How I cracked SSB Interview In the Very First Attempt
How I cracked SSB Interview In the Very First Attempt
As
Narrated by N.C.C Cadet. Manibharathi of Coimbatore Govt. Arts college
483rd Cadet of Defence Academy who qualified for SSB after our Guidance
Let me
tell me something about myself before I start narrating my experience at SSB
Bangalore
I belong to the so-called Forward Community, which has to fight its way
everywhere. My father is a Postman and mother housewife. My father had to put
me in a local school, as he could afford to send me to any famous English
medium school
We live in Red hills, Chennai, in an old house, which was built by my
grandfather.
Right from the beginning of my student days, I was told, unless I get very good
marks, I will be left behind in the rat race of life. As we all aware, that in
India, the forward community gets a lesser chance to go up the hierarchy
I Scored 97.6% in my 10th standard and stood first in my school. As a result, I
was given some concession during my 11th and 12th standard
I had to
walk down to school every day and made use of the school library to increase my
general awareness. The Chennai flood played havoc in my life, the old house
gave away and we had to face great difficulty even for day to day life. Even
then, I helped people around me to stay safe.
I faced great difficulty as I could not concentrate in my studies as a result
my marks in class 12th was just 78.2%, which was not good enough for any good
colleges in Chennai
I had to join the Government Arts College Coimbatore, which was allotted to me
by counseling. I choose to take up B.Sc., Computer science, thinking at least I
can get a job in some IT company in Chennai
MOVE TO
COIMBATORE
As my
father could not afford to put me up in a hostel, the next best thing he did
was to ask for a departmental posting to Coimbatore, where he was offered a
government qtrs. To appreciate my efforts my father bought me a bicycle. In
which, I had to paddle daily 16 km(up and down) to my college and back to the
house
It was
then I choose to join the NCC, there were not many takers for NCC in my
college, we had a small group of just 30 cadets, My A.N.O was a good man, who
encouraged students. During one of the camps, he told us about the N.C.C Direct
entry to become an officer in the ARMY. He told us about this entry and also
informed us it is tough to make it at the SSB. Where English plays an important
role. He informed us that to the best of his knowledge only about two cadets of
Govt. Arts College became officers in the armed forces. Luckily, the Commanding
officer of No 2 Arty Bty, was an ex Arts college student. He is also a
decorated officer, who is from the computer science department. His Pep talk
paved my way to take up NCC Seriously.
I made it a point to attend all the NCC classes and Camp. Though I could not
rise up in the ranks of NCC, I became a corporal cadet during my final year.
The college library had a lot of books and I used to pass my time after the NCC
parade on Saturday.
As a
student. I had taken part in English and Tamil Debate, essay writing, and other
activities which helped me a lot during my college days. This gave me an
opportunity to attend the All India Coastal Trek Expedition at Odhisa. I was
one of the four cadets from my battalion who were selected on the basis of
performance. I did well and was awarded as the outstanding trekker. In the NCC
C certificate exam, I got an ALPHA Grade
Along with my friend Shiva I met the NCC Group HQ commandant and after taking
his blessings, forwarded my application for NCC Special entry
During my
six months after college, I used to take tuition for those who wanted to appear
for Tamil Nadu Govt. exam aspirants. It was a very good experience. One of my
students qualified for a job in the P and T department as a junior officer. My
N.C.C Special entry SSB call had come about a month prior to the actual SSB
MY
RENDEZVOUS WITH SSB
I wanted some guidance, once again, it was and my NCC battalion Commanding
officer Colonel Grish P. Sena Medal, who referred us to Defence Academy to give
us some guidance for SSB without charging any fee
My friend Siva and I were asked to report to Defence Academy Coimbatore at 10
A.M. by Retired Colonel Jayavel who was the director of the academy. We
reported at 10.30 as we were getting stuck in the traffic jam
He was from infantry, and when we reached the academy, we were given dressing
down, nice and proper for being late and asked us to get lost
I lost
all my hopes but determined not to move away from the academy. it was nearly 12
in the noon after some request and softening talk of our NCC Commandant, he
called us and asked us to report at 8 am on the following day
We were
68 km from Coimbatore. This was the first lesson I learned, If a job had to be
done, approach the right person, and leave him not till your goal is achieved.
