50 Most Common AFCAT Exam Mistakes to Avoid

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August 19, 2014

“They go, strike, achieve and quietly come back, just like the mythological chakra which would behead the demons and return to the finger of Lord Krishna.” Yes, they are the NSG commandos, The BLACK CATS.

National Security Guard (NSG) is an elite high-profile counter-terrorism and special operations tactical unit in India created by the Cabinet Secretariat under the National Security Guard Act of the Indian Parliament in 1986 and has acquired considerable experience from the intense insurgency operations it has faced – from the present conflict in the state of Kashmir to the cradle of its birth, the state of Punjab.

Adopting a variety of roles from counter-terrorism to hostage rescue to VIP protection, the NSG proudly wears the mantle of being one of the finest counter-terrorist units in all of South Asia. The NSG commandos are popularly known as the Black Cats, because of the black nomex coveralls and balaclavas (head gear) or assault helmets they adorn and their motto is –“One for All, All for One”.

The NSG’s specific goals include

Neutralization of specific terrorist threats in vital installations or any given area.
Handling hijacking situations involving piracy in the air and on the land.
Engaging and neutralizing terrorists in specific situations.
Rescue of hostages in kidnap situations.
Bomb disposal (search, detection and neutralization of IEDs).
PBI (Post Blast Investigation).

NSG Commandos Training Video

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But being one of the finest counter-terrorist units in all of Asia does not come without a price. The NSG simulates hundreds of realistic scenarios in daily drills. With a total strength of approximately 7500 personnel, the NSG is divided into two groups – the Special Action Group (SAG) and the Special Rangers Group (SRG).

The SAG, which comprises 54% of the force, is the elite, offensive wing with members drawn from the Indian Army. The SRG, on the other hand, has members on deputation from central police organizations like the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Rapid Action Force (RAF). The primary function of the SRG is to play a supportive role to the SAF, especially in isolating target areas.

For maintaining the young profile of the force, troops are rotated and sent back to their parent organizations after serving in the NSG for three to five years. The basic training period at the organization’s training centre at Manesar, 50 km from New Delhi, lasts 90 days. Only those who complete the entire course successfully are inducted into the NSG and given further specialized training.

The probation grind saps the toughest of recruits and the dropout rate is 50 – 70%. For starters there is a

26-item, 780-metre obstacle course, with a qualifying time of 18 minutes. If a person completes the course in 25 minutes, he is deemed fit. The best do it in less than nine minutes. The obstacles have to do with heights, horizontal gaps and vertical scaling and are difficult to tackle in sequence. As if this is not enough, there’s a target shooting session at the end of the obstacle course meant to test the aspirants’ performance under severe stress and exhaustion. Those who complete this course are recruited to the unit and sent for advanced training. Some operators are sent to Israel for advanced training. In the Combat Room Shoot, the combatant enters a dark room, adjusts to the darkness and engages the target with either a torch light or a compatible laser image intensifier – all within 3 seconds.

And not just in darkness but under the strobe lights of a discotheque as well, which are some of the most difficult shots to take. The target exposure time is between two and three seconds and the targets are of all kinds – vertically rising, popping out, moving and rotating. The faster a person engages the target the more points he scores. It is not just non-reactive targets that they practice against. In twin room shooting, rival combatants enter contiguous rooms and watch each other’s movements on a screen. They are supposed to neutralize each other by shooting at the screen. The exercise test the combatants’ response time and accuracy under near-field conditions. The men are also put through a battle inoculation program where they have to stand right next to the target while one of their partners shoots at it.

They have to become used to live bullets flying under their noses. Also the person shooting is conscious that if he misses by even a couple of inches the bullet is going to hit his partner. They don’t wear the kavach either, but a bullet-proof vest. The vest can withstand an AK-47 or a 7.62mm carbine shot at point blank range. Members of the unit are assigned partners soon after completion of basic training and they train and even go on leave together. But as crack professionals, they are under orders to shoot their partner if he makes a single threatening step detrimental to the security of a VIP.

