How to Prepare for CDS 2016

1. Preparation for Verbal Ability in English: The standard of this paper is easy and as it contains questions from general English.  Preparation from any grammar book would be sufficient.
2. For preparation of vocabulary: Preparation of Vocabulary can be done online or offline. In this type of questions, generally a word is given, followed by four. The candidate is required to choose the word which is the nearest word meaning of the given word. For online preparation, I would suggest vocabulary.com as one of the best website. Candidates can use to learn more words to add in their dictionary.
3. For Reading Comprehension: To comprehend means to understand. Reading comprehension tests involves the ability of a candidate to understand the content of a given passage. This section comprises questions based upon a brief passage usually consisting one paragraph. Generally the level of this section is average and so is easy to score more. Our suggestion for this section is to read as many as passages or articles you could read either from the newspapers or magazines and try to understand the theme.
4. Tips for reading comprehension
   • Read the passage carefully and detect the theme.
   • Understand the questions carefully.
   • Answer the questions by choosing the right option.
5. For error detection and correction: R S Aggarwal’s objective General English, Arihant’s General English are some of the books you can refer to prepare for Error detection and correction.
6. For Preparation of sentence Completion: In this section the candidates have to pick the most effective word from the given words to fill in the blank to make the sentence more meaningful and understanding. The only tip for preparing this section is the ability to learn the usage of word in a particular situation. To comprehend means to understand. Reading comprehension tests a candidate’s ability to understand the content of a given passage. This section involves question based upon a brief passage usually consisting in a paragraph.

1. General awareness is one of the vast topics and proper preparation is required while preparing for this test. For those who study history subjects from the textbooks, you may find the topics dull and mundane. To resolve this you can browse through the videos provided on the internet based on curriculum of Indian History. As videos are more interesting for preparing History, you can easily understand and quickly recall the events more clearly. For preparing Current Affairs, we would advise the daily newspapers, magazines. You can also subscribe competition magazines like Pratiyogita Darpan to read more on current affairs. For General science, Economics and Indian polity we would recommend Lucent’s general knowledge book.

1. The level of Aptitude is getting difficult in CDS, but it’s still the most scoring section in the competition. This section consist Decimal Fraction, Simplification, Average, Profit & Loss, Percentage, Ratio & Proportion and Simple Interest, Geometry and Mensuration. Any school textbooks can be referred while preparing for this section.

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• What is CDS Exam
• CDS SSB Interview Process

If you are applying for AFCAT exam, then you have to register yourself through AFCAT login candidate’s portal. Indian air force has designed an online candidates login for AFCAT through which one can login, apply and download their AFCAT admit card.

How to Login For AFCAT

It is very simple to login and check your AFCAT application status or register for AFCAT, generate your AFCAT admit card for written test, to check your AFCAT written test result with marked scored by you and last but not the least, to apply for AFCAT AFSB interview centre with date.

1. Visit Indian Air Force career website which is www.careerairforce.nic.in and click on candidates login button on the right hand side bottom of your screen.
2. Enter your login details which you have in your email.
   

AFCAT Login Problems and How to Recover AFCAT login Password

Many candidates are facing problems with AFCAT Login, most of them do not remember their login password, in that case you can generate a new password by clicking forget password link

Another way to know your AFCAT login password is to check your registered email id inbox. It is the easiest way to check your password and login safely.

1. Go your your email inbox for example Gmail or Yahoo.
2. In the search box type AFCAT Cell and look for all generated results to find your password. You will find an email from [email protected] with your username and password.
   
3. You can use the username and password at AFCAT login page.
   

It is suggested to use your best email while registering for AFCAT, you email acts as your username and without it you can not login. Also, there is no option to generate your user name if you have forget it.
If you are still not able to login, then this is the time to contact AFCAT cell here at [email protected]

AFCAT Login Link

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• AFCAT 1 2014 Admit Card Download
• Indian Army Jobs

 About SSBCrack Editorial Team

The Editorial Team of SSBCrack consists of a group of Professional writers and aspirants. Their main aim is to provide up to date information regarding SSB Interviews and sharing quality information about Indian Defence to help aspirants. Mail us to join our editorial team now.

Indian Navy provides an excellent opportunity to serve the nation as well as to enjoy the benefits of Indian Navy. Life at sea is full of challenges, enjoyment and satisfaction. The various facilities offered by the Indian Navy makes life in it a satisfying and peaceful one. 

Facilities inside the Indian Navy

1. Leave and Travel Concessions: The Sailors and Officers in the Indian Navy are both entitled to a 60 days annual leave. The Sailors enjoy 30 days casual leave and Officers enjoy 20 days of casual leave. They can also accumulate 30 days of leave in year which they can later en cash at the time of their retirement. The Officers and their family members also enjoy a free rail/air travel once a year. The Officers are also provided with six travel concession forms when they travel by train. The sailors are entitled to free rail travel on leave once a year. Travel concession by rail/air is also provided on other occasion. 
   
