SSB Overview

Introduction:

The selection process at the SSB is based on highly scientific and well-evolved techniques, which aims at assessing the personality traits of an individual in the context of the requirements of the Defence Forces.

The SSB recommends the candidate as a potential officer material, who after rigorous training in the stipulated training academy and further chiseling in the unit into which he/she is commissioned into subsequently, can be suitably groomed into an officer.The best SSB coaching centre in Lucknow Shield Defence Academy grooms the aspirant's personality in a well-trained manner.

The experience, maturity and familiarity with the service conditions, enable him/her to subsequently discharge the service obligations appropriately.

The SSB’s adopts three different techniques of testing the candidates, applied by three different assessors (Interviewing Officer, GTO &Psychologist) to assess the same personality traits of the candidate at his conscious, sub-conscious & non-conscious levels. These techniques are as listed below:-

·        Interview Technique

·        Group Testing Technique

·        Psychological Technique

It is interesting to understand, that though the above three techniques are divergent in their application and tools of assessment; these converge to quantify the acceptable shades of the same personality traits desired to be possessed by the candidate.

The requirement of applying the three techniques to a candidate is to provide a three dimensional view of his personality. It may be compared to viewing an object from its three different sides, so that an overall complete picture is available, when assessment of the three assessors is finally put together.

Further, certain traits and qualities are more prominently discernable through a particular technique, eg, physical stamina, through GTO’s technique, as compared to other two techniques. Hence, the ‘grey areas’ of one technique are confirmed by the inputs received from the other assessors during the final Board Conference.

Schedule of Testing at SSB

The selection process entails a five day testing schedule. The reporting day to the SSB, as given in the Call up letter, is not included in the said five days and is meant for documentation / settling down (except if, the candidates have been called early in the morning, in which case Screening Test happens on the same day itself).

(a) Day-1 is called the Stage-1 of testing or ‘Screening Test’ and entails the following activities:

Intelligence Test or a test of reasoning ability, similar to the ones that you find in magazines like Competition Success, etc comprising of verbal and non-verbal questions. The test is timed and hence, practice attempting these tests in your spare time will considerably improve your performance.

Picture Perception and Description Test, in which a hazy picture is flashed, and the candidates are expected to write a short story regarding the characters identified by them in the picture within a restricted time. The requirement in this test is that the story should present a positive perception and convey a purposeful action by the main character of the story, which he executes for the larger good of the society rather than his own individual promotion.

Later, a discussion on the story perceived by each candidate is conducted in groups of about 15 candidates each. The aim of the discussion is to broadly identify candidates who have the potential for being considered for the Stage-II of testing. All candidates who meaningfully contribute towards the formation of the commonly agreed group story get recommended. A word of caution here, candidates who do not participate, even if they have performed well in the other tests listed above, are unlikely to be recommended.

Result of Stage-1 is announced and only recommended candidates are retained for Stage-II tests, the others are dispatched on the first day itself. Generally, about 30-40% candidates are retained for Stage II.

(b) Day-II is devoted towards the conduct of Psychology tests. These are conducted      indoors and adequate briefing is given by the Psychologist prior to commencing each test regarding the requirements and the method of attempting.

The tests are designed to extract responses from the candidates at their unconscious level and with the imposition of a time constraint for each test; it is difficult for a candidate to hide his actual personality traits.

Hence, it is cardinal that much before you proceed for your SSB, you inculcate positive attitude in your life, adopt an outlook of abundance and look at the world around you, filled with opportunities and hope.

It is imperative that you maintain a positive frame of mind and be realistic in your responses. The art of positive thinking has to be developed over a sustained period of time and must become second nature to your behaviour.

Also, an extremely essential ingredient to do well in the psychological tests is a high order of general awareness and imagination that will evolve over a period of time through real life experiences by closely connecting with the environment around you and through a vigorous reading habit.

The details of the tests conducted by the Psychologist and the inferences drawn about your personality attributes will be discussed with you in detail at the best. There are four major tests conducted, which are:

·        Word Association Test (WAT)

·        Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT)

·        Situation Reaction Test (SRT)

·        Self Description (SD)

 

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(c) Interview Technique. Personal interview may be conducted by the Interviewing Officer either after the conduct of Psychology tests or on subsequent days depending upon the total number of candidates to be interviewed and the availability of the Interviewing Officer.

