Why There is No Shortcut to Success at SSB?

Importance of BODY LANGUAGE in Public Speaking

A good speaker is someone who has equal impact from what he speaks an from the body gestures. Research proves that in fact more than half of the impression is because of what you don’t speak and depends on your body language. A person has a control over his words but body cannot be instantaneously controlled if you don’t have the proper etiquette’s of reacting while giving the public speech. Body language comprises of gestures that occur while speaking on face, hand etc. Also the facial expressions add to the beauty of representing things.

Effective body language is sufficient to support the message and project a strong image of the presenter. Audience keeps themselves live in the presentations of speakers whose body eject energy through positive body language. The entire message if supported by the body language has more impact as compared to the message which has weak sign used in body language. The impact of message is doubled with the positive body language and the involvement of the audience increases. Lecturette and other places where a persona has to convey his thought process to a larger audience should use the following tips:

Whenever you tend to stand, make sure your hands are at the side and not tied behind. This helps in adding hand gestures at some places that has their own importance.
While speaking try not to se the assessor and only look the other friends sitting in the semi-circle.
Some people have a bad habit of shaking the legs while speaking, but remember this gesture is sufficient to distract the audience and whatever you speak goes in vain. Try to keep the legs constant so that they don’t shake. This move also represents that there is a lack of confidence and ads negative value to the speaker.
The movement of eye, moth and facial muscle should be well coordinated. I make sure in my mentorship program that I provide that the aspirant learns all those things and try to implement. SSB is not just about bringing instantaneous improvement but its preparing for the best and living the best life.
Try to improve your personality permanently which indirectly tens to prepare you automatically for SSB.

Body language in such an exercise is very important and can add value to whatever you speak and can get you more marks altogether. 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 of future officers who are getting ready to serve my motherland. All the best.

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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.

How to Perform Well in Lecturette

By

Jayendra Singh

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November 14, 2014

In defence officers are expected to lead a large force and for its success its necessary that individual should have a skill to communicate his or her thoughts properly to men and people around. The same is simulated through the exercise that we are about to discuss now. The important thing here is that it’s a individual assessment round where you need to perform all alone. Candidates should emphasis specially on such rounds where GTO officer has full time to analyse the personality of individual. Other such rounds are psychology, PI, GPE, IO, command task, at such places you should perform with utmost perfection as full views and qualities are observed and confirmed at such places. Unlike to say aspirant’s performance should be flawless in full process, but these rounds need special care as in other rounds group and team performances are judges which can be managed through other qualities.

Speaking is an art which every leader should have and communication skills should be good along with it. Effective communication can spread confidence in team and everyone will have faith over the effectiveness of the leader. Every aspirant would be asked to pick a card which has four topics to select from. Time to think is given for about 2-3 minutes and then the aspirant is given 3 minutes to express his /her views on the same. The following can help:

Clarity of thought, knowledge confidence and depth can fetch you extra marks. So prepare accordingly beforehand by making reading your habit.
Public speaking needs to be developed and it needs time. Keep reading news dailies and be updated.
Introduction, main body and conclusion should be the part of your script in those 3 minutes and it should be beautifully structured.
Don’t ever try to look at the assessor, just look in to the participants eyes who are your fellow mates. Eye contact should be proper with full audience sitting in the semi-circle manner.
A bell would be ringed when 30 seconds are remaining. Don’t just try to wrap immediately. Don’t ever show sense of urgency to finish, once the bell is wrung. Always maintain the same flow during your lecture.
Proper ending and a good show at this stage add a lot of value to your referral by the officer , so keep self-prepared.

Body language in such an exercise is very important and I would deal it in a separate article. 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.

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GD Topic Series: Co-education in India

By

Jayendra Singh

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November 14, 2014

Co – education simply means participation of both the sexes in the education process simultaneously. This culture is common in western countries but this is not so common practice in educational institutes in India. Sex differentiation has been a major practice that has been there prevalent in India. The changing mind-set has affected the process and now many places co-education schools can be seen however the rural India still remains unchanged.

The co-education process has its own advantage. The process does not affect studies as the Gen y is a matured generation unlike the Gen x or the boomers where the sense of understanding was bit low and there were many precautions that were taken. Also the condition of women at that time was not at all good and they were just home makers. But with changing times women have proved themselves in lot of ways and the mind-set of people changed. Now our youth knows their responsibilities and they have ambition to achieve heights. They have values and want to prove their mettle. Also the presence of other sex creates a sense of competition and forces everyone to perform better.