The smallest combat unit in the NSG’s counter-terrorist operation is a “hit” which comprises five members – two pairs, or partners and a technical support member. Four hits make a team which is under the command of a Captain. The number of hits used for an intervention job depends on its complexity and the magnitude of the operation.

The NSG Commandos are dressed to kill. They are armed with an MP-5 sub-machine gun. They use the Heckler & Koch family of 9mm sub-machine guns, the 7.62mm PSG-1 sniper weapon and the Heckler & Koch 512 12-gauge shotgun. Side arms include Glock 17 and Sig Sauer P226 9mm pistols. They are also armed with state-of-the-art surveillance gadgets and other sophisticated equipments. They have played a pivotal role in safeguarding the unity of India and have commendably foiled attempts of anti-national elements to tear apart the social fabric of the country.

Some NSG’s well-known operations:

29–30 April 1986, Golden Temple Operation Black Thunder I.
12 May 1988, Golden Temple Operation Black Thunder II.
24–25 April 1993, Operation Ashwamedh
26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks — Operation Black Tornado and Operation Cyclone

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AFCAT Exam Preparation 2021

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August 19, 2014

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Hello Future Soldiers, Today through this article I want to share my approach towards AFCAT exam. I gave this exam for the first time in Feb 2014 and cleared it. Believe me – 3 weeks study consistent study for it is enough. However, you are left with only two weeks so I will share some valuable tips which can be useful to you:

Stick to AFCAT syllabus given at the website.
Use Arihant AFCAT book for studying GK. This book alone is sufficient.
Practice reasoning questions from RS Agarwal.
Practice Error identification and Fill in the blanks from AFCAT book.

Now, I will explain section wise.

English: Since this is the very first section of the test, candidates try to solve this first. But, if you are sure on yourself and if you think you can score very easily in this section, only then solve else attempt this section later. The most scoring areas in English are reading comprehension, error identification and fill in the blanks. I would suggest you to make these areas stronger by studying from Arihant book.
GK: Almost half of the GK comprises of history and geography of India. This you can study from Arihant book. Apart from that I would recommend to read information related to Indian history (especially Mughal and British Era) and geography. I made notes from internet during my preparation.
Mathematics: For solving this part just study the following topics: algebra, percentages, profit & loss, rates time speed, simple & compound interest and number system. For practicing, I encourage you to solve previous exam papers (right from 2011). The questions are not repeated but the pattern remains almost the same. Also, remember to time your practice using a stopwatch. You should complete this section within 30-40 minutes.
Reasoning: This is the most scoring section. I recommend you to attempt this very first before going to any other section. Solving this first will not only boost your confidence, but also increase your speed. For getting a command on this section, practice using RS Agarwal book. But the book is quite large, so practice accordingly. I did some questions from every section. Here also, go through previous exam question papers.

AFCAT Exam Online Preparation

If anyone wants these materials, please let me know:

How to prepare for AFCAT 2019 Online

At the end, I just want to say put your best efforts for the upcoming AFCAT exam. All the Best J

How to Prepare for SSB Interview

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August 18, 2014

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“When the going gets tough, the tough gets going” SSB preparation is altogether a different way to test your potential, your qualities and your abilities for a job that is so different because it teaches you not to live for yourself but to live only for your motherland.

Many of us have the dream to join the defence forces be it either army, navy or air force, but there is a great hurdle which tests you for your qualities before you can reach to that uniform. That hurdle is SSB which test you on their parameters of psychology, personal interview, and GTO. This test runs for 5 long days and whosoever faces it knows the magic of this test. These tests are designed such that you will never realise what the assessors are looking to test but they will extract everything out of you without your awareness.

