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Sunday 10 April 2011

ISSB a dilemma


ISSB has a lot of myths associated with it. Those who get recommended say that its very easy, those who are not fortunate enough, say that its very tuff, its not merit based, “I performed well but they still rejected me”. “ Its impossible”.
What ever is said by others you have to realize that none if it matters. What matters is what you are and how you perform in that 4 days test. You abilities and talents would be checked there and if you have what it takes, then nothing can stop you from becoming an officer in Armed forces of Pakistan. You might have dreamed to be a fighter pilot, or sitting in a tank, or may be in a submarine, all these dreams can become realities if you follow a simple rule which is known as the art of war
“Know your self, know your enemy and know the time to strike”
What this means is that you first have to see and realize which abilities you have. Do you have confidence to face other people and challenges, are you able enough to face unexpected circumstances, are you bold enough to take on what others seem is impossible. If you then you KNOW YOUR SELF. Remember just knowing yourself increases your chances of success by 33%.
After analyzing your self , next step is to know what ISSB is all about. What are they looking for in the candidates and how can you become up to the mark and their requirements.
After this comes the third and final part of getting your self ready. Getting to know what is it that is not in you and is required by the ISSB. Please remember that there is no such attribute in the personality of a man that cannot be developed. What ever is needed in ISSB can be developed in your personality and you can be the best one for them. Knowing the time to strike comes here. You have to see in how much time you can prepare your self for the test and which batch are you going to apply.
When you have figured all this, then its time for you to realize your dreams.
Here I shall help you in the first two phases to make you (By grace of Almighty Allah) nations proud officers.

Saturday 9 April 2011

Journal Routine Of Five Days

DAY 1
• Reporting day:
(a) Reception.
(b) Checking of documents.
  •  What to bring with you and what are prohibited items (explained below)
  •  What are the Documents Required (explained below)
(c) Allotment of chest numbers.
(d) Candidates are photographed.
(e) Administration Staff's address
(f) Writing of unforgettable incident.
DAY 2
1st Testing day: Psychologist's day
(a) Opening Address by a Deputy President
(b) Psychological Tests:

  • Intelligence Test 
  • Psychological Tests
(c) Announcement of screening out result
(d) Remaining Psychological Tests (Screened out Candidates will not attend the subsequent tests)

DAY 3

2nd Testing day: GTO's day 
(a) Briefing
(b) Indoor Tasks:
  • Group discussions.
  • Group planning. 
(c) Outdoor Tasks:
  • Progressive group tasks (PGT). 
  • Half group tasks (HGT).
(d) Interview. 
DAY 4
3rd Testing day: GTO's day
(a) Outdoor Tasks:
  • Individuals obstacles
  • Command Task.
  • Final group task. 
(b) Mutual assessment
(c) Interview (left overs)
Day 5
4th Testing day: Conference day
(a) Conference.
(b) Re-interview (if required)
(c) Payment of TA/DA
(d) Departure

Friday 8 April 2011

What are the Documents Required

You are required to bring along the following ORIGINAL documents:
• Original Matric certificate issued by board. Only result card/ mark sheet will not be accepted.
• Detailed marks sheet or Result card of matric
• Those candidates who have not been issued with Matric Certificate by their concerned board should furnish a certificate in this regard signed only by the Secretary Board. Any such certificate issued by school/college will no be accepted.
• The candidates who appear with a "Duplicate" or "Revised" matric certificate or if they have amendments in their names or date of births, should provide certificate explaining the circumstances under which they were issued with "Duplicate" or "Revised" or Amended matric Certificate, signed only by the Secretary Board.
• The original certificate and marks sheet/result card of Intermediate (FA/FSc, DAE/D.Com/DBA/ICS) is mandatory.
• Appearing candidates who have completed FA/FSc part-I will bring original part-I marks sheet along with surety/hope certificate of college.
• In case of "O", "A" level, equivalence certificate and birth certificate are compulsory. PHOTOCOPY OF ANY CERTIFICATE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTABLE.
• Those candidates who have applied for the courses demanding qualifications higher than intermediate are also required to bring their superior degree/ certificates as mentioned in the concerned course advertisement.
• Domicile is a must for all those candidates of remote areas, who are eligible to apply on 45% marks in FA/FSc.
• No plastic coating is allowed on degrees/certificates except those which are already coated and cannot be removed.
• In case of non-possession of above-mentioned documents you will not be allowed to appear in the test and will be reverted back without paying traveling allowance.
• Before your arrival, you may contact GSO-2 (Selection) of your concerned ISSB on telephone number mentioned at the end or GSO-2(Selection) ISSB Kohat to clarify any doubt about educational certificates.