Also the following point can be discussed in this topic:

Limit of resources in India. India cannot afford so many infrastructures which can have separate boys and Girls College.
With the increase in women influence in various fields its necessary to allow women to participate at all places. You cannot withhold women in any sector and they have proven their worth by matching what earlier were known as men jobs.
There might be certain disadvantage too for co-education which includes mutual attraction in opposite sexes. Also the period in which boys and girls come together for co-education is a crucial period where hormonal changes are taking place. This might put some stress on their learning efforts. this has resulted in eve teasing and other derogatory effects
But we should not forget that anti-social elements cannot be stopped like this and they are present everywhere. Better administration can help avoiding any instance. If people who are participating in such institutes are sensible all incidents can be avoided and good results can be achieved.

Such points can be discussed and the examples can also be provided to make the GD more meaningful. List of important topics can be seen in my previous article. Also if aspirants need my views on what can be the probable point of discussion, you can write it to me. Body language is very important in GD and I would deal it in a separate article. Still if you feel the need of individualised assessment and mocks from your home itself through my mentoring or counselling or you have a query bothering your mind which hinders your preparation 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 place. SSB is really a easy exam if you know which path to traverse.

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.

2 AFSB Mysore AFSB Interview Experience

By

SSBCrack

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November 13, 2014

Hi guys, I am Harikrishnan and I am from Kerala.I am also a defence aspirant and this time I had cleared the AFCAT examwith 139 marks.When the result was published ,I was very happy and I didn’t know what to do next.Luckily one of my friend had attended the AFSB interview earlier and he passed me with many information that was really useful for me. He advised me to take a little bit of coaching before going to the AFSB. I asked the same to my father, and he said that since this is my first time, I should go there without any coaching as it will also give me a chance to know myself without any interruption from these coaching centres. Unfortunately, the date of the CAT exam was announced and I wasn’t able to concentrate much on its studies. Hence, my parents and friends advised me to attend the AFSB before the CAT exam and the final decision was left to me.Therefore, I chose to attend AFSB before CAT because it would also provide me time to prepare for CAT. Thus I choose 3rd Nov as my AFSB date.

I left from my hometown to Mysore on 1st Nov and reached there on 2nd Nov. I took rest for some time, and then I went to Mysore palace and Chamundi hills and returned to my room before 8 pm and had a good sleep. I woke up at 5 in the morning and left for the railway station at 6.15am since the reporting time was at 6.45 am. I reached there in time and boarded the Air Force bus. The bus was filled with Air Force aspirants and we got acquainted with each other. 92 candidates reported.After reaching there we had our breakfast and we were taken to the testing hall for the OIR test.We attended the test and then it was time for the much awaited PPDT test. A hazy picture was shown and we were informed to write a story about it in nearly four and half minutes. Since most of us were freshers ,many of them weren’t able to complete the story in time. Then it was time for the discussion and we were taken to the discussion room in a group of 12. We had our discussion for nearly 7 minutes and we were not able to reach a common conclusion. Then it was time for the announcement of our results.

I was screened in along with 47 others.We all were very happy. The rest were being sent back to the railway station after payment of their allowance. We were called inside for filling some applications and the PIQ form,after which the documents were verified. The candidates without original certificates were also sent back. Then we were taken to the candidate billet.On the way we were discussing about being screened in and also about the set of tests that we have to come across in our stay of 5 days in the AFSB. We 48 became close friends.After reaching there we were allotted rooms in the billet.In my room there were 11 of them and two them were Keralites. We went to sleep early as all of us were tired after the long day. The next day some of us had PABT,and the rest of us stayed in the room.At 12 noon we had our psychological tests consisting of WAT, TAT, SRT and SDT. We returned to our room and many of us went for outing.On the second day I had GTO, which I couldn’t perform well due to lack of much knowledge about them. I didn’t perform well in GPE but I performed well in GDs and Lecturettes.

Next day I had the individual tasks and also the command task,while some of us had Interview.I completed 4 obstacles scoring just 20 points from 3 minutes and did my command task well. Next day I had the interview,which went quite well. The IO was cool and joyful. (A small tip of advice for all AFSB aspirants :Don’t simply write some activity as your hobby.If you do have a hobby,you must have a thorough knowledge about your hobby or else the IO will screw you.I wrote Photography as my hobby and I was asked questions regarding DSLRs, lens, ISOs and all other stuff,which I wasn’t much aware of.) After the interview we all went for outing in the mysore zoo,mall of Mysore etc.Next day was the big day ,since it was the Board conference day.

