NDA – SSB Interview Experience

Stage 1

The first day of the SSB interview is the reporting day at the board. Formalities like document verification and PIQ form filling are done on that day. Reporting place will be in your caller letter, but generally, it is only at the Moment Control Office. Many other candidates will be waiting for their call at the place with you.

Stage 1 Testing: There are three tests

• Screening: Screening involves selecting potential candidates from all the students on the basis of a few activities. The activities are easy and require strength and concentration.
• OIR Test: OIR stands for Officers Intelligence Rating Test and is a verbal and non-verbal test. It is an aptitude test and you can prepare yourself for this test by solving some verbal and non-verbal sample question papers. Once you clear OIR, you will shift to the PPDT test.
• PPDT Test: The Picture Perception and Discussion Test is all about story writing and group discussion. In this test, you will get a picture that you have to observe for 30 secs and then 3 minutes to write a story, making the image your reference point.

Later, you will get a group of 14-15 members in which each group member will narrate their story one after another. Students must know that PPDT is the most important part of the SSB interview to take them to 

Stage-2.

Once you complete round 2, you will go for lunch, and till that time, the candidates will be selected as per their performance in both rounds. After lunch, the officers will announce the result by calling the chest number that will be given to you at the beginning. You will get a 2-3 hour rest before stage-2.

Stage 2 Testing:

• Psychological Test: All the activities in the psychological test are designed to test a candidate’s psychological suitability, response, alertness, and how active they are. Candidates will write their answers based on specific tests, and time plays a vital role in this, so make sure that you are fast.
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): A series of 11 pictures will be shown to you with a blank one at last for 30 seconds each. Later, you will get 4 minutes to make a story based on every individual picture till the blank slide comes.
• Word Association Test: Students will get 60 words back to back that will appear on the screen for 15 secs each. That means you will get 15 seconds to write a sentence with the given the word in the shortest time. In short, you will be writing 60 sentences non-stop to pass the test.
• Situation Reaction Test: Each student will get a booklet with 60 situations in it, and they will have to write the response of each case in 30 minutes.
• Self Description Test: In this test, you have to write some opinions about your close ones like parents, teachers, friends, etc. The time for this test will be 15 minutes.

3. GTO
GTO is a series of outdoor tasks that helps officers judge their skills in groups, and that’s why these tasks will be in groups only. Make sure that you support your group members in this test and motivate them to stay together rather than compete.

• Group Discussion (GD): In the Group Discussion task, you will get a topic or current affair for the discussion.
• Group Planning Exercise (GPE): GPE stands for Group Planning Exercise. Each candidate has to write one solution for the given problem in this task. Then, all the group members will discuss the same to develop one solution for all. And in the end, the entire group will define the solution with a map and pointer.
• Progressive Group Task (PGT): The Progressive Group Task involves physical obstacles that a candidate must cover using supporting props like plank, rope, wood log, and others. There are some rules that every candidate must follow if they want to pass the test.
• Half Group Task (HGT): Half Group Task will be the same as PGT. The only difference is that it has half the group members as it has in PGT.
• Individual Obstacle Task (IOT): IOT stands for Individual Obstacle Task, in which you will be given ten obstacles that you have to overcome. For each obstacle, you will get points from 1 to 10.
• Command Task: In this, you will be a commander and have to overcome some obstacles using 2-3 subordinates. You can choose any 2-3 members from your group that you think are good for the task.
• Snack Race/Group Obstacle Race: In this task, each group will be competing with other groups on the ground. Each group will be holding a snake like a rope that they have to carry to the finish line. There will be certain obstacles that you have to overcome.
• Individual Lecturette: Each candidate will give a lecture in front of senior officers for 3 minutes. You can choose your own topic from the 4 topics given to you.
• Full Group Task (FGT): It is a Final Group Task that will give you one more chance to fight and show your potential.

4. Personal Interview 
A personal Interview is the most crucial part of your selection procedure. You can take reference of what types of questions you will encounter in the interview using previous interview videos as well. Make sure that you answer the question you know and stop when you do not have any clue, as one wrong step can take away your dream.

5. Conference 
After a personal interview, each candidate will face all the SSB board members for an ordinary Q/A session. Officers will ask about your stay, experiences, and what you learn in the previous days. All the answers will cumulatively decide your suitability and adaptability.

And with this, your 5-day SSB Interview will end.