My name is Arun Kumar and I live in Mahendragarh, Haryana. My father was in the Indian Army so from a very young age, I was motivated to join the defence forces. After passing 5th Grade, I joined Rashtriya Military School Bangalore where I completed my schooling. Being in RMS and growing up there, I got more and more determined to join the defence forces. I appeared for my NDA exam when I was in 12th and cleared it but, unfortunately, got screened out from SSB. After a few unsuccessful attempts at clearing my SSB, I decided to complete my graduation and apply for the CDS.

For the CDS exam, I prepared at home from books and YouTube, taking advantage of the lockdown as I didn't have to attend classes so it gave me more time to prepare. After clearing my CDS exam I consulted many people regarding the preparation of SSB when one of my friends mentioned the Georgians defence academy of professional studies. I went there and took guidance prior to a month from my SSB in order to give some time for self-preparation also. During my time at Georgians defence academy, I learnt many things and improved myself a lot. Sir provided individual attention to all of us and also focused a lot on psychology as to what kind of story and what we are writing and also corrected when required. We had lectures in the morning which helped us improve our public speaking skills, knowledge and confidence. We also had group discussions every day and PPDT which provided a similar experience to a real practice that we were to face at the SSB.

For GTO tasks preparation we were taken to the ground and given obstacles which helped us to familiarise ourselves with the tasks. For interview preparation, individual interviews were conducted and feedback was provided immediately both by sir and our fellow students. Sir also focused on how to fill PIQ forms and writing self-descriptions for individuals. After gaining some guidance I felt confident and was ready to face the SSB. I appeared at SSB Bangalore and did well in my OIR tests and wrote a story for PPDT but couldn't complete it but, still focused on narration and discussion.

I was screened in and after which in the psychological tests, I did what I had learnt and focused mainly on my personality rather than writing imaginary stories. I wrote my natural responses in the WAT and SRT. Just after my psychology test, I was called for an interview. In the interview, a lot of current affairs and logical reasoning questions were asked along with the PIQ based questions. I wasn't able to answer most of the current affairs questions but had done well in other things. After the interview, I was a little disheartened but I thought of enjoying the GTO tasks. I completed all tasks in GTO after that. Results were announced and I got recommended. I was very happy because I had worked very hard to achieve this. My family was glad to hear so. I got Fit in medical and was relieved after my medical conference. In this journey, I had a lot of obstacles to cross and a lot of people have helped me. I thank my family, friends and teachers as they stood with me in my tough time when I failed. The hard work that I and everyone around me had done has paid off and I am very happy about it. I am excited to join and be a part of the Indian Army and serve the organization with all my efforts.