Introduction

The psychological tests are administered on the second day of the five day testing schedule that takes place at the SSB. These tests are based on very scientific procedures of assessing the qualities of a candidate, at his/her subconscious level and the non-conscious state of mind.

The primary aim of these tests is to assess the potential of a candidate in terms of qualities or personality traits that are desired in a ‘potential officer material’.

The tests are required to be written against the constraint of time. Hence, the candidate is unable to hide his true feelings and the psychologist is able to read the actual personality of the candidate while he/she gives his/her responses in terms of thoughts, feelings and actions.

The four psychological tests that all candidates are put through during their SSB are as follows:

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).

Word Association Test (WAT).

Situation Reaction Test (SRT).

Self Description (SD).

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

TAT entails writing 12 stories on pictures shown to you one after the other on a screen. You will get 30 sec to view the picture and 04 min to write a story on each picture.

The 12^th one is a blank screen and you are required to write any story from your own mind. Make sure that you link this story with a momentous reflection from your own life or a story of an achiever that you have heard or read and that really touched your heart.

Let us begin with talking about how to observe the picture when it is shown to you:

First look at the background, see the setting of the story, e.g. rural/urban, market place/ building, etc, then closely observe the foreground and see how many characters are there, what are they holding/doing and what kind of work is going on. Then ask yourself who I am amongst them, and what am I doing there. Relate closely to the main character chosen by you and give him or her, a name.

You may not be able to write more than about 08 odd lines in the stipulated four minutes. As a rough yardstick, write about 02 lines for what could have led to this scene, write about 04 lines on what is presently going on in the scene that you have perceived and write about 02 lines to describe, as to what the logical outcome of the scene was finally.

Write the story in past tense and make sure you write a positive, constructive and mature store. The assessor will observe your mental level, general awareness and how you relate with the environment around you. The views conveyed by you in the story would reflect your social attitude and responsibilities that you feel you have towards the others in the society.

Make sure that the main character chosen by you is empowered e.g. improving the standards of a railway station may be done by one of the following; station master, social activist, NSS students, leader of station vendors’ association, workers/ coolie's union leader, etc.

Secondly, do not unnecessarily perceive a problem when it is not shown in the picture, e.g. scene of marketplace, do not visualise an accident, bomb blast, chain snatching, etc if it is not shown, as it would show a pessimistic bent of mind.

Thirdly, unless you know the job of the main character you cannot really justify the action done by him, e.g. if you have no clue of the work of a nuclear scientist, do not make your main character as a nuclear scientist you will not be able to relate with him and obviously not be able to justify his actions.

Do not write a wishful story, e.g. rags to riches, etc. Your story should depict a positive frame of mind, the main character should be an achiever, who feels and does things for others in the society and do not preferably write an individualistic story, where the main character is doing something only for his own benefit or projection.

Never forget to write an outcome of the story, in which do not depict the main character being overly reward seeking person. A simple pat on the back or satisfaction of doing the job that he did is good enough.

Finally, ‘good themes’ will only come to your mind, if you are genuinely a ‘good person’ at heart. Somewhere or the other you will be projecting your true personality so make sure to improve your thought process rather than just remembering some stories.

Also, improving your general awareness will allow you to perceive diverse thoughts with clarity and maturity.

Word Association Test (WAT)

In the Word Association test (WAT), 60 words will be flashed before you, each for 15 sec and you are required to write the first thought that comes to your mind after reading that word.

Many candidates mistake this test for a sentence making test, rather than a word association test and hence, falter in the very approach to this particular test.

The WAT is designed to assess your personality traits, like all other tests administered by the psychologist, through the responses given by you in your psych dossier.

Hence, out of the 60 words, some words will relate to yourintellectual quotient, some to yoursocial attributes, some will reflect youreffectiveness as part of a team, while some would depict yourdynamism.

It is highly undesirable to practice WAT without understanding how your responses will be analysed by the psychologist.

Therefore, all those candidates who practice WAT by making sentences, especially online are doing a big disservice to all others who practice along with them, as it will make your mind coached and you willlose your natural ability of thinking original.

The sentences that you make while practicing must reflect your immediate and spontaneous response, and hence it must be always atimed practice.

No single response in a WAT will be taken into account, but, your responses cumulatively will show your true and general behaviour.

The same is further corroborated and viewed in relation to your responses given in other psych test and the information given by you in your PIQ Form. It is only then that a final personality profile of the candidate emerges.

Your endeavour must be to write meaningful observations from your life. Do not write very ordinary sentences that shows a very superficial thought process. Avoid giving sentences which are auto-suggestive or where you are preaching others, as it puts a question mark on your intentions of actually walking the talk.

Avoid starting a sentence with I, he, Ram (or any other name), as it may show a self oriented personality.

In case you are unable to understand the meaning of a word it is better to leave it. However, if you leave a pattern of words not attempted in terms of a personality trait, it would normally show a deficiency of that quality.

