“Just stick to your aim, you might not be there now, but a time will come when you will be confused which opportunity you should avail”. Hey everyone, I am Neeraj Kumar, and I was recommended from 1AFSB, Dehradun in my fourth attempt. My story goes as follow, my journey for defense started from childhood only like many of you. Although, being from a civil background and no one serving in the defense forces in my bloodline took 4 years of convincing to make my parents agree about joining forces. I did win half of the battle there, but the main objective was yet to come. I went for the SSB first time through NCC special entry and got conference out from Allahabad in 2017, it was my first attempt, and thus it did not break my spirit. Then I went to Kapurthala for CDSE entry, this time I was screened out. This breaks me from inside as I had already left my job and was preparing for defense exams on a priority basis with an eye on MBA as back up. During that worst time, my mother said those magical words to me and it uplifted my spirits again. I sat for AFCAT and cleared it. I knew I where I was lacking, i.e. being me. Many times, we commit a mistake of imposing someone else on our personality and we forget SSB is all about personality assessment.
I went again for SSB in Kapurthala for NCC entry and this time again I was conference out. However, this time I knew I am nearly there. There were fears of rejection which covered me before and I was able to subside them effectively this time. Then I joined IIT Roorkee for MBA program and it boosted my confidence as my back up plan was ensured. From there I went to 1AFSB Dehradun and this time I was able to make the cut. This time main highlights in me were, I was mentally stronger and I put myself the way I was. I was monitor, class representative throughout my life and holding a rank in NCC boosted me up and made me believe, I have it in me. My psychology went awesome as I did 52 SRT’s, 60 WAT’s, all the TAT stories and in self-description, I wrote what I was.
This cumulative effort made me through this time. Nevertheless, that was not all, the trust of my friends, colleagues and most importantly, family made me what I was. I would also like to thanks SSB Crack as their constant motivational and informative updates, which never made me, forget what I was aspiring. As we, all use social media frequently, SSB crack was there to keep on reminding me what I am heading for. In addition, OIR sets provided by them make sure you win half of the battle during the screening process, which boosts your confidence for other screening tasks.
My friend’s rejection is just an opportunity to analyze yourself and be prepared for the next step. Do not lose your faith being a repeater as success stories on SSBCrack itself tells how many made it through even after 10+ attempts. In the end, I would say just be you and trust me, my comrades, you will be at the winning end of the battle.
Cracked SSB interview in 6th attempt after facing 4 back to back screenouts and finally making in my 2nd conference (6th attempt which was my final attempt for the flying branch). Hello, I am Nishant Singh Yadav from Jabalpur (MP). I cleared the SSB interview in 6th attempt and made the place among 6 pilots all over India, joining the Indian Naval Academy and further the Indian Airforce academy for flying. I have been a follower SSBCRACK page for almost 4 years and it helped me a lot in achieving my goal. Set your goals and don’t stop till you get there. I am sure. The feeling of getting the screen out is felt by many of my aspirant brothers, just remember never feel low or demotivated. It hurts but more important is to have a positive attitude and the guts to never give up. Fall 5 times get up 6th. The reason behind my screenouts was the OIR part that wasn’t handled properly in my previous attempts. I thought of doing it all correct but did make few mistakes. So the key is just to practice well. The 2nd part of screening is PPDT I always did well in this part. Write the proper sensible simple story and narrate confidently in GD, as the GD starts DON’T jump into the fish market as in 95% of the cases the group got divided into the two halves so be patient and wait for the perfect moment -as the pitch of others went down put your points loud and clear, I bet you’ll get noticed.
PS- your points must be logical like if in the picture you saw a car being stopped by the people/mob…so one of the logic can be the lane was narrow hence the car stopped easily as the speed of the car is not much in the narrow lane. Think wisely and act. As you get screen in, you come to understand further tests and your mistakes more precisely. I made a few mistakes in my AFCAT entry as result I got conference out. It is necessary to recognize your mistakes and to rectify it so it won’t be repeated in your next attempt. This can only be done through SELF INTROSPECTION.
DAY-1 (psychological test)
TAT– Keep the story simple and sensible. Reading habits gonna improve your writing skills. Read the newspaper, editorial sections, articles of The Better India, motivational/inspirational novels. This all will increase your knowledge and awareness.
PS-don’t learn stories from any book/coaching institute.
WAT– I wrote all 60 words. Try to write short, simple and meaningful sentences. You all will make it not a big deal.
SRT– I wrote only 32 SRTs but address them well with complete solutions.
SD- only SELF INTROSPECTION would be helpful. Take out the blank paper and write the answers to the questions asked in this section. So this section needs to be pre-prepared.
DAY-2(personal interview)
My personal interview last for 60-75 min. I only gonna tell you about the questions IO asked me because the answers will differ person to person according to their personalities.
PS – prepare well for the rapid-fire, there may be 3 sets of Rapid Fire questions comprising of 12 – 15 questions.
1-After making you comfortable he hit me with the rapid-fire questions.
So Nishant tell me what was your % in 10th, 12th and B.TECH/B.E? What exams did you give after 12th? Which subject you like the most and hate the most and why? Which teacher you like/hate the most and why? How many friends do you have, who is your best friend? What are the qualities that you like in your friends but your friends don’t like in you? From whom you go first to seek for help?
PS- Be a good listener – listen carefully and try to answer them in the order in which they have been asked.
2-Nishant you are an engineer, how you can be useful for us?
3-Have you hit anyone at your college?
He made very comfortable before asking me this question. He went through my PIQ and would have read my hobby as GYM, gone through my achievements that were mainly in karate (National/State level).
4- Then he asked me technical questions about airplane engines, airplane flying principle, 5th generation’s aircraft…. As I opted for the flying branch.
5- What is nautical mile? The motto of NCC? How is Dornier different from fighter?
6- He asked about my reading habits. He asked me the editor’s name of the newspaper I read, and some current events like what is happening between US-IRAN- I deeply explained to him about the US IRAN deal and its impact of India.
7- Asked the equivalent ranks.
