The Union Public Service Commission will conduct the Combined Defence Services Examination (II), 2017 at different venues located at 41 Centres throughout the country on 19.11.2017 (Sunday). The e‐Admit Cards for the candidates have been uploaded on the Commission’s Website http://www.upsc.gov.in for downloading. Candidates should check their e‐Admit Card carefully and bring discrepancies, if any, to the notice of UPSC immediately.
If any applicant is not able to download his/her e‐Admit Card, he/she may contact UPSC Facilitation Counter on Telephone Nos. 011‐23385271, 011‐23381125 and 011‐23098543 between (10.00 AM to 5.00 PM) on working days. The candidate may also send Fax message on Fax No. 011‐23387310. The candidates may note that no paper admit card will be issued.
In case the photograph is not printed or available on the e‐Admit Card, candidates are advised to carry three (03) photographs (one identical photograph for each session) along with proof of identity such as Identity Card etc. and printout of e‐Admit Card at the venue of the Examination to secure admission in the Examination.
Current Affairs questions will be from last 5-7 months (for AFCAT, NDA, CDS, TA)
MOBILE PHONES BANNED
(a) Mobile phones, pagers/Bluetooth or any other communication devices are not allowed inside the premises where the examination is being conducted. Any infringement of these instructions shall entail disciplinary action including ban from future examinations.
(b) Candidates are advised in their own interest not to bring any of the banned items including mobile phones/pagers/Bluetooth or any valuable/costly items to the venue of the examination as arrangements for safekeeping cannot be assured. The Commission will not be responsible for any loss in this regard.
Army Recruitment Rally under the aegis of Headquarters Recruiting Zone, Chennai will be conducted by Army Recruiting Office, Guntur from 03 January 2018 to 13 January 2018 at Municipal Stadium Kadapa to enroll eligible candidates into the Army from seven districts of Andhra Pradesh viz, Kadapa, Anantapur, Chittoor, Guntur, Kurnool, Nellore & Prakasam in Soldier Technical, Soldier General Duty and Soldier Tradesman Categories. Candidates from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry(UT) and Andaman and Nicobar Group of Island who have already applied for Junior Commissioned Officer Religious Teacher (All Arms) will also attend the rally. Candidates will have to apply online through Mee Seva or any personal computer with internet facility or cyber cafes on the official website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in from 19 November 2017 to 18 December 2017. Admit card will be issued online after 22 December 2017. Candidates are requested to bring their admit card and application at the rally site. Date of reporting at rally site will be intimated on admit card. Candidates to take the print out of admit card after 22 December 2017 from www.joinindianarmy.nic.in.
All candidates from seven districts of Guntur i.e. Kadapa, Anantapur, Chittoor, Guntur, Kurnool, Nellore & Prakasam who had applied earlier for Soldier Tradesman Category scheduled at Recruiting Rally, Vizianagaram, from 14 Octorber to 16 Octorber 2017 shall apply again fresh on the website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in as per applicability/choice of trade as the said rally at Vizianagaram stands cancelled. Fresh Roll Number shall be allotted to these candidates on successful applying application on the site www.joinindianarmy.nic.in.
Recruitment Programme. Date and time of screening of documents, physical fitness test, physical measurement test will be mentioned on their Admit Card.
Medical Exam of Candidates. Primary Medical examination will be carried out at Army Recruiting Office Guntur location, at Guntur and date will be intimated to the candidates at Rally site.
CANDIDATES WILL REPORT TO MUNICIPAL STADIUM, KADAPA (ANDHRA PRADESH) AT 0015 HOURS ON THE SCHEDULED DATE AS PER PROGRAMME GIVEN IN THEIR ADMIT CARD.
Registration : All candidates are required to register themselves online on the website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in and apply online from 19 November 2017 to 18 December 2017. Kindly read instructions for registration and filling application on HQ Rtg Zone, Chennai web page of the join Indian Army website.
Indian Air Force offers opportunities for UNMARRIED MALE INDIAN CITIZENS from designated districts of the state of Chhattisgarh to join as Airmen. The Recruitment Test for Group „Y‟ (Non-Technical) {Indian Air Force (Security), Automobile Technician, Ground Training Instructor & Indian Air Force (Police) only} Trades will be held at Rajiv Gandhi PG College, Ambikapur, Sarguja, Chhattisgarh as per the Selection programme is given below.
Examination/Rally venue will be open from 0600h-1000h and the examinations will be conducted as per the details are given below. Candidates (from designated districts of State of Chhattisgarh) fulfilling the domicile requirements and eligibility conditions reporting up to 10 AM on 15 November 2017 and 18 November 2017 at the Rally Venue will only be permitted to appear in the Recruitment Test.
Age Limit: Candidates born between 13 January 1998 and 27 June 2001 (both days inclusive) are eligible to appear in the Recruitment Rally
Educational Qualification: Candidate should have passed Intermediate / 10+2 / Equivalent Examination in any stream/subjects approved by Central / State Education Boards with minimum 50% marks in aggregate and 50% marks in English.
Note – 1: Boards recognized/affiliated by Council of Boards for School Education (COBSE) will only be permitted.
Note – 2: Exact aggregate % of marks before decimal as written in the marks sheet of 10+2/Intermediate/Equivalent OR calculated as per the rules of concerned Education Board will only be considered (For example 49.99% should be taken as 49% and not to be rounded off to 50%).
SELECTION PROCEDURE: Verification of Eligibility. Original Certificates, Marks Sheets and other required applicable original documents like NCC ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ certificate, Son of serving Air Force Personnel (SOAFP) certificate (or) , Discharge Book, Service Certificate issued from AFRO/DAV for Sons of retired/deceased/ discharged Air Force personnel (or) Discharge Certificate (if discharged from Army/Navy/Government organisation), Consent Form, signed by parents if candidate below 18 years of age, and passport size colour photographs will be required and scrutinized/verified at the examination venue prior to commencement of Written Test / Physical Fitness Test (as applicable) to ascertain the eligibility prima-facie. Detailed verification will be carried out later in respect of candidates who pass Physical Fitness Test and Written Test. Candidature of those who do not meet the laid down educational criteria will be rejected during Initial verification of original certificates & mark sheets prior to conduct of Physical Fitness Test/Written Test and also during detailed verification on clearing the Physical Fitness Test as well as Written Test.
Group „Y‟ (Non-Technical) {Automobile Technician, GTI & IAF (P)} Trades
(a) Written Test. Written Test will be objective type and question paper will be bilingual (English & Hindi) except for English paper. Detailed procedure shall be explained before conduct of the examination. Duration of the written test will be 45 minutes and will comprise of English as per 10+2 CBSE syllabus and Reasoning & General Awareness (RAGA). CANDIDATES ARE TO QUALIFY IN EACH PAPER SEPARATELY. Results of the written test will be declared on the same day.
(b) Adaptability Test-1. All candidates who pass the Written Test will have to undertake Adaptability Test-1 which is to assess suitability of a candidate for employment in the IAF which involves deployment in varied geographic terrain, weather and operational conditions.
