BREAKING ALL RECORDS: AFPA HITS A CENTURY IN THE NDA 149TH COURSE
Message from the Founder
In a country of 1.3 billion people with the highest youth population in the world, the defence services are struggling to get adequate candidates to join as officers. Isn’t this ironic? Though there are lakhs of boys and girls applying for officer posts, the Services Selection Board (SSB) is not able to select the required numbers. Does that mean that most of those who are applying are not good enough?
In my 3 years of experience as a GTO in 33 Services Selection Board and 11 years of training defence aspirants, I have often seen that most of them fail due to a lack of understanding about the qualities they need to possess to be successful service officers. As a trainer, I have seen hundreds of them make it once they get the clarity on what to inoculate and how to project their qualities in the right manner in the various tests that are conducted in the SSB, and hence I conclude that while most of them have it in them, it is just a lack of understanding about the process and the desired qualities that makes them unable to reach the mark.
Mission of AFPA
Vision
To be the best defence preparatory academy in the nation.
Selection process
To make the defence aspirants aware of the selection process followed in the defence services.
Awareness
To make the defence aspirants aware of the qualities that are essential in a defence officer.
Weakness
Enable the defence aspirants to understand their own weaknesses.
Develop Personality
To provide defence aspirants with an approach on how to develop their personalities to be successful in the SSB and also do well in their careers.
The AFPA Team
Cdr. Dr. N.K Natarajan (Retd.)
CHIEF MENTOR, GTO ASSESSMENT TRAINIER
An assessor with 25 years of experience in the Indian Navy, with 3 years as a group testing officer. He is an alumnus of the Indian Naval Academy and a President’s Gold Medallist. He holds six postgraduate degrees in management and a doctorate in psychology.
He has mentored more than 1,000 candidates successfully through the selection process.
Col. Sachit Hasabnis
GTO ASSESSMENT TRAINER
An alumnus of the Indian Military Academy, Col. Sachit is an Air Defence Gunner, having been commissioned to the Army Air Defence in 1986.
In his illustrious career spanning three decades, the officer has a wide range of experience in operations, human resource management, and logistics and has served across the length and breadth of the country in various capacities.
Col. Sachit is a qualified assessor of the Services Selection Board from the prestigious Defence Institute of Psychological Research, Timarpur, New Delhi.
In his assignment as Group Testing Officer of Selection Centre East (Prayagraj), he has screened more than 2,000 candidates and was instrumental in selecting a few of the best material for the Indian Defence Forces.
His vast experience in this field has led him to certain analyses and recommendations for the betterment of the selection process, which have been duly incorporated.
He is a qualified psychologist, having done his MSC in psychology from Bhartiya University in 2007, and is presently pursuing his post-graduation in human resource management from the prestigious NMIMS.
Col. Prashant Kamath (Retd.)
GTO ASSESSMENT TRAINER
An alumnus of the Indian Military Academy, Col. Prashant Kamath was commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery in 1991. In his career spanning over three decades, the officer has gained wide-ranging experience in active operations, human resource management, training and development, administration, logistics, and network-centric warfare. He has been awarded the Sena Medial (Gallantry) by the President of India for his action at Dras, Kargil, during Operation Vijay in 1999.
He is a qualified analyst of human behaviour and evaluator of personality through the Group Testing Technique from the prestigious Defence Institute of Psychological Research, New Delhi.
He has had the distinction of serving as an assessor at the Services Selection Board in Allahabad twice and has evaluated over 4,000 candidates. He has also conducted a number of personality development training capsules at the various Human Resource Development Centres of the Army for service aspirants.
His expertise in accurately identifying the areas of strengths and weaknesses in a personality and his skill in providing guidance towards self-reformation prepare the aspirants to face the test situations confidently.
Col. Prashant Kamath, with his vast experience as an assessor and instructor, is an ideal mentor for the character building of the aspirants and a valuable member of team AFPA.
Wg. Cdr. Rajagopal (Retd.)