Do write the word even if you are not writing its sentence, so that your sequence does not go wrong.

You could write some idioms, special information sentences also, but restrict such sentences to bare minimum.

Finally, you will be able to write quality sentences only if your knowledge, maturity and personality is well groomed and balanced.

Method for Self Preparation

Pick up any magazine and underline 60 words at random.

Keep a stop watch with you and start attempting in a timed manner.

Attempt all and then start assessing yourself. Identify how many are good and meaningful observations. Mark the ones which are low level responses or which are representing an incorrect frame of mind. Rewrite those again and see if you can make better sentences.

Now try and calibrate your thought process to avoid making similar mistakes again. Remember, practice will only help if you know which particular personality trait of your needs to be modified.

Finally, show it to a good mentor who will assist you to change the way you look at life.

Situation Reaction Test (SRT)

In the Situation Reaction Test (SRT), the candidates are expected to give outspontaneous and instinctiveresponses to certain stressful, unfamiliar and real to life situations.

A total of 60 situations are required to be addressed in 30 minutes, i.e. 30 seconds per situation.

These are ‘real to life’ situations, which you may encounter in your day to day life. These are given in a Booklet, in the form of statements which you have to complete by giving appropriate reactions.

Due to a constraint of time, you will generally give a response, which would be close to your actual reaction, while facing similar situation in real life.

The following aspects must be borne in mind while attempting the SRT:

You must write your responses in the separate sheets given to you for the purpose and not inside the SRT Booklet.

Give your response to a situation in a methodical / step wise manner, which is brief, but complete in all aspects; e.g. if you see a road side accident, you must start by giving first aid (if available), followed by organizing transport to take injured person to hospital, then inform police authorities and lastly inform the next of kin of the injured person.

Be realistic, and do not show illogical bravado or foolhardiness in your responses; e.g. fight alone with a number of hoodlums while returning from a late night movie show with your girl friend, or jump into a river to save someone, when you are told in the situation that you are a non swimmer.

However, if your honour is at stake, then you can even sacrifice your life to protect it; e.g. if the hoodlums tell you that we will not harm you, if leave your girl friend behind and walk away.

Do not show wishful behaviour, by presupposing things to make your problem easier; e.g. should not imagine that police will come out of the ‘blue’ and apprehend the hoodlums.

Do not demonstrate panic in your behaviour by writing phrases like, shout for help, cried out for assistance, etc.

You must show presence of mind and utilize various recourses available at your disposal to their fullest potential while giving out your reaction. Besides, it shall also show your general awareness and resourcefulness.

While giving your responses, you must never forget your moral responsibilities towards the society and show empathy in your responses while dealing with the ‘feelings of others’.

Most important is that you need to actually mould your thought process closest to what you portray in your responses. Because, somewhere or the other in your responses in SRT/TAT/WAT/SD, your true personality traits will be visible to the assessor and naturally, it will not match with the “prepared” responses given by you.

Different Types of Responses Given By Candidates

Action Oriented Responses

In these responses the action is executed and completed. These are considered to be the best responses, and reflect the qualities of a candidate, who is self sufficient, self-reliant and a “doer”.

For example, “he jumped into the river and saved the boy”; “She along with other students controlled the fire by using fire fighting equipment available in the college”.

Make sure that all intermediary actions are written and the outcome is completed, e.g. called fire brigade, mobilised help, used local resources to contain fire, assisted in evacuation of victims and finally controlled the fire effectively.

Starts Action but Leaves it Incomplete

In such responses, the candidate plans, but shows a doubt with respect to the execution/completion of the task; e.g. he willtryto catch the thief; such responses reflect lack of determination, inept self confidence and all those specific qualities to which the situation is related.

Unrealistic Responses

Responses that shows that the candidate lives in a fantasy world and in which the candidate often jumps to conclusions; e.g. He participated in Olympics and got a gold medal. It might show lack of self awareness or a defence mechanism of the candidate to glorify a quality that is deficient with him/her.

Unable to Complete Response

This happens due to high level of stress on the candidate, presented by the situation. Such responses by the candidate are interpreted by the psychologist as, from a highly stress prone candidate or that the candidate is unable to grasp the situation correctly or his speed of thinking process is slow, etc.

Leaving Blank SRTs

Invariably, a candidate will leave blanks, as he is unable to handle that particular emotion appropriately and is incapable to responding to it. Hence, that particular personality trait or quality would be found deficient with that candidate.

Self Description (SD)

The Self Description (SD) entails asking the candidate to write down, as to what, in his/her opinion the following people think about him/her:

1. Your parents.

2. Your teachers.

3. Your friends.

4. You yourself.

The candidate is required to write down his/her own opinion about what the people mentioned in all the above categories think about him/her.