(c) Physical Fitness Test (PFT). All candidates who pass Adaptability Test-1 are to undergo PFT on the same or the next day. PFT consists of a 1.6 Km run to be completed within 7 minutes. Candidates will also have to complete 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups and 20 squats within the stipulated time to qualify in the Physical Fitness Test. Note: Candidates are advised to bring their sports shoes and shorts.
(d) Adaptability Test-2. All candidates who pass PFT will have to undertake Adaptability Test-2 as per policy in vogue. Adaptability Test-2 is to select candidates who can adapt to the environment of Indian Air Force and are able to adjust to the military way of life.
Group „Y‟ (Non-Technical) IAF(S) Trade
(a) Physical Fitness Test (PFT). Firstly, Candidates are to undergo PFT which consists of a 1.6 Km run to be completed within 5 minutes 40 seconds. Candidates will also have to complete 08 Chin-ups (The candidate is to hang from a bar with under-grip and pull his body upwards till the chin clears the bar. He is to lower the body until the elbows are completely straight and the body is in the ‘dead hanging’ position), 20 Push-ups (plank type) and 20 Bent-Knee Sit-ups within the stipulated time to qualify in the Physical Fitness Test. Note: Candidates are advised to bring their sports shoes and shorts.
(b) Written Test. All candidates who qualify PFT will have to undertake Written Test. The Written Test will be objective type and question paper will be bilingual (English & Hindi) except for English paper. Detailed procedure shall be explained before conduct of the examination. Duration of the written test will be 45 minutes and will comprise of English as per 10+2 CBSE syllabus and Reasoning & General Awareness (RAGA). CANDIDATES ARE TO QUALIFY IN EACH PAPER SEPARATELY. Results of the written test will be declared on the same day.
(c) Adaptability Test-1. All candidates who pass the Written Test will have to undertake Adaptability Test-1 which is to assess suitability of a candidate for employment in the IAF which involves deployment in varied geographic terrain, weather and operational conditions.
(d) Adaptability Test-2. All candidates who pass Adaptability Test-1 will have to undertake Adaptability Test-2 as per policy in vogue. Adaptability Test-2 is to select candidates who can adapt to the environment of Indian Air Force and are able to adjust to the military way of life.
(e) Dynamic Factor Test (DFT). All candidates who pass Adaptability Test-2 will have to undertake Dynamic Factor Test to assess the required qualities to function as IAF (Security) in Indian Air Force.
FOR ANY QUERY CONTACT, PRESIDENT, CENTRAL AIRMEN SELECTION BOARD, BRAR SQUARE, DELHI CANTT, NEW DELHI – 110010, TELEPHONE NO. 011- 25694209 /25699606 AND e-mail :[email protected] OR COMMANDING OFFICER, 15 AIRMEN SELECTION CENTRE, IInd FLOOR, PHASE-II, RAJIV GANDHI PARISAR, 35 SHYAMALA HILLS, BHOPAL, MADHYA PRADESH – 462002. TELE: 0755-2661955 AND E-MAIL: [email protected] .
If someone asks me which were your best days from the day I got recommended. I will say “The day I got recommended till the day I joined the academy were the best days of my life because there was proud ,sense of achievement, patriotic feeling to do something for the nation but within 10 days I forget everything I forget patriotism seriously it hardly clicked my mind since the day I started training. I was cursing myself again and again. Is this the life I was striving for ? is this the olive green that brightens my eyes?? or is this the drill that brings butterflies in my stomach?? Trust me I was cursing myself and thought of every 2nd option that I kicked away because of being a die-heart fan of INDIAN ARMY. Training in OTA is tough, fast, with mo mercy it is full of egoistic seniors, moody officers, and killing WEATHER. Why I am calling this training fast because what you do in 1.5 years in other academies you do all those things here in 49 weeks. Standards of IPT and PPT are also higher than other academies in the FIRST TERMS. During this period of my term, I missed my friends & my family so much but what I missed, even more, as IMA Dehradun, Dehradun’s weather, and its wonderful sceneries as I was living here. SSB Interview Preparation Material [ 100% Recommended]
Nevertheless, I am going to get pass out from here only and going to boast one day that I passed out from the toughest academy in India and 3rd toughest in the world. Officers training academy is running on three R’S i.e RIGHT RIG, RIGHT TIME and RIGHT PLACE if you are at fault in any of these three, you are going to have a tough time here. sorry! not tough ill say worst because everyone has a tough time here. It will start from P.T 5:45 is our first period of PT. Where you are not afraid of instructor or intense PT session that tensed about cleaning your shorts that need to be perfectly white.!.if not your overstudy (your guardian in company) will get punishment and if he gets punishment your whole course will get an intense ragda session from whole senior course with a tagline “tumahri wajah se humara coursemate punishment khae”. And then murga, bend, tank, rolling, get onto knees, get into two’s and so many things. You will hardly find any senior calling you with your name rather they call you by nickname or surname.
After PT you get 10 minutes to go back to your company and change into olive green for the drill. There you face the ferocious drill sahab. They are considered as a monster or chilling nightmare for all officer cadets who can award a minimum of 3 restrictions just because one thread was coming out of your dress. You were not lifting your leg properly during drill or you were not shouting properly. The worst thing even after taking your I-slip and rewarding punishment are sending you to ZERO point (a hell place for all officer cadet) where you do 100 kadam taal in one go and not to count how many touch and backs you can do within those 40 minute period. It’s been said that if you passed these two periods easily yours 3/4 day is passed. After this taking your cycle you rush back to your company for changing into next Rig (Rig is the dress for next parade) and taking breakfast. For this, you get one hour but because of our lenient seniors, this time is reduced to just 30-35 minutes. Which ultimately make your breakfast time 5 minutes. then start our lectures. Whole junior course wishes to have lectures all day and not to return to their company so that they remain away from their highly disciplined and infallible seniors. I don’t know why these lecture are kept in our academy training because their is hardly any cadet who has interest in lecture and theory.
Current Affairs questions will be from last 5-7 months (for AFCAT, NDA, CDS, TA)
Moreover, if they are forced to remain awake they sleep with open eyes. The conclusion is officers think we are taking full interest by shouting yes sir/no sir and asking questions but the truth is everything goes above the head and ultimately we got no sleep, no lesson and so much of limitation because we are going to face respected company seniors after taking lunch for 3-5 minutes. And happines is when there is no senior sitting at the wishing position on the dining table. Now you reach your company and the worst part of the day starts because you are going to face your demo seniors who are perfect in everything and our small mistake can have a hammering effect on their head which result in two hours long session. full of sweat, a lot of halla-gulla, shor shraba, torture , mental ragda. Although they call it P.T. Now comes the study period from 2:30 -3:30. It should be named as sleeping period and if you caught then it should be ragda period. But naming it study period is disrespect to study when the study period ends we wish to have one more study period i.e not for study…. I guess you got it.
Then most probably comes to our swimming classes that’s again a nightmare for non-swimmers and dead sinkers. We need not carry a water bottle because pool water always gives us hope that we are not going to die thirsty. Somehow if we stopped swimming in the middle then be ready not to get sink but also to get slaps from the instructor if not then long stick on our bumps. You will get 1 minute to change into P.T rig or else run away taking all your belongings out of swimming pool area..Luckily if you got caught be ready for rolling, crab walk etc.