Thursday 7 April 2011

Importance of making friends at ISSB


One of the most important things you have to do at ISSB is to make friends. You have to start making friends right from the moment when you enter the ISSB centre gate, or perhaps before that e.g. Rahwali check post waiting room.

The question might come in your mind, why make friends with these guys who are there to get selected? They are my competitors. Why would I be friends with them? Or other thoughts might arise like “ Nahe he seems like a paindo”, “oh no he is from another city, ill make friends with guys who are from my own city”. Or “4 din ke tu bat hay, phir in sy tu kabhe milna he nahe ho ga, phir dostian bananay ka kia fada?”

Well the answer to all these questions fall in two categories. One is that its perhaps the first and only chance where you get to make friends from different parts of the country. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a friend from Lahore, another from Multan, one from Rawalpindi and another from Sahiwal, perhaps someone from Quetta, Karachi, Hayderabad or Peshawar. You will realize in the later stage that these friendships last quite long and are quite beneficial. I know I met some of the best guys here, some of them are still my very good friends.

The second category is of strategic alliances. Now what does that mean? It means that you have to make friends for your own good. Just think, you are at a new place where there are 60 or 100 guys, all strangers. For most of them this is the first time they are out of their city, in fact for some of them it’s the first time they are not going to spend night at their home. They might look OK but inside everyone is a little bit scared; the same kinds of feeling which you get on the first day at school. Everyone would be shy, not talking to one another. At that time if you break the “Glass ceiling” that can do wonders. If you start gapshap with others, like asking them where are they from, how did they reach ISSB, where did they study, it would make them feel that you are a nice guy and a friend. They would naturally be tilted towards you and you would feel that you are not in a strange place anymore.

What is most important in these friendship ties is that if these friends you make are also in your GTO task group, they can help you a lot. Those who lack confidence and who are scared would take you as your leader and your friend in time of need, giving you confidence and opportunity to look good before GTO. GTO looks at the fact that who is shining in the group, who is the one everyone looks up to as the reliable one, the one who is blue eyed boy of the rest of the group.

During the interview, and when GTO tasks end, all the members of the group are asked to rate their fellows. Now if others are your friends and take you as their savior, there are chances that they will rate you No.1. If that rating is supported by your performance in tasks and other tests of GTO, its very likely that you got the GTO’s vote of recommendation. The MOST IMPORTANT vote of all.

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Bio Data Form


Bio data form is the first thing you encounter when you go for ISSB. Bio data form is a multi sheet form which requires different personal information regarding you. This form is very important.This form is with the interviewer on the third day of I.S.S.B. and he asked questions related to you by reading from that form.

This form contains some general questions which you need to answer. But there are some questions about which most of the candidates dont know about, and they face difficulty while filling that form, I' ll jot down some of those important questions here.

CAST and SUB CAST question:
One question is related to your CAST, which means your "zaat" and its second part is SUB CAST. What Cast means is whether you are "Raja" "Malik" "Chohadry" etc. and subcast means "Awan", " Janua", " chandio". For example if there is a candidate who'se name is "Raja Waqar Ali Awan" This means that RAJA is his cast and Awan Sub cast. If any of you dont know about your cast and sub cast its recommended that you ask your father and prepare the answer .

