SSB Interview Procedure

The candidates who are declared by UPSC as having cleared the written exam or recommended by Preliminary Interview Board (PIB)in case of Territorial Army (TA), as well as those shortlisted in Direct Entries are called through Call Letters to appear for SSB (Allahabad/Bangalore/Bhopal/Dehradun/Mysore/Varanasi/) at the Centre allotted to the candidate.


There have instances when the call-up letter fails to reach the candidate and the onus lies on the candidate to be alert and contact the office after a reasonable amount of time if the letter is not received when UPSC written has been cleared. Similar is the way for service candidates, except for that their movement is intimated to their seniors via movement orders.


List of SSB Centres

      1.      For navy there are three selection centers all over India i.e. Bhopal, Bangalore,    
         . Coimbatore

2.      For Air Force the selection centers are situated at Dehradun, Mysore and Varanasi.

3.       For Army the selection centers are at Allahabad, Bangalore and Bhopal. For example a selection center is divided into many SSB boards such as, the Bhopal SSB(Services Selection Central) center is a combined board for Army and Navy.

·         Day 0 (Day of Reporting)

 Time of reporting varies from center to center.  The candidates need to report well before the Timing of reporting. The candidates are picked from the railway station and during the evening, certain Forms and travelling allowance forms are filled. Candidates are also briefed on testing schedule and general instructions, which must be followed throughout the duration of stay in selection center. On the day of reporting, the candidates are required to verify their educational documents from assigned staff. Candidates are then allotted chest numbers on which a number is printed on it. This chest no. becomes the identity of a candidate, as it is easier to identify a person by a number than his/her name. The chest number is also used while interacting with fellow candidates during testing. The results are also announced by calling the chest numbers of recommended candidates. Candidates have to return their chest numbers whenever they leave the campus of a selection center.

SSB is a two stage process.
To qualify for Stage II, a candidate needs to clear Screening Test or Stage I. On the date of reporting.

·         Day 1 (Screening Tests)

On the next day of reporting

 Stage I:

1.      Intelligence Test (Verbal and Non-Verbal), then

2.      Picture Perception & discussion test (PPDT) :  

In which a slide (hazy or clear) is shown for 30 seconds, the candidate has to observe it very carefully

i)        In the next one minute

he/she has to mark number of characters seen in the picture in a box made in the sheet provided to them and the main theme of their story.

·         First the mood of character whether in positive, negative or neutral

·          Approximate age and sex.

·          Candidates also need to identify one character which they saw first, which is often termed as Central character or main character of story they are going to write,

·         This character's details should be encircled so that assessor can identify which character has been observed by the candidate as a main character.

ii)      In a 4 minute time candidates need to write story, it is expected that a candidate should write a story in 70 words or more. Candidates are advised to write the story on the picture shown to them but some candidates describe the picture which gives them a disadvantage over others.

iii)    Once the written part is over then comes the second part which the continuation of first part is i.e. written part, the candidates are given their sheets back to revise their stories and were told to sit in semicircular fashion for a Group Discussion.

                First each candidate will narrate his/her story in one minute without looking at sheet to the rest of candidates one by one, in the duration of one minute. Often the candidates take more than one minute to narrate their story; in that case the assessors give chance to next candidate. As individual narration of stories ends with the last candidate, it is expected that the group should start the discussion and come to a common story, as it is obvious that all candidates can perceive the same picture with different theme or background and a different story from one another.

      After the completion of these tests, results are announced and those who do not make it in this attempt are dropped back to the railway station and the successful ones are retained for 4 days of detailed assessme

     A certain number of candidates are short listed based on their performance in screening round, rest are sent back.

The screened candidates are required to fill the Bio Data forms known as “Personal Information Questionnaire” (PIQ). PIQ is very important- there must be no cutting and consistency in each of the four or five copies of PIQ you are to fill. PIQ is also the basis for the individual candidate interview, which is scrutinized by the Interviewing officer before the interview of the candidate.

·         Day 2 (Psychology Tests)

Stage II

1) Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)- Commonly known as Picture Story writing.

TAT is very similar to PPDT, but here the candidates are shown clear pictures, in which the candidate has to observe it for 30 seconds then needs to write a story on it in four minutes. There are total 12 slides are shown, 11 slides will be shown one by one i.e. after 4 minutes and 30 seconds the next slide will appear. The twelfth slide will be a blank slide where a candidate is supposed to write any story of his own choice. But here candidates will not be marking the no of characters and related information, also there will be no group discussion on it.

2)      Word Association Test (WAT)

3)      Situation Reaction Test (SRT)

4)      Self Description Test (SD), or a variation of this like description from the eyes of parents, teachers, colleagues, neighbours etc.

·         Day 3 and Day 4 (GTO Task)

Recommended dress for GTO Tasks:Group Testing Officers (GTO) Test (Third and Fourth day) The following tests are conducted in this category :

1. Group discussion
2. Group Planning Exercise (sometimes known as Military Planning Exercise)
3. Progressive Group Tasks
4. Half Group Tasks
5. Individual Obstacles
6. Group Obstacles Race or Snake Race
7. Command Task
8. Lecturette(Speech test)
9. Final Group Task

Note: Interview :- (Held during afternoon/evening hours on 2nd/3rd/4th day)

·         Day 5 (Conference)

On the final day, every Assessor and the candidate sit together for and have a chat- the fate of the candidate for that SSB is decided by the Assessors collectively there. The candidates are required to appear before the complete Board of Examiners composed of President, Deputy President, all the psychologists, all the GTOs, and Technical Officer.
After the Board Meeting of every candidate is over, the final result is declared within ½ an hour. Selected candidates are required to stay back for their medical examination (takes about 5 to 6 working days) in the Military Hospital nearby or at a different place and the remaining candidates are dropped at the Railway Station.

Some General Points

·         Candidates appearing for the first time for a particular type of entry are paid sleeper class to-and-fro journey fare from the place of their residence to the place where they have come for the interview. From 2011 onwards a candidate can get AC III tier railway fare or equivalent bus fare.

·         Accommodation and messing are free for the entire duration of their stay while undergoing SSB Tests.

·         The recommended Air Force candidates & Naval candidates are required to go to a different place for medical examinations on the specified date.

·         In case of Air force, Air force selection boards (AFSB) are located at Mysore, Varanasi and Dehradun. In AFSB; for pilots; addition to above mention test Pilot Aptitude Battery Test(PABT) is also conducted.