“NO ONE IS YOU AND THAT IS YOUR SUPERPOWER”

Hello Aspirants, I am Sangam Dixit from Bareilly, one of the kinds who always wanted to be an officer in the armed forces. Finally, hard work and dedication pay off. And when you talk about motivation, my answer is the same as every BRAT gives “My dad served the Indian Army”, Army Public School product, 5 years in NCC and what not.

#1^st Attempt: 1 ASFB, Dehradun (AFCAT Entry) – Got RECOMMENDED (Flying Branch)

204 reported, 54 screened-in and 2 Recommended.         Date: 23^rd June 2017

#2^nd Attempt: 11 SSB, Allahabad (CDS Entry) – Got RECOMMENDED (Indian Military Academy)

38 reported, 38 screened-in and 6 Recommended             Date: 20^th July 2017

#3^rd Attempt: CGSB, Noida (Coast Guard GD Entry) – Got Screened-in, FSB Cleared on 29th September.

150 approx reported, 17 screened in                                    Date: 28^th July 2017

Coming to my SSB experiences, my first attempt was the best experience as I was a fresher there and getting recommended as a fresher gives you fantastic feeling.

In my next Allahabad SSB I was treated as a repeater (Though previously recommended)

My OIR tests went perfect at both SSBs.

Fortunately my PPDT picture was also same at both SSBs. So I preferred the same story description. But it was different at CG- PSB

In AFSB I did 12 TAT, 53 WAT and 43 SRT. I improved this in Allahabad, 12 TAT, 56 WAT and 54 SRT.

Personal interview went great at both places, Both interviews taken by Deputy President of the Board, both lasted for 35 mins (approx), both had 4 rapid fires and some additional questions regarding strengths, weaknesses, NCC Achievements, Current affairs, knowledge of Armed forces etc. But it’s strange that none of them asked me “Why do I want to join the Armed Forces?” and there were no questions regarding my Hobbies too.

How To Prepare for SSB Interview:

• Let’s Crack SSB Interview [Book]
• Breaking the code of SSB Psychology [Book]
• Current Affairs eBooks

Some questions asked by the Interviewers:

* Tell me about that one person who influenced you the most and another person who doesn’t meet your expectations.

* Why you opted for Bsc. and not B.Tech

* What are your other plans besides Armed Forces.

* Tell me about Archimedes Principle and Pascal’s Law.

* How did you prepared for SSB?

* How many friends do you have, and who is best amongst them?

* You got recommended for Indian Air Force as a Pilot then what brings you here at Army SSB?

* Which decision do you regret the most in life?

*You spent five years in Babina (Jhansi), which all tanks have you seen and what are their characteristics.

* How do you see yourself after 5 years from now?

* Sangam you are too young, how do you feel like competing with people of 22-24 years of age?

My GTO was the best part. My lecturette topic in AFSB was ‘Democracy’ and in SSB Allbd. it was ‘ Child Labour’. As I was prepared with the facts and figures I utilized my 3 mins. Gave applicable ideas in Progressive Group task and Half Group Task, able to complete my Command Task in given time, did 10 Individual Obstacles in AFSB and 15 obstacles in Allahabad.

But what I have seen is, your Individual Obstacles hardly matters, your performance in group and togetherness with your team matters the most.

Conference Day at AFSB Dehradun: I entered and conference room, almost 16 officers in uniform, sitting in a semi-circular fashion, I greeted the President, he asked me to be comfortable. Deputy President (who took my interview) asked  “Sangam, tell me something about Bareilly and what all places would you suggest me to visit”.

Me- Sir, it is famous as Nath Nagri having four Shiva Temples at four corners apart from this Ala Hazrat Dargah win everyone’s heart. Primarily famous for two major Defence establishments Jat Regiment of the Indian Army and Trishul Airbase of the Indian Air Force.

My conference went for 2 mins. At last he asked “how were your stay and any suggestions for the candidates mess?”

Final result came, and believe me, when DSO announced “Chest. No. 01”, I travelled to Zenith within 2 seconds (just saying) J

I came out and called my Dad first, “I made it Papa”, he was speechless for seconds and then congratulated me, and I can hear my Mom giving blessings from behind.

Next day was my CPSS and I cleared that too.

Conference at SSB Allahabad:  This time also the Deputy President talked to me in conference. He asked “What will you choose between Army and Air Force”?

This time also 2 mins conference, ended up with “how were your stay and any suggestions for the candidates mess”?

Here also the results were announced “Chest No. 27”

So this was my story.

My suggestion to freshers is, ‘Be yourself, do not bluff, don’t give coached responses and go with the spirit that this is not your 1^st attempt, it’s your last and you have make it anyway. As freshers have a GOLDEN CHANCE

Repeaters don’t lose hope as maximum recommendations are from repeaters only, best example was our batch. All 6 recommended at SSB Allahabad were repeaters.

Remember “IF YOU FALL BEHIND, RUN FASTER. NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER SURRENDER AND RISE UP AGAINST THE ODDS.”