2. Health Care: High quality health care is provided to each Sailor and Officer as well as their family. This full, comprehensive coverage is available at all military hospitals and dental facilities.
3. Group Insurance: The Indian Navy provides each of its serving personnel with good life insurances at a very low monthly premium.
4. Recreational Facilities: Sailors and officers have access to free and low-cost recreational facilities.
5. Accommodation: Indian Navy personnel are entitled to free accommodation. Most of the residential areas have markets, ATMs, playgrounds, swimming pool, gymnasium etc.
   
6. Clothing: Officers are granted allowances periodically to stitch their own uniforms. All sailors are entitled for free clothing. A kit maintenance allowance is also provided to officers and sailors every month to maintain the uniform.
7. Training: After you have cleared the selection procedure, you are sent to one of the Naval training establishments. Here you undergo scientifically planned rigorous physical and academic training that is aimed to gear you for the life in the Navy.
8. Others: With the Indian Navy, you have the opportunity to explore the world as it often visits foreign posts. Also you are entitled to free ration. The Navy has special housing schemes in almost in major cities. Officers and Sailors have an opportunity to acquire a modern, excellent apartment of their own in planned surrounding at a station of their choice of post –retirement settlement. All the Naval training establishments are equipped with the state-of-the-art infrastructure and the best of the facilities including clubs, swimming pools, squash courts etc. Once you join the training establishments, Navy will take care of all your requirements like food, lodging etc. 

• Different Vessel types of the Indian Navy
• Indian Navy Pays and Allowances 
• How to Join Indian Naval Academy

 About SSBCrack Editorial Team

The Editorial Team of SSBCrack consists of a group of Professional writers and aspirants. Their main aim is to provide up to date information regarding SSB Interviews and sharing quality information about Indian Defence to help aspirants. Mail us to join our editorial team now.

In his latest book, ‘My Journey: Transforming Dreams into Actions,’ former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam writes touchingly about his failed attempt to become an air force pilot. After graduating in engineering, he appeared before the selection board in Dehradun but failed to realise his “dearest dream” by a whisker. 

It reminds me of my son Akhilesh’s failed attempt to become an air force pilot, a dream he had nourished since childhood. He spent his early childhood in Pune in an apartment building close to the Lohegaon airport, which is also an air force base. Along with other children, Akhilesh used to go to the terrace of the four-storeyed building to watch MiGs and Sukhois landing and taking off from the air base.

On special occasions such as Independence Day and Air Force Day, there were scintillating performances by the IAF acrobatic team which captivated him. He used to ask probing questions as to how to become a fighter pilot. I told him the easiest route was through the NDA at nearby Khadakwasla.
We had a relative working at NDA, whom we used to visit often. Akhilesh was impressed by the sprawling campus and imposing structures there and vowed to become a cadet there.
Then we left Pune and he did his early schooling in Chennai but the dream of becoming an air force pilot was not forgotten. When he was in the fifth standard, I told him that it would be easier for him to get into the NDA if he studied in a Sainik School. He readily appeared for the written test and interview at Sainik School, Kazhakootam near Thiruvananthapuram, and was selected.
He studied there for four years. When I came on transfer to Thriuvananthapuram in 2009, he said he wanted to be with me. He was confident of getting into the NDA after Plus Two anyway. So I withdrew him from the Sainik School and put him in a regular school.

