“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times” ~ Paulo Coelho. Hello and Jai Hind Aspirants. It’s a privilege and honour to share my journey of success on this very platform from where many of the aspirants of the defence forces gain confidence and get motivated to achieve what they have dreamt of, yes to don that coveted and prestigious uniform of our elite armed forces. I am one among you all. Yes, I have also read all such inspiring and motivating stories and learned the never say die attitude here itself. Very warm wishes to all of you, myself Shubham Kumar, I belong to Samastipur district of Bihar, a proud Indian Airforce Brat, NCC CDT ( 8 KAR AIR SQN, The Flying Flacon 🛩️) and recently completed my MSc in Physics from University of Mysore, Karnataka. After many failures, to be precise 2 screen outs and 5 conference out I finally made it and got recommended in my 8th attempt from 2AFSB Mysuru for MET branch, IAF on 18Oct,2019. Well, the best part was it all started from 2 AFSB back then in 2017 and it happened at 2AFSB finally 😁 . It truly wasn’t a cakewalk, rather a journey full of ups and downs and it requires to grit one’s teeth and keeps moving. It requires your determination and above all your patience as you might have heard “Keep your head up, God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers”. Yes, you are one of his strongest so keep the faith and keep fighting.

I too have faced those heartbreaks of getting screened out, conference out, that numbness of failure, joining all strength to call back home and tell ” Nahi Hua”, leaving the selection centre with all the grief and pain hidden inside those wet eyes, listening from peer and relatives ” kuch aur bhi soch le defence ke alawa”, that travelling in unreserved train compartment, rejoining strength for the next attempt, crying alone in a silent room, and with the fightback attitude, burning the midnight oil, having those sleepless nights, gruelling path with these setbacks as bed of thorns finally comes the success 😇.

Well indeed SSB has the part in transforming my personality from where I  was in the beginning till where I am today. I often tell to a person going for SSB that there is nothing to lose in it, failure may just be the result but the outcome will be what it’s worth going for. You will definitely find some changes in yourself irrespective of the result of the test. So never give up.

Let me now share my experience from not only the successful attempt but a combined experience of all my attempts and give you all an inference of it.

Stage One:  The testing includes the OIR and PP&DT.

Now for OIR test it totally depends on your cognitive skills and aptitude as designed by Defence Institute of Psychological Research(DIPR). It doesn’t require to bang your head out and prepare for it daily but a basic practice and brush up from some samples available on various sources out there will keep this test to move on smoothly. There will be 2 sets of OIR test with 50 questions each and time allotted 27-30 mins each. ( No negative markings and you can amend your answer, so do attempt all ques)

For PP&DT which holds the majority of chances of getting screened in, the points to remember is to write the story which resembles the given stimulus as closely as possible and keep it realistic. This will also keep your narration to come out with confidence and if you come up with this you will be in eyes of the assessors and even a fish market kind of discussion with a point or two from your side will mostly hit your target of getting screened in.

 ( Now it happens many a time even deserving candidates gets SO, as even assessors believe that this stage-1 process is not a scientific process, so don’t get disheartened of its result because your best teacher is your last mistake. )

Stage-2:

Well, it begins with some form fillings and documentation, but most importantly the filling up of your PIQ. It’s a very important piece of paper, it goes to the Interviewing Officer as well as the Psychologist so it plays a big role in your assessment and so one must pay attention while filling this form.

Psychological Testing:

• This test is nothing but a dossier of a set of 4 testings namely TAT, WAT, SRT and SD.
• For TAT as said for PP&DT same case applies here keep your story to resemble what is shown in stimulus, a realistic one and cover the details of it.
• For WAT make sentences resembling your thought process.
• For SRT again your cognitive skills will come into play, keep your response clear cut and try to attempt a maximum of it.
• SD one can prepare beforehand and the genuine response will be appreciated, so take advice and write it without any ambiguity.

( It’s all time-bound testing so practice is a must for it )

Personal Interview :

Here in PI, I will tell you all in short, it’s like a seismic wave (😅 indeed an earthquake), I mean it’s a process of emerging waves starting from a focus and going outwards. Now to make you understand the focus is ‘YOU’, so know about yourself then family, friends, society, place, state, country, world and the waves continue. So this should be the strategy to prepare.

