The Group Planning Exercise (GPE) is a key component of the Group Task (GT) series at the SSB, designed to evaluate a candidate’s planning, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. In a typical GPE, you will be presented with a map, a situation, and several problems to tackle within a limited timeframe. You and your group must come up with a detailed, logical plan to address all issues effectively.
Below, you will find a situation (Model 1). Read it carefully, analyse the information, and then propose a step-by-step plan in the comments section.
Group Planning Exercise 1 Map
Group Planning Exercise Map 1 Situation
You are (as many as in your group) returning back to your unit at Lalpur after some routine administrative duties at rear Division Headquarters. You halted at the tea shop to have a cup of tea and also allow the Daily Convoy coming up Soni Hill to pass you. While you were having your tea, you saw your 3-ton truck moving downhill on its own, as it had jumped over the stones kept under its tyres. You all ran after the vehicle but it rolled down the road. Suddenly you saw a jeep coming uphill.
By the time you could reach the 3-ton, it collided with the jeep. You found the driver unconscious and an officer sitting in the co-driver seat bleeding from a head injury. He told you that he is from the Intelligence Corps and had just learnt that some anti-national elements have placed dynamite near the bridge on the Yamuna River, and intend to kill the GOC as his vehicle crosses it on his way from the helipad to the Rear Divisional Headquarters.
The GOC is landing at 1800 hrs. They also intend to kill the headman of Betia village at sunset, i.e. 1830 hrs, as he is an informer. Saying this, he fainted.
As you were thinking of taking some action, the tea shop owner came shouting for help. He said his pony has slipped downhill, broken his leg, and can be saved if you can transport it immediately to the Betia village vet (doctor).
Additional Information
- Lilpur and Sonpur are border towns having quite a few army units.
- The windshield and headlights of the 3-ton are damaged. The jeep is badly damaged.
- The convoy returns down Lalpur every day and crosses the Temple at 1700 hrs.
- A civil bus leaves Betia village for Lalpur at 1645 hrs.
Time now is 1700 hrs. As bold young men, what do you intend doing?
Your Task
- Identify the Problems: List the primary issues (public safety, flooding risk, injured travelers, missing child, etc.).
- Prioritize: Decide which problem should be handled first, second, and so on.
- Resources & Personnel: Consider the availability of villagers, local police, medical staff, and any transport facilities.
- Execution & Timeframe: Outline a step-by-step plan to tackle each issue, specifying who does what, how, and when.
Thought for a couple of seconds
How to Respond
- Write your plan in a concise, logical manner, addressing all the problems.
- Mention how you will coordinate with key figures such as the village headman, police, medical staff, and construction workers.
- Use clear steps or bullet points to show the sequence of actions and time management.
Share Your Response
Please post your plan in the comment box below. Feel free to outline your thought process, as it will help illustrate your problem-solving approach. Constructive feedback and discussion are highly encouraged!
Also Read
we were returning to Lalpur, we took a halt near tea stall and where we found out five problems, so we will going to divide our group into smaller teams and each team is going to complete the task at the same time with the available resources.
1. The first team comprise of two candidate,by the help of the three ton, break the windshield of the three ton and took the officer and driver to Lalpur for district headquarter hospital give the proper information to the doctor and provide proper first aid. And also give the fees to the authorities and inform their relative.
Distance 35 km Time 40 mints
2. The second team comprises of two candidates, by the help of civil bus will leave to Lalpur and will inform all the army units that are present there about the terrorist and also the bomb that is being planted on the Yamuna bridge and tell them to act as soon as possible.
Distance 36 km Time 42 mints.
3. 2 candidate will leave for the village betiya by foot and one candidate will inform the head man of betiya and told him about the planning of terrorist and after that two of them will take him toward a safe place.
Distance 5km Time 15 minutes
4. 3 candidates will repair the Jeep and will leave for the helipad to inform the goc about the terrorist planning and will stop him to move toward the bridge.
Distance 8 kilometres Time 25 minutes for repairing and 20 minutes to reaching!
5. One candidate with the help of a rickshaw along with the tea shop owner take the pony toward the village and took him to a veterinary doctor.
Time 25 mints Distance 5 kilometres
After completing the task all of them will meet at the tea stall and continue their journey.
