SSB is based on the principle of selecting “right fit” for the job and not the most qualified person for the job. If a person is not selected in SSB that does not mean that they are a failure in life rather it just means that the person is not fit to for the armed forces life. We all make the initial mistake of thinking SSB as another competition examination in our life but I should tell you that it’s not a competition between you and other candidates but rather it is a competition where you have to beat yourself by your performance. You have to touch the bar set up by your decisions in life.
To begin with, SSB is not a normal job interview for a corporate where you have to study hard and are expected to know everything in order to get the job. SSB is different than all the examination prevailing in this nation. It hardly checks your knowledge, not even in Group Discussions and Lecturettes as many believe rather it just checks your suitability for the forces. This suitability is not entirely based on your knowledge. You can thus say that SSB is a multidimensional interview as it checks and assesses your entire personality.
Next, SSB is not the basis of judging the candidates, whether they are good for doing something in their life or not, it just checks their suitability for the forces. The entire selection procedure of SSB is based on the 15 Officer Like Qualities, which a candidate must possess in order to get a recommendation for the forces. In SSB interview your personality is in continuous supervision through various testing procedures that will keep you in constant pressure. Each aspect of the candidate’s psychology, verbal communication and action are observed minutely and closely.
They are checked for the basic aptitude of an officer in the screening tests in OIR, and they are checked for their mental aptitude and thoughts in the psychological testing. They are checked for their physical fitness and group behaviour in the Ground Tests. They are checked individually in the interview with the Interviewing Officer. The people on the board are a very experienced and efficient bunch of people. They can easily catch you if you are lying or trying to manipulate them in any way.
No one is born with OLQs, over a period of time we inculcate these qualities in our personality by doing certain actions, choosing a lifestyle and the kind of environment that we have around us. The assessors are looking for a candidate who is consistent in their performance when they are put under various different situations that aims to extract their subconscious responses in extreme situations of mental stress. When you go to SSB you meet new people, so it’s better you make healthy competitors and not enemies. Because if you have better understanding and cooperation between your groups then there are higher chances of more number of candidates getting recommended as group dynamics is of prime importance.
All the tests in SSB are meant to test you under pressure. This is because in real life situation, an officer has to perform judiciously and efficiently under pressure, so a candidate must give positive response under pressure. The constraint of time is applied in the testing and most of the tests are designed in such a way that they get difficult with time. The level of difficulty is not much. If you look closely you will realize that SSB is more about logic and positive attitude than intelligence. Of course, basic intelligence needs to be there.
The OLQs are personality-based and not skill-based as thought by many candidates. The three techniques i.e. Psychology, GTO & Interview works in cohesion and not isolation. A candidate is required to have congruency in them and that can be achieved only and only if he/she isn’t manipulating or lying as alignment in the three methods will be finding anyhow through the rigorous testing. It is difficult to manipulate your way through even one and the chances become very small when it has to be done simultaneously through the 3 techniques. In short, you shouldn’t try such an adventure that can sabotage your attempt or maybe further attempts too. Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), in Delhi, is the only institute in the country imparting knowledge about personality assessment.
The candidates who try to manipulate their way through SSB are liable to fail. This has been amply proved by the fact that some candidates keep failing at SSB and succeeds only after accepting the fact that they will have to work on their weaknesses rather than masking them in front of the assessors. The reason why you are told to be honest all the time in SSB is that if you lie and get selected somehow, then you might suffer a lot in training and in-service too because your personality and mindset is not meant for it.
Being logical and practical is more important in SSB than being intelligent. You get to learn a lot about yourself and your strengths by generating a high level of self-awareness. It is not difficult; it is just about doing the right thing at the right time.
Let’s talk about the mindset of the candidates during their SSB at all testing techniques and stages:
During Stage 1, they make stories on social issues which often may not relate to the picture shown. In the discussion, they out-shout each other because of their insecurity. They don’t practice OIR Tests and narration and often switch their stories by listening to other candidates’ stories.
During psychology testing, the candidates try their utmost to bring out all the OLQs in the stories, resulting in a display of confused thoughts. They write long responses in SRT and manage to complete less than 40 situations creating an impression of not being organised. They give ideal and sometimes unrealistic and totally patriotic reactions in TAT, SRT, WAT and SDT. I mean how one could be so patriotic and ideal even before getting any kind of academy training that breaks you mentally and shape you. The candidates try hard to show themselves as extra social, insecure and desperate people who possess OLQs. Candidates try to make extremely social and heroic stories. A simple general story will do the needful. They try to bring one quality in each of their stories. This clearly indicates the selectors about your bad state of preparedness, panic and confused thoughts.
During GTO Testing, they try to win the GTO by behaving extra gentlemanly and extra hard. All this seems pretty unrealistic most of the time as creating an impression is rarely sought by the GTO. Your solutions should have more of a realistic approach rather than heroic. They try to act in a manner that will please the GTO and not what is rationally correct. In GPE they will become superhuman and apprehend dacoits or terrorists with bare hands or by using shot-guns borrowed from someone else. In GOR and Individual obstacles, their performance would be clumsy because of being physically unfit.
During Interview, Either they become very honest here ending in answering things which are not needed and makes you sound like a kid who is answering without thinking. Or some just try to keep hide their real self fully and it becomes pretty obvious. The focus of such a candidate would be on trying to give replies which will please the IO. When asked about the weaknesses in teachers, friends or parents they will say that everything is perfect considering it a sign of display of loyalty.
In most of the cases, the reason for rejection is that the individual is deficient in some facets of personality and not because of some blunders committed by them. The SSB selectors are more interested in taking a person which will be useful to the organisation and will adapt to the needs and demands of the armed forces rather than fulfilling their own wishes. They are humans after all and they are given the responsibility of making sure a right candidate reaches the academy. It is not the case that the rejected candidate is not capable of becoming an officer. He just couldn’t perform up to the mark this time due to certain limitations or inhibitions.
You can prepare for defence entrance exams such as SSB Interview, NDA, AFCAT, INET, and CDS by taking Written Online courses as they will not only give you access to full-length quality lectures but will also provide the facility to take standardized mock tests for better study and strategic growth in the exam. You can take multiple quizzes after each lesson to ensure the full understanding of the subject along with creating your customized lesson plans. You can check out the course content along with other important specifics at SSBCrack exams.
You can also access them through the SSBCrack Exams app available in the google play store.
Jai Hind
