Do you think you have seen it all? think again!!! Well, guys, I was always interested in reading out experiences here and never thought I would get a chance to write mine one day, that too in a mere age of 17 years.
For the introduction part, I am Anirudh Rawat, from Bulandshahr, U.P . I always wondered to join Indian armed forces as an officer. Things that interested me is simply my father’s uniform, my choice of taking up a career full of adventure, challenges, and satisfaction. Many people asked me how I handle my studies as well in between, my answer being “ I am an air force brat, I can handle everything”. many people don’t understand “we wear phrase military brat as a badge of honor. “ coming back, I was preparing for IIT as well so cracking NDA written exam was not a big deal for me, I did it easily.
I believe if someone analyses earlier test papers, one can easily crack written exam. I did same. I was called up for SSB on 29 January 2018 by 2 AFSB Mysore for NDA 140 Course. I bought up the book ”Let’s Crack SSB interview” by SSBCRACK, I went thoroughly, it helped me a lot in getting a fair idea about the whole procedure and what qualities are expected from a candidate.
For preparation I also went to take guidance from COL(retd) L.S. Nirban Sir, I took all help from him. For you all I’ll be telling you to know what happened to me in these five days.
Day 1:
Around 170 candidates reported on Mysore railway station, from there we were taken to service selection board. I was given chest number 07 before screening test than it was changed to 05 after getting retained.
Let me tell you guys OIR plays a key role in getting you screened in your performance in it means a lot.
Generally, the candidate with the outstanding rating is easily retained for further testing than others. As I was well aware of this fact so I brought up a book “ Modern Approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning”
I practiced around 70 question from it every day for a month. In our OIR test, there were 2 papers having 50 questions each and the allotted time was 27 minutes for both, I was able to solve them in time and without panic. Then our PPDT was conducted, in which we were shown a picture of man in pain, and other in neutral mood, I made a realistic story related to being injured in NCC camp, in discussion part, I narrated well and confidently but while discussing, it was like world war three , no one was ready to hear another person, 7 to 8 were shouting at the same time , I was not part of that crowd , I spoke for two times only when there was a little silence and I asked others politely to nominate me to narrate the group story at the end, and in that too I was not nominated .
All those who were shouting were screened out and I was screened in.
The day was not over yet, we were routed to candidates mess and accommodation, thereafter having lunch and some rest, our psychology test was conducted, you know AFSB is somehow a little different from other SSB.
Talking about the psychologist test , I would say , it went good ,it is something that I suppose , I wrote all TAT , I made realistic stories and I never mugged up old stories that’s why I gave all my genuine ideas and my first thinking , if someone tries to be smart in here , probably he will end by not getting selected , psychologist faces thousands of candidates like us, so they know everything. so will it be considered a smart move to write mugged up things ? unquestionably the answer would be NO!
In WAT , I made 57 sentence and I wrote all observational thinking , I didn’t try to bluff here , like one of the word was “Impossible” I wrote mission impossible 5 is Oscar winning movie. Same like, I believe one should enjoy these tests.
In SRT , I could write only 40, and in SD part , I wrote the feedback as it was given by my parent and my two close friends Divakar, Mridul.
I wrote nothing but the truth.
Yes , there is confusion about a blank slide in TAT the most, friends I wrote my own life story with some imaginary character in it , I wrote about a character who liked playing badminton and maintained a balance between his studies too. It was a very normal story.
We all were tired like hell and were informed about the schedule of GT in the night, I couldn’t sleep even.
I thanked god , in the night for giving me a chance to at least show my potential. In the night we all candidate talked to each other to have a good discussion tomorrow, I initiated this conversation, so as to increase bonding with them, all agreed and then we went to sleep.
Day2:
On this day we were woken up by some patriotic songs, which were being played in AFSB Mysore every morning sharp at 5 am , we assembled around 6:30 am , waited for some time for further instruction , then our group was taken into a room , having some clay model in middle, then group discussion was conducted, our first topic was” Board Examination for 10 class student “ . I gave logical , observation, and statistical points which are not easily opposed, our second topic was “ India and USA Relations ”, a topic that everyone would love to discuss upon .
Then after it, group planning exercise was conducted , that went awesome, I gave such points that are actually applicable in real life, I didn’t spoke any hypothetical point. This time group nominated me to explain the group plan . In writing part I wrote in the same manner written in book “lets crack ssb interview “.