From here directly you reach for games period.I was so happy on my first day that I will get a chance to play games. But it has been 3 months that we got a chance to play on our own wish. We get to play only when an event of a particular game is approaching otherwise its P.T time. if seniors are in good mood then ok. otherwise, you may run 10 rounds of sand track or you may get the golden opportunity to climb a rope for 10 times with one-minute long break each time. Near about 7’o clock you reach your com any and you get precisely 10 minutes to bath and change into muftis to go for entertainment.Here entertainment means seniors masti. Where we the juniors or jungoes remain bend or in murga position sometimes in tank position watching seniors dancing, singing inside the room. Just a jungoo things I want to share. The most irritated, frustrated we feel when seniors punisher us in mufti. Our sweet muftis hardly attract any sympathy from seniors. After being on hands for more than half n hour they wait for 5 minutes in the last just before study period so that we can enjoy dinner within a long span of 5 minutes. Again after the sleepy, sweaty, killings study period, we are asked to change into P.T rig for P.T with full stomach. If everything goes well there is light out at 10:30. If someone did mistake then again falling where you drink water till the time you vomit. If you are brave enough that you didn’t vomit during drinking then surely it will come out while rolling, or definitely in tank position or helicopter position. Even after this if seniors are happy then ohk otherwise, next fallin is at 2’o clock. Which usually ends before the next day P.T period. This is how my midterm break experience is all about.
There are some changes that I feel because of all these funny things that I did.
Now waking up to at 3:40 am is usually routine for me and if someone allowed to sleep till 4’o clock it’s a privilege.
Now I can do as many pushups my senior or officers want because it’s really easy doing pushes with my coursemate.
Now I can run even 40 k.m continuously because of just a few days before I ran 20 k.m and found its really easy when you run with your buddy.
Now I don’t care if someone abuses me or even hit me with a stick because I know it was my fault and no one here is my enemy and every one want to make me learn.
Now I can eat till my throat in 5 minutes and if something is left on my plate. I have guts to take that in my pocket and eat it later.
Now I know how to change dress in 2 minutes and how to bath in 5 minutes that too in a perfect manner.
Now I have lost 10-14 kg but I know I have become stronger than before. Now I have sixpack, now I can run faster than my own speed till date.
Now after 3 months I can assure you, I have become stronger mentally & physically.
Thanks to OTA. Still, 9 months to go. I use to listen OTA produces the toughest soldiers now I have started believing this.
The Indian Army soldier, Chandu Babulal Chavan who was handed over by Pakistan in January 2017, after he had crossed the India-Pakistan border during the 2016 surgical strike has been court-martialed on Wednesday, CNN-News 18 reported.
The army court has sentenced Chavan to two months of imprisonment and has also forfeited his pension for two years as penalty. CNN-News18 sources said that Chavan had reportedly run away from his post during the surgical strike across the border.
Despite conviction by an army court, Chavan will have right to appeal in a higher court. Earlier in January, Pakistan in a “goodwill gesture” had returned Chavan, claiming that he had crossed the International Border “willfully”.
Chavan came back to India through the land transit route of Attari-Wagah border. Pakistani forces handed him over to the Indian Army, which took him to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Chavan, posted with 37 Rashtriya Rifles, had claimed that he had mistakenly crossed the boundary in Kashmir, hours after India conducted a surgical strike on terrorist bases across the LoC.
However, according to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistan army’s media wing, Sepoy Chavan, stationed in Jammu and Kashmir had “deserted his post at the LOC due to his grievances of maltreatment against his commanders”. “He willfully crossed LoC on 29 September 2016, and surrendered himself to Pakistan Army,” the statement said.
It said that “as a gesture of goodwill and in continuation of our efforts to maintain peace and tranquility along LoC and WB, International Border, Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chavan has been convinced to return to his own country and will be handed over to Indian authorities at Wagah Border on humanitarian grounds.” Chavan belongs to Borvihir village in Dhule district of Maharashtra. His grandmother suffered a cardiac arrest and died after the family was informed that he was captured by the Pakistan Army. India had been in regular touch with Pakistan for the release of Chavan.
Applications are invited from unmarried Male Engineering Graduates for 127th Technical Graduates Course (commencing in Jul 2018 at Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun) for permanent commission in the Indian Army
Age Limit: 20 to 27 years as on 01 Jul 2018 (Candidates born between 02 Jul 91 and 01 Jul 98, both dates inclusive). The date of birth entered in the Matriculation or an equivalent examination certificate only is accepted by this office No other document relating to age will be accepted and no subsequent request for its change will be considered or granted
Educational Qualification for Applying: Candidates who have passed the requisite Engineering Degree course or in the final year of Engineering Degree course are eligible to apply The candidate studying in the final year of Engg degree course should be able to submit proof of passing by 01 Jul 2018 and produce the Engg Degree Certificate within 12 weeks from the date of commencement of training at IMA Such candidates will be inducted on Additional Bond Basis for recovery of the cost of training at IMA as notified from time to time as well as stipend and pay & allowances paid. in case they fail to produce the requisite Degree Certificate within the specified time.
IMPORTANT NOTE: – Candidates must note that for induction to Pre Commission Training Academy, after final selection. the minimum educational qualification is passing BE/B.Tech degree in the Engineering streams notified below. Therefore, to become eligible for induction into TGC-127 course at IMA, Dehradun, candidates studying in final year of engineering must ensure that he submits the proof of his passing Engg degree exam by 01 Jul 2018 to Directorate General of Recruiting, failing which his candidature will be canceled.
Current Affairs questions will be from last 5-7 months (for AFCAT, NDA, CDS, TA)
First of all, before I start with my story I would like to express my gratitude to the things and people that helped me achieve my dream even after continuous failures
My parents and my brother – They were with me all the time, standing by my side, motivating me to try again and again, my pillar of strength.
SSBCRACK – You just cannot miss this website and it’s blog if you are a hardcore defence aspirant.
Captain VIKRAM BATRA, PVC. Captain MANOJ KUMAR PANDEY, PVC. And more such inspiring people. Instead of fake Bollywood heroes, I consider these people as my real heroes and role model.
So , Hey folks out there. A little intro first . I am Sahil chib and I recently got recommended from 1AFSB Dehradun for NDA-139 COURSE in my 7th attempt. I had read many success stories on SSBCRACK just to keep myself motivated and always thought that when I would get the chance to share my own, and I guess here it is. So my story begins from my 11th standard where I had made up my mind to get into the armed forces , but my journey wasn’t that easy as I had expected ,it was more of a roller coaster ride, continuous rejection in technical entries and failures in written left me completely devastated but as they say “ IT IS NOT ABOUT HOW HARD YOU CAN HIT , IT IS ABOUT HOW HARD YOU CAN GET HIT AND KEEP MOVING FORWARD” so I went there each time with more preparation, with a more better and developed person and I just wanted to see how tough it is for me with a mindset “KITNI BAR REJECT KAR LOGE SIR AAP”. Somewhere in my mind I had faith in myself and knew that I had it in me and this was the main driving force that made me try again and again.
So it all begins on 14th of August at Dehradun with 150 candidates reporting.
DAY 1: Screening day
I did extremely well in both the OIR and attempted all of the questions. My personal advice is not to take OIR lightly as they are evaluated and can be a reason for your rejection.