Some of us had GT which was over by 11 am. We were told to pack our luggage and assemble in the testing room. Then we had our conference and it was totally an awesome experience.The moment you go in the conference room and you see nearly 15-18 officers in their uniforms headed by the board president…It was really awesome. We had our lunch and reported back to the testing hall at 3.30 pm. Then it was time for the results. 4 among the 48 were selected, and unfortunately I wasn’t among the four. But I was very happy. I made new friends,got a chance to uplift myself and above everything I understood my skills and abilities. A individual must attend an SSB at least once in his/her life,since the 5 days provide you time to know more about yourself, your life and your character. We were given our TA and sent back to the station in the Air Force bus. 44 of us were there and we all were sad not about being selected but since the most beautiful 5 days in our life were over. But we took a oath that day, that we will be back in the AFSB next time,but this time fully prepared!!

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About Hari Krishnan

My name is S.Harikrishnan and I am from Kottayam. I have completed my graduation and currently I am preparing for CAT.

My SSB Experience at 14 SSB Allahabad (100th Course Non-Tech)

By

SSBCrack

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November 12, 2014

2

As a fresher, I was very excited to attend my first SSB for the Officers Training Academy, Chennai. On 25th of June, 2014, we gathered at the Allahabad MCO at 6 am as ours was the absentee batch. A representative from the Selection Centre came to escort us to the SSB. The number of people who were waiting to appear before the Board was amazing. 400 of us just stood in lines when we were equally divided into 14SSB and 19SSB.

Day 1 was all about documentation and the Stage 1 testing. It is very important to be absolutely particular in getting the documents correct. 10 people from my Board were denied further testing just because of faulty documentation. The first part of the Stage 1 testing comprises of the Officer’s Intelligence Rating Test will be conducted. Anybody with average intelligence will be able to solve the questions which basically consist of Logical Reasoning and Mathematical Reasoning. The next part is the most important part, the PPDT. PPDT as you all know by now is the Picture Perception and Description Test. A very hazy picture will be shown for about 15 seconds and the candidate is to write a story of about 100 words about the story. The next step is the GD where the candidate will be given one minute to read out the story and then it will be open to discussion. It is very important to write a story which has got a logical relation to the picture. Go wild on imagination but make it believable and workable. The key to the GD is smooth and confident narration, speaking for 2-3 times during the discussion and not to be arrogant or violent while projecting your arguments. Confidence is the key, during the entire SSB procedure; confidence will take you all the way. After the PPDT, the results are declared. Selected candidates are retained and the rest are taken back to the station. Please note that the selected candidates will have to fill up a Personal Information Questionnaire or PIQ. Be absolutely truthful about yourself in this form as this will be the medium by which the assessors will judge you. Remember, we may bluff even without realizing, hence, it is advisable to get your own PIQ form printed and fill it up as a practice.

Day 2 is the Psychological Test consisting of WAT, TAT, SRT and Self Description. This is the most important test. Be absolutely simple in your answers, try to be positive but don’t go against your normal reflex. Your thinking should be absolutely simple. Self Description, like the PIQ has to be absolutely honest about your personality. It is a mark of a good leader to know yourself better than anybody else. The Psychological Tests go on for about 2 hours. Some may have their Personal Interview on the same day and for others, it will be held on either Day 3 or Day 4. The most important thing during the PI is DO NOT TRY TO BE SOMEONE ELSE, you will be caught instantly. Be normal, sit straight and look straight. Apply punctuation marks while talking and don’t hesitate nor speak really fast. Knowing yourself is very important as the questions asked during the PI are mostly from the PIQ and your life. Accept your mistakes and be proud of your achievements but don’t be arrogant. Don’t make up achievements just to add to the quantity. Trust me, you will be caught. If you follow these things, you will sail through PI, just be frank, as if you are having a normal conversation with another human being.

Day 3 and Day 4 sums up the Group Tasks. The key to the Group Tasks is to be a confident leader/team player/team member. The tasks in the SSB are very simple and workable, the first thing to do is to observe for a bit and then provide ACTIVE PARTICIPATION. Active participation doesn’t mean cheering or helping your friends. That is given, to be a part of a good team, you need to cheer and help, but what is most important is to think of ideas to help your group, don’t just stand there when your group is stuck. Also, it is important to listen and point out good ideas given by your other members. NEVER be nervous, especially during the Command Task and Individual Obstacles when the ball is completely in your court. Assist the weaker members and always be active in your participation. That should be enough to do well in the GTO series. Again, confidence is a key factor. The GTO is instrumental in your selection.

