your interest in joining the forces. For some it’s the first hand experience of the SSB environment. I feel going to an institute is OKAY as long as you don’t get influenced too much by them, especially in the Psych tests. Having an experience in GTO and Interview is always a help. Even if you want to go for it, just keep one little advice in mind- Never compromise your true self, always maintain the originality of your responses and you are at the liberty to express the same responses in a better way. So if someone helps you in tweaking your responses and at the same time respects the originality of your response, make him your GURU.
Then in December 2015 I went for my third attempt in Bangalore, I was pretty confident this time as I felt I had done my homework. I was relatively at ease from the beginning. I did my psych test with 0% stress and for the first time enjoyed it, I myself was astonished by my performance, in WAT I was often left with 2-3 seconds to relax before the next word is projected. I did 35 SRTs only , I didn’t practice before and it was pointed out by the IO. My interview lasted for hardly 15 minutes, it went good. I gave to the point replies and he looked fairly satisfied. I blew it in the GTOs. I went for it with full and extra josh and enthusiasm than I naturally project. In PGT, our GTO told that Army jawans have finished this task in 18 minutes and that he expected better from us. I remember in the back of my mind, I smirked and thought, “ this task is not worth 18 minutes I’ll get it done in 15”. That’s it, then and there I became the victim of the stress that the GTO created by adding a time constraint. I was regulating almost everything, from the front, my tone and tenor were far from being polite, also projecting a bad body language (constructed eyebrow, palms down and directing), I openly showed dissatisfaction and lost my composure. For me the completing the task was paramount and I neglected the interpersonal relationships n courtesies. In GD, there was a guy sitting next to me who was way too dominant, he spoke constantly and interrupted everyone, this made me insecure. I gave in to the pressure and joined the chaos sponsored by him. Again as the heavens had decided to teach me a lesson, I was conferenced out for the 3rd time. But something peculiar about this SSB was, I felt I just missed the bull eye by a little fraction and rather than being shocked by the result I kept pondering and introspecting. This helped me in zeroing into my grey areas and subsequently transform myself into a better being, more officer like.
Lessons That I learnt from 3rd attempt:
- Giving into the chaos is detrimental
- Being in total control of your emotions in paramount
- Cooperation and exchange of ideas make a good team player
- GTO is a team sport
- Good relation with group mates ensure cooperation on ground
- Positive body language influences people
- Calm and assertive people are accepted and heard to
As soon as I was conferenced out my mind was racing with all the mistakes I did, I introspected and discovered things that henceforth I didn’t give much importance to. I learnt about projecting a positive and widely accepted body language, worked on my tone and tenor, developed my patience while persuading someone, did more listening than talking, observed my friend’s body language and tone and pace of speaking and its effect on the group. I talked to my group mates, took their feedbacks, improved the grey areas, took some tips from them and at the same time maintained the originality of my responses, participated in GDs, practiced Psych tests, GDs, GPEs etc
I resolved not to ever give into stress. I read experiences of recommended candidates from online blogs and figured out the commonality i.e. staying composed and balanced throughout the testing and now I know that is what MATURITY really is. People all around us will keep on testing our patience and limit, giving into these cheapness by showing anger, frustration etc is a WEAKNESS. Keeping all the interactions positive and healthy helps in building long term and trusting relationships and this helps in generating cooperation on the GTO ground.
Then in Feb 2016 I went to NSB Coimbatore, there I hit the deepest low of my story. I was aghast at getting screened out. The reason for this was by the time I decided to speak in the GD the GTO signalled the closure of the discussion, my contribution towards the GD was 0%. However I took this failure as a reminder of my weaknesses and vowed to correct them before the next attempt. In the same month, I went to Bangalore. Got screened in, sailed through the rest of the tests acing it in the process and the rest is HISTORY.
Psych Tests:
These series of tests are testing your imagination and probing your thought process. In each test a STIMULUS is provided in terms of a Picture, a word or a situation. Our job is to let the stimulus sink in and then observe how our brain processes it. You’ll be amazed by the power of your brain my friend, let it do the dirty work of thinking, your job is to just paste the thoughts ditto on the paper. And for the brain to work freely it has to be calm.