GTO:

Well, Ground Testing is the lengthiest one as it takes two days to complete all the task in it. Now here you see it requires both your mental and physical efforts. To start with the GDs and for that case Lecturette too, you need to be updated from what’s happening around and so keep yourself prepared for it, the GPE and further tasks like PGT, HGT, GOR, FGT requires your skills of working together in a group and how well you gel in the group. Tasks like CT, IO is all to show your courage and both mental and physical stamina.

(Keep apart that fizzing attitude of picking up the helping materials and rushing in all such obstacle related tasks and with the calmness try to figure out the solution to the problem first )

Conference:

Last but definitely not least is this process of the conference. Though broadly speaking the assessment is already being done, but you never know it may become the “drowning man catches at straw” thing for you.

(Keep in mind all the questions that you may haven’t recalled during your PI, the assessors may ask it again in the conference, keep the morale high irrespective of the performance, what is done is done, greet the board members with a pleasant smile)

Today with great respect to all of you striving hard to achieve your goal, let this add to one among your million reasons to step forward and stomp it even harder with all your efforts.

Wish you all very good luck comrades. Jai Hind

Hello friends, my name is Ganesh, First of all Thank You for choosing it to read. Friends, I have a huge respect for those who chose or are pursuing career in Armed Forces and Hats off to all SSB repeaters as well. I respect all boards that rejected me, because it led to a great improvement in me. If you are going for SSB with dedication and hardwork, you will surely come up with achievement either in the form of recommendation or Self Confidence. 02 Screened out, 10 Conference out and finally a recommendation, This Beautiful Journey was started in 2012, When I started thinking to becoming an Officer in Armed Forces and it was Dec 2013, when I appeared in SSB at 03 AFSB, Gandhinagar for the first time. I made it to Phase -2 but could not get recommendation then the list goes on like 01 AFSB Dehradun, 02 AFSB Mysore, 05AFSB (Mini) Kanchrapara, 04AFSB Varanasi. There is no AFSB left where I didn’t go twice, even it also happened twice that I was interviewed by same IO(Interviewing Officer ), almost same set of questions asked, Same set of pictures shown in TAT. To cut the story short, I will say that “If you will change nothing, nothing will change.”  After going again and again and coming back with same non recommendation as the result, somewhere I started doubting myself. But Thanks to my surroundings, Friends, Family, Motivational Books, I didn’t quit. Even after continued failures, I had one line in my mind ‘Jab Tak Todenge Nahi, Tab Tak Chhodenge Nahi (I’ll not stop till conquest)’. One thing was very much clear that assured me that I could see the gradual improvement in me due to the efforts I put in. My Group mates have started telling me that you will make it. I read the book  “Power of Subconscious Mind – Joseph Murphy”, I Started following its idea. I imparted all 15 OLQs in my subconscious mind by remembering it every time, everywhere. Started thinking about them during execution of every task that how an officer will do it. I was so desperate for it. Moreover, I am very thankful to Manoj sir, Rudra Sir, Satyaveer sir, Gulaab Sir, Shyam sir so on. The list is so long, I have taken inspiration from each and every one. All the inspiring journeys wrote in articles of SSBCRACK helped me a lot in my journey.

So here is the overview of my recent  SSB where I got recommended, I’ll put forward my experience along with some tips:

After 12 learning attempts, one more SSB was calling me on 28 Oct 19 at 04 AFSB, Varanasi, It was a peak festive season(Diwali),  somewhere I felt to give priority to my family rather than to go for this attempt and I also started searching options for absentee batch.

But one call changed my mind or can say changed my life. My SSB mate Shyam Jani sir had called me and convinced me to go for it together.  We had almost 20 days with us.  We started polishing ourselves, did mock interviews of each others, worked on physical fitness.

Tips:

1. It is always good to go with good physical appearance and stamina.
2. Start living SSB in your routine, think of recommendation, give your subconscious mind a image of rank of your shoulders, dream of it.
3. Sit alone, Write your SD (Self Description) in almost one page then cut it short to 5-6  Lines including all your good things. Try to not use any quality directly but write through actions: Like instead of writing I am social, can write I love to attend social gatherings/ go for tours with friends. In this way these lines will automatically reflect that you are social.
4. Practice filling your PIQ, remember all information on your finger tips.
5. Practice Psych Test, include your PIQ, SD in all responses. Try to Make story that can easily be correlated with your personality. Because  TAT plays a vital role in Psych Testing.

