SSB Interview Tips by a Retired Brigadier from the Indian Army

In this blog on SSB interview tips, we have shared some insights by Brigadier R.P. Sir, who is a retired army officer and currently mentoring defence aspirants at Centurion Defence Academy. Brigadier sir has served as the Interviewing Officer (IO) at SSB Allahabad during his career in the Indian Army. In one of his videos uploaded on the official YouTube channel of Centurion Defence Academy, sir has provided detailed insights into all the vital aspects of the SSB interview. Based on that video, we have drafted this blog that discusses SSB interview tips by Brigadier sir on screening tests, GTO, personal interview, etc. Read this blog to learn more about how to clear the SSB interview and earn a recommendation.

How should one prepare for personal interviews?

Personal interviews are an interaction between two people. There are no distractions. It’s between the interviewing officer and the candidate. This interaction is quite intimate, lasting about 40 to 45 minutes. The officer gets to know all facets of your life: education, friends, family, neighborhood, hobbies, interests, and routine. You’ll answer based on the CIQ.

The issue is, first of all, to carry out self-introspection. All candidates should start here. Analyze everything you’ve done in your life. Be clear about your achievements and experiences. During the interview, not knowing significant stages of your life is not esteemed highly. So, please, first carry out your analysis.

It’s better to have good confidence within yourself that you’re prepared internally. You should be confident about your preparation. Confidence comes from knowledge. Knowledge about yourself, knowledge about your surroundings, and general awareness are crucial. You have to have an open mind. That’s the way you prepare for the interview.

What is the weightage given to personal interviews in the SSB procedure?

Let’s not confuse the candidate with the weightage part, but I will tell you that there are three officers in SSB – the interviewing officer, the GTO, and the psychologist. We have equal weightage. So, let people not think there are certain aspects they can take a shortcut and focus on something else. They have to focus on all aspects as we have equal weightage.

How much importance is there in the SSB of the PIQ forms?

Now, the PIQ form that is the Personal Information Questionnaire, is extremely important. So please ensure that all the details you fill in the PIQ form are correct, factual, and truthful. Your PIQ form gives a clear picture of your personality to the interviewing officer even before you enter the interview room. Please do not try to fill misleading and wrong information in your PIQ form to impress the interviewing officer because at some stage during the interview, you will be caught if you have filled up certain details that you have not been doing. So please ensure that you fill out the PIQ form and also ensure that you fill out the PIQ form correctly as per the instructions given in the PIQ form on how to fill it up. Also, please do that and avoid too much overwriting or correction because that reflects a confused mind.

How should candidates perform in the PPDT?

The PPDT is one part of your stage one. First is about OIR – Officer Intelligence Rating, followed by the PPDT. Now PPDT by its very name itself is picture perception and its description test. When you perceive the picture which is shown to you, and the picture shown to you is in all probability going to be a bit blurry, so that you have to try and understand what is there in the picture and then build up a story based on what you have seen in the picture. You have to write what led to this situation in the picture and how it finally culminates in a positive manner.

So PPDT is actually a test of three of your abilities. First is your perception. Are you able to judge the picture properly? Second is your presentation. And when you give out the story in the group, there, your confidence and your communication skills will be seen. And then is your discussion during the group stage. Let me also say that any test and every test, the day you step into the SSB and the time that you leave the SSB, every test is important, right, so there is nothing that is to be taken lightly and something which is to be taken more important.

How should candidates develop officer-like qualities in themselves?

For OLQs (Officer-Like Qualities), candidates should first go through what are OLQs. There are 15 of them, and all three assessors are checking the candidate for 15 OLQs only. Everybody, the GTO, the psychologist, and the interviewing officer, they are checking a candidate against 15 OLQs only, but they are in their own different way.

There are two kinds of OLQs. They have already developed within you because of your upbringing, the environment you have stayed in, the school you have gone to, the people you have interacted with. There are certain OLQs which are already imbued within you. And those I would say like stamina can be developed, but a sense of responsibility, if you are 18 years old and you don’t have that sense of responsibility at the age of 17 and 18, it is unlikely that it can be developed within you at a later stage.

A sense of responsibility also includes discipline, which actually means doing the right thing at the right time without supervision. So that’s all because they give certain trainability, there’s physical fitness, that is stamina. You can develop that liveliness, being cheerful even under difficult situations, you can develop that. But social adaptability, it is already there within you because of the environment that you have grown up in, and effective intelligence. Now, intelligence is something that is already there within you. Intrinsic effective intelligence and basic intelligence are different. So first of all, study what it means, and it is available on the internet anyway. Please see what are the factors that are included in it. So what does it mean and a trainable one, try and build up.

Join Centurion for the upcoming NDA and CDS 2024 SSB Interviews

Are you looking for the best SSB coaching in India for your upcoming SSB interview? Join Centurion Defence Academy for comprehensive preparation for the SSB interview. Centurion Defence Academy provides the right mentorship for SSB under the guidance of retired officers of the Indian Armed Forces and defence professionals. Join the best SSB coaching for the upcoming NDA 2 2024 and CDS 2 2024 SSB interviews and get recommendations in your first attempt. For further guidance and inquiries related to our SSB course, please contact us at +91 9795977776 / +91 9795977779.