About your Date Of Birth:
Another question that is a bit tricky is related to your date of birth, you are asked to calculate your age to the day your are at ISSB. Meaning how may years, months, and days old are you today?

For instance my date of birth is 6th May 1982 and today its 4 April 2008, how should i calculate my Age? The answer is simple . Do simple subtraction

4 - 4 - 2008 (minus)
6 - 5 - 1982
gives you 25 years 10 months 28 days. This is what you have to write over there.

About your relatives in Armed Forces:
Another question asked is about your relatives who are in the armed forces of Pakistan. Now thats a bit tricky one, that not only ask for names and ranks, they also ask where they are posted now, and what is their current address, you have to prepare and ask them before going for ISSB what is their current address so that you are not worried over there and scratching your head

A frequent reader of my blog couple of days ago asked a very important question that previously slipped my mind. The question is related to the bio data form, This question is about writing some event in your life. The title of the event is written and you have to write one based on it from your life.

The topic can be
"write about the most tragic event of your life" , "write about the unforgettable incident of your life" "the most happiest event of your life" "the most shocking event of your life"

The main purpose of this question is to get to know you better, to see your emotional level, to see what kind of things you can bear, and how eventful your life has been, and if the event is life changing, then how has it influenced your life.

I would highly recommend you to prepare all of these topics in a way that they truely are from your real life, and also off course positive. Tragic event can be the death of some close loved one, unforgettable incident can either be tragic or happy event, the word "unforgettable" has the meaning that its something that was so startling that you just cannot forget about it for the rest of your life, so it can be some happy event, like for example you met someone you take as hero, or you got a chance to be on live TV or something like this. Most shocking as the title says can be both positive or negative but again positive shock and happy shock is advised.

The reason why am I saying is the event should be from your real life is that they might ask you questions related to that event, especially the interviewer if he finds it interesting or has the suspicion that its a made up fake event, if its such an unforgettable event and it really happened then you might give a hint of it in any of the psychological tests, thats natural. You can only defend it if it actually happened, it cant be a mega event, it can be a simple event, like getting first position in 7th grade, or getting something really interesting as winning a debating compitition in your school or college, anything that is appealing and real can be written.

You have to right at most 7 to 10 lines which are more then enough, but it plays a key role in your I.S.S.B

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Psychology Test


A question has been asked regarding psychology test as how can we prepare for it? What is it that they ask and what kind of answers they want?
The game of psychology is played everywhere, be it US Army, British Army, Indian Army or Pakistani Army. Be it ISSB or CSS, psychology tests are conducted to see if the candidate is suited for the job, whether he is capable to handle the job, whether he is mature and responsible enough or not.
To analyze this series of questions are asked and tests are conducted. Amazingly these questions no matter how well you prepare cant be deceived. They will get what psychologists need and they will provide an XRAY of your entire history, personality and life.
But there are ways by which you can dodge the tests and get the desired results.
What is required is that you practice these tests, get them in synchronization, meaning that if you answer a question in one test you should answer yes to the same type of question in another test. Psychologists analyze you by seeing exactly this whether you are lying or not by comparing the answers of different questions.
Here is a short summery of things to do to prepare for psychology tests.
1. Get to know about the kind of tests ( Ill give detail about it in another post).
2. Get to know about the kind of questions in each test.
3. Don’t cram the answers but develop a story about your self, hiding the few ugly parts which you don’t want to show in ISSB.
4. Make answers from that story so that they support each other.
Psychology test is the most important as psychologist gives his recommendation based on the tests. Meaning its one third of your ISSB relies on it.

Good And Bad Habbits


A very important question was asked by someone regarding a very important question of ISSB. This question is asked in different formats but the answer which they are looking for is related to your personality...

Questions are:
  • Write 3 good and bad qualities of yourself?
  • Write 3 good qualities of your friend or what do you like about your friend? (actually they are your qualities)
  • Write 3 bad qualities of your friend or what is it that you dont like in your friend?
  • Which are the three qualities of yours that your friends like? (your good qualities)
  • Which are the three qualities of yours that your enemies like? ( your weaknesses)
What is the purpose of these questions?