I reported at Varanasi Railway station at 06:00 AM on 28 Oct 19 along with my friends, we were received by Airforce personnel and taken to AFSB Centre in Airforce bus. After registration process at AFSB we were assembled in testing hall for phase one testing:

OIR test was pretty simple, practicing cubes and dices and other reasoning exercises help there.

Attend all the answer, do it quickly, leave questions that take more time and attend it later if you have left with time, take care while marking of your answers in answer sheet. Keep yourself calm and confident.

Then we were shown a hazy picture, wrote story on it. Try to make story on Social issue, Innovative but practical ideas. Don’t manipulate the numbers of characters. Narration and Discussion also plays that main role.

After writing story, got 10-15 mins for distribution of group, queuing. I completed my story in mind, made overview that how I am going to deliver it. Don’t waste time here in chitchatting and discussing stories. Be confident. I narrated the story well. Keep eye contacts with the whole group and don’t look at assessors, speak with clear, confident and loud voice so that others can take interest. During discussion taking part is very important, speak sense. Put your ideas forward, if you feel that nobody is supporting your story and ideas then go with the idea of majority in the group. Be clear, be a man of group. Don’t be dominating. Keep yourself cool and calm and keep passing smile (Not the fake one). Show your potential that you are worthy for further testing.

So after this test, it was the time for announcement of results, I got screened in along with few of my friends. Total of 185 persons reported at AFSB and 54 got recommended for phase-2. I was very happy for the selection of my friends along with me. We went for lunch, came back, and had a thorough document check. Here it is advisable to keep a summary of all marks, qualification, SSB attempts handy, It helps in filling forms and PIQ.

After that we got 2 Hours rest, rooms were allotted to us as per group and chest no. We Took rest (Nap for sometime is very helpful here) and after waking up,  I read my SD again and reported back for Psych test at 1800 Hrs.  

We reported for Psych, A beautiful ma’am was there for conduct of testing.  Though, I was aware about all the instructions but still listened all the instructions carefully. First TAT was begun. 11 pictures with different-2 terrains, characters, moods were shown. I wrote stories including blank story. Instead of start writing just after having a glance on image, It is  better to observe the picture deeply from every corner.  Before start writing make a plot, actions, conclusion otherwise stories will be messed up. Don’t write lot of line for Intro of story, focus on Action Part, End the story with giving information some future task fulfilled by Hero. Write stories in past tense. Then WAT, There were 60 words shown, I wrote responses for 58 words. All responses were pure, no manipulation, earlier practice helps you in time management. Give responses that show your personality, rare facts. Some of the current awareness can be written, if you get numb on any word. Don’t write suggestions, quotes, sayings.  It’s pretty easy. Then we were given a set of SRT, it contended 60 Situations. I attended 34 of it. Here quality matters over quantity.  Write your true response, don’t forget your goal or what you were doing before the problem, end it with completion of that task. Write it in short forms, don’t bother to write full sentence, it is good to write in Past Tense.  Then I wrote SD that have 5 Para, needs to write in 15 mins. SD is all about self analysis and having crucial role in Psych as well as in Interview. So write truth and things that you can justify in Personal Interview. There are lot more things to say about Psych Testing. But overall your Introspection and vigilance attitude will help you a lot.

We were done with testing by around 0930, took dinner, saw our next day schedules, went to bed. We had conversation with our mates, introduced each other, I was known to some of them.  Next day I was free as nothing was scheduled for my chest no. I had Breakfast, at 0645 Hrs attended the roll call, went to recreational room, enjoyed watching TV. I also shared my content of GD and lecturette with group mates. In evening we went to Kashi Vishvanath Temple, enjoyed sweets and Dahi Chaat on the streets of Kashi.  Next day I had my Interview, I went through my introspection contents that I wrote during my preparation.  I went for interview, waited there for around 2 Hours. I kept my self-calm, my buddies were discussing about various current issue. I made my mind that it’s not new to me and plan to give clear and straight answers without any justification until asked. Here I kept in mind the line told by Satyveer sir ”Instead of taking begging position, stand for your views”. After going in the room, I offered a warm handshake by IO Sir. He started asking about my previous attempts, reason of my non recommendations.  It was not like a normal interview where you are made comfortable by asking questions about my stay, journey etc.  Direct rapid fire questions asked from my school to career, then again college, friends, family, hobbies and interests. About my Sports Participation. Questions were so random.  He also cross questioned on few answers. While I was answering the questions, he tried to divert me. He started scratching in teeth with toothpicks, yawning, and showed disinterest in my answers. But I kept answering with confidence. He also asked me about current happenings in the world, capital of Turkey, President of Turkey, recent Airforce acquisitions. I answered with confidence. Here it is to be noted that there is no issue if you don’t give answer but don’t give wrong information.  In this way my Interview went smooth and I was happy with it. But I felt scope of improvement was there. I came back to room, shared all the things with buddies, enjoyed with them. Next day we had GT. 