#PS:

I owe my selection to my parents, elder brother, teachers, mentors, and some special friends who were with me, NCC Bn., SSBCrack and of course Supreme Soul. (Apologies, if I missed someone)

I’ve heard people saying ‘SSB should not be your only goal, you should be ready with a backup’ but what I feel is ‘If your only goal can’t let you sleep at night, GO FOR IT and you will end up having STARS ON SHOULDERS.’

I wish you all the best for your future endeavors. Work hard in silence; let your JOSH PUSHUPS make noise.

Jai Hind

Keep the josh high

How To Prepare for SSB Interview:

• Let’s Crack SSB Interview [Book]
• Breaking the code of SSB Psychology [Book]
• Current Affairs eBooks

Best SSB Book –>  Let’s Crack SSB Interview

Best AFCAT Book –> Let’s Crack AFCAT

Best EKT Book -> Let’s Crack EKT

Best CDS Book –> Let’s Crack CDS

Best NDA Book -> Let’s Crack NDA

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Also Download Helpful eBooks:

• OIR Test
• WAT
• SRT
• EKT
• Current Affairs

Hello defense aspirants, I am SUMIT KUMAR from Ghaziabad. This was my 19^th attempt for CDS IMA-144 course. My journey had started in JAN 2012 when I appeared for NDA SSB in Bhopal and got screened out. But I kept attempting continuously. I cleared every single written exam to appear for SSB. But I was not able to clear SSB. In last 6 years I have made 18 attempts. 10 screened outs and 8 conferenced out. In 13^th attempt I performed very well but got conferenced out. 14^th, 15^th, 16^th, 17^th and 18^th attempts I got screened out.  After these many failures, I had nothing to lose. I stopped thinking about my rejection or selection. I just focused on my responses during SSB. Being natural and honest is very difficult because time pressure and selection pressure made us all manipulative.

This time I tried to make my responses more natural and honest.

Coming to 19^th attempt

PPDT

I had selected the very 1^st batch of IMA SSB commencing from 10^th July 2017. 62 were reported, around 10 were sent back due to documentation. Screening started with 52. OIR test, Repeaters do well in this. In PPDT we were shown a picture of a doctor and two ladies standing one behind him and one in front of him. Since, it was monsoon season. So I made a story on widespread of mosquito related diseases in rural areas. I narrated very confidently as I had no pressure of selection/rejection. In Group discussion, I gave 1-2 points. When the result was announced I was the last chest number to be selected and given 32 chest number for 2^nd stage.

Listen GTO briefing carefully. Give your narration confidently (irrespective of story). Speak only when you have valid and constructive points. Try to speak at least 1-2 times with valid and constructive points. Don’t speak just for the sake of speaking. Don’t repeat points. If you don’t have points, keep quiet and listen others. Listening will help you to get the matter to speak on.

PIQ

In evening we were asked to fill PIQ. Testing for stage 2 starts with filling up of PIQ. Be careful while filling PIQ. You will be asked questions about each and every single word that you write in your PIQ. Be prepared to answer every possible question around every single word written in your PIQ.

Psych

 In My previous attempts, I had so many thoughts in my mind before Psych test. I was worried about the picture/words. I was worried about my responses on negative pictures/words. I was worried about response of Psychologist to my answer. And this much nervousness made me to alter my responses during test. Because of this nervousness, most of the times, I ended up writing a Preconceived story. This nervousness always led me to rejection.

But this time, I didn’t think about negative/positive/neutral even for once. My total focus was on to write a solution oriented story on whatever picture/word shown to me. Not for a single time, I thought about result/evaluation of my responses. I just kept writing my first thought to every pic/word.  I was very calm and chill before the  test and this helped me making my mindset to write a solution oriented story on any picture. This time I didn’t even prepare my SD. I only wrote whatever came to my mind first (truth).

TAT

I was very calm before Psych test. My strategy was very simple. Look at the picture very carefully, write a solution oriented story.

• Write a very simple and very specific story.
• See the picture carefully. Your story and picture should match.
• Neither try to fit your story according to pic nor try to manipulate the picture.
• Use maximum two lines to write the intro part of story.
• Action part must cover 80% of the story.
• Write details very specifically. For example: he pressed wound before dressing it using medical kit available in Bike. Or he did the soil test. Normal range was 4-5 but result showed 6 indicating the acidic nature of soil. Or He placed and changed a wet cloth on forehead to cure 105 degree Fahrenheit fever. These specific details make a special impression on your story. These details bring genuinity to the stories.
• Keep PIQ in your mind while writing stories/responses. Suppose you are making a story on preparation of a presentation on a subject related to economics. But you have done graduation in science. So try to write a story on science related subject only.
• Write all and complete stories.

WAT

Practice beforehand .Don’t be nervous. Prepare yourself to write responses on any word. Calmness in your mind while writing WAT is the key to success. Try to write all 60 sentences.

SRT

Write your own responses. Don’t write the responses of others. For example: your response to a situation was that you would convince and during Group Discussions you were exactly opposite to what you wrote. It is contradictory. So write your natural/own responses to situations. Don’t skip SRTs in between. Keep it short and qualitative in nature. Here quality matters more than quantity. But still try to attempt as many SRTs as you can.