Then we were taken to the ground for further testing , there PGT, group obstacle race , HGT , lecturette were conducted , I believe , in PGT , and HGT , most of the time , not all the time , group proceeded according to my idea , that’s how it must have gone in my favour, I spoke about “dictatorship “ in lecturette , I added touch of humor as well, I believe book by SSBCRACK and guidance from Sir L.S Nirban played an important role, in all testing done at AFSB. We went back then, I had my interview scheduled on the same day, by the time I reached in my room, already announcement was being made about chest no 5 should report to the waiting room immediately, I didn’t want to go in the same dress, so I changed to formals then reported.
My interview started well, with some basic questions regarding the meaning of my name , who gave it, like these , I knew answers , so these question didn’t trouble me up. I was totally prepared for series of question interviewer was going to asked, he asked 6-7 question without taking a breathe and I answered them all, in same order without taking a breathe as well.
My whole interview was revolving around my family, my two close friends , whom I mentioned above , he asked me only few questions regarding current affair , like India and Israel relation and current news, I could answer them , because I was prepared for them. I enjoyed my interview the most, it lasted for around 45 minutes, I came out of the room with satisfaction, I was happy with it. We went out in evening, we visited Mysore palace, and Zoo as well. This is how my second day went.
Day 3:
Again a sleepless night went, next day of GT was satisfactory, I completed 8 obstacle in individual obstacles task . one of my friend did 10+ 4 obstacles, he was so physically fit. Then FGT and Command task were conducted , I was called by 3 others as a coordinator , what I noticed is my task was tougher than theirs , I don’t know what that indicates , but still it was noticeable by my coordinator as well.
I was given situations as well in between command task , like if I didn’t have a rope, how would I proceed , GTO asked me few funny questions as well ,like who is my favorite actress ? I answered Shraddha Kapoor, then he asked me reason for it as well, I answered she is young , extremely beautiful , and acts very amazingly in her movies. This is how all the Group testing were completed, in evening we went to some nearby temples , I thanked god for everything and prayed for future as well , then we came back.
Day 4:
It was totally free for chest number 1 to 8 , we all had nothing to do, so we played table tennis, watched movies, played tennis, basketball , carom all day. Then we went to city market in afternoon.
Then in the night we talked to each other till 2 AM, discussing about each others school experiences then we went to sleep.
Day 5: day of the conference:
Before the conference we were shown some motivational videos and images in hall. My conference lasted for around 1 min , or less than that, by the time I settled on chair , question were over , and soon were my answers, they just asked me about my stay, places I visited , and who gives me support in the family? For the latter question, I said my sister, she is extremely close to me. This is how my conference ended.
Then we waited for around 6 hours to know our results, we were taken in hall, when one officer in dress, who was my interviewer as well, gave a closing speech and then announced the result.
When he called chest number 05 , my chest number , I became senseless , I wasn’t happy, I wasn’t crying, I was still, when I actually realized , Anirudh you are in recommended candidates list , I wanted to shout like hell, in total 7 NDA candidates were recommended out 170 that reported. I think “get unless you lived it, you won’t it “ ,I wanted to call my parent , tell them the result, but we were given this opportunity to tell them after our form filling , which took around 6 hours of time. There were stack of forms, by the time I could tell my parents about the result, they got to know it from my conference out friend.
So they were quite steady in their reactions, I believe it was not only my hard work that was payed but my parent’s hard work as well.
my mom who did everything for me, I owe her something that I won’t be able to repay I know, my father whose unparallel support made me capable of showing there my real personality with confidence .my sister who gave me support at every instant, in every situation, my grandparents as well , their blessings that worked out for me and guidance are given by COL . L.S. Nirban sir, and SSBCrack website and book.
Now my medicals are over as well, I am waiting for the merit list, let’s hope for the best.
I little advice for everyone, you need to go there prepared, planned and focused, because I believe goal without a plan is merely a wish.
I believe, for aspirants, a little guidance helps a lot, so please feel free to ask me any question regarding SSB @relevant01 on Instagram, because as an aspirant it helped me a lot, I contacted many recommended candidates whose stories were posted on this SSBCrack platform only.
Thank you, everyone, for wishing you a success.
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