~ SSB Masterclass PSYCHOLOGY )

self-Description
The final part of the psychological tests is the self-description. This test
assists the psychologist in
assigning trainab ility marks to the candid ate. Whate ver we have found out
about your person ality
in the TAT, WAT and SRT has to be confirm ed by the SD. Let's see how
to make the SD more
understandable.
Brief instructions for writing your SD:

1. In this test there are five topics and you have to write one paragraph for each
of them.
a. What do your paren ts/ guardian think about you?

b. What do your teache rs/ emplo yers think about you?

c. What do your friend s/ colleagues think about you?

d. What kind of a person you are?

e. What kind of a person you would like to be?

2. In each paragraph you need to include details about your various positiv
e and negative
qualities (strengths and weaknesses).

3. You will get 15 minute s to compl ete the test.

How to make the SD better:

1. People's opinio n of you is based on the kind of interaction you have
with them. So avoid
writing similar kinds of opinio n in every paragraph.

2. Ask yourself the questi on before answering it. What expectations do your
parents, teache rs/
employers, friend s/ colleagues, have of you?

3. Parents' expectations are seldom materialistic. They want their childre

n to get settled and
always do good things in life. They are more concerned about your moral
values and keeping
the family name high in society.
4. Teachers / emplo yers expec t you to be professionally competent,
have good subject
knowledge, work well in a team, and be sincere and honest. They are concer
ned about your
future plans for develo pment of the organization (self-development, in the
case of teachers) .
S. The friends and colleagues that you norma lly spend most of your time
with expect you t~ be
trustw orthy and sincere, to help them during a crisis, to give suggestions
when th ey are in a
dilemma, and to be caring.
6. In your personal opinio n you have to bring out your various . t ngths and weaknesses.
s re
,
Remember, the purpos e of the test is to see how much you know abOut yourself and not to
. i·ities
find out what your weaknesses are . So be careful, and DO NOT descn'be any negative qua
which can be held against you.
7. .
In the last paragraph, write the changes you want to incorp . ur personality, and do
orate into yo
not write that you want to be a defenc e officer.
e:) tpMQsttrclos.s
-
Trainabllity
Personal Information Questionnaire
After the initial assessment, the psychologists will award train ability marks to each candidate. The
The PIQ is the main tool that an Interviewing Officer uses to assess you, but a copy of it goes t trainability marks will indicate how much a candidate can benefit from train ing in the academy.
. 0~
psychologist as well. This is because the psychologist does not see the candidate before th
Tralnability marks are decided based on the following:
conference, and 11he want5 to get an insight into the candidate's personality, it is the PIQ Which i:
going to help him. 1. Type of entry - Your entry type is decided based on two crucial elements. They are age and

For the psy-hologisL The PIQ is not a primary tool of assessment, but it does give some v duration of training.
. a1uable
insight during the awarding of train ability marks. The value of what you write in yo p . a. Age -As we know that the assessment is based on personality, and a person's personality
ur IQ IS
therefore based mainly on the kind of performance you show in psychological tests. cannot be changed after a certain age, this factor plays a crucial role. Cand idates going for
Alwa~ remember that no psychologist will reference your PIQ to each and every story . the NDA / TES should be between the ages of 17 to 19 as they are generally more trainable
.. . you wnteto
see whether what you are wnting 1s factual. At the beginning of the book I ment· d h compared to other age categories. For graduate entries, the age range is between 20- 27
. • ione t at the
psychological test5 are based on IMAGINATION, so you need to show it by w ·t · . it is difficult to bring the desirable changes in personality.
• . n mg stones on
incident5 which you may or may not have actually experienced in your life If everyth' . b. Duration of training-Another advantage with NDA / TES cadets are that they have 4 to S
h f d' . · ing you write
as t o come rom 1rect experience, then there would be no role for imagination. years of training compared to graduates who have a maximum of 1 year of tra ining (1 ½
On t he other hand, if a person does something wrong then his PIQ is imm d' t . years in terms of the CDS) . No drastic changes can made to the personality in such a short
h k h h . , e ia e 1y reviewed to
c ec w et er or not his negative qualities have come from real experience. period . For service entries such as ACC, SD, CW, SCO and PCSL, the age of the serving
personnel are high and then the training period is low. Here they get fewer train ability
marks.
2. Socio Economic Status - This is where your PIQ comes in handy to the psychologist. He will go
through your PIQ to get details such as your home town (whether it Is rural / urban), your
parents' education, their work (financial background), the school and colleges in which you
have studied and the various opportunities you have got In your life, and how well you have
made use of them to acquire your skills and shape your behavior.
3. OIR- This indicates how good you are with basic reasoning skills. It is believed that someone
with a higher OIR can improve himself better than someone who has a lower grade. You need
to perform well in the OIR test so that you will have an advantage over other candidates.
4. Insight - It is also important that an individual should know about his strengths and
weaknesses, so that he is more amenable to accepting change. Your Insight quotient is
assessed in the SD. Better insight leads to better development.
5. Motivation - Another aspect that the SD focuses on is how much you are Interested In
improving yourself. Remember that learning Is a lifelong process, and only those who have a
. f
th 1rst · ly can bring positive changes In
or knowledge can learn, and those who learn continuous
themselves. Project the psychologist your real interest and motivation so th at you can have
edge over the others in the final assessment.

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~ aak SSB Masterclass ··

Please rememb er that this book provides just a summary of what is needed to pass your
assessm ent with the best possible marks. There is much more that you will need to learn and
prepare for, and this book gives an overview that you will need to supplem ent with other study
materials . I would advise you to do your own research on the subject to add to your
preparat ion so that you can get yourself fully up to speed for the testing process. Our aim is not
to promise that you will know as much as an assessor, but to put you on the right track so that
many of you will be ready and able to join the most prestigious service that is dedicate d to the
defense of our country.

I have heard that some people who do not pass blame the system, but that is not necessarily
the case. You should bear in mind that the assessors are also human, and there may possibly be
errors in the assessment from time to time. Blaming the system therefore is rather
unproduc tive; instead, you should focus on preparing thorough ly so you can perform well in
the SSB.
1 hope the informati on provided in this guide is helpful. If you have any further queries, kind I
call or write to us. We would be glad to provide you further assistance. y
Jai Hind.