From our research
What this interview looks like
The Preliminary Interview Board is held at a TA Group Headquarters and is a panel of serving TA and regular officers, usually led by a Brigadier or Colonel. Each candidate gets roughly 15 to 30 minutes on their employment, income proof, the employer's written willingness to release them, why the TA, general awareness and basic Army knowledge. Only candidates recommended by the PIB go to the Services Selection Board, where the Interviewing Officer runs a 40 to 60 minute personal interview from the Personal Information Questionnaire in the rapid-fire multi-part style, followed by psychological tests, group tasks and the conference. Ex-servicemen officers come through a separate route and are interviewed on their service record. The ExamPilot mock is a 20-minute one-on-one that blends the PIB's employment and motivation questions with the SSB Interviewing Officer's PIQ block, situations and self-assessment, personalised to your employment profile.
Choose your post
1 post available
Each post has its own panel, rounds and subject list.
What to expect
5 rounds, one after another
One-on-one with the Interviewing Officer, as on days two to four of the five-day Services Selection Board. Rapport, then the rapid-fire personal-information-questionnaire block in long multi-part questions (family, schooling, college, friends, hobbies, sports, responsibilities, achievements), then practical situations and awareness, then motivation for the forces and honest self-assessment. A single officer runs every stage, cross-checks every answer against the PIQ and earlier answers, and gives no feedback. The score is a rating on the Officer Like Qualities, not marks.
- Round 1
Rapport
· 2:00Put the candidate at ease and observe natural manner, eye contact and pace before the probing begins.
Lt Col Mohit Rawat (Retd.)2–2 questions - Round 2
Rapid-fire PIQ block
· 6:00Cover schooling, college or work, marks, family, friends, hobbies, sports, responsibilities and achievements through long multi-part questions; check recall, consistency and self-awareness.
Lt Col Mohit Rawat (Retd.)2–3 questionsup to 2 follow-ups each - Round 3
Situations & awareness
· 6:00Assess practical intelligence, speed of decision, initiative and awareness of the world the candidate wants to serve in.
Lt Col Mohit Rawat (Retd.)3–3 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 4
Motivation & self-assessment
· 4:00Test the depth of motivation for the armed forces and whether the candidate can assess themselves honestly.
Lt Col Mohit Rawat (Retd.)2–3 questionsup to 1 follow-up each - Round 5
Closing
· 2:00Close warmly and neutrally.
Lt Col Mohit Rawat (Retd.)1–1 questions
Meet the panel
Your AI interviewers
Distinct personas, voices and questioning styles, briefed on this interview.
Lt Col Mohit Rawat (Retd.)
ChairPsychologist
Former Preliminary Interview Board member, Territorial Army; trained SSB Interviewing Officer
Calm, conversational, remembers everything the candidate said.
Male voice · 3 languages
Col. Harpreet Singh Gill (Retd.)
Psychologist
Former Interviewing Officer, Services Selection Board
Crisp, observant, disarmingly friendly.
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
How scoring works
A report you can act on
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.
Only what you actually said counts
Feedback quotes your own answers. Rounds you skip show as “Not assessed” rather than a zero.
Communication is always measured
Fluency, clarity, confidence and structure are tracked across the whole interview, in any language.
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 & reasoning20%
Practical problem-solving, organising ability and clear sequential thinking in situations; answers are specific, ordered and workable rather than idealistic.
- Social adjustment & cooperation20%
Real relationships with family, friends and teams; responsibilities actually carried for others; adaptability shown through incidents, not adjectives.
- Initiative, determination & courage20%
Evidence of self-started action, persistence through setbacks and calculated risk from the candidate's own life, with the outcome stated honestly.
- Honesty & consistency20%
Answers agree with the PIQ and with each other across the interview; the candidate admits gaps, low marks and weaknesses without excuses and does not inflate.
- Expression & confidence20%
Natural, confident speech; the candidate holds every part of a long multi-part question and answers all parts in order without being reminded.
Pass mark 60 / 100 · SSB / AFSB personal interview — Interviewing Officer
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