"BE CAREFUL WITH OLD TIGERS" They will not spare you for mistakes
The next
day, we were standing in front of the academy at 07:30. He told us about
various tests conducted at the SSB interview and took us to the academy's GTO
ground; the first task was to clean the area. he made us get some old irons
welded and constructed a new Command task on the ground
Col
Ramakrishnan and Col G. Murali guided us in Psychology and personal Interview
A lot of
corrections were given, the time was short just one week to go. We had to
shuttle down to Coimbatore from Thirupur every day. Due to corona, we had to
take due precautions. There were no groups, just three of us spent our time
discussing and practicing a few tests
As train
services were canceled, we had to hire a taxi to take us to Bangalore for our
rendezvous with the SSB Interview
MY DATE
WITH SSB
On the given date and time we reported to the SSB reception area. After a lot
of verification, we were made to fill up identification forms and were given
chest numbers.
Only 57
cadets had reported for SSB in that particular batch.
We were asked to wear a Face mask and a transparent shield, surgical gloves
before we were taken to the Screening hall
Army
takes Corona Seriously; after all, they are soldiers and know what they are
fighting against
Social
Distancing was new to me
Morning
and evening we were checked for body temperature. The OIR and the PPDT got over
and by the end of that only 21 of were left to face the Stage II of the SSB
Interview
After
lunch, we were allotted new chest numbers, I was given Chest No:1
We did a
lot of forms filling like PIQ, and some other documents. ( By maintaining
proper social distancing). Later we were asked to move into the candidate's
accommodation
We were
given a lot of dos and Don’ts, we were asked not to move out of the SSB
premises
OIR
(Officers intelligence Rating)
We were given a set of question papers that contained verbal intelligence
questions. This I felt tough as the time for attending 45 questions in 25
minutes
It was followed by Non-verbal questions, it was slightly easier paper
After
this, we were shown one hazy picture, which was preceded by a briefing by the
board psychologist
Soon we were taken to the ground and three groups were made to Narrate their
stories and GD about the picture.
I wish to inform the reader that during the time gap between the story writing
and narration, please practice telling the narration in your mind. This will
help you to maintain the flow during actual story narration.
I was lucky to be nominated by the group to tell our group story to the
assessment officers
Stage-II
Psychological tests, I wrote all the stories, I just made sure that I write
whatever, that came to my mind but in a proper sequence
In WAT, SRT, and SD, I did not find it difficult, the earlier practice helped
me to complete all the 60 questions without any hitch.
As I was chest number 1, I was called for a personal interview at about 11:15
A.M. ( I must confess, I did not get any time to change my dress, a bit of
freshening up and I was summoned to present myself to the Interviewing Officer.
As I was expecting only one officer to be present in the room, I was taken
aback to see, two gentlemen sitting behind the desk. As I wished them, one of
the officers asked me to take the seat.
I was told the person who was sitting near us was a person, who was doing some
research
The first
officer started off with prelims and mostly asked about my personal details.
Here are a few questions:-
1. Who were
the contenders of the US Presidential election?
2. Why Mr.
Donald Trump is being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and what was my
opinion on that
As I had
gone through the papers about this, I was comfortable in answering this
question. As per my opinion on the Nobel Peace prize I told him that even
though Mr.Trump had played some crucial role in settling the Afghan and middle
east peace talks, it was for the top-notch of the Noble prize-awarding
committee to decide and I did not have any doubt in my mind that it will do a
better job in selecting a suitable person.
