Sample lecture topics for SSB Interview

By: N.K.Goswami (Director - NDCA)

SSB Interviews The Interview is intended to judge the mental caliber, attitude and outlook of the candidate along with his leadership qualities and character traits. Thus, it would be an assessment not merely of his Academic proficiency and intellectual qualities but also of his social traits and interest in current events. Some of the qualities to be judged can be listed as, Mental alertness Critical powers of assimilation Balance of judgment Clear and logical exposition Variety and depth of interests Ability for social cohesion and leadership Intellectual and moral integrity.

The Aim of the SSB Interviews: The IO (Interviewing Officer), at the SSB, tries to assess the leadership of Officer like qualities of the candidate by means of the direct or purposive conversation during the interview. He also tries to evaluate the training potentialities of the candidate. The questions at the interview will be so directed as the candidate may automatically emit enough light on his leadership ability in his answers. Two important Factors of the Interview which play a decisive role are the candidate's Knowledge and his power of Expression. He should be able to speak fluently and express him-self clearly, will score high marks. While answering the candidate should take the lead and cover as much as possible. In other words, simply saying "YES" or "NO" to a question will not suffice. The candidate should explain convincingly why he agrees or disagrees to a given proposition. He must logically and forcefully substantiate his views with valid arguments. At the SSB Interview they lay much emphasis on qualities or leadership and not merely on academic or textual knowledge. The candidate should therefore, know what the various qualities of leadership are, and how they could be highlighted by him during the interview. Leadership Qualities: The board takes note of the following qualities, when it tries to assess the leadership ability of the candidate, as the same have been generally accepted as leadership attributes: Intellectual Attainments: The extent of knowledge in different subjects. The depth of knowledge How deeply the candidate has studied a subject of his choice of interest? Practical Knowledge How the candidate has applied his theoretical knowledge in practical situations or how best he can solve problems. To find out this questions put forth (Example) may be:-

What will you do, when you find after boarding the bus that you had forgotten to bring the money purse with you? How will you organize a Picnic? What will you do if you were not selected at this interview? General Knowledge - Current Affairs, Everyday Science, Burning Topics, Sports, Newspaper headlines, etc. Grasp - How quickly the candidate understands the question or the subject?

Power of Expression: Fluency - No stammering, gape, etc, Forceful - Lively, enthusiastic and arresting. No monotonous or dragging voice. Not speaking very fast. No affectations. Logic in argument- Rational, clearheaded, analytical, systematic, proceeding step buy step and no contradictions. Practical approach- Realistic and sensible, use of commonsense, alive to facts and existing limitations. Convincing Ability - Speaking with sincerity and faith.

Personal Traits: Cheerful, pleasant and smiling disposition. Liveliness - Eager, alert, inspired by urge, fired with ambition. Enthusiasm, keenness and interest. Dress and Turnout - Smart, clean and suited to the occasion. Poise - Graceful movements. Confident approach, straight walk Punctuality.

Finally don't lose hope. This time take your time & prepare as if tis is your last chance. Give your best & best of luck... SAMPLE LECTURE TOPICS FOR SSBs Lectures are conducted on the third day of the services selection board. The SSB lectures are for duration of 5 minutes. The candidate is to pick up a chit from a box of many chits, on which is written a topic. The candidate gets around three to five minutes to prepare after which he is to deliver a lecture to an audience of your own batch mates. The most important thing is to deliver the speech in an uninterrupted and confident manner. To achieve this, my sincere advice is to stop seeing the people sitting ahead of you as people of great knowledge or wisdom. Just imagine that they are some bunch of illiterate peasants who have no clue about what you are talking. So talk confidently and tell anything and everything you know about. By using your hands and head to have a fine body language will enable you to show that you are a very confident person

Believe that those people sitting ahead of you are unaware of the information that you are going to give so make a bold statement by speaking loudly and confidently. Wrong facts will not fetch negative marks so go ahead and bombard with .

The best way to prepare for the lectures is by updating yourself on all the current events. My sincere advice is to go through the entire Outlook, India today, The Week, etc., magazines of the last two to three months. Indias stand on terrorism Global economic recession Growth of women in this century Unemployment and job cuts Privatization in armed forces Indias support to Srilanka in war against LTTE 100% literacy in India Indias increasing relationship with the US and decreasing relation with Russia Development of electronics in the world today Digitalization entering even the toilets Compulsory education to all Compulsory military service Judicial system in India

Military training for police personal Kargil conflict Cross border terrorism Population of India Panchayatraj and Rural development Agriculture- backbone of the nation

PREPARATION FOR SSB The preparation for NDA/CDS exams require some sort of materials for preparation, but preparation for SSB does not require any books. I would suggest everyone to prepare with the help of question banks. I can bet over anything that by preparing over the last 4 years question paper one can very easily score excellent marks in the exams and may even top the merit list. In defence forces we do not want IIT minds or MIT minds. We just want averagers!!! So do not worry about the preparation for SSB interviews.