GTO ASSESSMENT TRAINIER
I served in the Indian Air Force for 25 years as an in-flight navigator and a group testing officer. As a flight navigator in an AN 32 aircraft, he specialised in parachuting and supply drop operations in our border areas.
As a flight navigator, he has carried out countless drop sorties in both our eastern borders, like Arunachal Pradesh, as well as our northern borders, like Sia-chin and Aksai-chin. After his flying tenure, he served as a group testing officer at AFSB Dehradun and as a senior GTO at AFSB Mysore.
During his tenure at the selection boards, he not only assessed around 2,000 candidates but also trained other officers to become effective GTOs. He was once posted at Air Force Headquarters to manage the complete officer selection system.
The officer selection process includes everything from the issue of an advertisement to administering written tests as well as monitoring your SSB interviews.
His role continues after SSB interviews by way of monitoring medical examinations, preparing the merit list, and finally issuing joining letters to successful candidates. In fact, there are many officers currently in service who have received joining letters signed by me.
During his tenure at Air Headquarters, he was instrumental in the creation of the Air Force Common Admission Test, or AFCAT. This was part of a huge streamlining process for induction into the Air Force.
After the commencement of AFCAT, he was also involved in setting up an online portal for AFCAT. The portal was designed to serve the complete application process for AFCAT.
After his retirement, he has served as Chief Ground Instructor in two flying schools. One of them is Orient Flights in Mysore, and the other is Aviacons in Hyderabad.
To date, he continues to teach ground subjects for pilots online for their airline transport pilot’s licence. By the way, he is also a Feeling Minds and Thomas International Certified Career Counsellor. He takes immense pleasure in guiding boys and girls like you to the right career based on their personality profiles.
Col. Rahul Gowardhan (Retd.)
INTERVIEW ASSESSMENT TRAINER
A man with over 30 years of distinguished service in the Army held many important appointments, including commanding officer of the artillery unit in J&K and Rajasthan. Dy. President of Services Selection Board Allahabad and also worked as an interviewing officer at SSB Bhopal. He is a qualified HR professional with a PG in management. A certified assessor and interviewer who interviewed more than 2500 aspirants at SSB and about 1000 candidates for managerial posts in the public and corporate sectors.
Air Commodore Sanjeev Gosewade (Retd.)
INTERVIEW ASSESSMENT TRAINER
Belongs to Nagpur and has studied at SFS School, Bhonsala Military School, Hislop College, and the Institute of Science Nagpur.
On completion of his degree in science from the Institute of Science and his NCC ‘C’ certificate from the Nagpur NCC unit, he joined the Indian Air Force in 1980. He was commissioned as a flying pilot in the Indian Air Force on June 4, 1982. He has held various important command, staff, and instructional appointments during his service career in the Indian Air Force.
As an experienced military pilot, he has flown around 5,000 hours on Ilyushin-76, Avro, and Dornier aircraft and has flown these aircraft operationally both in India and abroad.
He has been the Flight Commander of a VVIP Squadron, the Commanding Officer of a Combat Unit, and the Commanding Officer of a Gajraj Squadron. During his tenure as Commanding Officer, 44 Squadron was adjudged the Best Transport Squadron of the IAF and was also commended by the US Air Force during the multi-national military exercise Red Flag.
Besides being the station commander, The Air Commodore has been the Air Officer Commanding of an important flying base and has the distinction of being the President of an Air Force Selection Board twice.
His staff appointments include a tenure at Air Head Quarters as Director Operations. He was awarded the Vayusena Medal by the President of India on January 26, 2010, for his distinguished service in the Indian Air Force. He was also awarded the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar in October 2018 by the Government of Maharashtra.
Besides attending Air Staff College in Australia, he is a post-graduate of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, India, and has been an instructor for 3 years at this college. His academic qualifications include an MSc and an MPhil from Madras University.
He has held several sensitive and prestigious appointments dealing with operations, logistics, and planning. He commanded an artillery regiment in the intense operational environs of the Srinagar Valley.
COLONEL RAKESH NAIR (RETD)
Interview Assessment Trainer
A third-generation army officer with over 36 years of service in various assignments across the country and as a UN peacekeeper in Somalia. An alumnus of the NDA and IMA, he was commissioned into the Army Service Corps in June 1984.