1) TAT: I wrote all stories very spontaneously as I had not prepared for it this time, I wanted it to be as natural as possible. The Golden Tip- Revolve the stories around your life events, never make the Hero do something that you yourself can’t do in real life e.g.if you are a Cyclist, you are free to imagine a Triathlon but not driving a train out of the trap of terrorists. Keep in mind that 30 seconds on the battlefield could mean Victory or Defeat, so make a decision quick. Imagine a theme, give hero’s identification in a line, identify the situation in next 1-2 line, give the actions undertaken by the hero to solve the situation in the next 4-5 lines and finally give a positive future in 2 more lines . The story must project your OLQs e.g. Intelligence, sense of responsibility, courage, determination , mental stamina etc. And if you really are a leader in your domain, this test is going to be very enjoyable. Make a good blank story beforehand, relate it to your life, hobby, aspiration etc.
2) WAT:I put all my thoughts clearly n concisely, most of my sentences consisted 4-6 words only. The Golden Tip- Reading positive books helps in triggering positive thoughts, the more you read the less you are out of ideas so folks read on. One Para SF officer once told me, “The one who reads, LEADS”. Again 15s are more than enough to think and put down a nice thought, usually I used to be left with 2-3 s to relax before the next word flashed. Sometimes we leave a word or two, may be because no good thought had come up, best thing to do here is relax and focus on the immediate word rather than stressing about the lost opportunity. And that is true for life, for taking a good decision the mind must be calm and composed all the time. Stress exists everywhere and the moment we fall victim to it by giving it too much consideration, we tend to become indecisive. Think about it, how can a non living thing i.e. STRESS make you its slave. Break Free Warriors!!
3) SRT: I did 59/60. Ok I know it’s a scary number but it is possible. The Golden Tip- Practice SRTs on apps and books, time yourself and after finishing each test improvise the responses, make them shorter and crispier. Never give a response bigger than one line, in fact in a few SRTs I gave 2-3 word response only. Nobody is checking your grammar here, so put your actions separated by commas. E.g. 1.His company commander tells him to jump off a snowy cliff so he……..obeys……. 2. He was going to market and few miscreant s were teasing a girl so he……. Rescues girl, warns them sternly……..See here I could have put a bigger response like this- Intervenes, calls police, calls friends, with the help of others catches the miscreants, hand them to police, frees the girls, spread awareness of women help line, get CCTV installed in market, appoint a voluntary force to check eve teasing etc. I hope you got the point i.e. you can do a lot to solve a problem but the question is will you really do all that you wrote? They are seeking the most spontaneous response, so give them that. Writing long responses will eat up your time so write what you really gonna do . And yeah in TAT you are at liberty to give many action and solutions to a problem. Final word of advise is TREAT SRT and TAT differently. SRT demands short responses and the TAT demands more mature and long term responses, considering the past, present and future. There are no right and wrong answer, everyone acts differently in different situation. There are basically 3 ways to deal with any situation, one might compromise, other one might attack and another might retreat. Keep it in mind that each of these responses show equal level of intelligence so feel free to be GENUINE.
4) SD: I had prepared it beforehand and was able to do it within 15 min. The Golden Tip- Go to all the parties (friends, parents, teachers) personally and ask for their opinions about you. Then draft each party’s opinion in 2-3 pages and finally compress them all to 5-6 lines. All the opinions must be coherent i.e. none should contradict the other.
GTO:
The GTO tests the behaviour of an individual in group. Is the individual a team player? Is he cooperative? Is he a threat to the common good? Is he intelligent? Does his contributions take the group closer to their goal? Does he give up under stress? Can he deal with other candidates emotions and influence them? Is he dominating others? Is he courteous to his colleages Etc. These are most of the things that the GTO is probing a candidate for. To the repeaters I have a question, What if a WAR breaks out and your GTO group has to decide the action plan within a few minutes, Do you think INDIA will ever win the WAR that way? The answer is quite clear, the GTO is looking for the people who can cooperate under stressful situations keeping their composure intact.
