Page 18 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

story. Thereafter, they are seated in a group of 15 to 18 and asked to narrate
their respective stories one by one and finally discuss among themselves to
arrive at a common story of the group. Using the intelligence rating and the
performance in the PP&DT, roughly about 40 to 50% of the candidates are

retained for stage 2 testing.

Section 2 deals with psychological testing. In this section, a total of four
tests are conducted, namely the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Word

Association Test (WAT), Situation Reaction Test (SRT) and Self-Description
Test (SDT). In the TAT, 11 hazy pictures plus one blank picture are shown

one after the other and candidates are asked to write a short story. In the
WAT, 60 words are flashed on the screen one after the other and candidates
are asked to write a short sentence using the words shown. In the SRT,
candidates are given 60 practical and commonly occurring situations in a

booklet form and asked to react to each of the situations. Finally, in the SDT,
the candidates are asked to write five short paragraphs. The first three

paragraphs are about what his/her parents, friends/colleagues and teachers
think of him/her. The fourth paragraph is about what does he/she think of
himself/herself and the fifth paragraph is about what kind of person he/she

wishes to become and what improvements are needed. Based on the
responses in these tests, the psychologist will arrive at his assessment.

Section 3 deals with Group Testing. In this part of the test, a total of 9

different tests are conducted, namely two rounds of Group Discussion (GD),
Group Planning Exercise (GPE), Progressive Group Task (PGT), Group
Obstacle Race (GOR), Half Group Task (HGT), Lecturette, Individual

Obstacles (IOs), Command Task (CT) and Final Group Task (FGT). Each of
these tests has been explained in great detail in the relevant section of the
book.

Section 4 deals with the Personal Interview. In this section of the test, the
Interviewing Officer, by using six sets of Comprehensive Interview
Questionnaires (CIQs) arrives at his assessment of the candidate. All the six

CIQs have been explained and a suggestive answer for each one of them has
been provided. In addition, the Dos and Don’ts have also been explained.