Priorities:
1. To hospialize the injured driver and the intelligence officer.
2. To diffuse the bomb at yamuna bridge, and to stop the vehicle of GOC on the way to yamuna bridge.
3. To prevent the murder of headmen of village betia
4. To hospitalize the injured pony.
Divisions of groups:
will divide our group into 4 sub groups
G1 – 2 men
G2 – 2 men
G3 – 2 men
G4 – 2 men
SOLUTION:
1. As the convoy crosses he temple at 1700 hrs. one of us will halt the convoy and inform them about the problem, G1 will accompany the injured and with the help of convoy will take them to the hospital at Lalpur village. They will reach there by 1800 hrs.
2. Will borrow some men and a vehicle from convoy and G2 along with convoy will move to the yamuna bridge via betia village. one of us will stop at betia village and inform the police there about the whole situation. and ask them to inform the bomb diffusing authorities and to tell them to reach as fast as possible at yamuna bridge.
G2 along with convoy and the police officials will locate the bomb at bridge and with the help of bomb diffusing authorities will diffuse the bomb. They will complete the task by 1810 hrs.
3. Meanwhile G3 will go to road track junction via the river bridge and will stop the vehicle of GOC and will inform him the problem.
4. Now G4 will come along with injured pony with the help of damaged jeep to village betia and hospitalise the pony to the vet and after that will go the village head men informing him the problem. They will be later joined by the G3 and police officials and will save him and nab the terrorists.
They will complete the task by 1840hrs.
5. after completing all of their tasks they will meet at the temple by 1910hrs. and return to the Lalpur.
Priorities:
1-save the goc
2-save injured army personnels in vehical
3-to save village head
4-help teameker to find vet
Plan:
As we have constraint of time in a border-aligned and hilly area. We would decide out team in three groups. Team A would rush to imminent army camp to communicate about contrive of militants. Team B would provide first aid and try to arrange for vehicle or any mean to ferry two ailing armymen to a hospital. Team ‘ would scramble to inform head about terrorists dodge and accompany him to near army camp. At last, if someone is left he would help teamaker with his pony and admit him to immediate vet.
There are 3 situations
1-injured officer,his driver and the pony which require immediate treatment
2-the threat to GOC landing at 1800 hrs
3-the threat to the head man of betia village
Solution:
1)2 of us will take the injured Officer and driver to the army unit in lalpur for medical assistance with the help of the 3 ton which is in running condition.we will start to lalpur at 1705.
2)3 of us along with the person who informed about the pony,will reach downhill and take the pony and reach the tre shop.we will start by 1705,take 10 min to save the pony and another 5 min to teach teashop and with the help of the convoy passing by,will take the pony to the Betia village.on reaching 1 member and the tea shop owner will take the pony to the hospital while the the rest two will go to the villagers and inform about the threat to the head man and with the help of villagers go to the nearby police station and will inform the same and also try to contact the army base in sonapur to diffuse the bomb.
3)2 of us will take the bus leaving betia by 1645 as it would reach the tea shop by 1705. Catch the bus and take another 10 min to reach the temple,get down and will take another 10 min to reach the helipad via the road track and would inform about the explosive and stop the GOC movement.
`*tightly grip injured officer head with cloth or giving medicine avaliable .take him to hospital at lalpur in truck.
*taking temple route to halt the GOC’s vehicle.
*informing the convoy about the dynamite under Yamuna Bridge.
*lifting pony in convoy truck to Betia village.
*Inform chieftain in Betia village
We were on our way back to Lalpur. When we halted at a tea shop, we faced 6 problems. I will divide my group in 3 teams to solve the problems.
Teams A (3 personnels), B (3), C (4)
Our AIMS are:
1. Medical care to driver and officer
2. Alert GOC
3. Save head-man of Betia village
4. Save Yamuna bridge
5. Take pony to vet doctor at Betia village
6. Repair 3 ton and Jeep
Time now:
1715 hrs
Aim 1.
Team A will administer First-aid and take them to MH at Rear Division HQ in 3 Ton.
It will also carry pony to veterinary doctor at Betia village.
Teams in vehicle: Team A and Team B
Dist 25 Km, Time 25 mins, ETA 1740 hrs
Aim 2.
Team C will reach Helipad via road track junction on foot to safeguard GOC and await further instructions
on Satcom.
Dist 2.5 km via road track, Time 30 min, ETA 1745 hrs
Aim 3.
Team B will alight at Betia village to protect head-man. The team will apprehend the criminals and
handover them to police.