PP&DT – We were shown a very blur picture, it seemed to me that there were some persons standing around a hole. I wrote a crisp a unique and simple story about a PWD officer clearing out the problem of potholes that ware causing a major amount of accidents in his jurisdiction. My narration went were well, I was confident throughout my narration and flawlessly gave my points, in the GD I gave my 2-3 valid points and stayed out of the fish market.
Result time: 72 got screened in.
PSYCH TEST: We had our psych test on the same day from 6 PM onwards (DAMN !! WE were tired ).
TAT: Completed all the 12 stories. While writing the TAT stories I was practical. I created a hero who was a doer rather than a thinker and showed his sustained efforts to achieve his goal (Goal can be anything ranging from organizing a picnic to organizing the launch of a PSLV rocket ).
WAT: Completed 45/60Stressed more on quality rather than quantity.
SRT: Completed 42/60. Same approach as WAT.
SD: Completed it well in time. My only advice is DO NOT BLUFF. Write what you are and who you are. Everybody has some flaws so you don’t have to potray yourself as someone who is far away from your personality ( coz eventually they will find out) .
GTO ( DAY 2 & 3): We had our GTO straightaway the next day and I had great fun doing all the tasks
GD&GPE- These are introductory tasks and are the most important. Just keep in mind that apart from putting forward your points you also have to be a good listener .What I did was I listened to all my groupmates putting their points in the meantime I collected 3-4 good points of mine and when I got the chance I gave up all my points and then started listening to them again.
PGT, HGT, FGT- In these tasks too try to be a group, effective member. Apart from giving your ideas take others ideas as well. Your aim should be to make your group win rather than outperforming others. When you are stuck take their ideas, when they are stuck give your ideas.
INTERVIEW (The best part of whole testing series)
My interview lasted for only 30-35 minutes but I was pretty sure when I came out of the room that I will make it this time. The main approach during the whole interview should be knowing what is being asked and what you have to answer. Don’t beat around the bush and answer briefly and clearly. Be truthful to yourself while answering. During the whole interview, there was a smile on my face and I answered all the questions confidently. Questions ranged from my past girlfriends to my schooling, from “do you watch p*orn “ to “your future career option”. It was fun. Although I had written reading newspaper as my hobby I wasn’t even asked a single question GS maybe because he was more interested in me rather than my GS skills.
Here you can get an idea how was my interview
IO – What are your views on premarital sex?
ME- Sir I feel that everything has its time and I personally won’t do it but if its consensual and proper protection is used then it ain’t a sin either.
IO- What kind of person you would be after 4 years from now?
ME- Sir. It depends upon the training that I would get in the academy, which I know is quite incredible so yes, a better person more responsible and mature and a good leader.
Final result: 8 got recommended out of 72.
Signing off with this most inspiring line for me that a recommended candidate had mentioned in his story on SSBCRACK … **HARA VAHI JO LADA NAHI .
I would be glad to help you out I, if you have some doubts you can contact me on FB or QUORA.
Hello Friends. Maybe I should say Hello Gentlemen. Here’s my success story. I got recommended for Indian Army SSC (Tech) – 49 from 22 SSB, Bhopal. This was my 5th Attempt. I was screened out in the first four attempts and got recommended in my fifth attempt. My first three attempts were for NDA and at that time I was very casual about my attempts and never thought of introspection. But when I went for TGC entry SSB at Bhopal, I did realize that Introspection is the most important thing to identify our own mistakes.
But after getting screened out for 4 times, I didn’t prepare anything and hence I didn’t really had any hopes that I would make it this time. I had planned to go to my hometown if I am screened out this time so booked a ticket in Duronto Express from Bhopal to Delhi in Advance. So here it starts, “THE JOURNEY TO RECOMMENDATION”
21st April, 2017:
My journey from Bengaluru to Bhopal begins on this day. I boarded Sampark Kranti Express from Yesvantpur Junction. I reached Bhopal Junction on 22nd April, 2017 at 11:15 p.m. So I called one of my friends who studies in Bhopal and stayed at his home for the night.
23rd April, 2017:
The Day of Reporting. We were asked to report by sharp 6 a.m at the Service Selection Centre Central, Bhopal. After all the document verification, we got our Screening Test Chest Numbers. Around 750 candidates were called, and 215 Reported.
Then we had Intelligence Test, Two question Papers: Verbal (45 Questions in 22 Minutes) and Non Verbal (45 Questions in 19 Minutes)
I did well in both the tests and was able to attempt 40 questions in Verbal and 40 Questions in Non Verbal and was 99.9% sure that all my answers were correct.
Then it was time for PPDT, they showed us a picture. It was very clear. In the picture there were three characters. Two were standing near a wall and third one was speaking on Phone. I did write a story about a boy motivating and helping his sister for higher studies but was not able to finish it.
In Discussion, our group consisted of 15 members. As soon as the officer said, “Gentlemen, you can start your discussion”, the place turned into a fish market. Then I said, “Friends, as Sir has already told that we should discuss and not make a fish market, so let’s listen to everyone’s points one by one”. Then a friend said, “Friends let’s discuss the number of characters”. I said, “What is there to discuss, as everyone has seen three characters, so let’s decide the common theme for our story”. I think that friend took it as an offense and said, “First we will decide the title of the story, Theme can be discussed later”. I was like “Really!!!!” Then one of our friends made a great story on Woman Empowerment. And I did support his story and then whole group was united with the theme except one friend. And Then officer said, “OK gentlemen, it was a very healthy discussion, we will get back to you with the results soon, you may leave now”
Finally, discussion was over. And I was happy as I did better than my previous attempts.
Then at 4 p.m the results were announced, and I was shocked to know that I am screened in. I was happy for getting screened in but at the same time was sad as I was losing my money for the railways:-P 30 got screened in. I got chest No. 8 for Stage II.
We were asked to go to the allotted rooms and settle ourselves and come back again for some documentation and PIQ form filling. It does take hours for the documentation:-P
22nd April, 2017:
Second Day means it’s a day of Psych Testing. Before the tests we had a photo-session but not with our mobiles:-P
The test started with TAT. First picture was of an accident scene, I was happy that it’s a very simple theme and can write a story on it easily. But I was shocked when next picture was again for an accident scene. I thought to myself, “Why? What to do now??” and then got an idea and did write the story based on accident due to drunken driving case. And then my brain stopped working after the second picture, and went with the flow of test.
Then came WAT, There were some words and we have to make sentences on them. We get 15 seconds to read the word, frame a sentence and write it in answer booklet. Now that is what I liked the most, FAST and FURIOUS:-P I was able to complete 54 out of 60. The words I left were the ones which I never heard it in life:-P
Some examples of my sentence:
NEIGHBOR: He shares very good relations with his neighbors
LIFE: Quick to react, He saved a Life.
Then came SRT, we were given booklets which contained 60 Situations and we should write our responses for those situations in 30 minutes means half a minute for each situation. I was able to respond to 40 out of 60 SRTs.
Then it was time for Self Description. The officer gave us five questions,
“What do your parents think about you?”
“What do your teachers think about you?”
“What do your Friends think about you?”
“What do you think about yourself?”
“What are the qualities you want to improve?”