He asked me about my hobbies. I answered that it was reading and Reflective
writing
He asked me to explain about Reflective writing. As I was expecting this
question, I gave my prepared explanation as Reflective writing is an analytical
practice in which the writer describes a real or imaginary scene, event,
interaction, passing thought, or memory and adds a personal reflection on its
meaning. He asked me to give an example. I told him about my yearly journey to
Sabarimala and penning down my experience during the journey
He asked me to explain my leaning towards spirituality at this young age of
twenty years and what it did to my life. I explained to him about how a
backbone is important for anyone to stand erect, in the same way, spiritual
leaning is to life and it energizes a person to perform one's duty without fear
and it has nothing to do with religious belief.
He later moved on to enquire about women not being permitted and my opinion on
it.
My answers seem to impress him and I could feel that I was telling him the
right things.
It was all tacky tacky boo till the actual tiger started bouncing on me. Till
then I thought that the researcher would not ask me any question, he started
with bombardment such as Why did I take NCC Spl entry rather than CDSE, was it
that I wanted to avoid reading and writing a test? He also told me that NCC
entry is rather a low-level entry as compared to CDSE.
Moreover, he told me that I am not giving out any original answers and seemed
to be nervous. Which I can definitely vouch was not true. It was the pressure
tact he was using to bring me down
I stood
my guard and told him. Sir, I am sorry, to counter your views, N.C.C entry is
equal to any other entry, and a cadet has to prove his worth for three years
before he can sit for a C certificate, and to get an ALPHA grade one has to
burn his midnight oil. I said I am privileged to represent as an NCC cadet. As
we were better trained by a group of highly trained and selected army officers
and JCOS. How that could be considered a low-level entry? All cadets before
being recommended to face the SSB, do go through some prelim. where is it is
not so for a CDSE Entry? The government of India does look up at NCC cadet as a
well-trained, well-disciplined citizen of India, that is why they have given
this opportunity to NCC cadets to face the SSB without a written exam.
I also told him, in my opinion, they are more easily trainable than any other
form of entry.
I could see that this answer went off well. My answer to allowing women in
Sabrimala temple was based on millions of devotees’ beliefs rather than passing
a law.
He asked me if I was against the views of the Supreme Court’s decision, and
asked me to explain my stand against 'Sati'. For which I told him, that, I do
not support the practice of Sati, as it was prevailing during ancient days and
it was the belief or superstitious practice at that time. I even quoted the
British stand and that of Raja Ram Mohan Rai's writing and stand against that
evil practice. I mentioned that women were allowed into the Sabrimala with some
age restriction and do not debar them from worshipping the deity.
Some more questions about NCC, the Indian army, and some details about its
organization
He asked me for a situation reaction question. Which was rather elementary,
here it goes:-
a) If my
girlfriend was approaching me and asked me to tell her which was North when
there was no sun. b) Which of the three items of 10kg each was heavier, Orange,
apple, or cotton?
By now you must have realized that these were little tricky questions asked
when one was hungry the time now was 12.15 noon, I had my breakfast at 6:30.
after a
minute thought I said, sir the answer to the first question, I would be easy to
tell the direction in three different ways, The temple that faced East, the
Mobile phone which she had in her hand, and Masjid that faced East.
The second question, I answered all were of the same weight and depends on the
container which holds them that would tell which container would be heavy to
carry.
He asked me which one I would carry for him, I said whatever you wanted me to
carry I would do so.
The so-called Researcher, asked me to tell him what I knew about BITCOIN?
I confessed that I did not know much, except that it was a virtual currency
that is in the market and said I will find out and let him know.
(Friends, he did ask me this in my Conference. I moved straight to the
cafeteria where there was the internet and learned everything about BITCOIN)
and during the conference, I was asked to explain, which I did to the best of
my knowledge. My interview was rather a long one and when I left the hall it
was 12:50 so it was for about an hour and a half. I was satisfied with my
interview
He asked
me to tell him a joke. Whatever I told him he was countering and finally he
just smiled and said Mani, the interview is over, would you like to ask me any
Q???
