I am Anirudh Gunturu and here I am narrating my experience of clearing Indian Army and Indian Navy SSB in 2 consecutive attempts. The key is confidence, honesty and determination. The main reason I am narrating is to help the aspiring candidates from misconceptions about SSB and its selection procedure. My previous ssb was a washout batch & made me think getting through is tougher. This played an important role in my preparation which led to more determined thoughts and clear views about the assessment.
October 28 is the reporting date at Bangalore and started my preparation 10 days ahead.
“The one who knows others is wise, but the one who knows himself is enlightened” this proverb is laminated in Bhopal auditorium and speaks everything about SSB selection procedure.
SSB is all about yourself, how enlightened are you and with what ease can you solve the issues when required. In other words it’s a test to understand your thoughts, your actions, and the way you were brought up.
Day1-
It was all about application filling, chest numbers and rooms allotment as it was an afternoon reporting. Evening was fun without any pressure about the procedure. Do not compromise with your tummy. Keep it happier and the day goes as you want it to be.
Day2 –
Woke up with a positive mind and those songs played in Bangalore rooms melt your nerves. Dressed accordingly but didn’t shave nor my hair was like a soldier or men next to me.
Verbal and non-verbal will be a cake walk once you practice. Trust me verbal and non-verbal might not be important for screening if your ppdt is good but it is very important in further selection procedure.
Be real in the discussion, do not fight for attention. Let everyone speak, give your points and be intact with the picture you see. I had a chap in my group who was speaking about tigers in India where the picture was nowhere related which makes the assessor’s think it as a preplanned story. If everything goes well approximately 10% will be screened in. The new chest numbers were given and this should make us feel proud of clearing the hardest hurdle but what you do the rest of 4 days will decide. So stay focused.
Day 3-
Woke up with a little fear about whether I ll be able to do all the SRT’s or not but eventually with the beautiful songs there in barracks I said myself to calm down and enjoy the music. Done with breakfast and entered the hall. The name was of the hall was “MAJ. SANDEEP UNNIKRISHNAN” and at the entrance there was a note of his heroics and his great sacrifice to protect the nation. I had Goosebumps and felt too patriotic to serve in the Indian defense where brave men like him have had their chances.
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Coming back to the psychology part-
TAT-
Make sure you stay intact with the pictures, do not add extra unnecessary problems and try to solve them. Every picture has a reality and your story should revolve around it. If you find the picture bold, do not hesitate to write what you thought about it. What comes to your thought is important, but how unique is it ll get you into the final list. Do not be a person who wants attention at the sake of others, most of the institutes have written tat materials and if you ratta them you wont make it for sure. “Just be you” and that’s the best advice my mentor gave me.
WAT-
Attempt all the words, 15 seconds is tough but if you leave words like angry, respect, brave etc., the assessor might think there is something seriously wrong with you. So make sure you write a sentence with or without the words but it should relate to it. For example- “cricket” is the word and you can write about srinivasan being sacked as the bcci prez. What they look in for is a pretty damn 10 sentences which project ones personality.
SRT-
I know its tough to write down 60 reactions in 30 minutes but there is no other go. Guys along with me in the recommended line have all attempted a minimum of 50 and all with quality and so I feel not just quality but along with quantity you can crack your psychologist. I have written 58 reactions. They are all logical.
Don’t keep calling ambulances all the time, take responsibility. Be a man when in serious situations, be the one who would not hesitate to take immediate actions in tough times. Most importantly be real. One man alone cannot over power half a dozen goons with weapons. So be real, that ll take you to the par.
SD-
Here in self-description they expect you to know about yourself and that’s the least anyone can ask for.
So I strongly suggest you to introspect yourself, what kind of a son/daughter you are, what makes you unique, will you select a a person with the qualities you have for a post that you ll pay for? Ask yourself these question and you ll definitely find solutions and you can improve those 15 OLQ’s or the only missing ones.
Have fun the rest of the day if your interview is not on the same day and if its on the same day of you ll have much relaxed mind in the next three days.
GTO DAY4&5-
Guys the best way to make a mark in Gto is be fit. Exercise every day at least from the day you get call up and run at least for 1 km at a stretch. The second important thing is to follow GTO’s instructions and do not mess up. This ll help you crack Snake Race and IO.
Be well aware about the current events and general awareness. If you aint a social person then at least start from now. Read newspapers if not news apps like “inshorts”. They ll help you in many different ways.
