SSB being a highly secret examination, in terms of predictability of results candidates try to gather information about SSB from various sources. Most of the sources they gather information from are not reliable. So that gives rise to myths and wrong notions related to SSB. One of these common myths is that SSB is a very difficult interview. A few days back, a friend of mine, a total layman about this asked me, ‘should I attempt SSB?,I have heard that it is very difficult’. Well for beginners I would like to say that do not have myths in your mind, it is not good. Sometimes even veterans of SSB have myths about it. Here I am dealing with such few myths, if you guys have any more, please share it:

1. Regarding rejection boards: Candidates say that a particular board rejects candidate more than it selects. It is a common myth amongst students that certain boards are tough and others are easy. They do not have a proof but just hear the rumors, panic and spread the rumor endlessly. There is no such thing like selection or rejection board. Every board works on the same principle to shortlist, recommend or reject candidates. It’s as simple as that, if you have OLQ’s and you project them at the right time at the right place you are in, else you are not!
2. English and your selection: Candidates who have weak English, are often worried about that they might lag behind due to poor English. People have this myth that if they have poor English then they will not get selected. It is certainly not the case. You need to have good communication skill, and it it doesn’t consist of English only. You need to have a good way of communicating your thoughts and ideas. English certainly helps but doesn’t form the sole basis of selection.
   
3. The secret agents: This is a rather funny myth. People have all sorts of belief that the selection board people are spread everywhere, all round the corner in the city in which they are giving their SSB in. They feel that they are monitoring and assessing you all the time, endlessly. You are marked only during the tests. Otherwise there is nobody ‘assessing’ you as such. You are supposed to behave like a gentle person, and it is a very small thing to ask for.
4. Fauji kids-cake walk: Another wrong thought people hold is that SSB boards are partial towards the Fauji kids. This is certainly not the case, in fact there is more expectation if you are from Fauji background.
5. Notion of leadership: Candidates think that yelling, dominating and getting ahead in the group is a way to demonstrate leadership. It doesn’t show your leadership skills, it only show what a big bully you are. For being a real leader, you need to be a team player. Take your group in the right direction by being with them, instead of rushing to go ahead.

Also Read

• Five Must Have Qualities For SSB Interview
• The Importance Of Handwriting In The SSB

 Tashi Mishra, Editorial Team

I am Tashi, basically from Varanasi, currently pursuing my Masters in Computer Science from Christ University, Bangalore. I am interested in reading and football. It has always been my dream to join the forces,so here I am to share my experience with all the aspiring faujis. Remember with determination you’ll be triumphant!

One of the most important concerns of modern era is the time management. We have become so hyper active in our daily routine that we hardly find the time to do anything apart from the usual chores. Majority of the SSB aspirants being students, find themselves in a state of quandary when it comes to balancing their studies, leisurely activities and ssb preparation. Every night we think of changing ourselves and make good use of the coming day but tend to find ourselves in the same position the next night. As it is ubiquitously said “,Tareeq pe Tareeq”, day after day the time vanishes like soil from your fists. In order to realise your dreams, you need to pull up your socks and spruce up your lifestyle. We will be discussing certain DOs and DON’Ts which could be followed to milk the time to your advantage.

1. SET REALISTIC GOALS:- Our body doesn’t’ adapt to change very easily. Slow and steady is the key. Do not expect that suddenly a Maruti 800 would turn into a Lamborghini. Make a veracious and fair assessment of yourself and set your goals. Remember your expectations from yourself should be incremental in nature and not a haphazard one. Do not set very easy goals; the word officer is synonymous of a crisis manager.
2. CALIBRATE THE CALENDAR:- Set a goal which you would like to achieve in the coming year. Now divide the year into 12 months. Allocate smaller goals to each months leading to the final goal. Then divide your goal further into 4 weeks each for each month. Assign a challenging task for each week keeping in mind the larger goal. Concentrate on each day as it is the last day before your test. This approach has proved to be phenomenal in most of the cases. It is all about assigning the right task and sticking to it.
   
3. STICK TO THE PLAN: – Whether it is a friend’s birthday party or the marriage of your relative, do not let these occasions affect your regime. Believe you me, no one will really mind your absence as long as you are fulsomely devoted to your goal. Your friends and relatives will be proud of you when you return home as a commissioned officer. Hence, you must give top priority to your career and nothing else.
4. DO AWAY WITH THE DISTRACTIONS: – We all have different likes and dislikes. Similarly, we all get distracted to different things differently. Some waste their time over surfing the net, some on social media, some gossip too much and some are just remiss. Deer doesn’t go into the mouth of a tiger on its own; it is the tiger who has to hunt for its prey. You have to decide your fate. There is no dearth of deserving candidates in the SSB interview. Unless you shake those layers of lethargy, you will not succeed in the SSB.
5. ANALYSE THE TIME SPENT: – If you are finding it too difficult to change your routine then follow this simple exercise. Divide your day into 48 parts (30 mins each) and write the activity you have done in that particular time. You will find out that you have given away precious dollops of time on a platter. Then try to replace an unproductive half an hour (unimportant activity) with a productive one (important activity). Follow this exercise for a week and you will be witnessing a change in yourself and you will start managing time in a better way. 

