Greeting future GC’s. This is Nikhil Dahiya and I’ll be sharing my experience for Army TES SSB for 41th course in the next few paragraphs. I would be the third generation officer from my family. I started my preparation for defence services right after my class 12th. I went through a few SSB books. During this 3 months tenure of preparation I collected every vital information and practiced for psychological test and went confidently for my first SSB at SCN KAPURTHALA on 18th Feb 2019. I got recommended. I was the only fresher to get recommended. After that I stayed there for my medicals. I was declared medically fit in the medical conference. I got AIR 47 in the merit list.
Day 1 : Stage I (Screening Test)
The day started at 0600 Hrs. I reported directly to the selection centre with my luggage and documents. Saw a huge number of boys neatly dressed. Interacted and made some friends. We were briefed about the documentation process. A total of 350+ candidates reported of which 2 were already recommended. We were then sent to the testing hall . Verbal and Non Verbal Tests were conducted and I attempted maximum questions in both the tests. We were given a short break after which PP & DT was held .
Then for the discussion, they made a group of 20 candidates .There was a fish market situation as everybody was seeking to take the initiative. I decided to keep calm and waited for the exact moment (when there is least noise) and made my entry to the discussion with 2-3 solid points. With more and more chaos the assessors divided the group into two parts and in this way the discussion concluded in less than 5 minutes.
We then came out and were given refreshments. I had a mixed feeling and wasn’t that confident of OIR but my PPDT went very well. In order to release my anxiety I decided to have a casual walk observing the faces and hearing from other candidates. The time went really fast and we were called again to the hall where the results of Stage I screening test were to be declared.
A total of 40 candidates were screened in out of which very few were fresher’s and rest were repeaters. I was allotted chest number 24 after which we were briefed about the rules and regulations and made to fill up the PIQ and few other forms. The day ended at 1800 hrs.
We were allotted our barracks where we kept our luggage and congratulated each other for clearing Stage 1.
Day 2 : Psychological Tests :
I had practiced a lot for this particular day. We reported to the CHM at 0700 hrs. Who took us to the testing hall where the psychologist briefed us about the tests. We completed our test on time. I would suggest to prepare yourself to write the stories and self-description in time as I was not able to complete my self-description part. Be positive and think positive towards the pictures shown. Do not create unnecessary problems in the stories .
Day 3&4: GTO
40 of us were divided into 4 groups of 10 each. We were then moved to the testing place. Group discussion followed by group planning exercise were conducted. The GTO was very cool minded and conducted the tests in very friendly environment. The next day we had our remaining GTO task which included snake race , PGT , FGT , individual obstacles . I was able to complete only 9 obstacles because of the bad weather condition as it was raining heavily but GTO asked us to carry on the test. Due to slippery obstacle I slipped thrice. So I would suggest not to give up even if you were not able to cover all the obstacles because GTO is trying to find the qualities in you rather than seeing that you complete all or not .
Conference day
Before the conference I made sure that I know all the answers of the questions which I didn’t answer in the interview. I had to wait for 10 minutes before entering the conference hall. This time I was not at all nervous. As I entered the hall I found that all the officers were in uniform and were difficult to distinguish. I was smiling and kept the same smile throughout. I was asked about the stay at SSB , places I visited and they asked me to rank my position in the group, and asked who all will get recommended and why ? He asked if you could remove a person from your group who would it be? I gave logical answers and justified them whenever asked.
He then asked for any suggestions and wished me all the best. I thanked them and confidently walked out of the hall. I was satisfied with my overall performance. I met my friends in the waiting hall who were waiting to hear my experience inside the conference hall.
The Dy. President came for the motivating closing address. After which the results were declared, officer came in and declared the chest no. of recommended candidates who had to stand up walk forward and shout their name, date of birth and roll number. Heart beats could be heard in the room. He called out chest no 15 chest no 22 and then chest no 24 I went numb for few seconds but somehow overpowered my legs to stand up, cried my name in a broken voice, barely managed to speak out my date of birth and by the time I reached my roll number I started crying. Everyone congratulated us, I felt sad for the rest of my friends.
If a stone is broken by the last stroke of hammer, it doesn’t mean that the past strokes were useless. Success is the result of continuous and persistent efforts. Keep trying and don’t stop till you get enough!
Looking forward to read your story on SSBCrack.
Jai Hind!!!
- SSB Interview eBook Pack
- Thematic Apperception Test – TAT
- Lecturette Topics Part-1 eBook [100 Topics]
- Word Association Test – WAT
- Situation Reaction Test – SRT
- Officers Intelligence Test – OIR
