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SSB Psychology Test & PPDT Preparation

SSB Screening & Psychology Practice — PPDT, TAT, WAT, SRT, SD and Lecturette

SSB screening and psychology practice done aloud with an assessor. A board psychologist describes a PPDT or TAT picture and gives you sixty seconds for the story, reads WAT words every fifteen seconds and SRT situations every thirty seconds, asks your Self Description, then hands you a lecturette card. You answer out loud against the clock and get an Officer Like Qualities report after, exactly the feedback the real board never gives.

Services Selection Boards of the Indian Army and Indian Navy and Air Force Selection Boards of the Indian Air Force; the psychological tests are designed and standardised by the Defence Institute of Psychological Research, DRDO 3 posts 4 languages 2 AI interviewers Official site

From our research

What this interview looks like

The real tests are written, silent and timed. On day one of the SSB the Picture Perception and Description Test shows a hazy picture for thirty seconds, gives four minutes to write a story, then each candidate narrates it to the group in about a minute before the group discusses and agrees a common story; most candidates are screened out after this. On day two the psychologist's battery runs back to back: eleven TAT pictures and one blank slide with four minutes each, sixty WAT words at fifteen seconds each, sixty SRT situations in thirty minutes, and a fifteen-minute Self Description from the viewpoint of parents, teachers, friends and self. On days three and four the Group Testing Officer runs two group discussions, a group planning exercise, outdoor tasks, and the lecturette, where each candidate picks one of four topics on a card, prepares for a minute and speaks for three. None of this is marked; the psychologist and the GTO each rate the fifteen Officer Like Qualities and bring that rating to the day-five conference, where it carries equal weight with the Interviewing Officer's. The ExamPilot session converts the written tests into a spoken drill of fifteen minutes with a single AI assessor who describes the picture or reads the words and situations at the real pace, times you strictly, gives a lecturette card, probes one response against your Self Description, and then rates the responses on the OLQ rubric with written feedback. Speaking the responses aloud trains the speed and the first-instinct quality the written tests reward, and the PPDT narration and lecturette are spoken tasks in the real board anyway.

SSBPPDTTATWATSRTLecturetteOLQ

Choose your post

3 posts available

Each post has its own panel, rounds and subject list.

What to expect

5 rounds, one after another

A fifteen-minute session with a Services Selection Board psychologist or Group Testing Officer who administers the timed written tests of the SSB out loud. The assessor describes a PPDT or TAT picture and asks for a story in sixty seconds, reads Word Association Test words every fifteen seconds, reads Situation Reaction Test situations every thirty seconds, or asks Self Description prompts. Then a lecturette card with four topics, one minute to prepare and a three-minute talk. A short debrief probes one response for consistency with the candidate's self description, and the session closes neutrally. The score is a rating on the Officer Like Qualities and on expression, not marks.

  1. Round 1

    Briefing

    · 1:00

    Settle the candidate, confirm which test they are practising today, and brief the rules of the timed round in one breath so that they know responses are spoken aloud and timed.

    Dr. Anjali Deshmukh
    1–1 questions
  2. Round 2

    Timed tests

    · 7:00

    Administer the chosen test exactly as the board does, out loud and against the clock, and observe the spontaneous quality of the responses on the Officer Like Qualities.

    Dr. Anjali Deshmukh
    2–4 questionsup to 1 follow-up each
  3. Round 3

    Lecturette

    · 4:00

    Observe expression, organisation of thought, general awareness and composure in a timed three-minute individual talk on a self-chosen topic.

    Dr. Anjali Deshmukh
    1–1 questions
  4. Round 4

    Debrief

    · 2:00

    Check whether the candidate's spontaneous responses and their self description describe the same person, and whether they can reflect on a response honestly without defending it.

    Dr. Anjali Deshmukh
    2–2 questionsup to 1 follow-up each
  5. Round 5

    Closing

    · 1:00

    Close neutrally, as the board does, with no feedback or hint of the rating.

    Dr. Anjali Deshmukh
    0–1 questions

Meet the panel

Your AI interviewers

Distinct personas, voices and questioning styles, briefed on this interview.

Dr. Anjali Deshmukh

Chair

Psychologist

Former Senior Psychologist, Services Selection Board (Defence Institute of Psychological Research cadre)

Calm, exact with time, warm but unreadable.

Female voice · 4 languages

Lt Col. Harpreet Singh Gill (Retd.)

Psychologist

Former Group Testing Officer, Services Selection Board

Energetic, exact, outdoor-brisk, impartial.

Male voice · 4 languages

Languages

Answer in the language you think in

Interviewers speak and understand each language natively. Switch mid-answer if you like.

  • English
  • हिंदीHindi
  • Hinglish (Hindi + English)Hinglish
  • मराठीMarathi

How scoring works

A report you can act on

  1. Every round is scored on the rubric

    Each interviewer scores only the criteria their round covers. Weights add up to your overall score out of 100.

  2. Only what you actually said counts

    Feedback quotes your own answers. Rounds you skip show as “Not assessed” rather than a zero.

  3. Communication is always measured

    Fluency, clarity, confidence and structure are tracked across the whole interview, in any language.

  4. Pass mark, then a plan

    You see the pass mark for this interview, your gaps, and the courses that close them fastest.

Scored on

  • Effective intelligence & planning25%

    Stories and situation responses show a realistic hero who perceives the problem, uses the resources at hand, acts in a sensible order and reaches a definite, timely outcome; no fantasy, no supernatural rescue, no stalling.

  • Social adjustment & cooperation25%

    Responses involve other people naturally: the hero works with others, considers the group, takes responsibility without domineering; word associations and self description show a person who gets along with family, friends, teachers and seniors.

  • Initiative, determination & courage25%

    The hero starts the action rather than waiting for authority, persists through a setback, takes calculated risk and stays cool; responses are positive and action-oriented, never passive, fearful or negative.

  • Expression & structure under time25%

    Speaks clearly inside the time limit; story has a beginning, action and end; the lecturette has an opening, three to four points and a conclusion; word responses are short sentences, not single words; self description is specific and consistent across the five perspectives.

Pass mark 60 / 100 · SSB screening & psychology practice — timed tests aloud with an assessor

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