The allotted time was 15 minutes. I was able to respond 4 questions and then as soon as I finished a sentence for my fifth question, time was up.
And then the test was over and we were informed about the scheduled interviews. My interview was scheduled on the same day. We were given the time of reporting for the interview.
INTERVIEW
My interview was taken by the Deputy President. Here are the questions asked to me during interview,
IO: I have seen that your engineering will be over in June 2017. I want to know what you would do after the completion of your Engineering. Indian Army is one of the options; I want to know other than this.
IO: Ok, now tell me about your family members, and tell me about their occupation.
IO: Now tell me about your education, where have you studied and in which school did you study from class 1 and tell me which institute you liked the most and why? And then tell me about your friend circle and give me names of your two best friends.
IO: Tell me what are their parents doing?
IO: Ok, now tell me two good qualities that your friends are better than you and two good qualities that you are better than them. I want to know the qualities.
IO: Ok tell me, what have you planned till now?
IO: Ok tell me top three news of India in past two years that would make Impact on India in next Thirty Years.
IO: Tell me the three basic electrical Components and think that I am a small child and I don’t know anything and explain me the difference between the Capacitor and Inductor.
IO: How is electricity transferred from the generating station to the consumers?
IO: How many wars has India fought in Kashmir? Tell me the wars and the year in which they occurred.
IO: Do you drive two-wheeler or four-Wheeler?
ME: Sir, Both
IO: Which one in 4 Wheeler?
ME: Sir, i10
IO: What is your maximum speed?
ME: 90 kmph
IO: Can’t you drive faster than that? Are you afraid of the speed?
ME: Sir, Come to Bangalore and drive it with a faster speed. (IO smiled for this answer)
IO: Did you take any coaching? How did you prepare yourself for the SSB?
Current Affairs questions will be from last 5-7 months (for AFCAT, NDA, CDS, TA)
Topic my group selected was “What are the reasons for Unemployment in India?”
I was not able to speak during the initial phase of the discussion. But after 5 minutes of discussion, I started giving my points and my group started adding to my points.
Next topic was “Transparency in India- Advantage or Disadvantage?”
A healthy discussion went on and I participated with more Josh than the previous topic.
TASK 2: Group Planning Exercise
I did well in the written part of the task. But was not able to discuss the plan as the group did become a fish market. Everyone was busy in giving their own ideas and no one was ready to listen to anyone. So I thought of remaining silent in such a condition.
TASK 3: Progressive Group Task
As these were something new to me, I didn’t get any ideas at first. So I helped my group by carrying the load and placing plank and Balli as per the group plan. In the second Obstacle I did got some ideas and gave it to the group and our group was able to complete the obstacle. In third, it was a bit hard to get ideas, but still we were able to cross the obstacle. We were not able to complete the fourth Obstacle as the time given to us for the completion of the task was over. Still I was happy that somehow I helped my group in the task.
TASK 4: Group Obstacle Race
This was the best task of the day. It was fun and we can enjoy the task with our group members. I helped some of my group members to climb the 10 feet wall and kept the josh of my group very high. I selected the War Cry for my group. It was fun. We got a penalty for breaking the rules of the race, so I was one of those who repeated the task for the group and I do think our group won the race.
TASK 5: Half Group Task
Our group was divided into two subgroups of 5 members each. One group was the head and tail of our group, i.e. Chest Nos 1,2,3,9,10 and the other was the body of group, i.e 4,5,6,7,8. (As per our GTO Sir)
We were able to complete the task in the given time but only with the help of GTO Sir. I gave few ideas for the task.
TASK 6: Lecture
I selected “Women in Today’s Society”. I gave a good speech for my complete three minutes and was happy that at least one task of the day went well.
After Completion of Day 1 I was not happy with my performance, I lost hope of getting recommended.
26th April 2017
GTO Day 2
TASK 7: Individual Obstacles
As I am a sportsperson, I was able to complete all the ten obstacles in given time by repeating two obstacles to add my total score to 71 points. It was fun to plan and do the obstacles to score as much as possible.
TASK 8: Command Task
I was called for 4 times as a sub-ordinate.
During my command task, GTO Sir asked me some questions
GTO: Which tasks do you think you were not able to perform well in?
Me: Sir Group Tasks and Interview
GTO: I have already said you that one task does not define your performance, so don’t worry about that.
Me: Sir, That’s why I am standing here today for the task with full josh.
GTO sir asked me 4 solutions of the task and I was able to give all the solutions and I was in full josh as it tested my thinking capacity and creativity.
TASK 9: Final Group Task
Final group task was a blunder. My group didn’t want to work so it just completed somehow.
I was not happy with my performance in the GTO Tasks and was not hoping for good results, so after returning back I booked a tatkal ticket for Rajdhani Express from Bhopal to Bangalore.
27th April 2017
CONFERENCE DAY
We were motivated by an officer before our conference began. He gave examples of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Amitabh Bachchan.
Our Conference started from the last numbers.
I was made to wait for around 10 minutes before my turn. And then I was called in. It was good to see all the officers in Uniform as it filled me with Josh.
I wished everyone “GOOD MORNING SIR”
My IO asked few questions and my conference went on for around 10 minutes.
IO: What was the difference between your experience of SSB and the experience shared by your recommended friends?
IO: How did you prepare for your SSB and especially Psych Tests?
IO: What do you speak with your group members after everyday tests are completed?
IO: How was your stay at SSB?
IO: Which tasks do you think that you could have done better?
IO: Why were you not able to give good ideas to group when you can speak so well with me?
IO: How did you prepare for writing stories?
IO: Any Suggestions for us.
I left the room with a “THANK YOU SIR”
After 30 minutes the result was announced, And when the officer called my chest number I was on Cloud nine as I was not expecting this. But It was the happiest moment of life and all the memories of my previous attempts flashed through my eyes and was feeling proud as I was able to accomplish my dream in my 5th Attempt.
Total of 6 Candidates out of 30 Screened in was recommended by the board.
So this is my experience, I hope many of you will get Josh, and I would love to read your success story on this very same website. It did help me a lot and It would also help many in coming future. Thank you SSBCRACK. You are doing a great Job. Keep it Up
I have my joining on 29th September 2017 at OTA Chennai. If you have any queries mail me at [email protected]
Hello aspirants, in this article you will find the list of famous books and their authors, this list is based on the questions asked in different competitive exams in India. If you are preparing for CDS, NDA and AFCAT exams, you must go through this list, also if you have a hobby of reading, you must check out these famous books and start reading as you like them. By remembering these books and authors you can easily score few marks in your competitive exams.