8-strength and weakness … (after telling him your weakness, do tell him how are overcoming it)
PS- just BE YOU, keep yourself well updated. Read the editorial sections of the newspaper (preferable THE HINDU).
DAY 3, 4 – GTO
See for GD and lecturette knowledge is the key then only you’ll be confident throughout GD and your lecturette. Knowledge can enhance by reading habits. (Editorial sections, watching the news and selective topics of NDTV simple Samachar…)
For outdoor tasks just use the resources wisely, the solution is already in front of your eyes. Stay focused and energetic.
CONFERENCE- there may be questions that you may not be able to answer in your personal Interview so find out there answers before the conference.
Questions they asked me were some from my personal interview, where you place yourself in your group? Tell the two national issues? What is your alternative path? Tell me your SSB experience for about 1min. ….
Finally if your man (psyche), karma (GTO), Vachna (personal interview). If all three matches – you are recommended. Thank you SSBCrack.
GTO is one of the three different testings conducted at SSB, unlike other tests. GTO tasks are the group activities which aspirant has to perform along with his group members. The Group Testing Technique is an observational technique that is used at the SSB’s. Unlike the individual testing in isolation testing them by this technique judges their ability to work as a group and their functional capacity. This can be a good thing to judge the potential of each individual and make selections on the basis of their suitability to be a part of the Armed Forces. Teamwork is unimaginably essential in the armed forces. A good team member is an ideal candidate GTO is looking for during the group tasks, there are few properties of a good team member which we have mentioned below. To emerge as a leader in your group one must possess these qualities and show them while performing the group task.
1. Honest and Straightforward: A good team member must be honest and straightforward while performing the group activity, he must keep the group objective as a primary goal and make unbiased decisions while performing the group tasks.
2. Shares the Load: A good team member must help other team members by sharing their load. This is not the physical load you need to carry during PGT, but it can be the load whether physical or mental your group members are taking while performing a certain task.
3. Reliable: A good team member must be ready to help the group whenever required with his best abilities, he must come out as a reliable team member to achieve the group objectives.
4. Fair: A good team member must always give credit where it is due, do not snatch someone else’s idea.
5. Complements Others’ Skills: A good team member provides some unique skills and/or knowledge that move the team forward.
6. Good Communication Skills: A good team member must be an excellent communicator while working in a group. He/She must be able to throw the ideas and command clearly and firmly.
7. Positive Attitude: A good team member will also carry a positive attitude no matter what the end result is. He/She will always motivate other team members to keep moving forward.
This testing technique is based on four basic principles. They are:
Social Field Theory
This theory lays foundations on the fact that individuals continuously interact with each other, influence and be influenced by each other in a group.
Group Development
To perform as a group is essential when it comes to Armed Forces and it goes through a number of stages which overlap each other to give an overall performance include formation, exploration, cooperation and discipline.
Free Association
The individuals are free to participate as much as possible in the group activity and the GTO observes the performance of each one of them individually.
Group Dynamism
The GTO observes and evaluates each individual candidate for ‘group dynamism’ i.e. the contribution of each individual in the group activity or the task.
The group testing technique consists of nine tasks in total to assess the personality and the individuality of each candidate and they are:
Basic Series
Group Discussion (GD)
Group Planning Exercise (GPE)
Progressive Group Tasks (PGT)
Group Obstacles Race (GOR)
Confirmatory Series
Half Group Task (HGT)
Lecturette
Individual Obstacles (IO)
Command Task (CT)
Final Series
Final Group Task (FGT)
Day 3 and Day 4 of interview consist of these tests and tasks after all the candidates are divided into several groups. Along with these a few outdoor tasks are also conducted where the individuals warm up and prepare themselves mentally and physically making them more enthusiastic and confident to take on the tests actively.
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Hello my name is Rohit Singh. I want to share my recommendation experience with you. I got recommended from 2nd AFSB Mysore in my first attempt. The date was 6th August 2018 and place was Mysore. Very excited and nervous was my condition. The next five days were gonna change my life and I believed it. I Reported at the station and was amused to see a lot of candidates and started guessing who would get selected and rejected. The bus reached 2 AFSB Mysore, a wonderful place. Then the stage 1 testing started. My OIR 1 went very bad and I felt the fear of being screened out because in two OIRs I was able to attempt only 64 questions out of 80. Then in the PPDT, the picture was a mess but I wrote a story as I felt like. The discussion was awesome. Even in so much of chaos, I was able to attract the attention of everyone when I said something and they understood as well as respond. They chose me as their leader to present the story in front of the assessor. I thanked them and narrated the group story. Then we went for lunch but my mind was inclined towards the results only. At 2 pm the officers came with the results. Somewhere in my heart, I knew I will be screened in but still felt a lot of pressure due to a large number of candidates that reported that was 320. They called my chest number which was 102 and I felt like I was alive. Total of 114 candidates got screened in that was also huge. But the first battle was won. Now the final battle had begun.
We were just celebrating our screening when we got to know that the psychological test will be conducted on the very same day of screening. We were already tired but we geared up for the test. The test went on for 3 hours continuously. I wrote all the stories in TAT. I completed all WATs and all 60 SRTs. I was quite satisfied and happy with my performance.
WE WERE TOTALLY FREE ON DAY 2 WHILE OTHER THERE RESPECTIVE TESTS.
DAY 3 (GTO)
It was a very important and well as difficult day. In the group planning exercise, we were shown a model of an area and some situations were narrated to us by the GTO. We all wrote our solutions and discussed among us. I was too cautious not to dominate the discussion as well as to speak adequately.
Then came the group discussion. The officer gave us the first topic by himself which was increasing brain drain in India. The second topic was chosen by us which was increasing violence among kids. I participated very actively in the discussion with a lot of interesting points and knowledge which my whole group appreciated.
Then came the lecturette and my fingers were crossed. One by one candidate went to the GTO and chose their topics and spoke. Then came my turn, I went to the officer and picked the card on which there were six topics. I chose the second one which was reservation for women. I spoke for exactly three minutes as told by the GTO. Three minutes passed very fast because I was having a lot of material for that topic.
