“Gentlemen, the results are not very encouraging, only two of you have made it ” wasn’t the statement that 25 guys who had put in their best efforts throughout the course of the 5-day testing procedure were happy to hear. Yet, with our fingers crossed, we waited for the assessor to say the two chest numbers, which would change two lives forever. I am Dhruv Singh and I got recommended for NDA 146 (ARMY) from 22 SSB, Bhopal on the 24th of February 2021. It was my first attempt and I am ecstatic that it proved to be a fruitful one. I come from an Army background and I say this with conviction, whoever I am today is courtesy to the environment that I got and the values that this organisation instilled in me.
The Army has nurtured me and it is my deepest desire to give back to this institution everything that is in my capacity and even more. Talking about my SSB, we had our reporting on the 20th of February at 5:30 am. I still remember, there was a long queue outside the Cantonment, a long queue of young boys who had the same fire in them and the same dream of joining the most premier organisation in the country. We were 65 on the day of reporting, and after the Day 1 screening procedure, which consisted of two OIR tests and a Picture Perception and Discussion Test, we were filtered down to 25. As for the OIR tests, I had practised some practice sets available on the SSBCRACK website and found that the type of questions was almost the same, which helped me complete the test within the stipulated time. I wrote a decent story in the PP&DT and was able to effectively contribute to the group discussion that followed. The next day we had our psych tests in which I attempted 12 TATs, 60 WATs and 53 SRTs, and wrote a good self-description and tried to keep it as true as possible.
I was the lucky guy who was told at 10:50 am that my interview was scheduled at 11:00 am. Nonetheless, I did pretty well and was very happy with the way my interview materialised. The evenings at the ssb centre were amazing as we played basketball (I am terrible at it, but it was fun) and had conversations and pranks that lasted till late at night. I was fortunate to have a civilised and cooperative group in GTO and found myself in complete control throughout the 9 tasks.
I gave good and frequent points in both the GDs and was fortunate enough to even give the group plan in the GPE. Since the group was progressive, we did well in PGT, HGT and FGT as well. I managed to do all the 10 obstacles and thanks to my group, we even won the Group Obstacle Race. Being a good orator, I found myself at ease during the lecturette and delivered an effective one. In my command task, I did receive some suggestions from our GTO but was eventually able to complete it successfully. The day of the conference arrived and the rest is history. One of the many takeaways from my experience was that it is necessary to enjoy the testing procedure as it ensures that a person’s true personality reflects in his thoughts and actions. Finally, I can answer the most important question. YES, I HAVE IT IN ME!
Jai Hind.