Both, the positive aspects of his/her personality and the areas that he/she feels needs to be improved are required to be mentioned in three to four lines for each category.

Salient aspects to be borne in mind while writing Self Description (SD):

• Do not write more than three odds lines for each category, i.e. while writing the opinion’s of your parents/guardians, teachers/employer, friends/colleagues, and your personal view about yourself be brief and precise.

• Never copy someone else’s SD, speak from your heart and you could actually take a feedback from all the above category of people to write an authentic SD.

• The SD must comprise of some highpoints of your personality and one odd perceived area of improvement in each category.

• Do not write OLQs/ qualities while describing the opinion, e.g. do not say, “My parents feel I am very hard working, trustworthy and obedient son/daughter”. Rather, say how they perceive you as hard working, reliable and obedient, e.g. say, “My parents always include me in all important decisions to be taken at home (shows trustworthy). They always entrust me with difficult tasks and challenges concerning our family matters and issues pertaining to others amongst our near and dear ones as they feel I have the ability to handle them well and would never let them down (shows hard working, resilient and obedient person).

• While writing a perceived area of improvement in each category, make sure not to use very strong language to describe it and also see to it that such shortcoming is not something which is very deep-seeded and irretrievable, e.g. rather than saying that “My friends tell me that I am too choosy while making friends and also that I get aggressive at times”, you could say, “ My friends feel that I take a little bit of time to open up (choosy to make friends), but once I do, I am a highly friendly person and also that I get a bit impatient at times when things do not go my way (aggressive), however, I have started making a conscious effort to remain more composed and accept things as they come.

• In case during the interview, the IO asks you about your weaknesses, you should also be ready with some examples from your life, e.g. where you took time to become friends, or where you got impatient, etc.

• Lastly, SD is very exclusive to your personality, and hence must be written in your own words and straight from your heart keeping the above cardinals in mind.

Conclusion

Finally to sum up, you must remember that the responses given by you in different psychological tests will be assessed against the information given by you in your PIQ Form, which will further be cross checked during the Board Conference with your projected behaviour in GTO and Interview technique.

Since, you are required to give your responses in the form of “thoughts, feelings and actions” and you are made to give your responses against the constraint of time, you will not be able to “fabricate responses” and hence, your true self will get clearly revealed.

Therefore, I would advice all aspirants to always do a ‘timed practice’ and be ‘true’ to you while carrying out self practice for psychological tests. Also, it is essential to discuss your responses with a professional mentor, who can advise you to modify your natural thinking.

Here, I would also like to caution you that non-mentored self practice or guidance from an unprofessional person may irreversibly harm your psyche, as the mindsets once formed are very difficult to change.

This article has been copied from Olive green website posted by Col DJS Chalal... Do visit Olive Green website for more details.

At any point of your interview is SSB, You are checked for 15 Officer like Qualities or as commonly known as OLQs. They are the following and it may give you a fair idea.

1. Effective Intelligence : How your personal intelligence has changed the consequence. For eg: Did your idea help the group in clearing the obstacle.

2. Reasoning ability : Justify your reason for the decision. For eg: Why do you think saving a life now is more important than diffusing a bomb one hour from now.

3. Organising ability : How optimally do you use the manpower and material resources available to you.

4. Power of expression: How conveniently are you able to put your idea across , your ability to speak calmly will take precedence here.

5. Social Adaptability: Since SSB is made up of various cultures, how well can you adapt to the situations and cultures around you.

6. Cooperation: Armed forces are not a individual oriented organisation. No further explanation required.

7. Sense of responsibility: Sometimes an unpopular decision of yours might put your team in harms way. Do you blame, give excuse or take responsibility?

8. Initiative: During the SSB, all the candidates are on the same level. Do you wait for someone in your group to take action or you come good yourself.

9. Self confidence: How was your aptitude in psycho tests? Did you take action out of confidence or out of fear? Your speaking skills in lecturette, were you submissive during interview ?

10. Quickness of decision: Even though the armed forces are central government based. Babugiri nahi chalega. Enough said. Don’t wait for external factors to hold you back.

11. Ability to influence: Are you able to convince the group to look at the situation or challenge from your perspective?

12. Liveliness: Are you morose because of your inability to perform or are you pumped up to go through the grill no matter what and repeat until you succeed.

13. Determination: How involved are you towards accomplishing the task knowing that you are not completely fit to do it. Do you make an effort or stand back and repeat after you are healthy enough.

14. Courage: Your ability to answer uncomfortable, self deprecating questions about yourself. How conveniently are you able to answer them or you try to shy away. Can you jump from a bridge and cross the bridge.

15. Stamina: How Physically fit are you to complete individual tasks. Task complete karte karte kahan kahan hath main aa Gaye tumhare.

Remember, SSB is a holistic selection and you will have to display these qualities in all the tests that are conducted. Be it the psychological tests, group tasks, command tasks, individual tasks or interview.