The first purpose is to see if you know about your own self or not, its a SWOT analysis of your self (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). If a person knows about him/her self he can handle any situation and has a better judgment power.

The second purpose of these questions like almost all of the questions at ISSB is to see if you are telling the truth or lies.

Since this is a PET question in ISSB its better to prepare it first. Like always, here again ill tell you to think about your self and try to come up with your answers. Because if you write your real weaknesses(bad habits) and good traits then you would be able to answer exactly the same else where if asked.

Here is what you have to think before answering these important questions...
  • Dont Lie 100% . 20 or 30% is allowed :-) (write your good things which are in you and bad which are)
  • Note if you are writing a bad habit it shouldnt be that bad which would make a negative impact on selectors e.g. "I lie, I cheat" etc.
  • Dont try to be too positive which would clearly show you are lieing, e.g. "i am very honest, i never lie" etc. (everyone lies its human nature)
  • If you are very creative try to portray you negatives in a way as if they appear to be positive...e.g. "Sometimes in order to keep up with my study schedule i cut my time which i plan to spend with my family" (This is an example....DO NOT COPY....)

Here are some of the examples of good habits.
  • I try my level best to be punctual.
  • I try to be social.
  • I respect elders as for me respect of elders is very important
And for bad habits...
  • I am not regular in prayes (if offcourse you are not, if you are, you should write in good habits).
  • I take alot of tea. (Similar can be made, but such should be written at the end)
  • I am a miser ( meaning Kanjoos)
I hope you have got the idea.

What you can do is write your answers and post a reply to me, to get them checked..

Monday 4 April 2011

Word Association Test (WAT)

Word association test or WAT is one of the famous tests of psychology. The main purpose of this test is to get a clear idea about a candidates thinking. You may be wondering how can they check our thinking ? well its quite simple actually. Humans think about something if they get some time, but if there is no time at all then we act on the very first thought that comes in our mind.

What happens in this test is that you are shown a word on which you have to make a sentence. The problem is that you only have 10 seconds to think and write a sentence on that particular word. Words rage from 60 to 100 depends on policies of ISSB. Most of the words are repeated in order to see if the candidate has the same mode of thinking or not, usually after 15 20 sentences candidate's mind begins to give up thinking and he/she starts writing whatever comes in mind in split of a second, he doesn't know what he has written in the test when it finishes , the test actually get the true thinking of the candidate on the paper.

Words are quite simple, like flower, garden, country, mother, girl, boy or they can be difficult like lie, defeat, fear, coward, death. These words are difficult in the sense as they have negative thought with them. If some candidate has fear of something he might write something related to it.

In word association test its not necessary to have that word in sentence, something associating to it can also be written.

like for word GARDEN sentences can be

1. There is a garden in front of my house.
2. Flowers are beautiful
3. I go for jogging in the morning.
4. There are many trees in the garden.

Now in these examples 1 and 4 are although correct but they are childish, psychologist would not consider them that much,. Flowers are beautiful is an association with garden as flowers which are beautiful might be in a garden, same goes for jogging, a person might go for jogging in a garden. But this sentence is of more interest to psychologist as he would capture the idea that the candidate goes for jogging and other healthy activities ( a positive sign).

Similiarly for sentence of MOTHER

1. I love my mother
2. I Respect elders
3. I love Pakistan

are possible sentences. I love my mother would so your affectionate side, I respect elders means you respect your mother....( Note: if you write this sentence here and you write in you good habits that you respect your elders, then it would match, it would show that you truly respect elders thats why your thought process thinks of respect.) I love Pakistan is also a good sentence as Pakistan is our mother land and it would show that candidate is a true patriot.