The interview is conducted in a very friendly atmosphere and the candidate is put to complete ease by the interviewing officer. Once the IO feels that he has established a reasonably comfortable rapport with you by interacting with you regarding your family background and interests, he will ask you questions pertaining to general awareness and may ask you to describe the organization of an event based on the interests and hobbies mentioned by you in your Personal Information Questionnaire (PIQ) Form.

He is also likely to check your ability to withstand stress by putting you through stressful and intriguing situations. The best method of facing the interview is to be completely honest and do not try to bluff the IO.

Also, be well acquainted with current affairs and improve your general awareness before proceeding for the SSB. The interview generally lasts for about 45 minutes

Services Selection BoardInterview (SSB Interviews), also called as "Intelligence and Personality test" is conducted by SSB Board, Ministry of Defence. Those who clear the first stage (Either CDS or NDA) have to undergo SSB interviews, spread over a period of 5 days. The best SSB coaching institute in Lucknow Shield DefenceAcademy provides effective sort of training to crack SSB

This stage comprises two sub-stages i.e;-

STAGE – A

Stage one selection system includes the following:-

·  @ Intelligence Test (verbal and non verbal).

Picture Perception and Description Test Picture is flashed for 30 seconds. The candidates have to broadly note down seven basic parameters viz number of characters, age, gender, mood, action relating to past, present and future for each character in one minute. Time for story writing is four minutes.

· Discussion of the picture – 30 Minutes In this phase batch is divided into different groups. Strength of group is around 15 candidates. Each candidate narrates his individual written story verbatim. Subsequently, in Part-II all the candidates have to discuss amongst themselves and achieve a common consensus about the characters and theme of the story.

After all candidates have undergone stage one. The results for stage one testing are declared. Recommended candidates are retained for stage-II testing and those not recommended are dispatched back.

STAGE - B

It comprises psychological tests, group tests, and group tasks. These three tests are conducted on three consecutive days.

a) Psychological Tests:- Thematic Apperception Test: 12 Pictures including one blank are shown. Candidates are asked to write a story around what led to the situation? what is going on and what would be the outcome? Each Picture is shown for 30 seconds and candidates are asked to write it in 4 minutes. In the blank slide, they have to think a picture of their own choice and write a story around that.

b) Word Association Test: - In this test, a series of 60 words are shown to the candidates one after another for 15 seconds each. The candidate is required to write down the first thought or idea that comes to his mind.

c) Situation Reaction Test: -This test consists of 60 routine life situations regarding day to day activities. The situations are printed in a booklet and the candidate is asked to write his reactions by completing the sentences, as to how they would feel, think and act in these situations.

d) Self Description Test:- Candidate is asked to write five separate paragraphs on each context about the opinion of his parents/guardian, friends, teachers/superiors.

Group Tests

GTO – Day 1 This includes the following:-

Group Discussion:- Two topics of common interest (social issues and current events) are discussed. It is an informal discussion and not a debate. Each topic is allotted 20 minutes each. No definite conclusion is required to be deduced.

Group planning exercise: -It comprises of five stages viz., explanation of the model, reading of the narrative by GTO, five minutes for self reading by candidates, 10 minutes for individual written solutions and 20 minutes for group discussion. Narration of the group solution and definite conclusion is required.

Progressive group task:- It is the first outdoor task. A set of four obstacles with progressively increasing level of difficulties are to be completed in 40 to 50 minutes. Structures, helping material and load are provided to the group.

Group obstacle race: -In this task the group is pitched against each other over a set of six obstacles with a snake like load to carry.

Half group task: -It has one obstacle similar to progressive group task with helping material and load to be carried. Group is divided into two Sub Groups and assigned the same obstacle in turn in such a way that when one group is working, the other is not allowed to watch it. Time allotted to each sub group is 15 minutes.

Lecturette:- It is an individual task and the candidate is required to give a short talk to the group. Three minutes are allowed to prepare any chosen topic from the four given in the Lecturette Cards for the talk.

Group Tasks Individual Obstacles: A set of 10 obstacles is set to be tackled individually. Obstacles are numbered from one to ten, denoting the points each one carries. Each individual is given three minutes.

Command Task: Each individual is nominated as commander for one task consisting of one obstacle similar to the Progressive Group Task Time given is 15 minutes.

Final Group Task: Task consisting of one obstacle similar to the Progressive Group Task . Time given to complete this task is 15 - 20 minutes.

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