I asked
him, Please do let me know as to how my performance was during this interview
Session. He said, son, this I will not answer now, let us meet during the
conference and said bye bye.
y I made
it a point to attend all the NCC classes and Camp. Though I could not rise up
in the ranks of NCC, I became a corporal cadet during my final year. The
college library had a lot of books and I used to pass my time after the NCC
parade on Saturday.
As a
school student. I had taken part in English and Tamil Debate, essay writing,
and other activities which helped me a lot during my college days. This gave me
an opportunity to attend the All India Coastal Trek Expedition at Odhisa. I was
one of the four cadets from my battalion who were selected on the basis of
performance. I did well and was awarded as the outstanding trekker. In the NCC
C certificate exam, I got an ALPHA Grade
Along with my friend Shiva, I met the NCC Group HQ commandant and after taking
his blessings, forwarded my application for NCC Spl entry
During my
six months after college, I used to take tuition for those who wanted to appear
for Tamil Nadu Govt exam aspirants. It was a very good experience. One of my
students qualified for a job in the P and T department as a junior officer. My
N.C.C Spl entry SSB call had come about a month prior to the actual SSB
MY
RENDEZVOUS WITH SSB
I wanted some guidance, once again, it was and my NCC bn Commanding officer
Colonel Grish P. Sena Medal, who referred us to Defence Academy to give us some
guidance for SSB without charging any fee
My friend Siva and I were asked to report to Defence Academy Coimbatore at 10
A.M. by Retd Colonel Jayavel who was the director of the academy. We reported
at 10.30 as we were getting stuck in the traffic jam
He was from infantry, and when we reached the academy, we were given dressing
down, nice and proper for being late and asked us to get lost
I lost
all my hopes but determined not to move away from the academy. it was nearly 12
in the noon after some request and softening talk of our NCC Commandant, he
called us and asked us to report at 8 am on the following day
We were
68 km from Coimbatore. This was the first lesson I learned, If a job had to be
done, approach the right person, and leave him not till your goal is achieved.
"BE CAREFUL WITH OLD TIGERS" They will not spare you for mistakes
The next
day, we were standing in front of the academy at 07:30. He told us about
various tests conducted at the SSB interview and took us to the academy's GTO
ground, the first task was to clean the area. he made us get some old irons
welded and constructed a new Command task on the ground
Col
Ramakrishnan and Col G. Murali guided us in Psychology and personal Interview
A lot of
corrections were given, the time was short just one week to go. We had to
shuttle down to Coimbatore from Thirupur every day. Due to corona, we had to
take due precautions. There were no groups, just three of us spent our time
discussing and practicing a few tests
As train
services were canceled, we had to hire a taxi to take us to Bangalore for our
rendezvous with the SSB Interview
MY DATE
WITH SSB
On the given date and time we reported to the SSB reception area. After a lot
of verification, we were made to fill up identification forms and were given
chest numbers.
Only 57
cadets had reported for SSB in that particular batch.
We were asked to wear a Face mask and a transparent shield, surgical gloves
before we were taken to the Screening hall
Army
takes Corona Seriously, after all they are soldiers and know what they are
fighting against
Social
Distancing was a new to me
Morning
and evening we were checked for body temperature. The OIR and the PPDT got over
and by the end of that only 21 of were left to face the Stage II of the SSB
Interview
After
lunch, we were alloted new chest numbers, I was given Chest No:1
We did a
lot of form filling like PIQ, and some other documents. ( By maintaining proper
social distancing). Later we were asked to move into candidate's accommodation
We were
given a lot of dos and Dont's, we were asked not to move out of the SSB
premises
OIR
(Officers intelligence Rating)
We were given a set of question paper, that contained verbal intelligence
questions. This I felt tough as time for attending 45 questions in 25 minutes
It was followed by Non-verbal questions, it was slightly easier paper
After
this we were shown one hazzy picture, which was preceded by a briefing by the
board psychologist
Soon we were taken to the ground and three groups were made to Narrate their
stories and GD about the picture.