In the PGT, we were able to complete all the obstacles and my participation there also was awesome. Then in the half group task also my team which was having four candidates successfully completed all the tasks with ease. Though the tasks were not a cakewalk, it demanded lots of brain input. My command task was very amazing. I was called thrice as a supporter by the candidates. Each obstacle had its own level of difficulty.
I was called in the end. The GTO did some chit chat with me. He was very awesome. Then I called my helpers and started applying my mind. He challenged me a lot by increasing the difficulty as I proceeded. When I was about to complete he gave me the most difficult challenge. I thought a lot about it and time was also passing. My hands were shivering and I was continuously staring at the obstacles and thinking. But suddenly a great idea struck my mind and I immediately applied it. He replied, ‘Ok Rohit it is a workable idea I will give it to you’. I felt relieved and very satisfied.
Then in the individual obstacle, I completed 8 tasks out of 10. I started from the task number 10. Since I was very active in sports, I completed the tasks with ease.
I went for the interview on the given time. I heard from the repeaters that say this, say that but I knew that I have to answer as I feel like. The IO called me in and I gave him my file and the interview started. The interview went for 50 minutes. I was very satisfied with my answers to him. But when I came out, I really didn’t know how he would have perceived me.
DAY 5 (CONFERENCE)
Turn by turn we were called for the conference. When I went in I saw 30 officers In front of me in their uniforms. As I entered, one officer said ’Good morning Rohit’, I started searching for that officer in those 30 officers. But then I replied ‘good morning’ collectively and stood beside the chair. One of the officers asked me to sit down. Then he asked ‘you are having the birthday next week Rohit, what are your plans?’
I replied with a smile ‘No plans sir, I will enjoy with my family’. Then they asked some more questions and asked me about my stay. I told them it was very memorable and awesome. Then they said ‘Okay Rohit you may go now’ and I left.
Then we waited for hours for the result to come. The DSO arrived in the auditorium with the results where all the candidates were sitting. He started announcing the result and he called my chest number 46. My heartbeat stopped for a few seconds. My hands were shivering because it was a hell of a moment for me. I got recommended out of 320 candidates in my first attempt. Only 13 candidates got recommended. After that, we spent our time filling forms. On the next day, we had CPSS and 10 cleared it. I also got fit for Airforce in my medicals and in merit.
Defence aspirants who are going to face the SSB interview must know the importance of the personal interview at SSB. Though all tests are equal and one must perform in each one of them with the best they can but still, if someone has to choose the most important part of the SSB then it would be the personal interview. Below we have given some tricks used by the interviewing officer to find the best fit for the armed forces, you can put some reverse engineering on that to imporve your performace during the PI at SSB. Also, you should not miss reading another important article in which we have mentioned about the 6 Ways Used By SSB Interviewing Officer To Catch A Liar.For an SSB interviewing officer, the superficial impression or ‘impression management’ does not matter. ‘Impression Management’ is a conscious or subconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event, means the process of hiding the flaws and exaggerating the good qualities in a person. During the interview, every aspirant wishes to be the best and if not at least show that they are the best in what they do. Hence the general rules of the interview go in vain. As a result, there is a basic need to appoint an experienced person to conduct the interview, someone who is mature and has gained knowledge over the years in interviews. This is a technique that can predict the output and sometimes predict the results as well. It mostly depends on the Officer’s Intelligence Rating (OIR) and the Personal Information Questionnaire (PIQ).
The SSB Interviewing Officer (I.O) has some special tools in his arsenal or some special tricks up his sleeves to break the superficial impression and the ‘façade’ that the aspirant puts up on their face unknowingly or knowingly. They include:
Distraction
The I.O might look away from you and pretend to talk over the phone or simply be distracted by someone or something else altogether or just stares at you once in a while. This way he might be trying to judge your reaction towards the distraction.
Generally while talking to a person who is in a position of authority a person expects their solidarity and approval either in the form of words or gestures. Thus, when a person sitting on the other side of the table is looking distracted or isn’t paying enough attention to what you are saying it might hit your confidence a little and if you as an aspirant are trying to make some false impression on the I.O, you are sure to lose your traction. It is a natural tendency of every individual.
The motives behind the distraction are:
To judge whether you are actually true or not. If it is true then, you wouldn’t be much affected by the distraction the I.O is creating. Whereas you seem to be more distracted when you are concealing some facts and trying to exaggerate on others unnecessarily to make false impressions on them.
Secondly, to check if you get disturbed by the slightest distraction and lose your flow of answering the questions or rather your intonation changes all of a sudden.
The I.O will be glad even if you have a few weaknesses than to appreciate and fall prey to the numerous fake strengths and put-ups you lay in front of him. One must not forget that personality is the interplay between the strengths and the weaknesses of an individual, so be aware of it and not hesitating to accept it is the basic idea about it. There is no reason to feel inferior about them at any point. Rather accepting them and willing to make improvements is what is expected of you.
You might lose your chances of getting through the interview altogether in the quest of making an impression which is mostly based on the fake information. Integrity and honesty are the main things that will get you to the other side of the door without much effort at all and that is what the Armed Forces are dependent on.
Rejecting your answers
The I.O might reject the answers at many instances. This is basically to check your emotional stability and how well you can accept and move on with criticism. Your honesty should guide you at all instances. Being a little nervous is acceptable but even then you need to control it beyond a limit.
Checking your behavioral rigidity
If the I.O finds out you are lying, he scours you, checks how defensive you can be and also your flexibility. Your willingness to accept your weaknesses is actually a sign of your strength. Being diplomatic in your answers is not okay when it comes to the interview.
You will be given certain situations and problems and made to find solutions or handle the situations. This, in turn, is expected to judge your resourcefulness, wit, common sense and adaptability.
If you have ever attended the SSB interview before, you might relate with some of these actions of IO from these tricks, next time keep these things in mind and do include them while preparing for the SSB personal interview, though these are very basic things and one need not remember them by heart, any honest and confident aspirant won’t be affected by these tricks of SSB interviewing officer. All the best.