Dist 1 km, Time 1 min, ETA 1716 hrs
Aim 4.
Team A will inform rear div HQ at Sonpur. Bomb squad will reach Yamuna Bridge. It will locate bomb and diffuse it.
Dist. 26 km (from Sonpur), Time 25 min, ETA 1805 hrs
Aim 5.
Accomplished with Aim 1.
Aim 6.
Team A will return back in 3 ton and get the headlights and windshield repaired at rear
base HQ. It will tow the damaged jeep to unit at Lalpur.
After successfully accomplishing its aims latest by 1845 hrs, the teams will meet at TEA SHOP and
head back to the unit at Lalpur.
_________________________________________________________________
Do comment with your valuable suggestions to improve it.
Request to provide the comments, as this would help with future planning exercises. Thank you.
Regards,
Chermanna
Kindly rate this with valuable comments:
Problem:
1. Two Injured Soldiers
2. Injured Horse
3. Bomb at Bridge
4. Village head’s life
Hopeful Suggestion:
Time: 5 Pm
Bus from Betia Leaves at 16 45 Pm, hence already in motion.
1. A group heads through immediate kach road next to tea stall for Warning GOC Convoy.
2. Taking both the vehicles being damaged but not menitoned as not drivable, expect both in atleast driving condition.
3. One person Drives the Jeep, Informs about the happening to incoming Bus.
4. Bus picks up the Injured and takes them back to Betia.
5. Ton is loaded with injured horse and driven to Betia.
6. Once arrived at Betia, Vilage head is informed and using the existing communication both the bases at Lalpur and Sonpur are informed.
7. Reinforcements are informed to arrive in two directions
i. One through Lalpur, kacha road near helipad.
ii. One through Sonpur.
8. Hold the Betia Village untill reinforcements arrive.
9. Wait untill the problem is diffused then drive back the Injured personnels to Hospital to nearest base, Sonpur.
10. Ton and Jeep are driven to nearest safe base.
Regards,
Chermanna
Step 3 he continues to Betia village after that.
admin please rate the story. I am giving my ssb on 31 Dec 2012
group is divided in to 3 groups of 5,2,2 respectively
1. the 1st group will take the injured passenger to Betia village with the injured officer, the driver and the pony in the 3ton and give them first aid in the village hospital and inform the headman about the danger to his life.
2. the 2nd group will take the bus that has left for lalpur at 1645 from Betia village and reach the temple just in time to reach the convoy and tell them about the bomb planted at the yamuna bridge and the danger to the GOC’s life.
3. the Third group will take the village road near the Tea stall and intercept the GOC’s vehicle before it reaches the bridge and warn them of the impending danger.
Finally, the group finish up their take and meet up at the temple and proceed to their unit at Lalpur
can we even use unspecified resources such as cellphone,jeep,.etc.please clarify my doubt
This comment has been removed by the author.
1) Immediately tie the head of man tightly give first aid
2) 4 people will take the both men and man pony to betia village in convoy vehicle.
3) Group 2(3 people) will inform about the Kiiling of informer to betia villagers and inform the police about bomb at yamuna bridge,killing of GOC.and killing of head man of betia village. Time now will 1730 hrs.
4)Group 3(3 people) will take the transport available on road or civil bus towards temple and take the kacha rasta and reach the helipad authorities and tell about the killing of GOC. Time will be at 1745hrs.
5)After that group 1 will cum back to tea spot with help of villagers and Group 1 will also cum back at tea spot
get the vehicl repaired and move forward.
admin please rate the story.im suppose to give ssb this november 🙂
group of 10 divided in too 3,3,4…
givng first aid to the officier and the driver,shifitng them to the local bus wid the group of three(the local bus hav left for lalpur at 16:45 hours and it has been on the middle of the way)they wil reach within 45 mins to lalpur from there to army unit hospital,three people inform police and mak der way to betia village…
group of another three people tak the jeep and the injured pony to betia village at 17:15,get it to hospital inform villagers and the head about the ani-social activity,prepare villagers to defend against them…
at the same time the convoy has reached to tea shop at 17:15 the group of four informs convoy n mak there way to goc by kacha road(track)to stop the GOC…
as the villagers are prepared wid the arms…by the time police arrives frm lalpur wid the first group at 18:15 saves the head master,also repair the head lights.
the jeep retunrs with the pony at the tea stole.
group meet at the tea stole and return to lalpur.
