Defence · SSB screening · AFCAT

The test on day one

You can clear the written exam and still be sent home the same evening.

Stage I at the selection board is an Officer Intelligence Rating test — verbal and non-verbal reasoning — with the picture story that follows it. It is a screening test, and only those who qualify stay for the days after.

For candidates heading to an SSB through NDA, CDS, AFCAT or any other officer entry.

The NDA and CDS written papers have no reasoning section. Mathematics, English and general knowledge. The reasoning comes later — on day one at the board. Source: UPSC's NDA & NA and CDS examination notifications, Appendix I.

Where reasoning decides

Day 1
when the Stage I screening decides who stays
900
marks the board carries in NDA — as many as the whole written exam
100
questions in AFCAT, in two hours
+3 / −1
AFCAT's marking, right answer and wrong
A tree growing inside a mind Why start now

Days at the board. You have to get past the first one.

Everything you are told to prepare — the mathematics, the general knowledge, the current affairs — gets you to the gate. Then Stage I opens with an intelligence rating test made of the two things nobody was told to practise: verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning.

Both are trainable, and unusually so, because they are one skill under two names — seeing structure in words, and seeing structure in shapes. It builds over months of short sessions, and it stays.

It is also the one part of those days that is a skill rather than a character. Train the part that can be trained.

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What · the exam

Reasoning appears in two places, and only one of them is a written paper.

UPSC's notifications set out the NDA and CDS written scheme; the Air Force's notification sets out both its paper and its board. This is what they say.

The written exam

NDA and CDS have no reasoning section. AFCAT does.

Objective papers, with a penalty for wrong answers
  • NDA — Mathematics, 300 marks, and a General Ability Test of English and general knowledge, 600
  • CDS — English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics, 100 marks each
  • A third of the marks for a question are deducted for a wrong answer in both
  • AFCAT — 100 questions, 300 marks, two hours, and reasoning is one of its four subjects
Two of the three have no reasoning at all. We say so.
The board

Stage I is the Officer Intelligence Rating test, and it is a screen

Stage I on day one · Stage II over the days after
  • Stage I — the Officer Intelligence Rating test with the Picture Perception and Description Test
  • Candidates who do not qualify are sent back on the first day itself
  • Stage II — psychological tests, group testing tasks, the interview and the conference
  • In NDA the board carries 900 marks, the same as the entire written exam
Stage I is reasoning. The rest is days of something else.
How · train the skill

Verbal and non-verbal reasoning, trained the way a skill is trained.

An intelligence rating test isn't a syllabus you can read. It's a thinking skill, built by practising the right questions, the right amount, over time. That's exactly what Master Mental Ability does — and the Air Force's own notification names its reasoning section in the same two words the app is built from: verbal and non-verbal reasoning.

◎

Adapts to you

Harder as you improve, easier when you slip. No time wasted on what you've already got.

↻

Back before you forget

Spaced repetition returns a question right as it's about to fade — so it's still there on the day.

✎

Solve first, then see

You reason it out before the answer shows. That effort is where recognition gets built.

☁

Calm before the clock

A moment to settle before each session. The same calm a timed hall takes away.

What this doesn't cover: the NDA and CDS written exams have no reasoning section at all — they are mathematics, English and general knowledge, and this app won't help with them. What we train is the reasoning in the SSB's Stage I screening, and the reasoning in AFCAT. The rest of the board — the psychological tests, the group tasks, the interview and the conference — is days of something else entirely, and no app prepares it. Nor does anything here prepare the physical or medical standards.
Works offline on Android

Practice anywhere. No data needed on Android.

On Android, all questions live securely on your phone — so after install, daily practice costs zero data. On desktop or laptop, solve in any browser with an active connection. A quiet check-in about once a week syncs your progress.

Android works offline Full-screen web practice Progress saved online Zero data during practice
Launching soon

The Android app is still in build. Tell us which exam you are preparing for and we will message you the day it opens.

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Built by

In 2007, in his second year at IIT Delhi, Vineesh wrote a book — Master Mental Ability in 30 Days. It has sold year after year ever since, without the publisher ever marketing it.

In the years since, he built other learning products and spent a decade working with children of every background in a holistic learning centre.

This app goes far beyond that book — everything he's learned about how people actually learn, built into something you practise, not just read.

No risk to you

Don't trust us. See it work.

1

Try free

Solve a full session, no registration. Decide nothing yet.

2

Register

Like it? Sign up for 2 more days free. No payment, no auto-debit.

3

Practise daily

Fifteen minutes a day on cube rotations, mirror reflections and verbal analogies — the OIR test that opens SSB stage 1, not the NDA or CDS written paper.

4

Share to keep learning free

Invite a friend preparing for the SSB — you both earn more free days.

Your questions

Common questions

Is it really free? Will money get taken from my account?

Free to try — no signup to start, no card, no auto-debit, nothing taken silently. When you want the full library there are three plans, by length: ₹499 for three months, ₹699 for six, ₹999 for a year. Each is a single payment for that period, not a subscription — when it ends we ask you, and nothing is ever taken automatically. You can also keep learning free by sharing the app, and you can always try before paying anything.

Will this help me clear NDA, CDS or AFCAT?

Not the NDA or CDS written paper — it has no reasoning section, and we'd rather tell you that than sell you something. What this trains is the reasoning in the SSB's Stage I screening, and the reasoning subject in AFCAT. Mathematics, English, general knowledge and the rest of the board all need their own preparation. What we do, we do properly.

What exactly is the OIR test?

The Officer Intelligence Rating test, sat on day one along with the Picture Perception and Description Test. The notifications call Stage I a screening test and say candidates who don't qualify are sent back the same day. What they publish is its structure — verbal and non-verbal reasoning. Question counts and the qualifying rule are not published officially, so we don't quote them.

I have very little time before my board date. Is this any use?

Some. Practice always beats no practice. But be honest with yourself about what a screening test means: recognition is built over months, not in a week. Start anyway — the skill doesn't expire between attempts, and most candidates get more than one.

Is the app in Hindi?

Yes — fully. Choose Hindi and the whole app is Hindi: the questions themselves, the options, and the explanation after each one — not an English app with Hindi labels around it. Worth knowing either way: UPSC sets NDA's mathematics paper and the general knowledge part of the General Ability Test in Hindi as well as English, and the same for CDS's General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics papers. AFCAT is conducted in English only.

How much internet does it need?

Almost never. The questions are on your phone, so you can practise on a train, in a village with no signal, on a phone with no data pack. The app checks in with us about once a week to confirm your access is still active — a few seconds, a few kilobytes. That's also when your progress is saved online and when replies to any questions you've asked come through. If you're offline for longer than that, nothing is lost — you just reconnect when you can.

When are these exams, and where do I apply?

NDA and CDS applications are only on UPSC's own site, upsc.gov.in; AFCAT on the host named in the current Air Force notification, which was afcat.edcil.co.in for cycle 02/2026; army entries on joinindianarmy.nic.in. Never through an agent and never through us. UPSC's calendar puts the NDA & NA (II) and CDS (II) 2026 papers on 13 September 2026, and the next notification for both on 2 December 2026. Confirm the current cycle at upsc.gov.in.

Still have a question about the SSB, AFCAT or the app? Message us on WhatsApp →

Start now

The first test at the board is the one you can train.

Start training verbal and non-verbal reasoning today — free.

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www.mastermentalability.in/defence