Famous Books and Authors
My experiments with Truth: Mahatma M.K.Gandhi
Far from the Madding Crowd: Thomas Hardy
Geetanjali: Rabindra Nath Tagore
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch: Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The Merchant of Venice: William Shakespeare
The Moon and Six pence: Somerset Maughan
Pilgrim’s Progress from this world to that which is to come: John Bunyan
A Tale of Two Cities: Charles Dickens
Utopia: Sir Thomas Moor
Origin of species: Charles Darwin
David Copperfield: Charles Dickens
A passage to India: E.M.Forster
Gulliver’s Travels: Jonathan Swift
Discovery of India: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
The Vicar of Wakefield: Oliver Goldsmith
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Edward Gibbon
The Lady of the Last Minstrel: Sir Walter Scott
Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen
Time Machine: H.G. Wells
Arthashastra: Kautilya
Le Contract Social: Jean Jacques Rousseau
Avigyan Sakuntalam: Kalidas
Anand Math: Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay
Mein Kampf: Adolf Hitler
Ain-i-Akbari: Abul Fazal
Akbar-Nama: Abul Fazal
Shakuntala: Kalidas
War and peace: Leo Tolstoy
A Dangerous place: D.P. Moynihan
Raghuvamsa: Kalidas
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Arthur Conan Doyle
Adventures of Tom Saweyer: Mark Twain
Agni Veena: Kazi Nasrul Islam
Alice in Wonderland: Lewis Carrol
Ancient Mariner: Coleridge
Animal Farm: George Orwell
Anna Karenina: Leo Tolstoy
Antony and Cleopatra: Shakespeare
Arms and the Man: G.B.Shaw
Around the World in eighty days: Jules Verne
Baburnama: Babur
Ben Hur: Lewis Wallace
Bhagwat Gita: Ved Vyas
Bisarjan: R.N.Tagore
Canterbury Tales: Chaucer
Chitra: R.N.Tagore
Count of Monte Cristo: Alexander Dumas
Crime and Punishment: Dostoevsky
Das Kapital : Karl Marx
Divine Comedy: Dante
Two Year Eight Months and Twenty –Eight Night –Salman Rushdi
The Red Sari –Javier Moro
Neither a Hawk nor a dove –Khurshid M Kasuari
Faces and Places Professor –Deepak Nayyar
Indian Parliamentary Diplomacy- Meira Kumar
Farishta –Kapil Isapuari
Super Economies –Raghav Bahal
China :Confucius in the Shadow –Poonam Surie
My country My Life ‐ L.K.Advani
Joseph Anton ‐ Sulman Rushdie (Autobiography)
The Sahara Testaments ‐ Tade Ipadeola
Narendra Modi: A Political Biography ‐ Andy Marino
My Unforgettable Memories ‐ Mamata Banerjee
Rationalised Roman for Kashmiri ‐ Dr R L Bhat
Strictly Personal, Manmohan and Gursharan ‐ Daman Singh
The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001‐ 2014 ‐ Carlotta Gall
Lal Bahadur Shastri: Lessons in Leadership ‐ Pavan Choudary
Walking With Giants ‐ G. Ramachandran(former Finance Secretary )
Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and other Truths ‐ PC Parakh
The Accidental Prime Minister: the making and unmaking of Manmohan Singh ‐ Sanjaya Baru
God of Antarctica ‐ 13 year old Yashwardhan Shukla
My Years with Rajiv and Sonia ‐ R.D.Pradhan
Khushwantnama ‐The Lessons of My Life ‐ Khushwant singh
Syntheism – Creating God in The Internet Age ‐ Alexander Bard
One Life is Not Enough ‐ Natwar Singh
The Lives of Others ‐ Neel Mukherjee
My Music My Life ‐ Pt Ravi Shankar
I am Malala ‐ Malala Yousufzai and Christina Lamb
A Man and A Motorcycle, How Hamid Karzai Came to Power ‐ Bette Dam
True Colours — Adam Gilchrist
Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: An Inside Job? ‐ Faraz Ahmad
The God of Small Things ‐ Arundhati Roy
Interpreter of Maladies ‐ Jhumpa Lahiri
And then One Day: A Memoir ‐ Nasiruddin Shah (Autobiography)
Unaccustomed Earth ‐ Jhumpa Lahiri
Lowland ‐ Jhumpa Lahiri
Truth Always Prevails ‐ Sadruddin Hashwani
Playing It My Way – Sachin Tendulkar and Boria Mazumder
Unbreakable (Autobiography of Mary Kom) ‐ Mary Kom
Enoch, I am a British Indian ‐ Sarinder Joshua
Duroch ModiNomics ‐ Sameer Kochar
Public Issues Before Parliament ‐ Vijay Darda
Water, Peace and War – Confronting the Global Water Crisis ‐ Brahma Chellaney Ambedkar
Awakening India’s Social Conscience ‐ Dr. Narendra Jadhav
Munger through the Ages ‐ Late DP Yadav
Akbar – The Aesthete ‐ Dr. Indu Anand
Runs in Ruins — Sunil Gavaskar
India at Risk ‐ Jaswant Singh
The Narrow Road to the Deep North ‐ Richard Flanagan (Australian)(Man Booker)
Untold Story of the Indian Public Sector ‐ Dr UD Choubey
Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar ‐ Dilip D’Souza
Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace ‐ Leon Panetta and Jim Newton
Not Just an Accountant ‐ former CAG Vinod Rai
Grandmaster Repertoire ‐ 1.e4 vs The French, Caro‐Kann and Philidor ‐ Parimarjan Negi
A Bend in the river ‐ V.S. Naipaul
Dark Star: The Loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna ‐ Gautam Chintamani
Half Girlfriend ‐ Chetan Bhagat
Iqbal: The Life of a Poet, Philosopher and Politician ‐ Biography of Allama Muhammad Iqbal (Spiritual Father of Pakistan)
50 years of man in space ‐ Garik Israelien, Brian May and David J Eicher
Black Tornado: The Three Sieges of Mumbai 26/11 ‐ Sandeep Unnithan
Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years ‐ Pranab Mukherjee 2014: The Election That Changed India ‐Rajdeep Sardesai
Your Dreams Are Mine Now: She Showed him What Love ‐ Ravinder Singh
Born Again on the Mountain- Arunima Sinha
Flood of Fire –Amitav Ghosh
30 Women in Power: Their Voices, Their Stories- Naina Lal Kidwai
The Courage to Act – A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath : Ben S. Bernanke
To the Brink and Back: India’s 1991 Story :Jairam Ramesh
Globalisation, Democratization and Distributive Justice : Dr. Mool Chand Sharma
Ramcharitmanas (105-year-old Urdu copy ): Shiv Brat Lal
Mrs Funny bones :Twinkle Khanna
Making India Awesome : Chetan Bhagat
The Kumbh Mela: Mapping the Ephemeral Megacity :Tarun Khanna
R.D. Burman: The Prince of Music :Khagesh Dev Burman
Ghosts of Calcutta :Sebastian Ortiz
Green Signals: Ecology, Growth, and Democracy in India :Jairam Ramesh
Transcendence: My Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji : Abdul Kalam
Beyond Doubt: A Dossier on Gandhi’s Assassination : Teesta Setalvad
Modi – Incredible emergence of a star (in Chinese language): Tarun Vijay
Education of Muslims : Professor JS Rajput
Sourav Ganguly: Cricket, Captaincy and Controversy:Saptarshi Sarkar
Flood of fire : Amitav Ghosh
Super Economies :Raghav Bahl
Complete Story of Indian Reforms: 2G, Power & Private Enterprise : Pradeep Baijal
Unbelievable – Delhi to Islamabad : Prof Bhim Singh
Food for All:Uma Lele
Family Life :Akhil Sharma( winner of the Folio Prize 2015)
Faces and Places :Prof. Deepak Nayyar
Indian Parliamentary Diplomacy- Speaker’s Perspective :Meira Kumar
Editor Unplugged: Media, Magnates, Netas and Me : Vinod Mehta
Fragile Frontiers: The Secret History of Mumbai Terror Attacks : SK Rath
Why I Assassinated Gandhi : Nathuram Godse and Gopal Godse
Other famous books and their authors
Book
Author
Non-stop India
Mark Tully
The Mad Tibetan: Stories from then and now
Deepti Naval
Nirbasan
Taslima Nasreen
The Best Thing About You is You
Anupam Kher
Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World
Dalai Lama
I Witness: Partial Observations
Kapil Sibal
The Art of Living – A Guide to Contentment, Joy and Fulfilment
Dalai Lama
Origins of Love
Kishwar Desai
Pax Indica: India and the world of the 21st Century
Dr. Shashi Tharoor
The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk
Sudha Murthy
A Better India: A Better World
NR Narayana Murthy
India – My Beloved
Dominique Lapierre
Dare to Do: For the New Generation
Kiran Bedi
Kashmir: The Unwritten History
Christopher Snedden
Walking with Lions : Tales from a Diplomatic Past
K Natwar Singh
The Hanging of Afzal Guru
Arundhati Roy
The Shadow Of The Crescent Moon
Fatima Bhutto
The Oath of the Vayuputras
Amish Tripathi
The Great Gatsby
F Scott Fitzgerald
India: The Future is Now
Shashi Tharoor
Go Set a Watchman
Harper Lee
And Then One Day
Naseeruddin Shah
Getting India Back on Track
Ratan Tata
One Life is Not Enough
Natwar Singh
Not Just an Accountant: The diary of the nation’s conscience keeper
What is Sentence arrangement? Arranging given sentences in a paragraph – Sentence arrangement questions are easy and you will face such questions in CDS and NDA exams, both NDA and CDS will have similar type of sentence arrangement (PQRS) questions, for a fact that NDA and CDS question papers had same PQRS sentence arrangement questions.
