Page 19 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

Section 5 deals with the Conference Procedure. Typically at the SSB, the
assessment is three-dimensional and is done by the Psychologist, Group
Testing Officer (GTO) and the Interviewing Officer (IO). It is only during the
board conference that these assessors discuss each case carefully and arrive at

a final decision. This section of the book elaborates on the conference
procedures in detail.

The last part of the book includes service-related information, topics on

geopolitics and national issues.

General Guidelines

It is often noted that candidates, upon receiving a call letter, rush to the
nearest coaching centre to do a crash course, or pick up any book on SSB and

try to mug up ideas and views given in them. This leads to definite failure as
assessors are experts in discriminating between candidates who are genuinely
good and those who are superficial. A word of caution therefore, is that there

are no shortcuts to success. It calls for dedicated and systematic preparation.
To start with, one must build awareness about what is going on in the
environment. Selectors are not interested in knowing the dates, numbers,

statistics, etc. that are straight from books on general knowledge. The general
expectation is awareness about what is happening in the country and its
neighbourhood. This calls for reading newspapers regularly and maybe

supplementing it with a good magazine. Alternatively, watch any good
English news channel to keep yourself abreast of the latest developments. In
addition, it is recommended to watch popular TV shows like ‘We the People’,

‘Big Fight,’ etc., on NDTV 24x7 where current topics are debated by eminent
personalities of society.

Secondly, it may also be a good idea to start speaking in English with

friends and family members. It is unfortunate but true that the medium of
communication is English and many candidates hesitate and hence, do not
express themselves adequately and thus fail in the initial screening itself.

Hence, it is important to develop English language skills and it is possible
provided you practice regularly by speaking with friends and family