After Recommendation: CPSS, Medical Board and Joining Instructions
You got recommended. Now what? A clear walkthrough of CPSS, the medical board, and the paperwork before your date of joining.
Hitender Rohilla
Recommended is not the end
A recommended candidate still has to clear the Services Selection Board after medical and CPSS. Both can end a candidature for avoidable reasons.
CPSS — Combined Personality and Performance Examination
Two papers. English and General Knowledge.
Paper 1 — English: comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, sentence correction. The pass mark is comparatively high, and this is where most medical-fit candidates fall.
Paper 2 — General Knowledge: Current affairs (the last six months dominate), Indian Armed Forces history, national security, geography, economics, science.
How to prepare in the gap
If you have two months, 30 minutes of GK and 30 minutes of English daily is enough. If you have two weeks, do three previous-year papers. That is genuinely sufficient.
Medical board
Height and weight standards, visual standards including refractive surgery waiting periods, and the dental standards. If you have had any eye surgery, carry your documentation.
Joining instructions
Keep your joining instructions safe. They contain your reporting date, address, documents to carry, and your allotted uniform size. Reach the location 48 hours early — the first day at a new unit is not the time to discover you got the date wrong.
Want the full 30-day plan?
Everything in this article, expanded into day-by-day drills with practice material for all eight SSB tasks.
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