It started with Group Discussion about Air Pollution and India’s relations with ASEAN  Countries. I initiated second discussion, put forward my views, current happenings. Here it is important to talk sense, data, and your experiences on the topics. Don’t dominate others if you have sound knowledge. Be the man of group. Convey your points politely, avoid hand gestures, don’t show anger. Think like a group not like individual. Support others valid points too. Then there was Group Planning Exercise. I made an image of plan in my mind, wrote the plan with full details and Participated well in discussion.   Then we GTO sir took us for outdoor Task. It was fun doing things with friends, here also be a team member, don’t think for individual goals. Keep working, giving ideas. If any idea is workable then go with it and don’t waste time to show your idea and implement it separately.  All your efforts will be noted by GTO sir, don’t worry about that.  In command task he asked about my failure, hobbies, work etc. I finished the task well. Then in lecturette, four topics were given on card. I choose 1^st topic (Carbon Footprint), spoke on it with confidence, tried to touch different horizons of topics. Here it is not necessary to choose 1^st topic that is little difficult to be chosen.  Speaking and delivering content is more important.  Then in Individual Obstacles, I attended 8 out of 10 including (Tiger leap and Rope climbing). In Ind. Obs. Listen the instructions of GTO sir carefully, show your courage, stamina and never give up attitude while execution of tasks.

In this way all the testing were done, After 2^nd day of GT, we had our conference on 01 Nov 2019.  I got freshen up and reported for conference. Before calling me in the conference room, discussion went for around 25-30 Mins, Then they called me in, asked me about my performance, my current work and stay at AFSB. They took just 2-4 Mins and told me ‘All the best’.  My Friends have started predicting about my recommendation. After lunch, results were announced, DSO sir called chest no of recommended guys, he called chest no 28, that was me. I was shocked and surprised. DSO sir asked me what happened. I answered ‘sir it was a long journey’. My dream came true. All my sleepless nights were paid off.  I got frozen for a while, thinking what to do. I thanked almighty, my buddy who was there Shyam Jani sir and all my group mates. After that I got some time to inform my family members about my recommendation and they were really very happy to learn this. After that we filled some essentials forms at AFSB and on the same day in the night I caught a train for return journey. It was a life time memorable day for me.

 I have my medical on 06 Jan 20 at AFCME, New Delhi. I got recommended for MET Branch in IAF.  Last words for all the aspirants : Never Give up, Go with Preparation, Have faith in System and your Potential.  

Thank you. Keep progressing.

सोचने से कहाँ मिलते है, तमन्नाओं के शहर। चलने की ज़िद भी ज़रूरी है, मंज़िल पाने के  लिए।।Sincere greetings to all the defence aspirants. I’m Cadet Sivam Kumar and I got recommended for IMA- 148 course from 19 SSB Allahabad on 2^nd August and secured AIR 40 in CDSE I, 2019. Before starting the journey, let me tell you about myself. I belong to Agra and am presently pursuing MBA from Dayalbagh Educational Institute. My inspirations behind my decision to be in the olive greens have been my father a retired JCO from the 5th Parachute Regiment, my alma mater- Rashtriya Military School Dholpur and my NCC training. Whatever I’m writing is based on the experience of 2 recommendations, 4 conferences, 2 screen outs, my friends who got recommended in this journey and success stories of which I have been an active reader of. Most importantly whatever I learnt from my alma mater, Georgian academy and The Senaabhyas Educational Institute.

Future officers of armed forces, if you have been to SSB for more than 2-3 times, then you can relate to my story of getting recommended. The disappointing journey of coming back from the centre is heart wrenching. The very first thought upon being not recommended was to leave the center at earliest without the lunch as the mood had already killed the appetite. With no motivation to hold the conversation with family and friends, travelling in the grimy general or sleeper compartment on an unreserved ticket. Sometimes lying on the floor of the trains or sitting next to the restrooms would further add salt to the wounds. This is what I hated the most and I believe majority of repeaters must have gone through after being screened out or conference out.