You can face 15 -20 such questions in CDS exam and around 10-15 questions in NDA exam, such questions are very easy if you have a basic understanding of grammer and sentence formation.
Tips for Sentence Arrangement
Understand the passage first, once you know the meaning of the passage, it is easier to make the correct sentence.
Make a pair of two sentences, for example, if 6 sentences are given, make 3 pairs each having 2 sentences.
To make the pair, find the connecting words that form a link between two sentences.
Once you make the pairs, just reorder them to form a correct and meaningful passage.
The pair that looks independent introduction should come first and the pair which looks like a conculsion will be last.
Once done, read the complete passage to cross check and match with the given options.
Sentence Arrangement Questions
1. A. The two neighbours never fought each other. B. Fights involving three male fiddler crabs have been recorded, but the status of the participants was unknown. C. They pushed or grappled only with the intruder. D. We recorded 17 cases in which a resident that was fighting an intruder was joined by an immediate neighbour, an ally. E. We, therefore, tracked 268 intruder males until we saw them fighting a resident male. (a) BEDAC (b) DEBAC (c) BDCAE (d) BCEDA Answer: (a) BEDAC
2. A. He felt justified in bypassing Congress altogether on a variety of moves. B. At times he was fighting the entire Congress. C. Bush felt he had a mission to restore power to the presidency. D. Bush was not fighting just the democrats. E. Representative democracy is a messy business, and a CEO of the White House does not like a legislature of second guessers and time wasters. (a) CAEDB (b) DBAEC (c) CEADB (d) ECDBA Answer: (b) DBAEC
3. A. In the west, Allied Forces had fought their way through southern Italy as far as Rome. B. In June 1944 Germany’s military position in World War Two appeared hopeless. C. In Britain, the task of amassing the men and materials for the liberation of northern Europe had been completed. D. The Red Army was poised to drive the Nazis back through Poland. E. The situation on the eastern front was catastrophic. (a) EDACB (b) BEDAC (c) BDECA (d) CEDAB Answer: (b) BEDAC
4. A. Experts such as Larry Burns, head of research at GM, reckon that only such a full hearted leap will allow the world to cope with the mass motorisation that will one day come to China or India. B. But once hydrogen is being produced from biomass or extracted from underground coal or made from water, using nuclear or renewable electricity, the way will be open for a huge reduction in carbon emissions from the whole system. C. In theory, once all the bugs have been sorted out, fuel cells should deliver better total fuel economy than any existing engines. D. That is twice as good as the internal combustion engine, but only five percentage points better than a diesel hybrid. E. Allowing for the resources needed to extract hydrogen from hydrocarbon, oil, coal or gas, the fuel cell has an efficiency of 30 %. (a) CEDBA (b) CEBDA (c) AEDBC (d) ACEBD Answer: (a) CEDBA
5. A. But this does not mean that death was the Egyptians’ only preoccupation. B. Even papyri come mainly from pyramid temples. C. Most of our traditional sources of information about the Old Kingdom are monuments of the rich like pyramids and tombs. D. Houses in which ordinary Egyptians lived have not been preserved, and when most people died they were buried in simple graves. E. We know infinitely more about the wealthy people of Egypt than we do about the ordinary people, as most monuments were made for the rich. (a) CDBEA (b) ECDAB (c) EDCBA (d) DECAB Answer: (c) EDCBA
6. A. Too much of the Labour movement, it symbolises the brutality of the upper classes. B. And to everybody watching, the current mess over foxhunting symbolises the government’s weakness. C. To foxhunting’s supporters, Labour’s 1991 manifesto commitment to ban it symbolises the party’s metropolitan roots and hostility to the countryside. D. Small issues sometimes have large symbolic power. E. To those who enjoy thundering across the countryside in red coats after foxes, foxhunting symbolises the ancient roots of rural lives. (a) DEACB (b) ECDBA (c) CEADB (d) DBAEC Answer: (a) DEACB
7. A. In the case of King Merolchazzar’s courtship of the Princess of the Outer Isles, there occurs a regrettable hitch. B. She acknowledges the gifts, but no word of a meeting date follows. C. The monarch, hearing good reports of a neighbouring princess, dispatches messengers with gifts to her court, beseeching an interview. D. The princess names a date, and a formal meeting takes place; after that everything buzzes along pretty smoothly. E. Royal love affairs in olden days were conducted on the correspondence method. (a) ACBDE (b) ABCDE (c) ECDAB (d) ECBAD Answer: (c) ECDAB
8. A. Who can trace to its first beginnings the love of Damon for Pythias, of David for Jonathan, of Swan for Edgar? B. Similarly with men. C. There is about great friendships between man and man a certain inevitability that can only be compared with the age old association of ham and eggs. D. One simply feels that it is one of the things that must be so. E. No one can say what was the mutual magnetism that brought the deathless partnership of these wholesome and palatable foodstuffs about. (a) ACBED (b) CEDBA (c) ACEBD (d) CEABD Answer: (b) CEDBA
9. A. Events intervened, and in the late 1930s and 1940s, Germany suffered from “over-branding”. B. The British used to be fascinated by the home of Romanticism. C. But reunification and the federal government’s move to Berlin have prompted Germany to think again about its image. D. The first foreign package holiday was a tour of Germany organized by Thomas Cook in 1855. E. Since then, Germany has been understandably nervous about promoting itself abroad. (a) ACEBD (b) DECAB (c) BDAEC (d) DBAEC Answer:(c) BDAEC
10. A. The wall does not simply divide Israel from a putative Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders. B. A chilling omission from the road map is the gigantic ‘separation wall’ now being built in the West Bank by Israel. C. It is surrounded by trenches, electric wire and moats; there are watchtowers at regular intervals. D. It actually takes in new tracts of Palestinian land, sometimes five or six kilometres at a stretch. E. Almost a decade after the end of South African apartheid, this ghastly racist wall is going up with scarcely a peep from Israel’s American allies who are going to pay for most of it. (a) EBCAD (b) BADCE (c) AEDCB (d) ECADB Answer: (b) BADCE
Current Affairs questions will be from last 5-7 months (for AFCAT, NDA, CDS, TA)
