Page 15 - Failure to Triumph - Journey of A Student

towards you which may not be very desirable. Hence, dress up in a normal and decent way.
Gentlemen should shave and ladies must keep their hair bundled and not left loose. Service personnel
are particular about rules, regulations and discipline. Hence, be conscious of the Dos and Don’ts that
are told to you and make sure you adhere to them meticulously. Though these are not stated, they are

expected of any gentleman and lady and hence keenly observed by all the assessors during the tests
and otherwise.

FOR MORE JOIN ~ MISSION SSC / BANKING / UPSC
Testing Schedule

Unlike other organizations, the selection process in the armed forces is very elaborate and is done
over five days. Three different assessors namely the Interviewing Officer, Group Testing Officer and
the Psychologist test each candidate from three different perspectives and arrive at their respective
decision. Thereafter, on the last day in the board conference, they all sit together and discuss each

case to arrive at the final decision. The schedule of testing is described below.

Normally, candidates are made to report in the afternoon and are picked up by a bus
from the railway station. On reporting, they are given an opening briefing by the duty
Reporting GTO covering the testing schedule, dos and don’ts etc. After that the candidates are
–
Day asked to fill up a Personal Information Questionnaire (PIQ) form. The PIQ forms the
basis of psychological testing and the interview. The importance of this form and how to
go about filling this are covered later.
Candidates are put through a screening test which comprises of intelligence tests
followed by picture perception and discussion test. Based on the performance in these
Day 1 –
tests some of the candidates are retained for stage 2 testing and others are allowed to
return home the same day. Hence, qualifying in this test is most important.
On day 2, candidates screened in on day 1 are put through psychological tests which
comprise of Word Association Test (WAT), Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and
Day 2 –
Situation Reaction Test (SRT). In addition, the candidates are asked to describe
themselves (Self Description). On completion of these tests, the interview will start.
Candidates go through Group Testing on day 3 and 4. Candidates are divided into
groups of 6 to 10 each depending upon the total candidates screened in. On day 3 Group
Discussion (GD), Group Planning Exercise (GPE), Progressive Group Task (PGT),

Day 3 – Group Obstacle Race (GOR), Half Group Task (HGT) and Lecturette are conducted. In
some cases even the Individual Obstacles can be conducted on day 3 itself depending
upon the weather and engagements of the assessor. On completion of the GTO testing,
the interviews of the remaining candidates are done.

On day 4, the remaining tasks of the Group Testing like Individual Obstacles, Command
Day 4 – Task and Final Group Task are conducted. On completion of group testing, interview of
the remaining candidates are done.
Last day is the conference day wherein each candidate is called in one by one for a final

Day 5 – look and a final decision is arrived at. The results are announced by afternoon and
candidates not recommended are allowed to leave.
Successful candidates are put through medicals in the nearest military hospital and on an