I have my RCB briefing at the end of July. I have read ALL the official army "bumff" but I was wondering if anyone could give me a personal account of their experience there?
I will be much Obliged! Cheers,
Blandy
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Is there any potential Officers out there?
Is there any potential Officers out there?
I know this is a REAL long shot, but..............
I have my RCB briefing at the end of July. I have read ALL the official army "bumff" but I was wondering if anyone could give me a personal account of their experience there?
I will be much Obliged!
Cheers,
Blandy
I have my RCB briefing at the end of July. I have read ALL the official army "bumff" but I was wondering if anyone could give me a personal account of their experience there?
I will be much Obliged! Cheers,
Blandy
Happy to help
I am down at ssndhurst, and did my RCB in January.
I know they tell you to be prepared, but really - be prepared. It is going to be a very stressfull few days, have no doubt. It is perfectly do-able providing you set yourself up for a lot of stress and confusion.
You will doubt yourself whilst you are there, they are expert at putting you down and removing any frontage you may put on. Just keep your cool and remind yourself that eveybody is told the same of "you are useless" crap. They don't necessarily mean it, they are just trying to knock you. Each group is told that they are the worst group ever to go through, etc...
Always stand your ground, if you think you are right and they question you, do not back down - they are testing your self confidence. if you are wrong accept it, but do not come across as indecisive.
The physical is a piece of cake - make sure you show aggression on all physical activity.
most importantly, you can still pass RCB if you do naff on a couple of activities - the assessment is much more on character during the whole stay than on each event. too many people got bogged down with having performed badly on one event, which then had a knock-on effect for the rest. If you bugger something up, shelve it for later and crack on with the game in hand. do your dwelling on mistakes once you have passed!
Prepare several 5 minute talks on aspects of your CV. This can be anything from travel to hobbies to your university / college / school. Pick an obvious one or two, and you are bound to get that subject.
In essence they are looking for calm, confident people, whos voice is commanding and gets peoples attention. People with aggression and the will to have a go. People who can think under pressure and stress with no feedback on performance.
the pace is much slower than the briefing, and you will be sat around for long periods of time. use them well - read the newspapers on offer, mentally prepare yourself for the next challenge, and definately relax.
be warned, you are given routine orders (daily programme) verbally each morning. you are expected to remember every detail, as you will not be guided around, and must make sure you are where you should be on time. if you can sneak in a pencil and paper, you will have an easier time. if not, buddy up with someone and split the memorising.
get to know your team straight away, and convince them to work with each other. e.g. make sure that everyone is included in the discussion group. find out peoples weaknesses and see if you can cover them up and vice versa. you may think that this will weaken your chances, but you really aren't in competition , i promise you. there is a standard against which you are all measured, and if you all work together than you will all pass. plus, the assessors are sharp enough to notice which people are helping to cover others, so it puts you in good stead.
This is all the advice I can think of off the top of my head. If you have any specific concerns, drop me a line. life is pretty fast pace at sandhurst, but i will try to get on the internet again this week.
Jacko
P.S. Sandhurst is hell - run whilst you still can.......
I am down at ssndhurst, and did my RCB in January.
I know they tell you to be prepared, but really - be prepared. It is going to be a very stressfull few days, have no doubt. It is perfectly do-able providing you set yourself up for a lot of stress and confusion.
You will doubt yourself whilst you are there, they are expert at putting you down and removing any frontage you may put on. Just keep your cool and remind yourself that eveybody is told the same of "you are useless" crap. They don't necessarily mean it, they are just trying to knock you. Each group is told that they are the worst group ever to go through, etc...
Always stand your ground, if you think you are right and they question you, do not back down - they are testing your self confidence. if you are wrong accept it, but do not come across as indecisive.
The physical is a piece of cake - make sure you show aggression on all physical activity.
most importantly, you can still pass RCB if you do naff on a couple of activities - the assessment is much more on character during the whole stay than on each event. too many people got bogged down with having performed badly on one event, which then had a knock-on effect for the rest. If you bugger something up, shelve it for later and crack on with the game in hand. do your dwelling on mistakes once you have passed!