I wish to inform the reader, that during the time gap between the story writing
and narration, please practice telling the narration in your mind. This will
help you to maintain the flow during actual story narration.
I was lucky to be nominated by the group to tell our group story to the
assessment officers
Stage-II
Psychological tests, I wrote all the stories, I just made sure that I write
whatever, that came to my mind but in a proper sequence
In WAT, SRT, and SD, I did not find it difficult, the earlier practice helped
me to complete all the 60 questions without any hitch.
As I was chest number 1, I was called for a personal interview at about 11:15
A.M. ( I must confess, I did not get any time to change my dress, a bit of freshening
up and I was summoned to present my self to the Interviewing Officer. As I was
expecting only one officer to be present in the room, I was taken aback to see,
two gentlemen sitting behind the desk. As I wished them, one of the officers
asked me to take the seat.
I was told the person who was sitting near us was a person, who was doing some
research
The first
officer started off with prelims and mostly asked about my personal details.
Here are a few questions:-
1. Who were
the contenders of the US Presidential election?
2. Why Mr.
Donald Trump is being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and what was my
opinion on that
As I had
gone through the papers about this, I was comfortable in answering this
question. As per my opinion on the Nobel Peace prize I told him that even
though Mr.Trump had played some crucial role in settling the Afgan and the
middle east peace talks, it was for the top-notch of the Noble prize-awarding
committee to decide and I did not have any doubt in my mind that it will do a
better job in selecting a suitable person.
He asked me about my hobbies. I answered that it was reading and Reflective
writing
He asked me to explain about Reflective writing. As I was expecting this
question, I gave my prepared explanation as Reflective writing is an analytical
practice in which the writer describes a real or imaginary scene, event,
interaction, passing thought, or memory and adds a personal reflection on its
meaning. He asked me to give an example. I told him about my yearly journey to
Sabarimala and penning down my experience during the journey
He asked me to explain my leaning towards spirituality at this young age of
twenty years and what it did to my life. I explained to him about how a
backbone is important for anyone to stand erect, in the same way, spiritual
leaning is to life and it energizes a person to perform one's duty without fear
and it has nothing to do with religious belief.
He later moved on to enquire about women not being permitted and my opinion on
it.
My answers seem to impress him and I could feel that I was telling him the
right things.
It was all ticky tacky boo till the actual tiger started bouncing on me. Till
then I thought that the researcher would not ask me any question, he started
with bombardment such as Why did I take NCC Spl entry rather than CDSE, was it
that I wanted to avoid reading and writing a test? He also told me that NCC
entry is rather a low-level entry as compared to CDSE.
Moreover, he told me that I am not giving out any original answers and seemed
to be nervous. Which I can definitely vouch was not true. It was the pressure
tact he was using to bring me down
I stood
my guard and told him. Sir, I am sorry, to counter your views, N.C.C entry is
equal to any other entry, and a cadet has to prove his worth for three years
before he can sit for a C certificate, and to get an ALPHA grade one has to
burn his midnight oil. I said I am privileged to represent as an NCC cadet. As
we were better trained by a group of highly trained and selected army officers
and JCOS. How could that be considered a low-level entry? All cadets before
being recommended to face the SSB, do go through some prelim. where is it is
not so for a CDSE Entry? The government of India does look up at NCC cadet as a
well-trained, well-disciplined citizen of India, that is why they have given
this opportunity to NCC cadets to face the SSB without a written exam.
I also told him, in my opinion, they are more easily trainable than any other
form of entry.
I could see that this answer went off well. My answer to allowing women in
Sabrimala temple was based on millions of devotees' beliefs rather than passing
a law.
He asked me if I was against the views of the Supreme Court's decision, and
asked me to explain my stand against 'Sati'. For which I told him, that, I do
not support the practice of Sati, as it was prevailing during ancient days and
it was the belief or superstitious practice at that time. I even quoted the
British stand and that of Raja Ram Mohan Rai's writing and stand against that
evil practice. I mentioned that women were allowed into the Sabrimala with some
age restriction and do not debar them from worshipping the deity.