He has had a wide range of experience in the recruitment of soldiers and officer candidate selection and has been involved in the training of personnel from recruits to senior-level officers. Logistics and supply chain management have been the mainstays of his career, but his interests and duties have been multifarious.
Besides a degree in science from JNU, the officer also holds postgraduate diplomas in public relations, industrial relations, and personnel management. He has also qualified with top honours in all military courses he has attended, including the Technical Staff Course.
Having qualified from the Defence Institute of Psychological Research, Delhi, he has served over five years as an interviewing officer in the selection centres at Allahabad (Prayagraj) and Bangalore and has conducted over 3000 live interviews.
He has also motivated and trained innumerable young men and women, particularly from the NCC, to take up a career in the armed forces and to do well in other walks of life. Six of the cadets trained by him in Maharashtra and in the Karnataka and Goa NCC Directorates have been recipients of Prime Minister’s medals in the All India Best Cadet competition held at New Delhi during Republic Day Camps.
Besides his engagement in service activities, Colonel Rakesh Nair has been a keen sportsman, with medals at the national level in equestrian events, the successful completion of the Himalayan Rally, and participation in various aero-sports. He is currently a member of the National Selection Committee for the selection of Indian equestrians for the Asian Games and other international competitions.
Ashok Kumar Thamburaj
AFPA Psych Technique Trainer
A DRDO scientist, an alumni of the Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), worked at the Selection Centre Central (SSC), Bhopal. A psychologist par excellence in psychometric assessment, personality profiling, and training of students and employees He was designated as a consultant with the Department of Education, Tamil Nadu.
Has contributed over 650+ officers to the Armed Forces post-retirement from service. An accomplished assessor indeed. Subject: Psychometric Assessment, Psychological Test Assessment
Col. Tarun Mitra (Retd)
AFPA Psych Technique Trainer
Col. Tarun Mitra is a result-driven transformational leader with over 30 years of rich and comprehensive experience in various fields with the Indian Army. He is motivated, goal-driven, with strong work ethics, continuously striving for improvement, with an eye for details, and committed to offering quality work.
Col. Tarun Mitra is a qualified psychologist from the prestigious Defence Institute of Psychological Research, New Delhi.
He has had the distinction of twice serving as a psychologist on service selection boards at Selection Centre East, Allahabad, and carries with him vast experience in the field of psychological technique.
A triple postgraduate, he has been involved in the training of service aspirants at various levels and possesses the qualities to train and nurture the aspirants desirous of joining the Armed Forces as a commissioned officer.
Comdt. Yogesh Dutta (Retd.)
AFPA Psych Technique Trainer
Commandant Yogesh Dutta is a seasoned and experienced veteran with two and a half decades of distinguished service with the Indian Coast Guard.
In his chequered and illustrious career, the officer has held several prestigious and coveted appointments ranging from operations, management, human resource development, and strategic planning and implementation. He has the distinction of commanding the hovercraft twice and has achieved proficiency in every facet of this modern and state-of-the-art combat platform.
Commandant Dutta is a qualified psychologist with a master’s in clinical or applied psychology from Annamalai University.
He has been a certified psychologist and assessor for the selection process of officers and has trained a large number of psychologists in the method of assessment in the service selection board.
Commandant Dutta brings to Team AFPA his unique and seasoned experience and has added tremendous value to the training process. His innate ability to quickly and accurately discern the areas of improvement in candidates and propel them into the correct method of evaluating and overcoming these flaws renders him a valuable resource person capable of transforming underconfident and potential candidates into front runners in any selection process.
Col. Ravi Nair (Retd.)