Prepare several 5 minute talks on aspects of your CV. This can be anything from travel to hobbies to your university / college / school. Pick an obvious one or two, and you are bound to get that subject.
In essence they are looking for calm, confident people, whos voice is commanding and gets peoples attention. People with aggression and the will to have a go. People who can think under pressure and stress with no feedback on performance.
the pace is much slower than the briefing, and you will be sat around for long periods of time. use them well - read the newspapers on offer, mentally prepare yourself for the next challenge, and definately relax.
be warned, you are given routine orders (daily programme) verbally each morning. you are expected to remember every detail, as you will not be guided around, and must make sure you are where you should be on time. if you can sneak in a pencil and paper, you will have an easier time. if not, buddy up with someone and split the memorising.
get to know your team straight away, and convince them to work with each other. e.g. make sure that everyone is included in the discussion group. find out peoples weaknesses and see if you can cover them up and vice versa. you may think that this will weaken your chances, but you really aren't in competition , i promise you. there is a standard against which you are all measured, and if you all work together than you will all pass. plus, the assessors are sharp enough to notice which people are helping to cover others, so it puts you in good stead.
This is all the advice I can think of off the top of my head. If you have any specific concerns, drop me a line. life is pretty fast pace at sandhurst, but i will try to get on the internet again this week.
Jacko
P.S. Sandhurst is hell - run whilst you still can.......
Better to light a few candles than complain about the dark
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That reminds me of one of the more tedious aspects of sandhurst - they make us memorise the locations and names of all statues and features, including when they were brought to sandhurst 
.
There's quite an amazing list of bods who have been here, like Churchill and the Sultan of Oman. Plus Harry is coming next year (not that he will get anything like the same treatment....).
What brought you to Sandhurst?
Jacko
. There's quite an amazing list of bods who have been here, like Churchill and the Sultan of Oman. Plus Harry is coming next year (not that he will get anything like the same treatment....).
What brought you to Sandhurst?
Jacko
Better to light a few candles than complain about the dark
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Passing RCB
I'm not wholly worried about RCB, and reckon i should pass. But i was speaking to a guy my age (17), who had applied for 6th Form scholarship. He failed; and he got 10 A*s at GCSEs. Does this just prove that they care little of your academic acheivements, and just want good leaders? I got 2 A*s 3As 5Bs; i hope this wont hinder me. Anyone shed any light on that?
Absolutely. Morale Courage and Integrity are key characteristics, too.Sisyphus wrote:Academic quals are only part of the process. More important are personal qualities, such as leadership potential, organizational skills, determination, self-discipliine, etc.........................
Jacko
Better to light a few candles than complain about the dark
(Bronco Lane)
(Bronco Lane)
Just a note on RCB...
I did my briefing this week, expecting it to be no probs. Got a cat 1, but it was a lot more difficult than I or anyone expected it to be. Its not about A*s etc, quite a few people had degrees from good unis and screwed it on the comp tests (which are verbal reasoning, abstract reasoning - shapes etc, and numeric ability). You've just got to be good at quick reading and have good arithmatic - a maths graduate was pants though.
If you're outgoing, have a bit of a brain on you and a common sense you should pass. But I warn you EVERYONE was thinking they were gonna walk it, and there were some nasty surprises
I did my briefing this week, expecting it to be no probs. Got a cat 1, but it was a lot more difficult than I or anyone expected it to be. Its not about A*s etc, quite a few people had degrees from good unis and screwed it on the comp tests (which are verbal reasoning, abstract reasoning - shapes etc, and numeric ability). You've just got to be good at quick reading and have good arithmatic - a maths graduate was pants though.
If you're outgoing, have a bit of a brain on you and a common sense you should pass. But I warn you EVERYONE was thinking they were gonna walk it, and there were some nasty surprises
Lots of good advice above....I stuck this on another page but thought it'd be worth adding:
The process for normal entrants is
- Interview at an ACIO or with an officer in your local area.