In August 2011, Akhilesh appeared for the UPSC written test for NDA entry. He was still in Plus Two and large portions of his syllabus had not been covered at school. So he could not answer many questions in math and science subjects. I told him not to worry as he could appear again after six months.
However, when the results came, he was in. In January 2012, he was called to 2 AFSB (Air Force Selection Board), Mysore, for the week-long selection process. He did really well there and was selected. Then he cleared the PABT (pilot aptitude battery test) and was sent to the Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Bangalore, for medical check-up. After various tests that lasted for over a week, he was declared fit to fly all aircraft and helicopters.
It was a heady moment. The realisation of his life-long dream seemed imminent. I distributed sweets in office and waited for the final rank list. We were certain that if not air force, he would be selected for the naval air wing, which was his second preference.
In May, his Plus Two results came. He had scored a little over 85 per cent. Not a bad score, as he had diverted a lot of time and attention to the NDA pursuit. But it was not wise to depend entirely on it and I advised him to have a second option. He did not want to take engineering entrance exams so we decided to apply for a B Arch seat. He draws fairly well and scored 106 in the NATA test. He was allotted a merit seat at College of Architecture Trivandrum (CAT).
In June, UPSC published the NDA rank list. It was disheartening to learn that Akhilesh was among the last hundred candidates, apparently because of his poor score in the written exams. Still there was hope as all the candidates in the previous batch had been admitted. Besides, NDA was planning to increase its intake capacity during that time.
Then something very unfortunate happened. The CBI unearthed a scam in the recruitment of subordinate staff at the NDA and arrested a dozen people, including its civilian administrative officer and a Colonel. The Commandant, a Lt General, was asked to go on leave. That put paid to its capacity addition plans and the last 110 candidates in the merit list were not called.
Akhilesh was distraught. He had not appeared for the UPSC written test in April.
I consoled him and got him admitted to CAT. He again sat for the UPSC exams in August and did really well. He was confident that he would make it this time.
Barely two weeks after the exams, a couple of IAF helicopters collided in Jamnagar, killing nine on board, including five officers. I began to doubt the wisdom of sending my son to such a risky career and started looking for an alternative.
Soon, the army invited applications for its technical entry course. It seemed an attractive proposition and I urged Akhilesh to apply. He was reluctant but I convinced him that there was no harm in applying.
The call letter from the army came first. He was to appear before the SSB (Services Selection Board) in Bangalore in the third week of January. A few days later he got a letter from AFSB, Allahabad, too. I persuaded him to go to Bangalore. He was unwilling but I used all my persuasive skills to convince him and accompanied him to Bangalore.
The interview process was a disaster. Two boys in his group, one from Hyderabad and another from Pune, were quite unruly and disruptive. They kept picking on each other and disrupting the others. None of the group tasks could be completed and the entire group of 10 boys was disqualified.
Akhilesh was crestfallen. Throughout the return journey, he spoke very little and hardly ate anything. By then, the Allahabad date had passed.
In hindsight, I think I had made two mistakes. The first was to withdraw him from the Sainik School. Had he been a Sainik School student, he would have got more marks at SSB in Mysore which could have made up for the low score in written tests.
The second mistake was to forcibly take him to Bangalore instead of sending him to Allahabad. Having been selected once, there was no reason to believe that he would not have been selected again for air force. If something untoward were to happen to him in later life, we should accept it as our fate and as a sacrifice for our motherland.
Anyway, Akhilesh again took the UPSC exam last April and has cleared it. This is his last chance at NDA but he is not keen on attending the SSB. If selected, he will be two years junior to his Sainik School batch mates and he dreads the prospect of having to salute them!
He says he will try again after graduation so that he can be with his batch mates. I hope he makes it then. I also hope that the failures do not leave a permanent scar on his psyche.
Kalam writes that having failed to realise his dream, he walked around for a while till he reached the edge of a cliff. Then he decided to go to Rishikesh and “seek a new way forward.” He visited an ashram there for solace.
“It is only when we are faced with failure do we realise that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives,” writes Kalam.

 About Author: Radhakrishnan Nair

I’m a journalist with The Hindu group in Thiruvananthapuram.

UPSC has published the names of 741 candidates who have been rejected for NDA 1 2014 written test due to no confirmation from the Bank Authorities regarding receipt of Fee of Rs. 100/- in respect of following candidates for NDA & NA Examination (I) 2014.

UPSC Official Notice

In view of the provisions contained in the Commission’s Note for the above examination published in the Employment News dated 21-12-2013 and uploaded on the Commission’s website, applications of all these candidates for the said examination have been rejected.

Appeal against rejection, if any, may be made within 10 (ten) days from the date of this mail along with the documentary evidence by speed post OR by hand only to Shri Bhupendar Singh, Under Secretary (NDA), Union Public Service Commission, Room No. 409, Ayog Sachivalaya Building, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi-110069 failing which no correspondence will be entertained by
this office.

1. If you have paid/deposited the fee through cash mode in the State Bank of India/designated banks, please submit the bank-pay-in-slip (In original). OR
2. If you have paid the fee through debit/credit cards of through internet banking of authorised banks,please submit a copy of your debit/Credit Card Statement or Bank Account Statement as the case may be. 

Check NDA 1 2014 Rejected Applications List

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 About SSBCrack Editorial Team

The Editorial Team of SSBCrack consists of a group of Professional writers and aspirants. Their main aim is to provide up to date information regarding SSB Interviews and sharing quality information about Indian Defence to help aspirants. Mail us to join our editorial team now.

Indian army has raised the vacancies for Judge Advocate General entry JAG 13. JAG entry has very limited number of seats but the rate of selection is raising every year, thus more and more recommended candidates are getting merit out in JAG entries.
Indian army has raised a few seats for men and women in JAG 13th course. JAG entry had 07 seats for men earlier which have been raised to 10 and for women number of seats are now 04.

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 About SSBCrack Editorial Team

The Editorial Team of SSBCrack consists of a group of Professional writers and aspirants. Their main aim is to provide up to date information regarding SSB Interviews and sharing quality information about Indian Defence to help aspirants. Mail us to join our editorial team now.