 Vardaan Parashar, Editorial Team

Apart from being a defence enthusiast, I have great zeal towards patriotic and welfare activities. I hail from a rich defence background with my dad being a retired commandant in the Indian Coast Guard. I am currently pursuing Mechanical Engineering and wish to join DRDO one day

“Dreams come true when we start working towards it, if we keep on thinking it will always be a dream~~ Jayendra Pratap Singh”

Here come the most crucial mantras that can help succeeding in SSB which can help to clear SSB in a single shot:

• Self-introspection is the only tool that would help you analyse what’s there in you and what’s missing. Once this is clear, it’s easy to work on the weak links and form a strong chain that will sustain in the battle of SSB. This is the needed starting before you get ready for SSB. There are many tools available which helps in self-introspection and I have personally designed few which are used during the counselling and mentoring process of personalised assessment that I provide to my mentees. Now I have seen aspirants waiting till the last moment and once they get call letters then starting for preparation. SSB is all about revealing an officer personality and showing that you have potential to absorb that stringent one year training. That’s it! They are not looking for brilliant minds that are good at cramming and storing things.
• Many say that their friends have said that you don’t need any preparation. But let me clarify no preparation in terms of reading heavy books as it happens for other interviews. But for SSB full preparation and analysis is needed for personality assessment. So do that and you will be in a better position to survive.
• Many aspirants ask me that their academics are not good and they are losing confidence out of that. Please be clear, at SSB assessors are not providing jobs based on high percentage of marks, if you have the OLQ’s I dare to say that no one can stop you. Work on personality and don’t waste time on thinking about the things which is no more in your hands. In this process you will lose on things that are in your hand.
  

• Uncertainties To Overcome Before Going To SSB – Part 2
• Indian Air Force Merit List Course January 2015 [CDS + AFCAT]
• How to Prepare for SSB Interview without Coaching

 Jayendra Singh, Editorial Team

Jayendra is pursuing MBA from IIM Ranchi and is a die heart counsellor for defence aspirants. He was recommended in the first attempt for Indian navy UES entry and is willing to help aspirants to make use of his experience in this field.

Life was never certain even when you were born, so now how it can be. Exams are part and parcel of life in this competitive world. But our SSB is not a exam, it’s a journey of life and in that journey only you will be assessed for your potential to become officer for our Indian defence services and your potential for serving our motherland would also be judged. This article is in continuation of the previous article where we were learning in part one for some uncertainties that we need to tackle before we get ready for the battle of SSB.

Few more are:

• I have seen people asking me where to go and join for coaching. My idea is to make them understand that go at a place where individual attention can be paid to your very own personality, if you really feel the need of taking coaching. Where large groups are there, you might get lost in the crowd. And certain things need only your personality effect to be trained. Also I don’t understand the concept of short term courses whether personality is so flexible to be moulded in few days is out of my mind.
  
• The biggest fear in people is whether they have the qualities in them or not. Also I have seen repeaters trying to lose hope of whether they should go again or not. The mantra is that try and try till you succeed as there is no power who can work over you until and unless you want it from inside. So be sure that there will be many hurdles that will come but your work is to keep crossing them successfully.
• I have seen people bounded by relationships. I would be bold here to share an incident that one of my mentee was requesting for shifting the personal session with him just for the sake that he had date with his girlfriend. Now you would be thinking that why the hell he told me all this. In my mentorship, sessions concentrate more on holistic development of personality and not on spoon feeding. Some events of life affect the memory and it really reflects in psychology paper even when you don’t want to share it. Thus in our sessions we have a culture of being more often friends rather than something else. Then comes the fun with learning and improving. He was not at all wrong but his immature mind was not able to prioritise. He was asking for relaxation in the work that I had given to him. But I just said to him “Two stars on the shoulder are much better than being in five stars with a girl” and he immediately understand his priorities and finishes his work, in time and then goes. What I mean to specify here is that we need to prioritise our list of things. Nothing is wrong and I support enjoying life, having fun and then learning things, but to compromise on important things is just awkward and our youth needs to understand this.

These few things in mind can seriously change the course of action for individual, so try these and some new things and be different. Still If you have any confusion or feel to take individual assessment of personality for olq’s or prepare from your place itself through one to one interaction through my mentoring / counselling program drop me a mail at [email protected]or add me on Fb and drop in a message. It would be a pleasure to help and resolve queries and clear doubts which are more often myths that are present in the mind and that can severely degrade the performance. Practice and right guidance can change the course of action and the way of thinking. So keep working hard for your goal and dream for the uniform day in and day out.

• Secrets for Success in PPDT at SSB
• What to do in SELF Description Part of Psychology?
• UncertaintiesTo Overcome Before Going To SSB – Part 1

 Jayendra Singh, Editorial Team

Jayendra is pursuing MBA from IIM Ranchi and is a die heart counsellor for defence aspirants. He was recommended in the first attempt for Indian navy UES entry and is willing to help aspirants to make use of his experience in this field.