SD

Avoid writing fancy words like hardworking, honest, responsible, etc.

GTO

 Your first and last aim should be the progress of your  group. If Group wins, you win. Group loses, you lose. Don’t get personal during any task at any point of time. It’s the group that matters, not the individual.

GD & GPE

• It’s a discussion, not a debate.
• Put your views with justification. If someone counters then give justification one more time and move on.
• Avoid heated arguments in GD.
• Sometime what happens is that we are discussing on India and suddenly after a moment we are discussing on Jupiter (away from track). Make sure you are having discussion on right topic. Make sure you are on right track.
• Speak only when you have valid and constructive points otherwise listen others. Believe me, Listening to others is the most enjoyable thing SSB.
• It’s not necessary to stick to your plan only. If others’ plan is good, support them. Because Group as a whole matters.

PGT, HGT

Listen to GTO briefing very carefully. While briefing, he also indicates the solution. When he says “ This circle is movable Or there is a cut here etc.” he simply tells you that solution lies here.

3^rd and 4^th PGT are relatively tough. Try to give ideas in 3^rd and 4^th PGT. Keep calm.

SNAKE RACE, IO

Avoid injuries. Enjoy these tasks to fullest.

COMMAND TASK

Don’t be nervous.  Solution is always there. Think calmly. Take your time. GTO will create time pressure. Ignore him whenever he says like you are left with 1 minute or 30 sec etc.

FGT

 Give your ideas otherwise support the group.

INTERVIEW

 I was the last to be interviewed. My interview was on the evening of GTO day 2. It was dark in room ( electricity cut due to rainy season). Hardly we were able to see each other. His first question

IO: Good evening Sumit. You have been here for 19 times. You must have written some books on SSB.

ME (smiling): no sir. But I gave suggestions to two of my friends and they got recommendation.

IO: They are in the academy but you are still here.

Me (smiling): yes sir! I am still here with you.

IO: okay Sumit. Now I am giving you a chance to write a book on SSB. What will you write in that book?

Me: I told him everything that I have written in this success story.

 Interview went for 30 min (approx.). He asked about my strengths I replied “never give up attitude”, “always ready with helping hand” “polite in nature”. He asked the reason for rejections. I told him that I wrote “preconceived stories” and I was “Under confident”.  He asked,”what about this time?” I said,” this time I wrote whatever came to mind firstly. And yes over the time I improved my confidence.” To a question I replied that SSB taught me a lot of things. For me it’s not only a selection procedure but a learning process also. It taught how to rise after so many failures. It taught me how to introspect. It taught how to communicate. It taught me how to handle pressure situations calmly and many more things.

Your PIQ plays an important role in interview. You must be  able to justify your answers. Support your answers with real life examples. For ex. If you say that you are calm. Support this by telling him an incident where your calmness helped you. So, be ready with real life incidents.

CONFERENCE

Even that day I was not thinking about selection/rejection. Our conference was in reverse order. I was the first one to be called in. Chest no 32 displayed on the digital display. Like my previous attempts, they took just 30-40 seconds to call me in. Which means rejection in my case.

IO (smiling): How was your performance?

Me: Sir, It was average.

IO (smiling): not good? Not excellent?

Me: I could have done better in GTO sir.

IO (serious tone): Sumit, You have been here for 19 times. Do you want more attempts? Do you want to make it 23 or 24?

(I was thinking that if he said 23 and 24. I should reply with little fewer attempts.)

Me: No sir. I think I will get a recommendation in 20^th or 21^st attempt.

Then he asked me about stay and food to which I replied positively.  As I was coming out of conference room, I was thinking what a blunder I had done because I just told them indirectly that I was not going to recommend in that attempt (19^th). I was thinking if there were certain chances for my recommendation, I have vanished them with a single reply. None the less I was calm but this was the first time when I was sure of my rejection. So I took a good nap because I needed to awake in return train journey.

After 1 hour my friend woke me up. Yes, it was result time. Major rank officer was announcing the result. Chest no 4, everyone clapped (he is a brilliant chap). Chest no 15 (he is polite and calm like me) again every one clapped. Chest no 26 and chest no 29(we were sure about their selection).  I thought that was it and I was ready to move out but Major looked down to his folder he was reading something (means there is another candidate. Who was it 30, 31 or 32 that was me) he looked up announced chest no 32. I rose up announced my name and UPSC roll no. As I was moving to selected candidates, my eyes were wide open I was completely black out. I didn’t know what was happening there. Tears started rolling down my cheeks. Tip..Tip..Tip..and suddenly I was bursting into tears.

To Prepare for CDS SSB Interview Get

• Let’s Crack SSB Interview [Paperback]
• Breaking the code of SSB Psychology [Paperback]

For Current Affairs Preparation Download

• Current Affairs Oct 2017 eBook
• Current Affairs Sep 2017 eBook
• Current Affairs Aug 2017 eBook