A common question from SSB aspirants is: "What general awareness is needed in the SSB?" Here's a breakdown of how to approach this crucial aspect of your preparation:
1. Cultivate a Daily Habit
There is no shortcut for developing command over general awareness. You have to spend some time on it everyday and believe me, you start enjoying it after 3–4 weeks.
2. Engage with English Newspapers
English newspapers would help a lot. Read an English newspaper everyday and try to go into the details. Do not just read the headlines. Do not ignore Business and Sports section. They are equally important. Remember, smartphones are no substitutes to newspapers.
3. Watch English News Channels
Watch any English news channel. Atleast for 30–45 minutes everyday. If you can follow primetime debates, that would be fantastic. That would help you with pros/cons on every topic and would also give you opinions of multiple panelists. It would help you in forming your own opinion. Try and be unbiased towards all topics. Don’t be biased towards specific anchors either; give everyone a chance.
4. Read Weekly/Fortnightly Magazines
A month before your SSB, start reading Outlook/India Today or any other weekly/fortnightly magazine. If you have read 2–3 latest versions before your SSB, that would be fantastic.
5. Clarify Doubts and Explore Topics
There would be a lot of things you won’t understand while watching or reading news. Give 2 minutes to Google and you would atleast get a high-level view on those. Don't just let it be.
6. Utilize Data Points
Data points help a lot in giving weight to your arguments. Note down key data points somewhere and refresh those before your SSB. For e.g. no of seats won by BJP in LS 2019 polls, GDP growth rates, Literacy rate of India, India’s ranking in ease of doing business, no. of cricket world cups won by India, no. of medals won by India in 2016 olympic games. These are just examples. There would be some key data points on every topic you come across.
7. Understand India’s Defence History
It is advisable to understand India’s Defence History. No. of wars fought, which years, why, what was the consequence etc.
8. Know Key Personnel
Remember the names of key ministers, CMs, Defence Minister, Home Minister, MEA etc. Remember the names of Chief of Army, Navy, Airforce.
Remember, this is not just for SSB; if you develop this as a habit, it would help you throughout your life.
All the best.