In gd1 and gd2 be calm and composed but make sure you give out points which you think are logically perfect and giving out facts related will be an icing on the cake. “do not blabber” if you are not aware about the topic, try to understand what the group is talking about and recollect what you know and give out your points. Let everyone have their share. It’s a discussion not any competition of who speaks how much. Do not be the one who only points out when someone in the group does small mistake.
In the group planning exercise, be logical. I am using this words ‘’logical’’ because ssb is all about how well you use your logic to solve the situations.
“A gods idol is nowhere close to a humans life if you have to protect one”.
Do not fight for the narration part, the gto asks for nomination not self-nomination. If someone is to eager about giving out let him, and incase if its not the solution you as a group decided let the gto know only if the gto asks for any improvements. Do not point out small mistakes for the sake of attention.
Command task is to see what you have adopted from the full group and half group tasks & how well you come out even in pressure situations. So be with a calm mind and you ll definitely get ideas to solve. In command task you are asked to lead a team of two. Choose the best two from your group, it doesn’t matter how many candidates call you as a sub-ordinate. So don’t pre plan with commanders :p
“a leader is the one who leads from the front and protect his men, not the one who follows”
So if you are to lead I suggest you take effort and make a path to let your men follow. That’s my suggestion and what I did in both the ssb’s.
Personal Interview DAY 6-
The most important of all, it’s because you cannot bluff a person whose experience is probably more than that your age. I strongly suggest you be honest “at least 85%”.
Don’t be a confused chap, be clear about your answers.
Be practical, he is not going to hurt you if you speak frankly or you say you don’t know. Do not be scared or tensed.
“I don’t know” is much better answer than I think or I forgot. Don’t just beat around the bush.
Clarify your doubts incase you have any. Understand his question and answer accordingly.
My interview was right after my gto and was in all dirt clothes. I missed my specially stitched “for interview” clothes.
As I entered the interviewer shook hands and asked me to make myself comfortable. I asked for water and relaxed my hands. The first question was “being an instrumentation engineer tell me a device which measures nuclear radiations” I looked stoned and politely gave him the best answer I knew “I don’t know sir”. There after a series of 8 unknown questions of which only 3 I answered and realized I am done but kept my nerves and stayed confident as those questions were out of my league.
The interviewer changed to general awareness and current affairs. I felt very relaxed and answered almost all the questions he asked. Which included the name of editors of newspapers, mountain ranges in South America, rivers in Europe, the relations between countries, defense deals and much more. My confidence boosted after this session.
The interviewer asked me about my personal life and all the piq based question in a series of 10, before answering I took 10 seconds and started answering, as I felt I completed and asked if I missed any of the questions and he said I am done.
Rest of the interview was more of discussion and at the end he asked me to find out answers for those I missed and asked me to leave. I shook hands and left the room.
Be honest with the interviewer, if you try to bluff him he ll get you. Most of the things are not in our control and we might go wrong and they ll understand. Hence I suggest you be truthful. You should have valid reasons for your answers.
CONFERENCE-
Mine was #20 and I slept in the waiting room for about 1 hour. I was confident as I have done 95% right what was in my control.
The auditorium was again ‘Sandeep Unnikrishnan’.
My number came and I entered and greeted the president of the board, they offered me to sit. My interviewer asked me to rate myself and I politely said I cannot as I would not over ride their decision. He insisted me to rate & I gave 9 in both gto and psychology and 8 in PI. He asked me to tell one reason that made me perform well, I said I it was definitely my confidence and self-belief. They all gave a smile and asked me to leave and now I was even more confident that I ll be the one. the results came and I got through.
That was the best 3-4 hours of my life. Trust me guys you ll never be that happy when you know that your dream has fulfilled and now it’s a reality and you are one who got selected out of the many who have applied.
Navy interview was much better as I performed without fear and I was even more sure about the result. In navy conference president asked me if I enjoyed the limelight as a newly recommended candidate, to which I answered “sir I didn’t want to make my group feel that I have an added advantage, so I tried to keep calm and helped them if they came to me with any doubts” indeed I helped.
I was one among the 3 in navy. After this I was pretty confused for months whether to join the navy or the army. Eventually army merit list has come and I am the only candidate in my department.
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Now I have a Joining letter of the OTA Chennai and will report on the 2nd of April.
I wish all the aspirants can make their dreams to become reality. I hope this helps you.
All the very best guys, May you all get what you are looking for in life and remember hard work, determination and confidence will get you those things which luck cannot. God bless you all.
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