For word like FEAR sentences can be

1. I fear Allah
2. child is afraid of dark
3. he is afraid he would fail

Now these sentences are showing a complete contrast. Fear Allah is excellent as Muslims only fear Allah and nothing else. But in case of fear of dark, psychologist would instantly guess that the candidate has some issue with dark, "he is afraid he would fail" is a totally negative sentence as it clearly shows that the candidate is not confident and is not sure of his success.

NOTE: From the above examples you might have now realized that this test is not something to be taken as a joke, psychologist develops his perception about you on the sentences you write, if you joke around by writing silly sentences it can create big trouble for you. So practice such sentences as much as possible in order increase your speed, and increasing your thinking ability.

Sunday 3 April 2011

Sentence Completion Test


The second most important test in psychology analysis of a candidate is the Sentence completion test. This test is designed on the same ideology i.e. to check a candidate’s thinking but in these tests the dimension is a bit narrower then WAT. Here half of the sentence is given and you have to complete it in a way that you feel is the right answer. Off course like WAT here you also have to give “positive thinking” but in some sentences its very hard to give any positive answer. There are mostly 6 sentence completion tests handed to a candidate, 3 in Urdu and 3 in English, each has around 24 to 30 unfinished sentences and time given to complete each of the tests is 6 minutes.

Some of the example sentences are:
  1. Some times I lie because _______________________
  2. Life is ___________________________________
  3. These days we have to ________________________
  4. Some times I wish ___________________________
  5. Girls are __________________________________
  6. She said to me _______________________

Story Writing - Part 1


The third most important series of tests of ISSB psychology assessment demands the candidates to write stories. These are not the stories what we read in childhood but stories which demand concentration and serious mindset. These stories clearly put our thoughts and perceptions on paper and help psychologist make assessment of what we are.

Story writing tests are divided into two parts. In the first part we are shown an image which is mostly a sketch, consisting of some characters or objects. It is in Pakistani terms called story writing test. But its actual psychology name is "Thematic Apprehension Test." We are asked to look at it carefully for 30 seconds and then we are given 30 more seconds to think of a story which describes the situation in that picture. After that 3 and half min are given to us to write a story on that scene which we have just seen.

Here are a few examples:

Try to write some stories looking at them
 Fig 1

 Fig 2

 Fig 3

Fig 4
 Fig 5
 Fig 6
 Fig 7
 Fig 8
 Fig 9
 Fig 10

Psychological tests Notes

Psychological tests    
  • Incomplete Sentence
In this test 25 incomplete sentences are to be filled in. The candidate should have to complete the sentence in positive and constructive manners. Exercise these latest tests taken in I.S.S.B. and complete them with suitable words.

I am not afraid of……....
Life has………………...
I am surprise…………...
He wanted……………..
To become rich………..
He could not…………..
Hard ship……………...
When he was alone……
Hi is up set…………….
Money is ……………...
He tried………………...
My greatness weakness is….
Our press …………..
My sex relation………..
He needs………………
I love………………….
My ambition…………
A time will come……….
My father……………….
My school………………
A brother……………….
The boy and girl………..
Keep your………………
Every young man………
After great effort……….
My sister was………….
In simple world………..
He got………………….
In my house……………
On seeing the dead……..
Most parents……………
I can not………………..
I have usually………….
I request………………..
He does not dare……….
Marriage brings………..
During vacation………..
My friends……………..
My mother is…………..
My friends……………..
If he fails………………
My home work………...
My disappointment…….
She smiled…………….
Pakistan need…………
My principle………….
Friend in difficulties…….
When she saw me………
On seeing this way………
Lead………………..
My father beat me………
My self………………..
If I had a gun…………..
The rich man…………
It is very strange………
Always………………
Television is…………..
On the road……………
When sitting alone……..
Leader is……………….
My wish is…………….
My hero……………….
When he come suddenly…
He always……………….
My discourage is………..
Begging is………………
My neighbors…………
Health and riches……..
I hate…………………
Pakistan army is………
He is sorry for…………
His health……………...
Only trouble is…………
When he saw beautiful….
She is angry because……..
The new generation………
No one came……………..
He finally………………...
He was caught……………
When he was happy……...
The business man………..
Soldiers are………………
He refused to…………….
Crush……………………
Bad people……………..
Poor people…………….
Our forces………………
Army life……………….
In extreme difficulties…..
He is always willing to….
When she grew old……..
From away of his house….
He became important when
His family is…………
If it is necessary I will……
To gain property he………
A large portion of hi time……
To gain popularity………….
The teacher feels…………
Our leaders are……………..
Pakistani girls are………….
Young girls are……………
College girls are…………
University girls are……….
Fashionable girls are……..
Fashion is………………..
His wife………………….
His sister………………..
His daughter……………
His mother……………..
Girls were……………..
His heart sank because……..
To express his anger……….
It was very clear that……….
Best time of his life………..


