I hope all of you would have gained a lot of information about the SSB’s till now from SSBCrack. Same went with me. I am Kishan, basically from Mysore, bought up in Ooty( the chilliest place!). Being a hardcore aspirant of Defence, wanted to be a fighter pilot right from my school days. I would love to read experiences of all people posting theirs’ at SSBCrack. In fact, SSBCrack is a whole good Wikipedia of SSB and Defence related info. By now everybody would have been familiar in what actually takes place in SSB and the various tests held in there. I would not like to bore you with the day’s routine or what happened from day 1 to day 5.
I would rather like to tell what actually SSB is and what the people expect (according to me).
- I gave my first SSB for Air Force at 2 AFSB, Mysore during August 2013.Got recommended and done with medicals, waiting for merit.
- Second, SSB for Navy( SSC GS{X}) @ Bangalore. Got recommended from 12 SSB in November.
- Third, SSB for Army(TGC) @ Bangalore. Got recommended from 24 SSB in the same month.
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My views are brief, SSB being one of the best selection processes in the whole world expects honest and persons with Officer like Qualities to join the Indian Armed Forces. The assessors in SSB, may be different in services like Army, Navy, Air Force, but they see only if a candidate has that potential to be an officer. I have seen brightest people being not getting recommended, reason is they are fit for a much better job. I have seen people who have averagely performed, getting recommended, reason is, they are fit for the defence. Thing is simple, you have to be performing equally good in all the areas of testing, in much more simple words, u must be constant in your activities. Coming to the tests in SSB.
Intelligence Tests (OIR)
Comprising 40 questions in each paper(case different with AFSB), try attempting all. Why because, there is no negative marking. Practising Verbal/Non Verbal of R S Aggarwal do helps!
PPDT
Good communication skills and confidence in the speech can get u screened in. Good sitting postures, way of narrating the story, fluency, eye contacts with the group are some of the ingredients!
Psych Tests
These are the most important tests with regards to SSB. A person’s psychology can never be changed as it is natural from time of birth and through his or her surroundings. A person can improve his academics through hard work, same way can improve his games and extracurricular through interests and involvement, but Psych is what the person already is. For a better result of WAT, practise a few words from SSB Crack. Form short sentences, meaningful and not idioms or thoughts. Use of must, should, I can be minimised. In TAT, stories should be practically possible, logically workable. There is no need to describe a person’s qualities like he is young, intelligent, sincere, etc. Instead, through your actions, make sure your assessor comes to know what kind of a person you are. One may precept a picture differently, the other much opposite, no problem! Assume it to be a picture from your life happenings, and write a good positive story. The added advantage of adding your life story is that you are being yourself and you wont get caught during the Interview!
For ex: A picture depicting a scene where three friends are walking in a forest, at a distant there is a fort or monument or some abandoned building, and two persons climbing from other end through a rope.(my drawing goes little bad…)
Most of them write about two men attempting to burglary or going to steal etc and these friends catch them inform police…
Why not make the entire picture positive? Like the friends set out for a walk in the forests, they found an old monument kind of building where few persons doing practices for rock climbing and rappelling, they all get together, discover the place and inform the archaeological department and so on..
The background processes happening after the tests are many. The assessors combine all of your responses with WAT TAT SRT. And in SRT, why make long sentences that I will do this, I will do that and so on? Being crispy saves your time! For ex: you happen to see a boy drowning, you…………..
Just write dive, swim, pull up to shore, give first aid…tats more than enough! Also you should take care of what you write. When you write Dive and Swim, you must be a swimmer in real life, not that you show heroic actions 😉 If not possible like in the case of mid sea or dam, u may very well think of other options. Next important is the Self Description. Simple, market yourself!! Show how worthy you are, be natural, be true, write your own qualities only (all the qualities will be directly/indirectly checked in SRT,GTO,IO).
Group Tasks
I am not an athlete, not a very good sportsman nor a body builder… but the academy is there to train me.. So go with this mentality which is positive enough. Use the logical ideas as how to cross an obstacle. When doing Command Task, you are the commander, yes, but it’s we who should be in front and work out ideas rather than ordering the sub ordinates we choose. PGT, HGT, FGT expects you to give logical ideas. Do the simpler way of crossing the obstacle instead of doing stunts. This requires thinking, also be attentive to the GTO( prime importance). As far as GD and GPE is concerned, its what you did in PPDT, but u get a good chance to speak out. Do not scream or shout if there is a mess. Be yourself there! Be short in GPE listing out your priorities and action you would take mentioning the time and distance everywhere. In lectures, have a pleasing stand before the group and GTO. No matter what you talk, but talk confidently and clearly. Eye contact again. Group obstacles needs your contribution, motivation to the group and definitely a War Cry!! You come last, no problem, be the one to initiate a hip-hip hurray to the winning team. Few get vexed seeing the individual obstacles. No worries at all, trust me, enjoy doing your obstacles! Doing 3 or doing all the 10 does’nt make any difference. Ask me why, I shall tell you that doing everything is not important, how u do also is not important, but the josh, energy, boost you have at the start, should be there when you attempt the next and till the last!
Interview
You are responsible for your own fate I would say! It’s the trickiest of all. The Interviewer sees only your way of speaking, eye contact, body gestures. On the other hand he sees how much you know about yourself, about your family, friends(important),about the service you opted for. We are not wikis, but still we must put efforts to know about our surroundings, issues in neighbouring countries, maximum of own state & country. When technical session, attempt to answer relatively known facts. Brushing up basics of your stream may be essential. For freshers, be thoroughly prepared with your personal(family,education,friends). For repeaters, be prepared with little of technical, happening in the services and GK. Its just the precautions you take. I guess I haven’t hurt people by the name repeaters, my sincere apologies. But know what? Being a fresher and cracking the SSB is no bigger than a repeater cracking the same. Hats off to those people who have cleared the SSB in their 7thor 8th attempts. My first interview @ AFSB, Mysore went for one and a half hours, second @ 12ssb Navy for 20 min and the third @ 24ssb Army for 30 min. So it depends according to the performance. Nothing can be judged as of a sudden. Please dont fall prey to any myths like if the interview goes on for long, he is border or if 30 min he is selected. I would rather suggest you to give your best in all the areas.
Conference
Fate being already decided, but a last decisive option exists in the case of people who have performed a bit lower than expected. In fact, a great chance for themselves. Be prepared for SRTs, and common questions like how was your stay, where are the places you visited, what you like to improve, any suggestions, etc.
Result: I consider this stage also as an important part of the SSB, not because the results are announced, that’s literal obviously. But the thing is whether getting recommended or not, we should take the results positive and equal. If recommended, well and good, be the same enthusiastic, cheerful and happy..If not recommended also, be the same enthusiastic, cheerful and happy Attempt for the next as there is no bar until you grow older… That is the attitude expected out of every Officer!
Dear Aspirants, these are my sole experiences and it may vary with others. Whatever it is, as a social blogger, we must be helping each other out, give suggestions and ideas to others. My wishes are with to all of you. I may have missed some things, but I will be happy to share my views and help everybody. Any such things, you can mail me to [email protected] or post in this blog itself.
About Author: Kishan Rajkumar: I am Kishan, basically from Mysore, bought up in Ooty( the chilliest place!). Being a hardcore aspirant of Defence, wanted to be a fighter pilot right from my school days.
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