- GD: We discussed on 2 topics, a) Pollution b) Live-in relationships. I gave my unemotional opinions 2-3 times only in both the GDs. The Golden Tip- Communication is 80% listening and 20% speaking. While speaking never go beyond 30s mark, once you do that u make others insecure and they are naturally hardwired to be defensive to your opinion. Be open to others opinion and never show disagreement openly. You’ve got to be very courteous while talking. When you do that you will pass as a friend of everyone and that is the seed to effective leadership. Once your group mates realise that you are not detrimental to their survival they will cooperate with you and accept you as a well wisher. Keep your opinions short , crisp and full of content. Whenever you speak , your contribution must take the group FORWARD. Again a positive and friendly body language helps in your acceptance in the group. Keep check on your facial expressions as it distracts the audience from your words.
- GPE:I wrote down a very concise plan, first I mentioned the problems then gave the plan in hardly 12-15 lines keeping time and distance in consideration. In discussion we developed a good plan, I helped in the process by creating consensus between the members where precious time was being wasted and kept a check on my tone and tenor and expressed myself as politely as possible. The GTO tried to pressurise us by interrupting again and again, by quoting the time remaining. But my group was very sane and did not become a victim of his tactics. Kudos to them!!
- PGT, HGT,FGT, CT: This time I was very calm and composed in my approach and didn’t feel the need to shout my suggestions instead I kept on analysing the obstacle and as soon as I ‘d discover a solution I’d propose it very politely to my group members showing a very positive and friendly body language. The group accepted me as their defacto Commander. No I did not dominate them, no I did not shun away their ideas no matter how dumb they were, no I didn’t hinder anybody’s performance. All I did was showing respect towards them and their ideas and in return they showed respect to me and my ideas. Now its your turn to guess, Who got our ship sail out of the TSUNAMI? . It’s the GTO’s job to put pressure on you and distract you, if you do give into his tactics you are making the GTO the WINNER. It so happened that the GTO tried his level best to deter and distract me by hurling negative remarks, but guess what, I did not give a F**k!! And kept my focus on my job that was to get the team through the obstacles. Cooperation is the key here.
- IO: I did 11, could have done more. Here the sequence in which you attempt matters. If you are spending more time on the ground and less on the obstacle , it shows you lack organizing ability.
- Lecturette: I chose to speak on “ Declining Sex ratio in India”. Spoke pretty well. The Golden Tip- Decide within 10 seconds the topic then divide the topic into sections e.g. Intro, elaboration, causes, effects , future, conclusion etc. Now rehearse once over each section and nail it!!
- GOR: This shows your team spirit, as in this test nobody has to use their intellect , the real personality of yours surfaces. If you have ever played a team sport , this test is a cake walk for you. Basic qualities usually projected in this test are Liveliness, Physical stamina, Sense of responsibility, Cooperation, Initiative and Team spirit.
Interview
This time the interview was by the book type, He asked about Education, Friends, Teachers, Family Hobbies , GK etc. Then the most important question, ”Why didn’t you make it the last time?”. To all the questions I gave concise and to the point replies without beating around the bush. An experienced IO once told me,” Always catch the bull by its horns”. Never bore the IO with the irrelevant , give him the CREAM. Again unnecessary body movements must be checked and a pleasant smile always helps. The IO sometimes might ridicule you, its his tactic of creating stress. Keep calm because its his job, he has no hard feelings. Never get into direct confrontation with him, it projects rigid personality. But still if you feel you are correct, reason it out very politely. He is at liberty to lose his cool, you are not.
That was my story. I am eagerly waiting for yours. Leave your queries in the comment section I’d be more than happy to help you all. In fact it will a thing of pride if I can help one aspirant make his dream a reality and thereby add one more Soldier to our armed forces. Keep preparing and work hard in the right direction, it might take long but the patience and perseverance will pay for sure. Success loves the WARRIOR who doesn’t leave the ARENA. All the best!
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