Hello everyone, I am Abhishek Bawa and I got recommended from 32SSB Kapurthala in my 16th attempt. I am writing this for all the repeaters who want their next attempt to be the last one. I started my SSB journey back in 2013 after graduating from the field of Civil Engineering. My First attempt was in Allahabad, I was new to the procedure and went without any preparation. The result was conference out. After that, I gave a few more attempts and then understood that this procedure is very scientific where you can’t escape or go through just being lucky. I started thinking about all my failures and working hard towards my goal. Every time when my name was not announced over there it was hard to call back home and tell my family that I am coming home. With each and every attempt I improved and the motivation of fellow aspirants and my seniors who are already in forces helped me a lot. I always knew that I can do it but I was searching only one answer to a very important question in mind, how?
Then I thought even if I won’t make it in forces I need to live a disciplined life so that even if I am living a civilian life, I am living like an officer. I made a proper daily routine and started following it strictly and this helped me a lot. The second thing which I did was on the field, during my 16th attempt that during SSB I was not at all bothered about the result. I thought I need not do self-introspection after every test because it is going to hamper my performance in the other tests.
I did not write any preconceived ideas in stories even if images were familiar. I wrote what came in my mind and as I said I did not think much I don’t know how my Psychology test was. I went to my Interviews and GTO tests with the same mindset. I just enjoyed my time without thinking about the performance of mine and group members and stayed away from judgemental discussions of whose efforts were good or bad. On the final day, I dressed nicely and basic questions were asked during the conference. Conference procedure was as same as my previous attempts but the result was not. Our Psyc came and started announcing result after the long speech. I did not believe my ears when I heard who is chest no 11. Tears started rolling and I was not even able to talk to anyone for next 15 mins and the best moment of my life came when I did call my mother and informed “Mumma, I am not coming home this time”
That feeling can’t be expressed in words. My medicals went well and I was declared fit. Now I got AIR-4 in the merit of TGC-128 and joining Indian Military Academy on 1st of January. I want to thank each and everyone who guided me, motivated me and supported me through my tough times. I still think I am an average guy with not much of talent if I can-you also can. Every attempt is a new attempt so make it count.
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The Command Task: This is the last and the final task in the GTO tasks. This is the confirmatory task. Contrary to what we have analyzed all this while, this activity concentrates on the behavior of the individual instead of dealing with the entire group. Let us now see how this task is actually carried out and some of the features.
The Command Task is very similar to the PGT that we have done earlier. The rules remain the same, barring the group rule.
All the members of the group are made to sit in a place that is far away from the actual testing location.
This task is usually conducted on the second day of the Group Testing series of activities.
An individual from the group is called by the GTO officer for a chat. He is selected as the Commander at this stage. In order to make this person easy and comfortable, the GTO exchanges some pleasantries and talks to him.
The task or the activity is then explained to the Commander by the GTO following which; he or she is asked to choose some subordinates to complete the task.
Like always, a time period of 15 minutes is allotted to the group within which they are expected to complete the command task successfully.
A number of qualities are put to test via this task alone. Let us have a look at the purpose of this activity:
Leadership skills of the commander
How well the Commander plans the task and goes along with it
How well the Commander can tackle failure and disappointments and still have the strength to continue further
Crisis handling skills of the commander
The popularity of the leader within the group
The interest and body language of the others in the group and to check how motivated they are in the activity.
Tips to do well in the command task
As a commander, a lot of your leadership skills are put to test. So, it is best to be extremely careful and vigilant in taking decisions. Here are some ideas to help you get through this task with flying colors:
It is essential to listen to the GTO properly while he is briefing you about the task.
When you are asked to choose the most appropriate members of your squad, make sure it is a well-informed It is best not to hold personal bias or pre-conceived notions in the mind.
Making a good plan for the task is half the work done. But one important aspect here is to communicate with the team members about your ideas so that everyone is on the same page.
Being a leader means you would be expected to be fair and rational in your behavior. Appreciating your team members for a good job is as important as correcting them for errors. But, everything has to be done politely.
One essential quality of a leader is to maintain his position of leadership. So, make yourself absolutely necessary and be an indispensable part of the group.
This task is synonymous with a real military operation. In there, the decisions can mark the difference between death and life. So, these choices become very important. Similarly, measure your decisions well in this Commander task.
In order to test you, the GTO might try to divert your attention or distract you. This is done mainly to see how consistent you are, as a leader. So, in spite of all the distractions, the focus should not shift from the main plan and execution. It also happens sometimes that the GTO purposely rejects a certain proposal you make. This is his way of analyzing your reaction to failure and how you cope with it.
Finally, group dynamism once again makes its way here. Since this is a group activity, proper coordination is expected to be maintained at all times. The body language of the team members goes a long way in portraying how well they are kept, how motivated they are and how well they have accepted your leadership. This is what will lead to adjustment and coordination within the group.
Hi All, I want to share my experience in getting recommended for Army(TGC-128 entry) in my first attempt with all of you. Before I start, I want to thank various people who helped me throughout this process. My friends Mohit and Sanjay who were always there whenever I had any clarification needed with the SSB process and also shared their experience with me which helped me to prepare in a better way. They helped me with every minute details I asked. Then I want to thank Cdr.K.Natarajan, I didn’t personally meet Sir but I had bought one of his book(SSB Interview the Complete Guide) which gives insight into the overall SSB process. I personally feel the book is very helpful in making your understanding clear about each of the task/assessment during the SSB process. For each test, it has examples and also few practice sets which helped me very much to get to know in and out of each Task and prepare in better way. Last but not the least I want to thank SSBCrack, I have been following their website from the moment I started preparing for SSB and going through the experiences of people helped me a lot and hence I am here today sharing my very own experience as well.
