Services Selection Board (SSB) is an organization that assesses the candidates for becoming officers into the Indian Armed Forces. The board evaluates the suitability of the candidate for becoming an officer using a standardized protocol of evaluation system which constitutes personality, intelligence tests, and interviews. The tests are of both types i.e. written and practical task-based. An SSB comprises the panel of assessors, who are officers in the Indian Armed Forces and having their specialization as Psychologist, GTO (Group Task Officer), and Interviewing Officer. At times the psychologist may not be directly from the armed forces as well. In total there are thirteen Service Selection Boards across India, out of which four boards are for the Indian Army, four boards are for Indian Air Force, and five boards for the Indian Navy. SSB is a 5 days evaluation process.
| Stage I | Day 1 : Screening Test | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IQ Test – Verbal and Non verbal | ||||
| Picture Perception & Description Test / Discussion | ||||
| Note: Candidates qualifying Stage I will continue to undergo Stage II others will be returned on this day. | ||||
| Stage II | Day 2 :Psychological Test | |||
| Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) | ||||
| Word Association Test (WAT) | ||||
| Situation Reaction Test (SRT) | ||||
| Self Description Test | ||||
| Self Description Test | ||||
| Day 3 : Group Testing Officer’s (GTO) tests & Interviews of candidates | ||||
| Group Discussion | ||||
| Lecturette | ||||
| Group Planning Exercise | ||||
| Progressive Group Test | ||||
| Group Obstacles Race | ||||
| Half Group Task | ||||
| Day 4 : Group Testing Officer – Tests & interviews of candidates | ||||
| Individual Obstacles | ||||
| Command Task | ||||
| Group Task | ||||
| Day 5 : Conference and declaration of results | ||||
| Stage III | Medical Test for successful candidates from Stage II (next 2 to 3 day) | |||