Every year tens of thousands of students appear for entrance exam for the defense forces. Out of all of those students, only a select couple hundred make it. Many aspirants spend years and try again and again. Some get recommended, some don't. This process is as cutthroat and ruthless and fulfilling as the Civil Services Examination.
For context, I shall explain the process before diving into how I feel about it. SSB or Service Selection Board, is a Board consisting of three types of examiners, the psychologist, the group task officer and the interviewing officer. Here, your personality is assessed through three different lenses, and then those three separate assessments are compared before making a final assessment.
There are many SSB centres for the Defence Forces, i.e the The Indian Army, The Indian Airforce and the Indian Navy, each having different centres. However the selection process is the same across all Centres. There are multiple ways to get to the stage where you attend an SSB. One of course is the NDA however I will be talking about avenues for graduate students. The first is the CDS - Common Defence Services Examination. On clearing the exam you are elidgible to appear for SSB. The Second is direct entries, for the Navy and the Army, and then there's NCC Special Entry, for NCC candidates. Although from next year there's going to be a written exam similar to the CDS for the Army. For the Airforce, one needs to either come under the NCC category, or clear an exam known as the AFCAT - Air Force Common Admission Test. This information is not complete of course, there maybe more things I am currently unaware about, this is just to provide some context.
Now, I shall share what the testing procedure is at an SSB. The entire process lasts 5 days and is divided into two phases, the screening and then the rest of the testing. The first day is the screening test. Candidates undergo a PPDT - Picture Perception and Discussion Test - where they are shown a unclear picture for 30 seconds, and they have to write a story around the picture in 4 minutes, after which they are divided into groups and in those groups, each one has to narrate the story, and then have a group discussion to come to a common consensus about the theme and the story around the picture; and undergo an Intelligence test, which is a reasoning test which evaluates how fast and accurately one can solve questions.
If the candidate clears the first day of testing, they are "screened in". They then have to stay at the centre for the next 4 days and undergo the remaining tests. As mentioned above, there are three different evaluators, hence, three different types of tests. For the Psych Evaluation, we have TAT - Thematic Apperception Test, WAT - Word Association Test, SRT - Situation Response Test, and SDT - Self Description Test. I shall include links for reference and more information about these tests. Just know that these tests are conducted to get one's psychological footprint. There is a personal interview, and there are physical and mental group tasks - to see how well one works in group dynamics, and see what kind of leader you are and how well your mind works under pressure.
The candidates who get selected after these 5 days, are reccomended for medical testing - an intensive evaluation. If the candidate is declared medically fit, their name is considered in the merit list, which is arranged according to the marks you score during the SSB. If the candidates are meritorious, they attend Training Academy after which their service starts.
The entire process is a long one, and having gone through it has given me a newfound and greater appreciation for the soldiers and officers of our country, and a belief that they are the best of the best - for only then such an intensive selection process is justified. To put it to perspective, if there are 250 Candidates reporting to a centre - approximately 30-40 are screened in. And less than 10, sometimes even less than 5 are recommended. The entire process takes over a year.
I have attened 2 SSBs to date. The first one for the Air Force, in which I did not clear day 1. The Second one was for the Army, in which I got screened in, but not recommended. The whole experience was one of a kind -for both of the SSBs. It was heavily transformative (in the terms of one of my friends). I realised how I actually perform under pressure, for one. And also that one's performance in the SSB is dependent on a lot of factors, some that can be controlled and some that can't. I was exposed to a very different kind of atmosphere, my body was pushed to limits, so was my mind and I was able to make a good self assessment, while understanding what factors affect my performance. I gained a perspective of what my life would look like were I to get selected and finish my training. It made me realise things about myself that I hadn't known, or rather hadn't paid attention to.
One of which was that I really am addicted to a screen. Even if it is not social media. It is the screen in general. Being without a phone for 5 days was very much needed, and helped me feel more grounded and in connect to the world around me.
This life, is worth all of that. The life of a military officer is what the people who come there, from all over the country, who have spent years preparing for this, invested in this field, who want to make their family proud, who want to be able to provide better for their family. It made me realize that I am not someone who is intensely passionate about it, not as much as some of the people I met. And that is not a problem in itself however it made me realize that I wouldn't be able to devote my entire being to try to get into the army, the kind of devotion it deserves, the kind of devotion I have applied elsewhere. It was a lot of self reflection, after my SSB that made me come to this realization. As I said, the experience was heavily transformative. It gave me a sense of the kind of person I am, and the kind of person I want to be.
So the Defence Dream, is a worthy dream to loose sleep over. And I have immense respect for anybody who has put themselves out there and gone to the centre. I myself shall be trying again. But it is also true that personally I do not believe that putting my entire energy behind preparing for these tests will change the kind of person I am, in a period of months. Self change is something gradual and slow. Hence the most preparation I can do is improving my general awareness, my written articulation and getting physically fitter.
I think the SSB teaches students to be more introspective. It teaches them that what is on the inside matters. It teaches them that letting others perceive you in a particular way doesn't change who you are as a person. It teaches you how some things can be controlled and some cannot. It teaches you how to be mentally energetic and sustained for long periods of time. Such things affect the way you look at yourself and also the world. When you start to think about your own qualities and personality, observe yourself, you also begin to observe others in a similar way.
And when you start to look at things differently, the colors are different (more vibrant or dulled depending on your perception, however they are different), you hear things from your environment you wouldn't have paid attention to before, you think about things that wouldn't have occurred to otherwise. And that, too, is a worthy thing to have achieved.
Link for reference: https://ssbcrackexams.com/5-days-complete-ssb-interview-procedure/
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