PERSONALITY ENHANCEMENT TRAINER
A veteran of the Indian Army, Col. Nair has over three and a half decades of experience in various facets of the services, including operations, training, and human resource management. A certified soft skills trainer with proficiency in communication skills, personal interview techniques, general awareness quotient, and motivational talks. He has trained several batches of SSB aspirants, both in service and budding young NCC candidates. Subject: Personality Enhancement Coach
Cdr. Sudarshan Chakrapani
Interview Assessment Trainer
An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, CDR. Chakrapani is a veteran Sea-Faber, having served the Indian Navy for over 2.5 decades. In his illustrious career, the officer has contributed to the commissioning of submarines and commanded a missile corvette.
A graduate of the Defence Services Staff College. He has held very important, coveted, and sensitive staff and instructional appointments at almost all the important Naval stations.
A qualified assessor from the Defence Institute of Psychological Research, Timarpur, New Delhi (DIPR) has had first-hand experience assessing over 1,000 candidates at the selection centres in Allahabad and Bangalore.
Cdr. Chax is also a technocrat, having served in the corporate (TECH-MAHINDRAI) sector for over a decade, conceptualising and evolving several far-reaching automations and strategic initiatives for his organisation.
This wide-ranging experience across the job spectrum renders him an ideal interviewing officer for the personal interview sessions of the 558.
He has the ability to quickly identify the flaws in every candidate and suggest valuable measures to overcome those flaws. Many candidates have benefited from his interaction and have gone on to crack the SSB interview.
AFPA offers a unique opportunity by providing an interface for interaction with Cdr. Chax and exploiting this rare skill set.
Enrol in the SSB Interview Training Programme now.
The AFPA Team
Contact Us
Academy Address
- AFPA, 299, Telkamptee, Kalmeshwar, Opposite Black Pearl Farm, Nagpur – 441502
How to contact us?
- For queries related to our products or services please reach out to us at interact@afpa.in.
- Our team will get in touch to resolve your issues in 24 hours
Email Address
- interact@afpa.in
Frequently Asked Questions
- Limiting the number of students in a class to 50 allows the assessors to focus completely on each and every student.
- Conducting activities in groups of 10 as done in the actual SSB enables better comprehension and facilitates individual feedback for the students.
- GTO training is done in small groups of 10 students, which enables better understanding of the tests by the students and enables the assessors to give complete and individual feedback.
- Students are provided multiple practise sessions to boost their confidence and enhance their performance levels.
- The proximity of the ground enables students to spend as much time as they want to practise and internalise the concepts and principles.
- The GTO ground in AFPA is designed to teach concepts rather than solutions.
- The designs of the tasks enable not only the understanding of the basic principles but also the various possible variations one may come across.
- The fees for the SSB Training Programme at AFPA are Rs. 25,000, of which Rs. 7,000 will have to be paid at the time of registration and the balance on arrival at the academy. The fees also include pick-up and drop-off facilities from the railway station, lodging and boarding, study material, and the entire training.
- Registration fees are refunded only if cancellation is announced 14 days prior to the commencement of the course. A cancellation charge of Rs. 2,000 will be charged even if cancellation is done 14 days in advance.
- No refund of registration fees will be made if the cancellation is not made 14 days prior to the commencement of the course.
- Please note that we cannot shift batches manually. Students wanting to change batches will have to cancel the existing ones and re-register.
- A healthy mind resides in a healthy body, and for a healthy body, proper nutrition is a must; hence, in AFPA, great care is taken to ensure that the food is not only sumptuous but also healthy. Check out the meal plan offered in AFPA for the next 14 days.
- Aspirants who look for training academies are the ones who prefer to learn by doing, so it is important to make them do various activities and tests for better assimilation.
- In order to ensure this, AFPA maintains a teacher-to-student ratio of 1:10, which helps in conducting the tests and activities multiple times and giving individual attention and feedback.
- All GTO tasks are conducted in small groups of 10 students only to enable personalised attention to each one of them.
THE HOSTEL
The hostel buildings are on campus. Each non-AC room will be shared by 4-5 candidates, depending on the room’s size. The hostels have a main gate to ensure the security of students. The hostels have firefighting equipment for emergencies and are also under CCTV surveillance. The hostel for girls is separate from that for boys. Girls are allotted rooms in the assessor’s complex for better safety. See the hostel from the inside. Press the link below to access the photographs.