11. A. Luckily the tide of battle moved elsewhere after the American victory at Midway and an Australian victory over Japan at Milne Bay. B. It could have been no more than a delaying tactic. C. The Australian military, knowing the position was hopeless, planned to fall back to the south-east in the hope of defending the main cities. D. They had captured most of the Solomon Islands and much of New Guinea, and seemed poised for an invasion. E. Not many people outside Australia realize how close the Japanese got. (a) EDCBA (b) ECDAB (c) ADCBE (d) CDBAE Answer: (a) EDCBA
12. A. Call it the third wave sweeping the Indian media. B. Now, they are starring in a new role, as suave dealmakers who are in a hurry to strike alliances and agreements. C. Look around and you will find a host of deals that have been inked or are ready to be finalized. D. Then the media barons wrested back control from their editors, and turned marketing warriors with the brand as their missile. E. The first came with those magnificent men in their mahogany chambers who took on the world with their mighty fountain pens. (a) ACBED (b) CEBDA (c) CAEBD (d) AEDBC Answer: (d) AEDBC
13. A. The celebrations of economic recovery in Washington may be as premature as that “Mission Accomplished” banner hung on the USS Abraham Lincoln to hail the end of the Iraq war. B. Meanwhile, in the real world, the struggles of families and communities continue unabated. C. Washington responded to the favourable turn in economic news with enthusiasm. D. The celebrations and high-fives up and down Pennsylvania Avenue are not to be found beyond the Beltway. E. When the third quarter GDP showed growth of 7.2% and the monthly unemployment rate dipped to 6%, euphoria gripped the US capital. (a) ACEDB (b) CEDAB (c) ECABD (d) ECBDA Answer: (d) ECBDA
14. A. Four days later, Oracle announced its own bid for PeopleSoft, and invited the firm’s board to a discussion. B. Furious that his own plans had been endangered, PeopleSoft’s boss, Craig Conway, called Oracle’s offer “diabolical”, and its boss, Larry Ellison, a “sociopath”. C. In early June, PeopleSoft said that it would buy J.D. Edwards, a smaller rival. D. Moreover, said Mr. Conway, “he could imagine neither price nor combination of price and other conditions to recommend accepting the offer.” E. On June 12th, PeopleSoft turned Oracle down. (a) CABDE (b) CADBE (c) CEDAB (d) CAEBD Answer: (a) CABDE
15. A. A few months ago I went to Princeton University to see what the young people who are going to be running our country in a few decades are like. B. I would go to sleep in my hotel room around midnight each night, and when I awoke, my mailbox would be full of replies—sent at 1:15 a.m., 2:59 a.m., 3:23 a.m. C. One senior told me that she went to bed around two and woke up each morning at seven; she could afford that much rest because she had learned to supplement her full day of work by studying in her sleep. D. Faculty members gave me the names of a few dozen articulate students, and I sent them e-mails, inviting them out to lunch or dinner in small groups. E. As she was falling asleep she would recite a math problem or a paper topic to herself; she would then sometimes dream about it, and when she woke up, the problem might be solved. (a) DABCE (b) DACEB (c) ADBCE (d) AECBD Answer: (c) ADBCE
16. A. I am much more intolerant of a human being’s shortcomings than I am of an animal’s, but in this respect I have been lucky, for most of the people I have come across have been charming. B. Then you come across the unpleasant human animal—the District Officer who drawled, “We chaps are here to help you chaps,’ and then proceeded to be as obstructive as possible. C. In these cases of course, the fact that you are an animal collector helps; people always seem delighted to meet someone with such an unusual occupation and go out of their way to assist you. D. Fortunately, these types are rare, and the pleasant ones I have met more than compensated for them—but even so, I think I will stick to animals. E. When you travel round the world collecting animals you also, of necessity, collect human beings. (a) EACBD (b) ABDCE (c) ECBDA (d) ACBDE Answer: (a) EACBD
17. A. Surrendered, or captured, combatants cannot be incarcerated in razor wire cages; this ‘war’ has a dubious legality. B. How can then one characterize a conflict to be waged against a phenomenon as war? C. The phrase ‘war against terror’, which has passed into the common lexicon, is a huge misnomer. D. Besides, war has a juridical meaning in international law, which has codified the laws of war, imbuing them with a humanitarian content. E. Terror is a phenomenon, not an entity—either State or non-State. (a) ECDBA (b) BECDA (c) EBCAD (d) CEBDA Answer: (d) CEBDA
18. A. To avoid this, the QWERTY layout put the keys most likely to be hit in rapid succession on opposite sides. This made the keyboard slow, the story goes, but that was the idea. B. A different layout, which had been patented by August Dvorak in 1936, was shown to be much faster. C. The QWERTY design (patented by Christopher Sholes in 1868 and sold to Remington in 1873) aimed to solve a mechanical problem of early typewriters. D. Yet the Dvorak layout has never been widely adopted, even though (with electric typewriters and then PCs) the anti-jamming rationale for QWERTY has been defunct for years. E. When certain combinations of keys were struck quickly, the type bars often jammed. (a) BDACE (b) CEABD (c) BCDEA (d) CAEBD Answer:(b) CEABD
19. A. Branded disposable diapers are available at many supermarkets and drug stores. B. If one supermarket sets a higher price for a diaper; customers may buy that brand elsewhere. C. By contrast, the demand for private-label products may be fewer prices sensitive since it is available only at a corresponding supermarket chain. D. So, the demand for branded diapers at any particular store may be quite price sensitive. E. For instance, only SavOn Drugs stores sell SavOn Drugs diapers. F. Then, stores should set a higher incremental margin percentage for private-label diapers. (a) ABCDEF (b) ABCEDF (c) ADBCEF (d) AEDBCF Answer: (c) ADBCEF
20. A. Having a strategy is a matter of discipline. B. It involves the configuration of a tailored value chain that enables a company to offer unique value. C. It requires a strong focus on profitability and a willingness to make tough trade-offs in choosing what not to do. D. Strategy goes far beyond the pursuit of best practices. E. A company must stay the course even during times of upheaval, while constantly improving and extending its distinctive positioning. F. When a company’s activities fit together as a self-reinforcing system, any competitor wishing to imitate a strategy must replicate the whole system? (a) ACEDBF (b) ACBDEF (c) DCBEFA (d) ABCEDF Answer: (a) ACEDBF
Note: in case of errors, do let us know in the comment section.