To introduce myself, my name is Manohar Singh D. I did my B.E. degree in CSE and graduated from the batch of 2016 from Chennai and I don’t belong to a defense background. My advice to all the gentlemen who are applying for any of the forces would be to understand each of the test involved in SSB, see what the officers are looking from that test and prepare. I have heard many people saying that SSB is all about personality and you cannot change your personality. I agree to it, but some people get it in wrong way and don’t practice for the different TESTS involved, i.e. you cannot change your personality but one of the important aspect I feel every candidate must have is to “Know Themselves”. If you don’t know yourself then it will be very challenging for you to show your qualities to the officers. My dear friends, there is a great saying we all would have heard of ” PRACTICE MAKES A MAN PERFECT”. And I believe in this, with practice you improve the speed of your answers, and you can assess your own answers and see what other better way you could have written the answer to it. I practiced each of the SSB Test and did self-assessment to understand what could have been done better, it helped me a lot I can say.
The next thing every aspiring candidate should know is the 15 OLQ’s(Officer like Qualities), I feel it is must for everyone to know these OLQs so that you can figure out which are the qualities in you and then prepare as to how you are going to show it to the officer. For example, If I say I have the “Ability to Influence Group” then I should also have all the incidents recollected from my life where I have influenced the group(you may be asked by the IO as to why you feel and you can share these incidents). During my preparation, I figured out which OLQ’s I have in me, and be honest to yourself and figure out these qualities because if any one of the officers finds a contradiction in your qualities then it’s not good for you. For example, in your SRT, you have written answers which shows that you are very courageous but in PI/Group Task the officer notices that you are not showing the similar quality then it becomes a contradiction and hence impacts your chances of recommendation. So don’t select OLQ’s just for sake of showing it rather figure out which are the ones you have in you, so that in the tests you have to be yourself and only think of showing those qualities, but if you try to fake then my dear friends believe me somewhere or other you will be caught because in the pressure situation the truth will come out. So be natural, know yourself in advance and work on showing those skills to the officers. Coming to my SSB experience, I had gone to SSB-Bhopal Centre and my batch was from 2nd Sep, we had to report directly to the Centre at 0600 hrs, As usual, we got all the documentation work done, had our breakfast and reported for our OIR test in the hall. Below I will share how I prepared for each of the TESTS involved and how was my experience from BHOPAL of same.
OIR: For the OIR test I bought a book written by R S Agarwal and prepared both the Verbal and Non-verbal sections from it. It has all the questions with answers given so spend enough time for this test as this is very important for anyone to get screened in. Remember the different type of questions under each section and with good practice, you can do well.
During my OIR, in the verbal section I attended 25/45 and in the Non-Verbal, I realized I had to work faster so I was able to do 31/45. As Time is a constraint, I would suggest everyone not to spend time on working larger problems, skip it and move forward.
PPDT: As we all know this is the second test for screening, I used the Book I have mentioned earlier by K.Natarajan Sir, it has sample stories and mock test images. Practice and write stories, make sure you are showing the OLQ’s in the story. For this reason, you should not write the OLQ’s but the actions should speak. For example, if you are trying to say in your story the person is having the quality of responsibility then show it in actions what he has done that makes him responsible and avoid saying that my character he/she is responsible person. Remember “ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS”. So you need to show the qualities but indirectly. And for narration, your confidence matters, so be confident and calm and narrate your points. even if you don’t get a chance to initiate/conclude a GD make sure you jump into the discussion with strong points that convinces few members of group at least. And at same time if you feel someone has put good points then accept the same and see if you can add further good points that show Teamwork. One important point is even though the picture may look like a negative mood, I would suggest you to come up with a positive story as it is all about perception there is nothing like which is correct and which is wrong. So there is no harm in writing a positive story when everyone else perceived it as negative but make sure that your positive story is catchy enough to grab officers attention.
Coming to my experience, I wrote a decent story on the picture shown to me with Responsibility being the theme of it. And I feel I did a decent narration without any stammering and did it with a smiling face to make myself feel confident. During GD I was listening to people and shared my views when I felt right moment to which a couple of my group members agreed and hence I was chosen to conclude the story as well which I did confidently.
DAY 2:
TAT: TAT is similar to PPDT except that you have to write 12 continuous stories and there is no narration/GD here. So preparation wise its similar to above. And for the 12th slide(Blank one) I think this should be prepared in advance where you show the OLQ which you figured about yourself in short story. I had written a real incident from my life for this slide.
I would suggest everyone to practice this and watch the time so that during your TEST you can write your stories in time.
WAT: It also requires timely practice and assesses your answers when you practice and see if you could have framed a better sentence. During the test you won’t get time to think and write but practicing more will help you to tackle this test easily and you can finish it easily.
I used the book to prepare for this test and gave many mock test to improve my time, and during the actual test, I was able to attend all the words in time.
SRT: This is one another Psychology test to assess your mental thinking and reaction ability, practicing sample questions more and more will help you improve your time and also one should always write practical answers. For ex: if you get a situation where you see a group of thieves attacking a person then if you write that you will fight all of them then its too much to digest for anyone, instead write something practical like you will call the police and gather locals around and confront the thieves. Remember we don’t have to be Superman in this Test, just be natural and give answers. I was able to attend around 55 questions out of 60.
SD: This section should be prepared by you before you go for SSB, make it short and to the point. Focus more on what you think about yourself and what you want to become.
As time is a constraint here, I would recommend to show your best points and finish it, else you may fall short of time.
During my SD I wrote short and simple what my family, friends, employer think and focused more on what I think of myself and the longest was what I aspire to become.
PIQ: I would say this is the basis for your personal interview, so think and write and be honest. if you don’t have achievements in sports or extracurricular its okay you don’t have to make up things, coz if they dig deeper it might be trouble, to be honest to the max.
Day 3:
PGT: I would recommend people to view the different videos available on Youtube by various channels and understand what are the different types of obstacles. By watching that you will get fair idea about how the TASKS are going to be and perform well. Remember working as a team is more important, we may not realize this during the task and hence there will be so much of mix up of ideas and team will be facing challenges in moving ahead. This is what happened in our group, but somehow we crossed some of the obstacles. Listening to the instructions and abiding by them is very important throughout the tasks, that shows how serious you are taking the activity.
