SSB Experience series : From failure and over confidence to Recommendation - Part 1

Hello Future officers this is Anjan kumar shukla .

I got recommended for the mighty Indian ARMY through NCC special entry 40^th course and I thought i will share my experience with you all so that you might get benefited from it. It was my 3^rd attempt and i was over confident in both my last attempts and use to care about people way too much. For ex: i use to think what people will say about me when I speak. So during my 3^rd attempt, I focused on myself rather than on others based on the suggestion given by my mentor. I prepared hard for GK, psych and others but this time i was prepared and not overconfident. So these two factors helped me a lot during my stay at the center.

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SSB at Bangalore: Around 130 reported at SSB center of 24 SSB board and 5-10 were not allowed to attend because of document problems. I was given chest no 91.After verification the next day i had screening test.

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1^st day (23^rd July, 2016):   After breakfast intelligence tests started which was very simple. OIR consists of very simple questions and no preparation is required for that.

PPDT: A picture was shown in which there was a boat in a river with the boatman and 2 other persons formally dressed. I made the story as Ram was fond of photography and he goes to riverside with his uncle takes photograph with boatman’s help and wrote an article on it which was selected for The Hindu newspaper. After sometime discussion started, everyone started shouting and GTO warned us once. Again we started the discussion and this time i opened up and took control of group and again it was fish market. So, i told everyone guys please cooperate we need to come to a common group story and then we discussed well gave a common group story. Just because of cooperation 9 of us were screened in only from my group. After results 22 of us were screened in. We completed documentation and the day was over. Made new friends. 17 were form Karnataka , 4 from Kerala and i was the only one from Uttar Pradesh. I was given chest no 12.

Imp. Point: Narration plays a major role so please don’t screw it up, narrate well and regarding discussion discuss don’t fight, cooperate well and try to reach a consensus.

2^nd day(24^th July): PSYCHOLOGY TESTS

TAT:  You know the drill, 11+1 pictures and stories based on that. For blank slide i wrote the story which i have already prepared for it.

WAT: 60 words shown and the words were very familiar as i have practiced WAT before, so i wrote 57 out of 60.

SRT: 60 SRTS out of which I could do only 42. The one thing about SRT is quality matters not quantity so read carefully and then react to the situation.

SD:  I had my self-description prepared in advance so i completed every section without wasting time.

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Imp. Point: Don’t write stories in TAT with preconceived ideas and don’t try to fit any story which you have prepared and prepare blank story in advance so that you don’t lose your time because after writing 11 stories your mind will shutdown. Give original response. WAT requires practice as you will run out of time in SSB if you don’t practise it well and SRTS don’t run for maximum numbers do the best you can, give your natural response. Prepare self-description well in advance. After psychological tests, i went out with friends, saw the city and came back.

3^rd day (24^th July): GTO DAY 1

Group discussion: We were given 2 topics: (1) Role of NCC in society and (2): Sports development.

We discussed and came to a consensus that we will discuss on sports development. Discussion went on for around 20 minutes and then GTO gave us 2^nd topic Road safety and awareness. While discussing give everyone a chance to speak and cooperate among the group. You are appearing for SSB so consider yourself as an officer and either lead the team or support the team. Just don’t interrupt others for the sake of speaking; it will only lend you in trouble.

Group planning exercise: GTO briefed us about the situation and problems in the plan and then asked us to write solution for it individually and then took our notepads and told us to discuss. We discussed and then i presented the final group plan. Before giving group plan i asked my group members whether they have a doubt, they said no. But when GTO asked the same then they raised their hands and gave suggestions. When group plan has been given you are not supposed to raise hands for suggestions. Even if you have any problem with the final plan give your views before the final plan and not after the plan has been given.

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Progressive group task: Everyone started in a hurry started fighting for helping materials, by that time i figured out how to cross the obstacle. Others got helping materials and i was empty handed but i had the ideas so i turned the table on them and gave the ideas and made them follow my words and took my team to the others side of obstacle. The point here is don’t fight for materials instead find out ideas to cross the obstacle and complete the task. Helping materials are of no use until you don’t know how to use them.

Group obstacle race: After briefing we were shown the obstacles and then we were told to choose a slogan. I came out with the slogan VANDE MATARAM and everyone agreed. I was at front and helped tall guy of my group to climb the wall and then i climbed up and pulled everyone meanwhile only i was shouting the slogan as my mates were exhausted. A moment came where 1 one of my mate was left behind and others started running ahead and leaving him behind. I stopped others helped my left out mate to join the group and then we completed the task together. We got plenty of penalties for touching red mark on obstacles. Whatever may be the situation don’t leave any of your mates behind even if you lose doesn’t matter finish the obstacle together and keep shouting the slogan as loud as possible.

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Half group task: Out of 7 members we were divided in 2 groups. 1^st group of 4 members and 2^nd group with 3 members, i was in 2^nd group. My group was called for the task; GTO briefed us and gave us 15 minutes to do the task. I was the only guy who spoke and other two were silent all the time because they were clueless. GTO started talking to me, i gave 1 idea then he started asking others ideas. I along with other 2 completed the task. The tasks given are easy and completely based on common sense. Look at the obstacles carefully, listen to the briefing very carefully and you will do it easily.

Lecturrette : After the briefing 1^st guy introduced himself and took 1 card and went 20ms away from the group and prepared his topic whereas others were giving their introduction. I picked a card and i got 4 topics which were:

1. Nuclear weapons.

2. South China dispute.

3. Road safety.

4. Girl in the society.

I chose the last one i.e., GIRL IN THE SOCIETY. The topic was very simple which needed no preparation. I started speaking on it started by giving examples of 1^st 3 women fighter pilots and used Modi’s BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO scheme and spoke with confidence in front of my group. I heard the 1^st bell and then started winding it up and finished it as soon as i heard the 2^nd bell. Don’t go for major topics until you know well about it and can speak for 3 minutes. You can speak on any topic; the main aspect is the way you speak in front of your group, content of your topic, your confidence and eye contact that’s what matters.

GTO DAY 1 WAS OVER, but the story is still not complete...
Few important things like Interview experience, conference and my final selection is yet to come. Keep reading SSB Vision for more. Follow us here to get latest updates for SSB. Get email notification activated so that any important update is not missed.

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Click here for - SSB Experience series : From failure and over confidence to Recommendation - Part 2 

About the Author: Anjan Shukla is a native of UP but did his schooling from Arunachal Pradesh. He is a Civil engineer and represented his university in football. After getting commissioned he wants to serve the nation by being part of Para military forces.