How to Approach the Psychological Testing

Psychological tests are the first tests conducted in the second stage of the SSB Interview. They involve four tests:

• Thematic Apperception Test (Test): In this test 11 pictures and one blank slide will be shown on the screen. Each picture will appear for 30 seconds followed by 4 minutes given for writing a story based on that picture.
• Word Association Test (WAT) : In this test 60 words are shown on the screen, each word appears for a period of 15 seconds and the candidate has to the first thought/sentence that comes in their mind on seeing that word.
• Situation Reaction Test (SRT): In this test a booklet is given which has 60 day-today life situations, a candidate has to write the reaction which he/she may give when encountered by such situation. The time given for this is 30 minutes.
• Self-Description Test: In this test 15 minutes are given for writing five paragraphs, as on what your teachers, parents, friends/classmates, you yourself feel about you and what kind of a person you want to become.

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So as you would have understood by now that the battery of psychological test aims at bringing out your true personality by posing a constraint of time. This is because when put under time stress, you can’t manipulate your thoughts. So you real self is bound to come out. Secondly there is no right or wrong answer in this test, they just check whether the person you are is suitable for the forces or now. Of course nobody can tell what to write and what not to write in this test, but given below are few tips which will help you to approach this test in a better way.

1. Download the sample slides which are available on our website to practice these tests by timing yourself. In this way you’ll learn to write fast and your mind will learn to think and react faster by practice. Hence this exercise will help you to perform better.
2. Prepare your self-description beforehand. Now don’t brag about yourself in the self-description. Introspect yourself and always write the true thing. In SSB you have to be just brutally honest. Ask your near and dear ones as to what they think about you, this will help you to prepare a genuine self-description.
3. Think positive and adapt positivity. By doing so only you can react positively in that time constraint. If you can transform your negativity and become a positive person then you’ll not be faking anything but writing only the real stuff.
4. Before the test starts listen to the given instructions very carefully. Do not keep in writing when asked to stop, do not try to complete an unfinished portion when you are not allowed to do so. Honesty is one of the most important virtue they are looking for.
5. Take deep breath, relax yourself. This will calm you down and then you’ll be able to perform better with a clear head.
6. Do not write very long answers, stories or sentences.
7. Do not rush to finish everything, quality scores over quantity.
8. Pre-plan a few nice names which you’ll give to your central character of story. Ram/Shyam and geeta/sita are too boring to read.
9. Pre-think a few plots for your blank story. This will help you a lot in the exercise.
10. Don’t judge your answers after the test; you never know what is correct and what is not. So concentrate on other tests after this test is over.

Also Read

• Tips for Self Description
• TAT and PPDT Story Writing Tips

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