HGT: In this the group was divided into half and we are asked to cross obstacles just like PGT, but this time as no. of people were less we performed well and everyone gave their inputs and also listened to others inputs. We finished TASK well within time and that too by trying several different ways which the officer asked us to do. This is the task when we realized that working as team is more important than dominating the group individually.
Group Obstacle Race(SnakeRace): This is one of the entertaining task I found, where we had to cross 10 obstacles with a snake like rope to be carried by team. Showing swiftness and working as a team can help you perform better and probably win the race. Remember the instructions and don’t break rules else you maybe asked to repeat depends on the penalty.
FGT: This was the last field task we were going to do as a team, and after our HGT we discussed among team to work together and how it will help us, so everyone was performing better than PGT this time and we finished the obstacles within the given time.
GD: Here the group has to Discuss on 2 different topics one by one and share your views, one is usually social topic and other being current affair. So to improve your knowledge and share good points one should have the habit of reading newspaper regularly and be updated on the latest happenings around, this will help you put your points with fact during GD.
Remember, a good speaker is one who is also a good listener, let others talk as well and avoid cutting people during their chance. Instead let them finish and then share your inputs. And don’t argue just for the sake of being noted, if you feel whatever someone has said is valid then sometimes it is good to agree to their views. Remember Quality matters more than quantity, its fine if you didn’t speak much but make sure whatever you say has an impact and people in your group should be able to agree to it as well.
We had GD on 2 topics:
* Should India accept foreign aid in times of calamity?
* Reason for teenagers being violent.
Lecturette: Here we are given 4 topics and 3mins to prepare speech on any one and talk for 3mins. I chose the topic of Road Safety a concern in India. Remember friends choose a topic which you are more comfortable talking on, if you choose a high level topic but can’t talk for whole 3mins with good points then it better to choose easier one where you can talk for 3mins. Finishing before time is not a good idea, so be calm and talk little slow so you will be able to cover your points. I have seen people speaking fast and finishing before time which is not a good sign and also shows that you are nervous.
GPE: Here we were given a situation and each one of us was asked to write their way of handling it. Usually, this will have 4 situations which needs attention and you need to prioritize and work on solution based on that, the book I referred to had nice sample which should be suffice for practice.
Command Task: The Officer has a casual discussion with you first as this is the first time the GTO gets to hear about you personally, it will be a casual one like I said before, about your native place, family, friends etc. Then you will be briefed about the task and asked to call 2 sub-ordinates, be ready for your answers if the GTO asks why you chose these 2 people only.
I was given task of missile diffusion, before this I was called by 4 people as their sub-ordinate and maybe that’s the reason why I got one of the difficult task as the helping objects were less and it was more challenging. I took my time and thought of ways to get in, and came up with idea and did it successfully and while coming out I was asked to use other path, this was another challenge and I did it with some thought.
Remember friends, you have to lead the TASK and you should be carrying the load/ diffusing the missile. Never ask your subordinate to do the final TASK you have to own the responsibility there. you should take their help only to move through the obstacles.
Individual Obstacle: I would suggest one should be doing little bit of regular exercise to keep themselves fit so that it will help you in completing the obstacles and maybe you will have time to repeat some obstacle if you are quick enough.
After the GTO briefed us, I had planned my way of completing it i.e. where to start from and all. I repeated 3 obstacles.
Day 5:
Conference: This is the day everyone has been waiting for, once you are in the waiting hall an officer comes in his Uniform and addresses you. Seeing the officer in the Olive Green uniform only makes you desire more to get into the armed forces. And soon one by one Folks were called in conference room. There was good 10mins discussion before I was called in, the president of the Board wished me and so did I. Below is our conversation:
Officer: Manohar Tell me how was your SSB experience?
Me: It was great Sir, I got to learn a lot of things.
Officer: And what is that?
Me: Sir, Time management, bonding with people in such a short span of time, living a life without cellphone. All these have been wonderful experience for me Sir.
Officer: Good, so tell me Manohar What do you think is the reason behind Kerala Floods?
Me: I kept forward my views on it( Thanks to reading newspaper it came handy to me).
Officer: So what would have you done if you were the State Secretary of Kerala to avoid this in future?
Me:* a SRT now*, I shared my views on what would I have done.
Officer: Good, so Manohar you play sports?
Me: Sir I represented my School at District level in Hockey.
Officer: Tell me the latest rule change in Hockey?
Me: I knew one of the rule change as to how the penalty strokes are taken now compared to when I used to play and I shared that with them.
Officer: Ok Manohar, Any other suggestions?
Me: No Sir.
And then the conference was over and I left the room greeting them.
My chest no. was 5 and after sometime, the results were announced, as chest no.2 and myself were the only ones who were asked more questions from our group during conference my friends were saying that we both will get recommended surely. But I was not getting carried away by that and wanted to hear it from the officer himself. So the Psychology officer gave the closing address and then went ahead to call out the Chest nos. in below order:
Chest No.2
Now I was hoping my number would be called out.
Chest No.16(Believe me I thought my number has gone and I didn’t make it to the list and I had already accepted this thinking it could be due to any of the mistakes I did during the task)
Chest No.5 (I was taken away when I heard my chest no. and couldn’t be happier, I shouted my name and Roll Number and stood side by other recommended friends)
Chest no.21 was called out finally, 4 out of our batch got recommended and all four of us were freshers.
So this is my SSB experience friends, I hope it motivates people to work for their dreams and never give up. I got the final merit list and I have been selected for the course at IMA starting January 2019.
All the best to future Army officers.
IMPORTANT – Download eBooks for SSB Interview Preparations
NCC 46 Special Entry Scheme Army Notification: Indian army has published the notification of NCC Special Entry 46 for the NCC candidates with C certificate, it is a direct SSB entry and candidates who get shortlisted will get a direct call for SSB interview. Aspirants can apply for the NCC 46 entry from 09 January till 07 February 2019. Notification: Applications are invited from UNMARRIED male and female (including Wards of Battle Causalities of Army Personnel), for grant of Short Service Commission (Non-Technical) in the Indian Army. The course will begin in October 2019 at OTA, Chennai.