Sir please post or indicate the most relevant story u found in so many of them…. so that we can get an exact idea.
Thank you..
@nishant
how can they leave in the 1645 hrs bus when the current time is 1700 hrs?
No time machine is available, remember.
please send me link for preparing for ssb
suppose we have n members, here convoy is of no use bcoz it is already reached at temple and we are at tea shop at 1700hrs,
one member take help of civil bus that will drop him to temple from where he will use katcha path to move toward helipad to inform GOC, time will be around 1720, with casualties we will move to village betia drop one man to other katcha path incase other on will not reach he will do so, time around 1720,
admiting them to hospital, informing the police and head man to get save,time around 1730,
taking help of police we will move to the yamuna bridge time took 20 minutes time now 1750, and start our vigil and investigation
from betia they will call sohnpur unit to send bumb desmantling unit to yamuna bridge, and for this they have not defined any time when it will be exploded, so we will try to desmantle it ASAP the unit will arrive.
expected time of unit to reach is around 30 minutes as assume speed of vehicle to be 60 km/hr. every path and resource in this cases will be utilized
here the problems to handle simultaneously
1. first-aid for injured driver & intelligence officer.
2. stop the mass destruction on yaumna bridge.
3. inform the goc officer & chief person of village about planned attack.
4. admit the pony in village vet hospital.
solution :-
i divide the team into 3 group of 4,2,2 members
first group of 4 members take the casualties to lalpur by taking civil bus.
2nd group take the kaccha root for road junction to inform the goc, & the help of other convoy inform the local police about the bomb.
3rd group take the pony & go to betia village to inform the chief person about the planning of his murder & admit the pony in the vet .hospital
SIR PLease rate the story…give points out of 10.
Dividing the group into 2 parts of 4 4
1st group will provide 1st aid to the both the officer and the driver and take them to the village betia along with the in the 3 ton and pulling the damAged jeep in (10 minutes. as distance is 2 kms.)there 2 people will get them further treated and ensure the ambulance comes from the sonpur by calling the unit.i person will get the pony admitted in the veterinary and other will inform the head man about his murder plan till 6pm.
2ND Group-it will reach the road track junction in 15 minutes and 2 people will inform the goc and 2 people will guard the yamuna bridge and stop vehicles to cross the bridge.they wiil inform the bomb disposal army unit in sonpur village from the GOC Satellite phone which in half an hour reach the bridge and diffuse the bomb.at 6.45 2nd group will assemble at lalpur temple and catch the bus coming from betia already caught by the 1st group from betia.
Dividing the group in 3 parts……
1. The first group will take the officer, driver and pony to betia village via 3ton to the betia village to get the medical treatment. AFter reaching there they will inform the village head and the people there to not cross the bridge. Then they will head to Sonpur village via. 3ton to call the army troops there to reach the betia village bridge and diffuse the bomb.
2. The second group will load onto the the civil bus and go to the lalpur village to inform the army troops. Then they return with the army troops and head to the yamuna bridge via. temple path.
3. The third group will tell the convoy about the situation and will head to the helicopter spot via. temple path to inform GOC and ask him to halt his journey.
4. At the end they all return to the tea shop.
2.
Split the team into three:
1st team of 2members: Track down the road track to warn anybody from crossing the bridge and try to catch the miscreants if possible.
2nd team of 3members: Take the injured officers to Lalpur in civil Bus( they should not take the damaged jeep because they need to hurry and headlight is damaged..it will be dark soon as its 1700 hrs) and bring the army units to Betia Village. On the way, take the pony along with them.
3rd team of 3members: Reach the Betia Village ASAP to warn the village person that his life is in danger and provide him cover till army unit arrives.
Forgot to mention: Team 1: Take half the convoy along with them to the yamuna bridge.
team 3: take half the convoy along, to provide cover.
Give me feedback.Is this the right way to attempt gpe.
Here 3 problems are to be handled simultaneously:
1.Firstaid to Int corp officer,injured driver & Pony.
2.Inform the Head of Betia village & GOC regarding planned attack.
3.TO stop mass destruction at Yamuna bridge.
Solution:
We will divide the group into 4 3 3(10 members),
Group of 4 will take casualties to betia village with the help of damaged ton.Drop one member at Betia village to inform the Headman regarding planned attack & take the ton to hospital.