Day 5 is the final day and the Board Conference takes place. This is the first time you will see all your assessors together, in uniform. By this time, your fate will have been already sealed except for few candidates who are considered to be in the ‘borderline.’ Generally the Conference takes place for a minute or two for candidates who are surely recommended or rejected. The borderline candidates are questioned for around 30-40 minutes when their decision is made. My conference went on for 45 minutes.

Finally, one of the officers will come and declare the result and give the closing address.

Unfortunately I wasn’t recommended but I knew already what mistakes I had committed and hope to get recommended soon. Remember guys, CONFIDENCE is the key. Always remember that YOU ARE THE BEST and also value the opinion of your peers. Be YOURSELF, I know this is a common thing which everyone says, but it holds true in the case of SSB. Good luck to my fellow aspirants. JAI HIND!

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About Angshuman Chakravarty

My name is Angshuman Chakravarty and I am from Kolkata. Sharing my SSB Experience at 14 SSB Allahabad

Your Enemies at SSB: Fear and Expectation

By

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November 11, 2014

When you reach the station while reporting for SSB, many of your hearts are thumping with fear, expectations, anticipation. But let me tell you, fear and expectation are the two things which are sure to bring your performance level down in SSB. Anticipation is okay, it is quiet natural to anticipate something which you have never been through, but for the repeaters even anticipation should not be there, as you have already been through that process once, so you know what all is awaiting.

Causes of fear in SSB:

Okay so let us see what all are the causes of fear when you go to SSB. In most cases it is the anticipation which turns into fear, as there is a very thin line between the two. So let’s say you reach the station, where you had to report. You see so many candidates, some with typical formal attire, and beaming confidence on their face, some with excellent communication skills, some with flaunting Fauji background and some with tons of knowledge. Now think yourself, how long does it take us to know somebody completely? A day, a month, a year & sometimes a lifetime. It is very difficult to judge somebody in just few hours of conversation or observation; why else do you think SSB keeps you for 6 days? So instead of getting affected from the people in your surrounding and thinking that they are superior just concentrate on yourself. Mentally revise what all you need to do in the upcoming task.

I can surely write an entire article on what are the causes of fear in SSB! Okay, so wait for that one!

Causes of expectation:

You have been this all-rounder student in your school/college. Everybody appreciates that way you sincerely carry out everything, be it studies or extra-curricular. You have been the leader, class representative, captain. You have excelled in studies. You are an example for your siblings. Your parents and teachers have high expectations from you, in turn you have high expectations out of yourself. Chances are you have failed in SSB a few times. It is very obvious to have expectations, but rather than giving time in expecting something, give that time to prepare.

A real life example:

A friend of mine, now a serving officer in the forces, told me his state of mind in his SSB. He went for NDA Entry, just out of school. Got demoralized at the station itself, seeing that many candidates were so confident, all by themselves there, and he had his father with him. He had been told that SSB people start observing you from the station itself, and only those who keep the luggage on the bus are selected. He got further demoralized when he saw that forget about other people’s luggage, he couldn’t even keep his own luggage on the bus, as somebody else already snatched it and kept. Then he lost all hope, he said that there was no fear left inside him after that, and no expectations even. He just thought to give his best and didn’t think about the result. And he got through.

I would conclude by saying that there is no place for fear and no place for expectation when you go for SSB. Your focus should be on giving your best. Without any expectation or worry about the result. SSB is looking for OLQ’s if you have them you’ll be there. All the Best.

Also Read

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!

Bead of Sweat, Thumping Heart: Causes of Fear in SSB

By

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November 11, 2014

I mentioned in one of my articles that I can write a whole article on the causes of fear in SSB, so here I am with it. It is natural to be a little worried before something which holds a great importance in your life. But this worry, this fear can really cut away your chances to get through. I have observed many reasons for it, listing down them all. Some might appear funny, but they actually happen. You are free to comment any other reason you have felt. The aim of this article is to eliminate these fears.