Some more questions about NCC, the Indian army, and some details about its
organization
He asked me for a situation reaction question. Which was rather elementary,
here it goes:-
a) If my
girlfriend was approaching me and asked me to tell her which was north when
there was no sun. b) Which of the three items of 10kg each was heavier, Orange,
apple, or cotton?
By now you must have realized that these were little tricky questions asked
when one was hungry the time now was 12.15 noon, I had my breakfast at 6:30.
After a
minute thought I said, sir the answer to the first question, it would be easy
to tell the direction in three different ways, The temple that faced East, the A mobile phone which she had in her hand, and Masjid that faced East.
The second question, I answered all were of the same weight and depends on the
container which holds them that would tell which container would be heavy to
carry.
He asked me which one I would carry for him, I said whatever you wanted me to
carry I would do so.
The so-called Researcher, asked me to tell him what I knew about BITCOIN?
I confessed that I did not know much, except that it was a virtual currency
that is in the market and said I will find out and let him know.
(Friends, he did ask me this in my Conference. I moved straight to the
cafeteria where there was the internet and learned everything about BITCOIN) my
interview was rather a long one and when I left the hall it was 12:50 so it was
for about an hour and a half. I was satisfied with my interview
He asked
me to tell him a joke. Whatever I told him he was countering and finally he
just smiled and said Mani, the interview is over; would you like to ask me any
Q???
I asked
him, Please do let me know as to how my performance was during this interview
Session. He said, son, this I will not answer now, let us meet during the
conference and said bye-bye.
Group
Tests
Since my
group was a mixed group of fresher’s and repeaters, one can imagine how it
would be, out of 7 members in my group, 5 were repeaters, they always
dominated, and really did not allow others; however, I was helping them and
suggesting some new ideas. In two tasks the idea I gave was accepted and we
were all able to cross the obstacle with ease
I followed a golden rule during my Out Door Tasks
1. Observe
2. Plan
3. Co-ordinate
4. Co-operated
5. Execute
In
individual obstacle, I could do only 8 obstacles in the time allotted. My Command
task went off well. The GTO just asked me how I would go about the task. I
briefed my subordinates and explained the method to execute. He did even allow
us to proceed. He moved me to the last part of the obstacle and asked me to
execute it. I felt easy and completed with confidence
See the
Task
As my chest number was 1, I was the first one to be called. After wishing them
I was asked to sit down. The deputy president asked me if I remember that he
had asked me a question regarding BITCOIN, and he asked me to explain that to
all the board members. As I had gone through the net, I answered to the best of
my ability. He then asked me as to which of the task I did well and which test
I did not do well, I told him I was not satisfied with the individual obstacles
as I could complete only 8 out of 10 and the others went off well. He asked for
any suggestions/improvement, I said it was all well organized and I did not
have any suggestions. He wished me all the best and asked me to leave the conf
hall.
It
started at 09:00 hours and by 10:15 the conference was over. we were asked to
assemble in the Screening test hall. at 10:45, an officer came to the hall and
told us about what is SSB and what they were expecting. Told that those who
have not made it not to worry and told us about Dr. APJ and other great personalities
who could not make it at SSB and did well in other walks of life. He finally
came down to announcing the result, CHEST NO: 1, 6 and 15
As I got up my eyes became moist. The other two were already recommended if
their previous attempts. Chest no 15, had faced the board 7 times earlier.it
was the first time he was recommended. Chest no 6 was already recommended for
Navy earlier
We as I
thanked the GOD Almighty in my mind, bid goodbye to other members. Thereafter a
lot of forms filling
It was
followed by 3 days at the Bangalore Command Hospital. In which two of us were
found medically fit. I was happy that I could make it at the very first
attempt. I wish to thank all my well-wishers for guiding me to success. I am
now looking out for the final merit list and waiting to join the OTA, Chennai.
I wish the readers all the best for their attempt in SSB
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