For NCC candidates (including wards of Battle Casualties) 19 to 25 years as on 01 July 2019 (born not earlier than 02 July 1994 and not later than 01 July 2000, both dates inclusive). Date of birth acceptable is that entered in the Matriculation or an equivalent examination certificate.
Eligibility:
Graduate with an aggregate of minimum 50% marks taking into account marks of all the years. Those studying in final year are also allowed to apply provided they have secured minimum 50% aggregate marks in the first two/three years of three/four years degree course respectively. Such students will need to secure an overall aggregate of minimum 50% marks if selected in the interview, failing which their candidature will be CANCELLED.
The candidate should have served for minimum two academic years in the senior Division/Wing of NCC and should have obtained minimum of ‘B’ Grade in ‘C’ Certificate Exam of NCC.
Vacancies:
NCC MEN: 50 ( 45 for general category and 05 for Wards of battle causalities of armed forces personnel only.)
NCC Women: 05 ( 04 for general category and 01 for Wards of battle causalities of armed forces personnel only.)
How To Apply:
Applications will only be accepted online on website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in No offline applications will be accepted.
Open the website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in
Click on Officers Entry ‘Apply/Login’ and then click ‘Registration’.
Follow onscreen instructions for registration. Fill online Registration after reading instructions very carefully. After registration, your profile will open. Click on ‘Apply Online’ to process the application. A page ‘Officers Selection-Eligibility’ will open.
Your registration details will confirm your eligibility to apply. Click on ‘Apply’ and a page ‘Application Form’ will open. Proceed with the application as per onscreen instructions. Read onscreen instructions carefully and click ‘Continue’ to fill details under various segments personal information, Communication details, Education details and details of previous SSB. ‘Save & Continue’ each time before you proceed to the next segment.
After filling details of last segment, you will move to a page ‘Summary of Information’ wherein you can check & edit entries you have made so far. Only after ascertaining’ the correctness of all your details click on ‘Submit’. After submitting click on ‘PDF’ and take out ‘two copies’ of the application form having the Roll Number and other details generated by the system.
The second copy of the printout of online application is to be retained by the candidate for his reference. There is no need to send any hard copy to Directorate General of Recruiting.
The degree or a provisional certificate issued by a recognized university by AIU.
The candidate must have scored minimum 50% aggregate in his graduation. A final year student must have scored aggregate 50% in his previous years.
The NCC certificate must have a minimum B grade.
Opening And Closing Dates Of Application Forms – the candidates can apply for it in between 09 January 2019 – 07 February 2019.
Important points: Candidates appearing/ appeared for the interview of CDS entry that is SSC 110 (NT) or SSC W 24 (NT) will not be eligible for NCC 46 entry.
Preparation Books for NCC 46 SSB Interview: Shortlisted candidates will face the SSB interview directly, you can straight away prepare for the SSB interview, the SSB preparation will help you in NCC 46 entry.
IMPORTANT – Download eBooks for SSB Interview Preparations
Indian Army will publish the SSC 53 Tech Men and SSC 24 TechWomen notification on 23rd January 2019, candidates can apply online for SSC tech 2019 entry up to 21st February 2019. Engineering graduates who are defence aspirants and want to join the Indian army after their graduation can apply for the SSC Tech 53 men and SSC Tech 24 women. SSC Tech is a technical entry for engineering graduates, it has no written exam and application are shortlisted based on your percentage in engineering. Applications are invited from unmarried MALE and unmarried FEMALE Engineering Graduates and also from Widows of Defence Personnel for grant of Short Service Commission in the Indian Army in all Arms/Services. The course shall be commencing in October 2019 at Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai, Tamil Nadu. As SSC tech entry has no written exam and if you are shortlisted, you will directly face the 5 Days SSB Interview. NEW: APPLY FOR SSC TECH 54 and 25
Nationality: A candidate must either be : (i) A citizen of India, or (ii) A subject of Bhutan, or (iii) A subject of Nepal, or (iv) a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before the 1st of January 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India or (v) a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka and East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire and Ethopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India. Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v) above shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by Government of India. Certificate of eligibility will however not be necessary in the case of candidates who are Gorkha subjects of Nepal.
Age Limit: – (i) SSC(T)-53 Men and SSC(T)-24 Women:- 20 to 27 years as on 01 October 2019 (Candidates born between 02 October 92 and 01 October 99) (both dates inclusive).(ii) SSCW(Non-Tech)(Non-UPSC)- For Widows of Defence Personnel who died in harness only. Max 35 years of age as on 01 October 2019.
Educational Qualification: Candidates who have passed Engineering Degree course or are in the final year of Engineering course are eligible to apply. The candidates studying in the final year examination of Degree Course should be able to produce the Engineering Degree within 12 weeks from the date of commencement of training at OTA. Such candidates will be inducted on Additional Bond Basis for recovery of the cost of training at OTA as notified from time to time as well as stipend and pay & allowances paid, in case they fail to produce the requisite Degree Certificate within the specified time.
SSC 53 Tech SSCW 24 Important Note: – Candidates must note that the minimum educational qualification for induction into SSC(T)-53 Men and SSC(T)-24 Women is BE/B.Tech degree in the Engineering stream notified below. Therefore, to become eligible for induction into SSC(T)-53 Men and SSC(T)-24 Women course, candidates studying in final year of engineering must complete all the formalities including written, practicals, projects, backlogs, viva voce, etc, for the award of qualifying BE/B.Tech degree before 01 October 2019 failing which their candidature is liable to be canceled.
