Hello defence aspirants. I’m Sandaka Chakradhari Aryan Raj from Jaykaypur, a small town in the Rayagada district of Odisha. I secured an All India Rank 84 in the UPSC NDA/NA 1 2021 Examination. I got recommended from 12 SSB , SCS Bangalore. I’m very much glad to say that it was my first attempt both in written and SSB and I passed the examination with an extraordinary result. I would like to thank SSBCRACK for giving me such a great opportunity to share my experience. I’m completely from a civilian background. Since my childhood, I was very much inspired to join the forces, especially The Indian Navy due to my regular visit to Visakhapatnam. Though I was demotivated by many of my peers and friends that armed forces are not my cup of tea as I was very weak at sports but I never got demoralised by their words. I even wrote the Sainik School exam in 9th but couldn’t make it through the interview. But as it is said that failure is the first step of success, after this failure, I worked hard and secured 95.8 % in Class 10 Board exams.
And then following the ‘ Bhed Chaal ‘ I joined a coaching institute in Visakhapatnam for IIT-JEE coaching with a mindset of aligning my NDA preparation as well. In my two years of Class 11th and 12th, I was dedicatedly preparing for my JEE and Board exams. But in my mind, I was somewhat confident that this would help me out for my NDA exam as well since I have never solved any questions, especially for the NDA exam. So after completing my syllabus I appeared in the NDA written exam for the first time on 18 April 2021 and after the exam, I was confident enough that I would qualify and the same happened. I started preparing for my SSB from books and online sources. I was guided by many of my well-wishers who were themselves had experienced SSB. Before my SSB I made up my mind that I’m going there to just enjoy and experience, the results will not matter and will just motivate me for my future. On my reporting day there was reporting of 89 candidates.
My OIR went quite well and I was pretty confident about it. My PPDT story was regarding cleanliness and I wrote it well. During the time gap between group discussion and writing the PPDT story, I talked with as many of my candidates as possible not just to get their support during the discussion but also many were from JEE backgrounds like me. This helped me a lot and my story was a unique one among the group of 20 and everyone supported my theme. Then I was nominated to narrate the story as well . After this I was happy of getting such a great support from all and narrated the story. Then a few moments later results were declared and I was screened in. Next day was my Psych which was as good as expected but only in SRT I couldn’t answer much , only 35 but after hearing from the psychologist that “Only the quality matters not quantity “, I was happy and a bit satisfied . My interview was also all about my family , friends , academics , leisure time and my back up plan . One of the question which I was asked and couldn’t answer was how to open an Instagram account ( seriously I couldn’t answer as I was not at all active on any social media platform ) . I told sir I’m sorry , I’m not at all aware about it and to be frank I have no interest in social media . To build my personality I have been watching IAS mock interviews on YouTube ( one of my hobbies ) which also helped me a lot . My interview went pretty good as the IO was very calm with me while he made the interview hell for many of my friends. My GTO also went very well but I felt I was a bit dominating in my group though I respected everyone’s thoughts and ideas in GD and Military Planning exercise . But this helped me to get nominated by my group mates to lead the group showing my leadership skills. My lecturette was on Status of women which was a cup of cake for me and I spoke it in the best possible way. But I couldn’t do well in the individual obstacles ( only 6-7 while many of my group mates did 12 also ).
After all this I made up my mind that I gave my best and now it’s upto God whether I get recommended or not. But I was happy as I enjoyed a lot , made many good friends and more than all these I learnt and experienced many things which would be helpful throughout my life. On the day of conference I was called and asked about my large name . I told many great personalities like Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam also have large names so I’m happy about it . Then I was asked to rate myself and I told I gave my 100% in all the tests but I felt I messed up in Individual obstacles . I was asked the reason for it and I told sir my stamina is not enough and I have t`o build it . Here also the same back-up plan questions were repeated and I was asked what other competative exams I gave and how I scored . I told I secured 97. 86%ile in JEE Main and preparing for JEE Advanced as well but I would be trying my level best until I get into the Indian Navy. Then I was asked to leave . After an hour or so we were asked to assemble and our result were declared. This one hour was the most painful time for all of us within these 5 days of stay in SSB with our heart beat doubling. Out of 35 , 6 got recommended and luckily I was one among them. I was literally in cloud nine.
Now I would like to say what I learnt from my experience:
1. Never study for the point of your exam , study for your life because if not one exam the other one may definitely be yours . I never prepared for NDA written but I cleared it in my first attempt only.
2. In SSB, try to be honest ,not to just to the assessors but to yourself and your fellow mates .
3. Don’t fear failure it is the only lesson we are never prepared about . Try to learn from it either regretting on it
At last I would like to say that don’t try run behind success as it always tries to escape from you but try to run behind hardwork , it will automatically bring success to you .
With this I would like to finish and wish all the defence aspirants lots of luck for their future and for their zeal towards Nation’s service.
Thank you
JAI HIND.