Practice is only the success mantra for such an exam. You will find a lot of material and lot of myths in the market and you will hear different people saying different things for the exam but don’t listen to anyone. Just practice and get assessed. I don’t say that coaching is necessary because in coaching you will be sitting in a group where you will not be able to explore yourself. Just find a mentor for yourself who could be a senior official or a person who has experience in this field and can guide you. SSB is so individualistic that preaching’s in group does not work except few group activities. You need to bring about a change in yourself as per the norms of SSB as you are the greatest change to yourself. You have the only power for self analysis and realise what needs to be done. The mentor can only show the way but the real power lies within you.

I still remember that an officer at SSB said “we don’t look for any extraordinary people in our forces, we look for ordinary people who can be moulded into officers and then they can do extraordinary work when the time comes” This statement clearly specifies what they are looking for and what their requirements are. Work on your personality and improve it as per OLQ’s needed. It’s a time taking process as it cannot be done or undone in a month, so start preparing for SSB early, don’t wait for a call letter to come, have confidence in your capabilities and ensure your success. Normally a call letter comes just before a month and if you analyse yourself and there is a flaw you need more time than you would really have. Work as it help to enhance you and become an officer.

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Learn From Past, Work In Present To Succeed In SSB

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August 17, 2014

Learn From Past, Work In Present To Succeed In SSB

“The past is like using the rear view mirror of your car, it’s good to glance back and see how far you have come , but if you stare too long , you will miss what’s in front of you. “ ~~ Unknown. Past is something not to forget whether the moments are good or bad but it’s a thing from where we should take learning and improvise and work on our present.

Mistakes that we make are for getting a leaning and not to forget them while doing activities in present so that we should not repeat the same mistakes again. Same stands true for SSB as this saying is very much prevalent in that scenario. While doing mentorship I meet a lot of people and receive many queries where the aspirants who once had the JOSH to serve the country and be an officer looses hope that they are good to go to SSB again. They are so depressed with the failure that they forget their dreams and start thinking that they are good for nothing and cannot achieve anything now.

It true in today’s competitive world that one should keep multiple options ready as nowadays competition is getting stiff day by day but losing hope just because of the failure proves that you need to build in more courage and you lost the battle at SSB because you lacked it, and that’s why you are behaving this way. ? I always inspire my mentees to try till the last breath (read chance) for SSB because you never know when your chance comes and if you atop trying somewhere in any corner of your heart there would be a feeling of guilt for yourself that you could have tried once more and you never know that could be your lucky chance.

Trying till you succeed is the mantra that should be followed. It’s better to fail many times and at the end feel satisfied that you gave your best rather than living with a guilt lifelong. Anyways this is my belief that whosoever spends five days in SSB is in itself a changed personality whether he is recommended or conference out. Those five days are supposed to be the best five days as you get time to live with yourself. The beauty of that exam allows you to think about yourself and explore you life.

Hence never rest back till you achieve your goal. And remember those who see the goal for becoming a defence officer are great in it as everyone cannot even dare for this, as it requires satisfaction at innermost level while serving ability for motherland at the outset. So keep dreaming and keep trying, our country needs people like you who are ready to do anything for our motherland. Your problems can be routed to me through emails at [email protected] and do add me on facebook. It’s a pleasure to help you reach your goal.

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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.

Essential Tips To Crack SSB – Part 3

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August 17, 2014

This is in continuation of the last two parts in this series. Some more things that form essential bas for an individual to be followed and succeeding in SSB are:

Have info from the place you hail: Know about the place you belong. It seems to be a less important point but is very important in terms of Psychologist assessing your background and finding a match with you written material and interviewer trying to match many things as your values and few qualities are embedded in you and depend on the background you come from. Hence they are assessed and these things are not in your hand to change. It all depends on how you were brought up and how you prefer doings things. But
Communication is important: Communication is essential and important nowadays. Do the assessors provide freedom to move to Hindi and English but it should not be considered essential to use this instruction of assessors? Moreover remember that you should know that nowadays English is a sort of compulsory course and a must know thing. So reasons like i was in a Hindi medium school or I am weak in it does not work. Prepare hard if you are weak and then stand strong in telling your views at SSB as it’s a common language understood by all and not at all a regional language. Body language and gestures depict many things in your personality. I have made essential in my mentorship program that this should be given importance by the candidates and they need to improve it.
Maintain Fitness: Take care of your health and exercise regularly to maintain physical fitness as it is need in the external GTO rounds and help performing better.
Be yourself: this is the last pint in this series of SSB preparation but i think the most essential point in ones preparation. It’s very easy to fake and prove your superiority or to change yourself as per others requirement. But an officer does not do that. He is always true to himself and keeps his qualities intact. Also since the interview at SSB is different from other interviews you should be ready to face it differently. It would be a long interview where you would be revisiting your life from the birth to till date and also revisiting the people who have affected your life in a positive or negative way. Try to speak truth and assemble your important parts of life before going for interview as it’s in your hand where you navigate your interview and how you do it.

These tips might be helpful in preparation or at least analysing what and how’s of SSB. There are many myths related to SSB in market never listen to them and take experts suggestion before you start believing in something. SSB is altogether a different world, face the five day challenge and you will feel it. For any help you can join me on facebook and we can discuss it personally.

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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.

Essential Tips To Crack SSB – Part 2

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August 17, 2014

This is in continuation of the previous part of this series where three important factors were discussed to crack and prepare for SSB. Let’s discuss some more factors to climb the success ladder. They are:

Academics are also essential: Groom yourself in remembering about your academic knowledge as people tend to forget things very soon. If you are applying for technical branch or entry and you don’t know what you did in your final year project do you think you should be selected. Working professionals who are dissatisfied with their job always look for reasons that now they have left the academic knowledge far behind, why should they remember it? But this simply means that if you have such a good memory then after some years of being officer you will tend to forget you military training. It seems to be a joke and don’t ever dare to say it in front of officer while in interview else you have no right for getting selected. I know it’s difficult but the basics can always be refreshed and it should be the part of your strategy to do that before going to SSB.
Know something about the place you are going: I have often seen people while mentoring them personally that when any question related to force they want to join comes they say that they don’t have a clear picture. Now does it simply means that you want to go to a place and you don’t know the way or what you goanna do there. Prepare some latest information about the force you are interested in and don’t feel embarrassed in front of interviewer. It’s easy to say sorry sir I don’t know the answer but not for some obvious questions. It will always be counted negative.
PIQ is most important form: The PIQ form is the most important entity for SSB as it’s your reflection in front of an interviewer and Psychologist. It should be filled as such it’s you marketing yourself about your qualities and telling them, in fact forcing them to think about you. Now In course of my mentorship I have seen candidates taking it lightly and filling incomplete information in it. Hence I have made compulsory to spend some time and get it filled properly. Remember you should not escape this process and take it seriously. At the other end it would give a complete picture to assessors whether you are an officer material or not, hence it increases your chances definitely. Rest lies with them that how they confirm on those points and assess you for the qualities which should be left to them as they are experts in getting things out even if you want to hide.

The two parts have sufficiently covered about the essentials, start following and practicing if you seriously want to be an officer in Indian defence forces. Next and the last series of this write up will have other essentials too. For any help you can feel free to connect me on facebook.

Also Read

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.

Essential Tips To Crack SSB – Part 1

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August 17, 2014

Clearing SSB is not an easy task but we all know for a soldier nothing is impossible too. The ones who clear it and become officers are also human beings like us. They are not at all different but yes the living way the way they feel and think about situations differs and that makes them different from the crowd. They possess what is being searched in SSB, the officer like qualities which only few have. But this simply does not mean you cannot inculcate them.

