Hi guys, I am Harikrishnan and I am from Kerala.I am also a defence aspirant and this time I had cleared the AFCAT examwith 139 marks.When the result was published ,I was very happy and I didn’t know what to do next.Luckily one of my friend had attended the AFSB interview earlier and he passed me with many information that was really useful for me. He advised me to take a little bit of coaching before going to the AFSB. I asked the same to my father, and he said that since this is my first time, I should go there without any coaching as it will also give me a chance to know myself without any interruption from these coaching centres. Unfortunately, the date of the CAT exam was announced and I wasn’t able to concentrate much on its studies. Hence, my parents and friends advised me to attend the AFSB before the CAT exam and the final decision was left to me.Therefore, I chose to attend AFSB before CAT because it would also provide me time to prepare for CAT. Thus I choose 3rd Nov as my AFSB date.
I left from my hometown to Mysore on 1st Nov and reached there on 2nd Nov. I took rest for some time, and then I went to Mysore palace and Chamundi hills and returned to my room before 8 pm and had a good sleep. I woke up at 5 in the morning and left for the railway station at 6.15am since the reporting time was at 6.45 am. I reached there in time and boarded the Air Force bus. The bus was filled with Air Force aspirants and we got acquainted with each other. 92 candidates reported.After reaching there we had our breakfast and we were taken to the testing hall for the OIR test.We attended the test and then it was time for the much awaited PPDT test. A hazy picture was shown and we were informed to write a story about it in nearly four and half minutes. Since most of us were freshers ,many of them weren’t able to complete the story in time. Then it was time for the discussion and we were taken to the discussion room in a group of 12. We had our discussion for nearly 7 minutes and we were not able to reach a common conclusion. Then it was time for the announcement of our results.
I was screened in along with 47 others.We all were very happy. The rest were being sent back to the railway station after payment of their allowance. We were called inside for filling some applications and the PIQ form,after which the documents were verified. The candidates without original certificates were also sent back. Then we were taken to the candidate billet.On the way we were discussing about being screened in and also about the set of tests that we have to come across in our stay of 5 days in the AFSB. We 48 became close friends.After reaching there we were allotted rooms in the billet.In my room there were 11 of them and two them were Keralites. We went to sleep early as all of us were tired after the long day. The next day some of us had PABT,and the rest of us stayed in the room.At 12 noon we had our psychological tests consisting of WAT, TAT, SRT and SDT. We returned to our room and many of us went for outing.On the second day I had GTO, which I couldn’t perform well due to lack of much knowledge about them. I didn’t perform well in GPE but I performed well in GDs and Lecturettes.
Next day I had the individual tasks and also the command task,while some of us had Interview.I completed 4 obstacles scoring just 20 points from 3 minutes and did my command task well. Next day I had the interview,which went quite well. The IO was cool and joyful. (A small tip of advice for all AFSB aspirants :Don’t simply write some activity as your hobby.If you do have a hobby,you must have a thorough knowledge about your hobby or else the IO will screw you.I wrote Photography as my hobby and I was asked questions regarding DSLRs, lens, ISOs and all other stuff,which I wasn’t much aware of.) After the interview we all went for outing in the mysore zoo,mall of Mysore etc.Next day was the big day ,since it was the Board conference day.
Some of us had GT which was over by 11 am. We were told to pack our luggage and assemble in the testing room. Then we had our conference and it was totally an awesome experience.The moment you go in the conference room and you see nearly 15-18 officers in their uniforms headed by the board president…It was really awesome. We had our lunch and reported back to the testing hall at 3.30 pm. Then it was time for the results. 4 among the 48 were selected, and unfortunately I wasn’t among the four. But I was very happy. I made new friends,got a chance to uplift myself and above everything I understood my skills and abilities. A individual must attend an SSB at least once in his/her life,since the 5 days provide you time to know more about yourself, your life and your character. We were given our TA and sent back to the station in the Air Force bus. 44 of us were there and we all were sad not about being selected but since the most beautiful 5 days in our life were over. But we took a oath that day, that we will be back in the AFSB next time,but this time fully prepared!!
About Hari Krishnan
