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line before assaulting the obstacles. Those who finished, have to wait for the rest of the members to
reach the finish line. In the parlance of SSB such rule is called as group rule.
Out of Bound—Certain areas in the obstacles field are placed ‘out of bound’. Such areas are
normally painted in red colour. Out of bound means that you are not allowed access in those areas.
Safety Rules—Certain rules are meant primarily to ensure safety of candidates while performing
group tasks. The Group Testing Officer will explain you about these rules in detail. You must pay
attention to his instructions. One of such rules is not to jump long distances (more than four feet).
Another rule in this category is not to hang the rope in the neck to avoid the obvious mishaps.
Distance Rule—As an implication of one of the safety rules, it is prescribed that no distance
beyond four feet is to be crossed by jumping. Distance between two points -vertical, horizontal or
diagonal is to be bridged only using the provided helping materials.
Ground Rule—No member or the helping material must touch the ground/fall on the ground.
Anything that touches/falls on the ground has to go to the start line and start afresh.
Group Testing technique incorporates a battery of outdoor tasks. The tasks vary in terms of
difficulty, number of stages, and number of participants. The approach of the GTO is to converge on to
each individual by observing his group behaviour, effectiveness and individual competence.
Outdoor Group tasks include the following tasks :—
1. Progressive Group Task (PGT).
2. Half Group Task (HGT).
3. Command Task (CT).
4. Final Group Task (FGT).
5. Group Obstacle Race (GOR) Not applicable to AFSBs.
6. Individual Obstacles (IOs)
7. Lecturette.
While the first five tasks from the above-mentioned list are meant to observe the pattern of
interactive behaviour of the individual in the group, the last two i.e. individual obstacles and lecturette
measure the individual competence of candidate.
A leader/influential person has higher individual competence than the average and he interacts with
others in a better skilled manner. He has more tolerance, tact, will to accommodate, emotional control
and social intelligence. The outdoor tasks provide opportunity to observe these behaviour/abilities in a
rather reliable way. As the group advances towards from the start line to its destination, interaction
among the group members is unavoidable. Group has to agree on a plan and the plan is to be
implemented. Decisions are to be taken, weak member is to be helped, views are to be exchanged. The
context of mutual influence stimulates the emergence and the acceptance of the leader who emerges by
virtue of his qualities.
A leader must have his own physical and psychological strength. Individual obstacles and
lecturettes fathom these well. Agility, stamina, skill and risk taking behaviour are well reflected in the
individual obstacles while logic, knowledge, information, ability to concise and present facts with
confidence are convincingly reflected in extempore speech or Lecturette.

Lesson 18

PGT
(Progressive Group Task)
Drum is treated as load and some times as helping material. “Drum has an important role to play
because it has no roles to play. Drum is a Droipati which is carried on by every one”.
Progressive Group Task (the PGT). Progressive Group Task is the first in the sequence of the
outdoor task. The characteristics that mark the PGT are mentioned below :—