Everyone is unique and different in perusal of life, but at SSB they are looking for only certain parameters where they check if you could be trained and moulded in a way of officer’s life that is ready to shed everything for the motherland. What to do if you are planning to go for SSB:

What is SSB? : If you are a fresher know the test in and out because now day’s people prepare beforehand before going for the competition because of the severity and high reduction rate at SSB. So don’t think you are going on a paid vacation as every attempt counts in your account and then the elite tag of fresher also goes off and next visit if you plan for SSB would be with repeaters. For repeaters also take the assessment of whether you are doing things rightly or moving in wrong direction. If you have a good mentor who can judge your individual personality you are really lucky. Because in classroom sessions and at places where many people sit simultaneously it’s difficult to get the assessment done cumulatively.
Practice hard: If you have tentatively followed step 1, get ready to practice as it only makes a man perfect and tell you where you stand in the crowd. If it is monitored and assessed nothing better than that. Personality is something which needs time to change and it is more of dependent on the environment or the conditions you are presently living in. It cannot be changed suddenly, hence keep sufficient time for preparation. I have seen people waiting for SSB letter, if you are confident start preparing now because once you receive a letter you have hardly a month to prepare and it’s too short a duration to achieve a change if needed.
General awareness: If you are ready for becoming an officer, you cannot ignore the happenings around you. Prepare well the general knowledge as it is a vast field and needs time for improvement. Hence do not ignore it and smoothen it.

Do you think SSB have this much to prepare never, wait for the second part where i open new surprises and secrets to prepare and perform well. If you have any other query or need counselling or mentoring for any of the problem troubling you within feel free to contact me on facebook or drop the mail at [email protected]. Let’s live the dream of better India together.

Also Read

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.

AEC SSB Interview Dates (TGC -120)

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August 17, 2014

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Indian army has published the Army Education Corps AEC SSB interview dates and allotment centre along with the TGC 120 ssb dates. AEC ssb interview are being conducted at Allahabad, Bhopal and Bangalore. There are total 4031 candidates got shortlisted for Army Education Corps AEC ssb interview.

Army Education Corps AEC SSB interview Cut Off Marks

MCA and MBA – CUT OFF – 70%
MA/MSc (Subjects Notified) and MCom – CUT OFF – 55%

Army Education Corps AEC SSB interview Dates

*Keep in touch for updates on ssb dates.

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NDA 133 SSB Interview Dates (Army)

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August 17, 2014

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Indian army official website joinindianarmy.nic.in has published the ssb interview dates for NDA 133 Indian army course. Candidates can find their NDA 133 ssb interview centre and allotted selection board. NDA 133 army course ssb interviews are being conducted at SSB Allahabad, Bhopal and Bangalore.
Call Up letters are being sent to the candidates by email and SMS only. However, they may report for their SSB interview at Selection Centre Bhopal on the date as given against their name with a print out of the particular page consisting of their name.
Common Call Up instructions for SSB interviews are available on this website. Please, ensure your eligibility criteria as per notification for this course. You are required to bring your all educational certificates and marks sheets in original alongwith Risk Certificate duly signed by your parent/guardian as mentioned above. In case, you fail to produce any requisite documents you are liable to be returned without being interviewed and NO reimbursement of traveling allowance will be made. In case, you are a local candidate of Bhopal or your parent/guardian is employed in this Selection Centre, please, intimate his/her particulars to this centre immediately by fax/speed post and await further instructions.

Candidates appearing in class 12th are required to bring a Bonafide Certificate on the original letter
head duly signed by your Principal (Specimen Certificate given at Appendix “A” to this letter). Please
ensure that your final year examination must be completed and result be announced before commencement of the course i.e. Dec 2014. Candidates are also directed to submit 10+2 passing Certificate and Marks Sheet along with photocopies thereof duly attested by a Gazetted Officer to the Addl Directorate General of Recruiting, Army HQ, NDA-133 Entry, West Block-III, RK Puram, New Delhi-110066 latest by 05 Dec 2014 positively.

Also Check: SSB Interview Dates for NDA 133 Flying

NDA 133 SSB Interview Dates for Army

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About SSBCrack Editorial Team

The Editorial Team of SSBCrack consists of a group of Professional writers and aspirants. Their main aim is to provide up to date information regarding SSB Interviews and sharing quality information about Indian Defence to help aspirants. Mail us to join our editorial team now.