- RCB briefing - 2 days
- RCB - 3 1/2 days (includes medical)
- Sandhurst - hurrah!
Probably the most important part of the RCB is the planning exercise. My DS at Sandbags said that he could just turn up to that when he was there and 95% of the time tell you who would pass or fail just from the exercise.
You'll be given an hour to come up with a plan from a written brief and then you'll have to stand up in front of three officers of Major and above and explain what you have decided to do. They will make a point of grilling you to see what you think like under pressure. No matter what you've come up with it'll be criticised so stay calm, think and ensure you're giving reasonable answers. They will also put you under pressre by asking time/distance questions so if your maths isn't great it's worth having practised them beforehand.
Best of luck old chap.........
I put this on as well about the briefing...
When you go to the briefing you'll do a teach on the planning ex, a quick discussion and a command task. It's just there to show you what to expect. However you can fail the briefing so you still need to go with the right attitude and work hard. You'll learn a lot about the main board there and will be much better placed.
Just a quick point - the only thing that goes forward with you from the briefing to the main board is a battery of computerised tests. I didn't take these very seriousy but if you fail them that's it......so, well, do.
Just a note on current affairs, before the main board I got a load of blank sheets and used one each for a different topic on world and current affairs. Most of the info I got mainly from the economist and I just took down notes on key players, topics or events. I didn't go over the top but had one on Kyoto, Iran and so on as they were the topics at the time. At the main board you will do a news and current affairs quiz on the computer and also if you're confident about topics you can speak much better in the main board.
Just one last thing on the maths...they will cover this at the briefing....but get used to doing time speed distance questions if you're not brilliant at maths. I'm not but made sure I could do it under pressure so that when I stood up on the planning phase I new I could confidently do it. Eg I knew how many minutes it would take to cover a mile at 15 mph and so on. Sounds obvious but when under pressure it's not as easy.
Best of luck all.....It seems a long road but it's all worth it
The process for normal entrants is
- Interview at an ACIO or with an officer in your local area.
- RCB briefing - 2 days
- RCB - 3 1/2 days (includes medical)
- Sandhurst - hurrah!
Probably the most important part of the RCB is the planning exercise. My DS at Sandbags said that he could just turn up to that when he was there and 95% of the time tell you who would pass or fail just from the exercise.
You'll be given an hour to come up with a plan from a written brief and then you'll have to stand up in front of three officers of Major and above and explain what you have decided to do. They will make a point of grilling you to see what you think like under pressure. No matter what you've come up with it'll be criticised so stay calm, think and ensure you're giving reasonable answers. They will also put you under pressre by asking time/distance questions so if your maths isn't great it's worth having practised them beforehand.
Best of luck old chap.........
I put this on as well about the briefing...
When you go to the briefing you'll do a teach on the planning ex, a quick discussion and a command task. It's just there to show you what to expect. However you can fail the briefing so you still need to go with the right attitude and work hard. You'll learn a lot about the main board there and will be much better placed.
Just a quick point - the only thing that goes forward with you from the briefing to the main board is a battery of computerised tests. I didn't take these very seriousy but if you fail them that's it......so, well, do.
Just a note on current affairs, before the main board I got a load of blank sheets and used one each for a different topic on world and current affairs. Most of the info I got mainly from the economist and I just took down notes on key players, topics or events. I didn't go over the top but had one on Kyoto, Iran and so on as they were the topics at the time. At the main board you will do a news and current affairs quiz on the computer and also if you're confident about topics you can speak much better in the main board.
Just one last thing on the maths...they will cover this at the briefing....but get used to doing time speed distance questions if you're not brilliant at maths. I'm not but made sure I could do it under pressure so that when I stood up on the planning phase I new I could confidently do it. Eg I knew how many minutes it would take to cover a mile at 15 mph and so on. Sounds obvious but when under pressure it's not as easy.
Best of luck all.....It seems a long road but it's all worth it