Once you wait for the SSB people to pick you up, you see variety of candidates around you. You feel that almost all are more talented than you. This is a clear case of under confidence. You are under pressure at that time, so obviously you’ll feel nervous. Everybody has talent. Even you. You are the best!
After the psychological testing, everybody talks about the fancy stories they made, the awesome sentences they wrote. On comparing you find that yours were just too mainstream, or very normal. Now, are you a psychologist? Do you know on what basis a psychologist corrects your paper? I bet nobody knows, we can just have assumptions. SSB is not the time for assumptions. Instead of thinking about the previous task, think about the one coming next, you have just five days in your hand, and SSB is not about a single task.
Just before the interview, you see other candidates coming out, narrating their experience. Trust me this is the worst thing you do, asking people about their interview. Did you fill the same information as them in PIQ? Do you both have the same background? How can the interview be same for the two of you? Never listen to other people before interview; it’ll make you nervous pointlessly.
You get worried when you hear that other had an amazing, pleasant interview and you were smashed, left right and center. Just like I mentioned that interviews will be different, and a pleasant interview never means success.
You see that smart chap directing others in the PGT. You want to do something but don’t know how. You need to come forward at that time, if you do not have any idea follow the lead, do the work, tie knots, place the plank, climb up and go ahead.
Nobody called you in the command task. That is bad, you should have worked on that earlier, but now you can’t do anything about it. Make sure before the task that you have atleast one “friend” who’ll call you (very mean I know!).
In the GD you couldn’t speak much or are trying but not being able to speak. Wait for a pause and then give your relevant point firmly.
You just did two-three obstacles in the Individual Obstacle. You have scored less let me tell you, but they are looking for officers, not monkeys. IO’s are a good way of scoring. But if you can’t do them it’s okay, the point is the attitude (the never say die attitude) with which you do them. Concentrate on other tasks.
Some had long conferences. Yours lasted for only few seconds. Congrats chances are you are not a border liner and you got through. But there are chances that you didn’t make it. Hard luck, you don’t have an option except for trying next time.
They monitor you only in your testing, not in your room or the mess. Of course you are expected to maintain the decorum but your section doesn’t depend on how you live in the room or how you eat at the mess. And yes its more than okay to go for medicine in case of trouble, they never cut your marks for that (people think that way, seriously!).

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Importance of PIQ

By

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November 10, 2014

PIQ or Personal Information Questionnaire is a personal detail form, which a candidate is supposed to fill in SSB Interview. After the screening procedure, the candidates are supposed to fill this form. Thus this form is the first thing you fill after the beginning of your stage 2 testing. This form is much more than a personal detail form. Candidates are asked to fill two copies of the same form, the purpose being that, one copy is given to the Interviewing Officer and the other one to the Psychologist. At some centers you might be asked to fill three copies, in which case the third copy goes to the GTO. This form contains fields which are helpful for the board in knowing you better. These fields are related to your family, academic performance, your extracurricular and sports performance and the positions of responsibility you have held. It also contains a field which asks you to give the record of your past SSB record.

This form holds a great significance. The reasons are many. The psychologist is never going to interact you in person; it is through this form that he/she forms an opinion about the kind of person you are. Then he/she matches that opinion with all what you write in your psychological test paper. Both of them should match. PIQ forms a ground on which your personality is judged. The psychologist may draw an inference about your background; your family etc. based on it and then take help of that information to understand whether or not you have given your genuine reaction in the paper.

The other copy which goes to the Interviewing officer forms the basis of your interview. It creates the ground on which your interview will be based. The interviewing officer spends some 5-10 minutes to read your PIQ before you go in for the interview. He then bases all his questions generally on this PIQ. The reason behind this is to see whether you have written the genuine information or simply boasted about achievements. It is expected for a person to know the information in depth if he/she has actually done that thing. For example if you have played football for state level and do not know the size of the field or about the positions you can play from then it is supposed that you are simply boasting. This being a mere example, there are many other things which you mention in the PIQ.

Thus it is quite evident that PIQ has a great significance in SSB. It is advised to fill this form in good, legible hand writing. Avoid any over writing or cuts. Write only the truth in your PIQ, do not boast about anything which you have not done. Have in depth knowledge about the hobbies, games which you are mentioning. Do not write small small achievements if you have major ones. If you do not have major achievements then only mention small ones. The column of position of responsibility held is very important, fill it carefully. Also take any certificates you have for the things you have mentioned in PIQ to the Interview.

Also Read

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!

How to Cast an Impact in Group Discussion

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November 10, 2014