I still remember that morning. The result was out. My son's name was on the list. He got into Sainik School.
I cried. My wife cried. Even my son cried — and he never cries.
We are from a small town in Rajasthan. No big coaching center nearby. No English-medium school in our area. People around us said, "Sainik School? That's not for families like ours." But here we are. And I want to tell you exactly how we did it.
We Almost Didn't Try
I'll be real with you. I almost didn't fill the form. A neighbor told me the exam is very tough. He said only kids from big cities with expensive Sainik school coaching get selected. That scared me. We don't have much money. I thought maybe he was right.
But my son wanted it badly. He saw a Sainik School video on YouTube one day. He came running to me and said, "Papa, I want to go there." That look on his face changed my mind.
So we tried. With whatever we had.
What We Did Instead of Fancy Coaching
Let me break it down. This is the real stuff. No sugarcoating.
We downloaded the syllabus first. Sounds basic, right? But you would be shocked how many parents skip this step. I printed the full AISSEE ↗ syllabus and stuck it on the wall. Every single topic was listed there. That became our map.
We used his school textbooks. The Sainik School exam for Class 6 is based on the Class 5 syllabus. So we went back to basics. NCERT books. Nothing fancy. We read every chapter properly. Not fast. Properly.
YouTube became our teacher. Free videos on Maths, GK, English, reasoning — everything is out there. We watched one topic every evening after dinner. Then my son would solve questions from a sample paper. That was our daily routine for eight months.
We bought two books. One was a Sainik School previous year paper book. Cost around 200 rupees. The other was an intelligence and reasoning book. That's it. Two books. Total spend — maybe 400 rupees.
Mock tests were the game-changer. I found free mock tests online. My son did one every Sunday. In the beginning, he scored badly. Like really badly. But week by week, the scores went up. He started finishing on time. He stopped making silly mistakes. Those Sunday tests taught him more than any classroom could.
The Part Nobody Talks About
Here is something I noticed. Most blog posts about Sainik School coaching talk about study plans and books. That's fine. But nobody talks about the mental side.
My son got frustrated many times. He wanted to quit. One night he threw his book across the room. I didn't scold him. I sat next to him and said, "Beta, even soldiers feel like giving up. But they don't."
That conversation mattered more than any coaching class.
Discipline beats talent. I truly believe that. My son is not a genius. He is an average student. But he showed up every single day. He did his mock test every Sunday. He revised his weak topics again and again. That consistency — that was our real secret.
Do You Really Need Coaching?
Okay, let me be fair here. I am not against coaching. If you can afford good Sainik School entrance coaching, go for it. A good teacher makes a difference. They know the exam pattern. They push your child. They save time.
But if you can't afford it? Don't lose hope. Don't think your child has no chance. That's just not true.
We are living proof.
What your child actually needs is this — a clear syllabus, NCERT books, free YouTube lessons, weekly mock tests, and one parent who sits with them every evening. That's the whole formula.
A Few Quick Tips From Our Experience
I want to share some small things that helped us along the way.
Start early. We began eight months before the exam. Last-minute panic doesn't work for this test.
Focus extra on Maths. It carries the most marks. My son spent 40 minutes on Maths every single day. No excuses. No holidays.
Don't ignore GK. We read one page of a GK book daily. Just one page. Over time, it added up.
Practice reasoning puzzles. The intelligence section confuses a lot of kids. But if you practice regularly, it becomes easy. Almost fun, actually.
And talk to your child. Ask them how they feel. Ask if something is too hard. Be their coach — even if you never went to college yourself. Your support matters more than you think.
To Every Small-Town Parent Reading This
I know what it feels like. You wonder if your child can compete with city kids. You look at those big coaching ads online and feel small.
But let me tell you something from my heart. This exam does not care where you come from. It only cares how well your child has prepared. And preparation doesn't need a lot of money. It needs time, effort, and a little bit of belief.
My son is at Sainik School now. He wears that uniform every day. He calls me on weekends and tells me about his new friends, his training, his teachers.
Every time I hear his voice, I think — we did it.
And so can you.