Sleepless night, waking up in between to recall what went wrong in previous attempts.

If you want to achieve something, then better start behaving

like it. As I firmly believe that SSB is subset of life, whatever person who you are really, will automatically be reflected in the 5 days SSB. There is no shortcut, it is a constant process, so improvise and develop yourself. What I was doing included a few things. I made a daily routine and started following it strictly and stuck to it in all circumstances.

Following daily routine helped me in improving my physical fitness and general knowledge. I started reading self-help books to make myself motivated and develop my personality. On regular basis I kept on watching youtube and songs of armed forces to keep the flames of motivation ignited. In a book ‘The Power Of Subconscious Mind’, it is written to keep on radiating energy, positive vibes for aim or anything you want to achieve. So while returning from college and after giving tuitions, I used to say I will be an officer in army continuously. After every SSB, I used to write my whole experience of 5 days or 1 day. Thereafter I analysed, introspect and gave it to my friends for suggestions and with these changes I faced next SSB.

Aspirants always remember, failure teaches many good things which success fails to do.

थक कर बैठा हूँ, हार कर नहीं ।

बाजी हाथ से निकली है, ज़िंदगी नहीं।।

Coming to what was my approach and thinking after 8 SSB.

 Psychology:

1. Try to relate with you, your hobbies, your PIQ, your achievement, your journey. I wrote simple story where In one story I mentioned about my struggle to this SSB.
2. Catch the background, go with the authority and write the story with the solution aimed at welfare of

society at large with projection if your leadership ideas.

• I had prepared my SD well in advance, WAT with an eye on various types of sentence like observation etc.

Interview:

1. With repeaters like me, I focused on catching hold of the interviewer with good reflection of my preparation guarded with clear cut logical answers with a pinch of practical and at times my ideal self. In total it is about supporting your answers and playing in your safe zone ensuring the battle to be half won and your preparation will take care of later half. Align your habits with what is expected out of you in terms of dressing, appearance, your personal grooming( like moustache). I kept myself motivated by one live example like when we both boys and girls happen to get in relation, we do everything to impress each other, changes our habits, dressing style, looks and many more. If our partner happens to like a yellow shirt then on different occassion we wear that shirt and other things. In the same way, what I think SSB will get you recommended if you yourself develop that much whIch is required by SSB.

• Interview is all about how good you know about yourself, how you observe things and what is your opinion about them. Don’t beat around the bush and never ever take questions upon your dignity. If you know, answer in affirmative and if not, simply say ‘I don’t know sir’.

• Prepare yourself well in advance for interview, don’t go with pre-planned mindset. Since you are at the receiving end, then answer him whatever he ask in best of knowledge.

GTO:

1. Key point is co-operation. You can do extremely well if you co-ordinate well with the group. Have good knowledge and true gentleman behavior will sail you through it.

Suggestions after facing 8 SSB from 2015 to 2019:

1. Future warriors, there is always fear of failure but if you have alternate aim and you are working the same way you are preparing for SSB, then it can be controlled to greater extent. Desperation needs to be controlled to greater extent. Desperation need to be removed but dedication and determination needs to be there.
2. Choice of words matters a lot in whole SSB.

• Everytime you are going for SSB, you need to be a better version of yourself.

• Be genuine throughout your SSB, find out right reasons behind your non-recommendation in previous attempt and how you overcome it.
• Polish your strength and work upon your weakness to overcome it.

On the day of conference, I was called after 30 seconds asked two suggestions. Gave it and came out happily.

After 10 minutes of address, the chest number was called one by one starting from 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd . He announced chest number 23 and that was me. Tears started rolling down my cheeks, finally 5 years of struggle comes to an end. A happy and deserving conclusion of perhaps the most memorable chapter of my life so far.

Friends calling out your own name will never feel better than the moment you get recommended.

Special thanks to parents, siblings, Georgian academy for professional studies and The Senaabhyas Educational Institute, Prashant, Gaurav, Parul(He’s a guy), Shikha, Hemant for being with me throughout my journey and bearing with me for hours together over conversations.

यह दुनिया भी बदलेगी, हर शख़्स भी बदलेगा।

लोगों की जुबां का यह लफ्ज़ भी बदलेगा ।।

मायूस मत हो यह परिंदे घड़ियों के परिवर्तन में।

यह ऋतु भी बदलेगी, यह वक्त भी बदलेगा ।।

The best way to predict your future is to create it. All the best to all the aspirants!