SSC 53 Tech SSCW 24 Vacancies
SSC 53 Tech SSCW 24 HOW TO APPLY:
Applications will only be accepted online on website “www.joinindianarmy.nic.in”. Click on ‘Officers Entry Apply/Login’ and then click ‘Registration’. Fill the online registration form after reading the instructions carefully. After getting registered, click on ‘Apply Online’. A page ‘Officers Selection – Eligibility’ will open. Then click ‘Apply’ shown against Technical Graduate Course. A page ‘Application Form’ will open. Read the instructions carefully and click ‘Continue’ to fill details as required under various segments. Personal information, Communication details, Education details and details of previous SSB. ‘Save & Continue’ each time before you go to the next segment. After filling details on the last segment, you will move to a page ‘Summary of your information’ wherein you can check and edit the entries already made. Then click on ‘Submit now’ only after carefully ascertaining that the correct details have been filled in. After submitting, click on “PDF” and take two copies of the application form having Roll No and other details generated by the system.
Short listing of Applications. Integrated HQ of MoD(Army) reserves the right to shortlist applications and to fix cutoff percentage of marks for each engineering discipline without assigning any reason.
Only shortlisted eligible candidates depending on the cutoff percentage will be interviewed at Selection Centres, Allahabad (UP), Bhopal (MP), Bangalore (Karnataka) and Kapurthala (Punjab) by Psychologist, Group Testing Officer and Interviewing Officer. Call Up letter for SSB interview will be issued only through candidate’s registered e-mail id and through SMS. Candidates will not be interviewed locally. Allotment of Selection Centre is at the discretion of Dte Gen of Rtg, IHQ MoD (Army) and NO request for changes are entertained in this regard.
Shortlisted candidates will have to log in on the website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in using their username and password and select the SSB dates as available on the website.
Interviews will be held from March/April 2019 onwards.
Candidates will put thrtwo-stagestage selection procedure. Those who clear Stage I will go to Stage II. Those who fail in Stage I will be returned on the same day. Duration of SSB interviews is five days excluding day of arrival and details of the same are available at official website of Rtg Dte www.joinindianarmy.nic.in
SSC 53 Tech SSCW 24 MERIT LIST: IT IS TO BE NOTED THAT MERE QUALIFYING AT THE SSB INTERVIEW DOES NOT CONFIRM FINAL SELECTION. A MERIT LIST WILL BE PREPARED ENGINEERING STREAM WISE ON THE BASIS OF THE MARKS OBTAINED BY THE CANDIDATE AT SSB INTERVIEW AND AS SUCH HIGHER EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS, PREVIOUS PERFORMANCES; NCC BACKGROUND, ETC, HAVE NO ROLE TO PLAY. THOSE HIGH IN THE MERIT LIST AND WHO COME WITHIN THE STIPULATED VACANCIES, AND ARE MEDICALLY FIT ARE ISSUED JOINING LETTER FOR PRE-COMMISSIONING TRAINING.
ONLINE APPLICATION WILL OPEN ON 23 JAN 2019 AT 1000 HRS AND WILL BE CLOSED ON 21 FEB 2019 AT 1000 HRS
GTO is one of the three different testings conducted at SSB, unlike other tests. GTO tasks are the group activities which aspirant has to perform along with his group members. The Group Testing Technique is an observational technique that is used at the SSB’s. Unlike the individual testing in isolation testing them by this technique judges their ability to work as a group and their functional capacity. This can be a good thing to judge the potential of each individual and make selections on the basis of their suitability to be a part of the Armed Forces. Teamwork is unimaginably essential in the armed forces. A good team member is an ideal candidate GTO is looking for during the group tasks, there are few properties of a good team member which we have mentioned below. To emerge as a leader in your group one must possess these qualities and show them while performing the group task.
Defence aspirants who are going to face the SSB interview must know the importance of the personal interview at SSB. Though all tests are equal and one must perform in each one of them with the best they can but still, if someone has to choose the most important part of the SSB then it would be the personal interview. Below we have given some tricks used by the interviewing officer to find the best fit for the armed forces, you can put some reverse engineering on that to imporve your performace during the PI at SSB. Also, you should not miss reading another important article in which we have mentioned about the 
Hello everyone, I am Abhishek Bawa and I got recommended from 32SSB Kapurthala in my 16th attempt. I am writing this for all the repeaters who want their next attempt to be the last one. I started my SSB journey back in 2013 after graduating from the field of Civil Engineering. My First attempt was in Allahabad, I was new to the procedure and went without any preparation. The result was conference out. After that, I gave a few more attempts and then understood that this procedure is very scientific where you can’t escape or go through just being lucky. I started thinking about all my failures and working hard towards my goal. Every time when my name was not announced over there it was hard to call back home and tell my family that I am coming home. With each and every attempt I improved and the motivation of fellow aspirants and my seniors who are already in forces helped me a lot. I always knew that I can do it but I was searching only one answer to a very important question in mind, how?
The Command Task: This is the last and the final task in the GTO tasks. This is the confirmatory task. Contrary to what we have analyzed all this while, this activity concentrates on the behavior of the individual instead of dealing with the entire group. Let us now see how this task is actually carried out and some of the features.
NCC 46 Special Entry Scheme Army Notification: Indian army has published the notification of NCC Special Entry 46 for the NCC candidates with C certificate, it is a direct SSB entry and candidates who get shortlisted will get a direct call for SSB interview. Aspirants can apply for the NCC 46 entry from 09 January till 07 February 2019. Notification: Applications are invited from UNMARRIED male and female (including Wards of Battle Causalities of Army Personnel), for grant of Short Service Commission (Non-Technical) in the Indian Army. The course will begin in October 2019 at OTA, Chennai.
Indian Army will publish the SSC 53 Tech Men and SSC 24 Tech Women notification on 23rd January 2019, candidates can apply online for SSC tech 2019 entry up to 21st February 2019. Engineering graduates who are defence aspirants and want to join the Indian army after their graduation can apply for the SSC Tech 53 men and SSC Tech 24 women. SSC Tech is a technical entry for engineering graduates, it has no written exam and application are shortlisted based on your percentage in engineering. Applications are invited from unmarried MALE and unmarried FEMALE Engineering Graduates and also from Widows of Defence Personnel for grant of Short Service Commission in the Indian Army in all Arms/Services. The course shall be commencing in October 2019 at Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai, Tamil Nadu. As SSC tech entry has no written exam and if you are shortlisted, you will directly face the 