  • Word Association Test
In this test candidate have to make sentences with words displayed on projector. Number of words is 100 and time duration between two words is 9-10 seconds. Following are the most popular words used in I.S.S.B.
Work
Atom
Country
Army
Step
Company
Love
Duty
Girl
Eat
Decide
Beat
Fight
Lie
Give
Enjoy
Careful
Success
Trust
Solve
Story
Break
Fear
Defeat
Enemy
Garden
Faith
Help
Cinema
Money
Peace
Fine
Delay
Character
Travel
Journey
Ghost
Respect
Duty
Life
Poor
Use
Climb
Problem
Attempt
Happy
Books
Rest
Short
Design
Cooperate
Discipline
Plan
Neglect
Life
Win
Honesty
Machine
Afraid
Load
Think
Hobby
Obtain
Idea
Religion
Morality
Innovation
Attack
Continues
Punctuality
Protect
Task
Slip
Drop
Snake
Lion
Award
Achieve
Assist
Action
Agree
Avoid
Alone
Ambition
Attempt
Appeal
Air
Arrived
Bed
Blood
Patient
Beautiful
Cut
Copy
Home
Able
Excuse
Luck
Good
Knife
Danger
Bad
Officer
Sad
Soldier
Regarded
Cannot
Drink
Begin
Holiday
Playground
Fellow
Dictatorship
Sick
War
Father
Mother
Sister
Brother
System
Nature
Difficulty
Health
Impossible
Urge
False
Knowledge
Sports
Affection
Company
Meet
Secure
Responsibility
Love
Understand
Tried
Boat
Failure
Science
Space
Sky
Goal
Busy
Unfair
Regular
Adventure
Climb
Tie
Fly
Light
Pressure
Dig
Rest
Shine
Defense
Confidence
Serious
Humble
Take
Curse
Time
Democracy
Award
Risk
Defeat
Continue
Custom
Music
Movies
Film
Enjoy
Interest
Fast
Train
Fortune
Marry
Loyalty
Ask
Problem
Struggle
Worry
Trouble
Hard
Smoke
Death
Run
Differ
Find
Pay
Cost
Look
Dislike
Matching
Pity
Victory
Trick
Drive
Study
Tackle
Jump
Lose
Sacrifice

Secret
Rent
Snatch
Genius
Efficiency
Childhood
Challenge
Beauty
Foreign
Admire
Advice
Coward
Shoot
Kill
Unable
Criticize
Persist
Progress
Football
Confuse
Defend
Lovely
Begin
Adopt
Single
Joy
Quick
Rule
Refrain
Pleasure
Soldier
Gallant
Insist
Provide
Society
Relax
Loyal
Regret
Lonely
Heart
Need
Flower
Chair
Power
Sward
Interview
Adversity
Influence
Young
Offer
Reform
Overcome
Hope
Fever
Strict
Garden
Wrong
Want
Bold
Ahead
Respect
Zeal
Yield
Insult
Question
Gay
Old
Strength
Contact
Mountain
Last
Race
Idea
Bow
Tear
Oppose
Strike
Revenge
Black
White
Hesitate
Hospital
Wall
Night
Spend
Dear
Lion
Past
Pain
Swim
Guilty
Error
Hill
Care
Greed