The group 2 will move to road truck junction through the near by bridge, passing the kaccha road, to halt & inform GOC about planned attack.
rest 3 will wait there as the convoy reach there by 5.30 they will inform them regarding the dynamite plant at bridge.they along with the few army man will head towards the bridge near yamuna bridge to dismantle the dynamite
& prevent mass destruction.
In the mean time the casualities will be taken to lalpur headquarter by bus at around 6 pm from Betia Village along with 4 members.The Pony will be dropped at the tea stall. The Other Members will do their respective task and come back at temple by 7.00, and join the other members on bus towards lalpur village.
@ Admin please give feedback.
Very good.
It was good n very helpful material. Right now i m preparing for ssb n thats why i need more things to practice if u have more examples of GPE plzz post it.
sir what the mean of ton?
100kgs = 1ton
1000 kg =1 ton
sir pleace rate..
1:first waited for the convoy as time is same i.e 1700 two members took the officer and driver with the help of other convoy members.on reaching lilpur informed army unit about the incident and dynamite on bridge.
2:took the car that we are having and dropped 2 members at the temple from there the 2 members crossed the pedestrian where they would stop the goc from going;and 1 member would go to staring of the bridge and stop the other vehicles coming towards bridge.
3:the car members would take the pony and reach betia village. one of them would call the doctor and then he would ask about the headman home and inform him about the problem and then the army would catch the anti-nationals
The given situation has 4 tasks to complete.
Divide the group into 3,3 and 4 members.
1.First 4 members- 2 members will do a first aid to the officer and the other two will take the pony and all the four with with the bleeding officer and pony will go in the convoy to betia village and get down there and two will give the better first aid to officer and the other two will go to the vet doctor.
Then the officer will be taken to sonpur in an ambulance.
2.The other 4 will take officers jeep and go to temple and take shortcut to reach the road from helipad which may take half an hour for them.
3.the other four will take 3 ton through the other shortcut and will reach there and try to capture the criminals.
4.after the task everyone will return to teastall.They will submit the jeep of the officer in the nearby policestation on their way home
Nishant you have managed the Men power correctly, nice response .
Sir why cant we take the injured person to hospital that would be in lalpur ‘ betia village me there would only be a small dispensary or so and since they have been fainted and unconscious
1-one person to take the second track(closest to tea shop) and cross over the river to halt the GOC convoy and inform him of the threat at the next bridge
2-rest will load the officer,his driver and the pony onto the 3 ton and drive to Betia vilage to get medical first aid there.
3-After first aid, the Int Corp officer and his driver will board the civil bus leaving Betia village at 1645hrs to get better medical treatment at Lalpur.
4-The group to explain the threat to village chief’s life and wait for the incoming convoy -after15mins(i.e. at 1700hrs)and protect the village alongwith the convoy troops and villagers
@nishant
how can they leave in the 1645 hrs bus when the current time is 1700 hrs?
No time machine is available, remember.
The bus will reach the tea shop @ 17:00 when it starts from 16:45 from the batia village
Time management is must…
obstacle faced:
1)jeep driver and intelligence corps member injured badly + injured pony
2) dynamite place under yamuna bridge for killing of GOC who will land at 1800 hrs
proposed plan:
1)with the help of 3 ton will immediately move the driver,intelligence corps member as well as pony to betia village which will be having the facilities of medical aid.
2)will inform betia village which will be having the facility of police station to save head men(the infomer) and do the needful to inform the army unit at sonpur regarding dynamite.
3)some member will catch the bus on the way to lalpur and will get down at temple and via road track will reach the helipad to inform the Goc regarding the issue and do the needful.
4)inturn will also inform the convoy on the way to lalpur to inform the army unit of lalpur.
Thank you Ankush 🙂
great GPE’s….
Nice work horemhebanubis keep it up 🙂
1. Flag down the convoy and inform them about the threat to Chieftain of Betia Village and explosive on Yamuna Bridge.
2. Half of the company trek up the trail to reach Yamuna Bridge via Road Track Junction to warn off anybody from crossing the bridge.
3. Two persons from remaining company to drive the damaged but drivable truck to Lalpur to alert the army units there about impending attacks on Yamuna bridge and Village chief.
4. Rest of company accompany the convoy to Betia Village and alert the chieftain and secure his defense until army reinforcements arrive. They could also drop the donkey at the village.
Thanks Abhilash but response from you people is also important so that we will get more and more ways to solve problems.
awesomee…now we get real GPE’s..!!!