He Failed Twice Before Getting Into Sainik School - Here's What Changed

Arjun's sitting in the mess hall at Sainik School Chittorgarh right now, eating dinner with his batchmates.

Three years ago, he was sitting on his bed crying after seeing his second AISSEE ↗ failure result.

His mom had borrowed money from relatives for the exam fee. His dad kept saying "maybe this isn't for you." Teachers at his government school said trying a third time was pointless.

He tried anyway.

Got in on attempt number three with rank 47.

I met him during a school visit last month. Asked him to be honest about what actually helped. No motivational speech crap, just the real stuff.

Here's what he told me.

First Attempt Was Just Overconfidence

Class 5 me Arjun was a decent student. Topped his small village school in Rajasthan. Everyone said he's smart, should definitely try for Sainik School.

He registered for AISSEE. Studied from his regular school books. Thought that's enough preparation.

Exam day came. Question paper looked nothing like what he'd practiced. Time management went completely wrong. Left 20 questions unattempted because he spent too long on difficult ones.

Result? Didn't even come close to qualifying marks.

"I cried that day but honestly I hadn't prepared properly at all," he said. "Just assumed being good in regular school means I'd clear competitive exams too."

Reality hit hard.

Second Attempt Had Wrong Strategy

Parents scraped together money somehow. Enrolled him in a coaching center in the nearest town - 40 km from his village.

He'd wake up at 4 AM, catch the 5:30 bus, reach coaching by 7. Classes till 1 PM. Bus back home by 3:30. Then regular school homework.

Sounds dedicated, right?

Problem was the coaching sucked. Teacher would just read from a book they could've read themselves. Gave them 50 practice sheets but never actually explained concepts properly.

Arjun was exhausted from traveling daily. Fell sick twice that year. Missed a lot of classes. Money kept getting spent but preparation wasn't really improving.

Second attempt result? Better than first time but still not enough to qualify.

That's when relatives started saying forget this dream, focus on regular studies, get a normal job eventually.

His dad halfway agreed.

Third Attempt Looked Impossible

Family was done spending money on this. No more coaching fees possible.

Arjun's 13 now. Two failures already. Most kids would quit.

He tells me he was angry more than sad. Angry that money problems were stopping him. Angry that bad coaching wasted one whole year. Angry that everyone expected him to give up.

So he made a weird decision - try one last time but completely on his own terms.

Borrowed previous year AISSEE books from a senior who'd cleared. Got old NCERT books from school library. Found a friend whose elder brother had some study material.

No coaching. No fancy notes. Just whatever free resources he could gather.

What Actually Changed This Time

Here's what Arjun did differently in third attempt:

Stopped trying to study everything

First two attempts, he tried covering every single topic comprehensively. Never finished the syllabus properly.

Third time, he looked at previous 5 years question papers. Noticed some topics appeared every single year. Others barely came.

Focused heavily on repeated topics. Skipped or just briefly covered rare ones.

"I gave up trying to be perfect," he said. "Just wanted enough marks to qualify."

Studied early morning only

His village had power cuts every evening. Earlier he'd waste time waiting for electricity to come back.

Third attempt, he switched completely to morning study. 4 AM to 7 AM every single day. Nobody awake to disturb him. Mind fresh. No distractions.

That's it. Just three hours but consistent and focused.

Practiced with a timer obsessively

His biggest problem was time management in the actual exam. He'd get stuck on difficult questions, waste time, then rush through easy ones making silly mistakes.

So third attempt preparation, every single practice test he took - strict timer. 2 hours only. When time up, pencil down even if questions remaining.

Taught himself to skip difficult questions immediately. Come back later if time permits.

"The exam doesn't give bonus marks for solving hard questions," he said. "Easy question aur difficult question dono ke marks same hain."

Found one person who actually helped

There was this retired Army uncle in his village. Arjun barely knew him.

He gathered courage and went to his house. Explained the situation. Asked if uncle could spare 30 minutes weekly to clear his doubts.

Uncle agreed.

Every Sunday, Arjun would take his doubt list. Uncle would explain concepts in simple language. Sometimes solved problems together. Mostly just clarified things Arjun got confused about during self-study.

"Having one person who actually explained things properly made huge difference," Arjun said. "Didn't need expensive coaching. Just needed someone who cared enough to help."

Exam Day Still Went Wrong

Third attempt exam day, Arjun felt prepared. Confident even.

Reached the center. Paper started.

First 10 questions - he blanked on 3 of them. Panic started building.

Then he remembered his timer practice. Skipped those three. Moved ahead.

Did all the questions he definitely knew first. Then medium difficulty ones. Finally came back to the tough ones with whatever time was left.

Last 10 minutes he randomly guessed on questions he had no clue about. Negative marking existed but he figured some marks better than blank.

Came out of the exam feeling very average. Told his parents he thinks he'll fail again.

Result Day Was Confusing

Results came out. His mom checked because he was too scared.

She started crying.

He thought that means he failed. Again.

Turns out she was crying because he'd qualified. Rank 47.

Not a top rank. Not scholarship material. But enough to get admission through home state quota.

His dad, who'd been skeptical about the third attempt, hugged him for five minutes straight.

The retired Army uncle came over with sweets.

Sainik School Wasn't Easy Either

Getting admission and actually surviving there are two different challenges.

First few months Arjun struggled badly. Everyone else seemed smarter, more confident, better English speakers. Many came from city schools with better facilities.

He felt like he didn't belong.

But here's what he figured out - the entrance exam selected everyone on merit. He belonged there just as much as anyone else.

Slowly he caught up. Made friends. Got used to hostel life. Started actually enjoying the structured routine.

Now he's in Class 10, doing decently in academics, playing football for the school team, not planning to leave.

What He Wants Other Kids to Know

I asked Arjun what he'd tell students attempting AISSEE now, especially those who failed once or twice.

"Don't study more, study better," he said immediately. "I studied way less in third attempt than second attempt. But I studied the right things in the right way."

Also this - "If your family can't afford coaching, doesn't automatically mean you can't crack it. Free resources exist. Borrow books. Find one helpful person. Use YouTube for concepts. Timer se practice karo."

And finally - "Failing doesn't make you stupid. I failed twice. Still got in eventually. Most people who clear this exam, they also failed at something else sometime. That's just how learning works."

He had to get back to his evening study session so we wrapped up the conversation.

As he left, I thought about how many kids give up after one failure. One expensive coaching that didn't work. One bad exam day.

Arjun tried three times with barely any resources and figured it out.

Makes you wonder what's actually impossible versus what just needs a different approach