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Situation Reaction Test In SSB
Have you ever thought how easily and spontaneously you react to every situation you come across in your day-to-day life? I bet you have not because all your reactions are triggered at the subconscious level of your mind. It is totally fine and you need not worry about it.
Jai Hind warriors today we shall discuss the Situation Reaction Test (SRT) that is conducted at a job interview and most importantly at the SSB Interview.
What actually is the Situation Reaction Test?
You come across various situations in your daily life. You react to them subconsciously but by being conscious using all your senses. Your action and reaction is an outcome of your thinking pattern, past experiences, knowledge and skills you possess, and most importantly the various beliefs you developed and nourished so far. All these aspects together define who you are. This is termed as your personality.
The aim of SRT is to evaluate those by virtue of which you are able to solve the problem of day-to-day life. The process of solving the problem should be the convenient outcome of your personality. Your ability to solve the problem of the day-to-day life is seen in your behaviour pattern and in nature of your duty which becomes the habit and a part of your behaviour which is being evaluated.
Situation Reaction Test in SSB
Situation Reaction Test is the third test given by the psychologist in a series of psychological tests. SRT is designed to test the responses of an individual in day-to-day situations. The objective of the test is to judge whether a candidate possesses guts and capacity to tackle odd situations with an alert mind. The test brings out the qualities of clear thinking, the logical course of action and quick decision making. It also reveals whether the candidate is capable of putting up with stress and strains without losing nerves. As an officer of Indian Armed Forces, the candidate may need to tackle such situations during his course of activities. This test, therefore, helps in determining the suitability of a candidate for selection as an officer. For good performance, a candidate needs the ability to write what he would have done or what he could do in such a situation.
No. of Situation – 60
Time – 30 Minutes
You will be given a booklet containing 60 situations which you have to answer in 30 minutes; this time limit has been intentionally shortened as to ensure that the candidate gives the first reaction which comes to his mind without thinking much over it. You must answer the situation as a genuine person and not like James Bond or Superman, write quickly and use punctuation marks as the time given to you is less.
Why a Situation?
“It takes courage to break away from the back, and confront wrongdoing head-on. Commitment defines you and keeps you balanced, to lend a hand to comfort. Pushing yourself to the limit builds strength. What you do with it, builds character.”
A situation is a situation because a situation involves a problem and a problem of day-to-day life. If there is no problem, it will not qualify to be a situation. You cannot stay neutral. Some behaviour on your past is necessary. You cannot refuse. You cannot afford to stay away from the situation. Either action or reaction has to come out. SRT tests your problem-solving behaviour or ability.
You cannot solve a problem on the same level on which it has been created. You have to go above and over the situation to solve it. Understanding off a solution is more important rather than offering a solution. SRT does not mean the mere description of a situation. Understanding the situation and drawing solutions, both are equally important.
Look at the following examples:
1) While travelling in a train, you notice a man from the coach behind yours falls off the train. You would…
Solution: pull the alarm chain so that the train may stop and the man may be helped.
Clearly, the situation demands taking quick action to provide help to the victim which in turn necessitates that the train must be stopped immediately.
2) Suppose one of your friends drops your camera while handling it carelessly. You would…
Solution: check for any damage; tell him to be careful while handling such delicate things; get it repaired later.
Here if the camera has got damaged then it needs to be repaired and for that you need money. He/she is your friend and will apologise you for sure and will contribute to its repair. So do not say that you will fight with him/her for the repair cost as this will spoil your friendship.
3) You are passing by a river and you know swimming. Suddenly, you hear the cry of a drowning child. You would…
Solution: shout to drive peoples’ attention; dive into the river to save him; give him first aid; call an ambulance; inform his parents.
Here the situation demands quick decision-making ability, initiative, sense of responsibility, effective intelligence, stamina, determination, organising ability, self-confidence, and courage. You must have the knowledge of first aid as the interviewer can question your ability later during the personal interview.
4) While travelling in a train, you observe some college students pulling the alarm chain simply to get down at their desired point. You would…
Solution: with the help of some passengers, stop them from doing so; warn them not to do this without emergency; tell them to get off at the next station.
Here you need to take the initiative and stop the wrongdoing. Act smart and group with fellow passengers to overpower them. The situation demands guts, courage, initiative, sense of responsibility, co-operation, group influencing ability, the power of expression and reasoning ability.
5) He confronts heavy shelling from the enemy side while fighting a war, He…
Solution 1: stop the fighting; defend intelligently; reorganize and overpower the enemy.
It shows a degree of your intelligence, sense of responsibility and speed of decision.
Solution 2: withdraw from the post; wait for the deployment; re-attack and capture the post.
It also shows an equal degree of your intelligence.
Situation Reaction Test for Women
There is much difference in men and women psychology, these difference may produce different answers during psychological tests in SSB interview. So, the test series that comes for women are different from what comes for men.
Below here are few such situations which come during Situation Reaction Test (SRT) in women’s entry.
- Her boss is the man of throwing his weight about. One day while working in the office, he bitterly shouts at her for no fault of her own, in front of her male juniors, which she felt heavily embarrassed and awkward. She will…
- You are awakened in the mid of night by the shrinks of ladies. You get up and come out of your house. Then you see three persons coming out of the house of your neighbour and running away. You know your neighbour is away on tour. You…
- You developed some misunderstanding with a jawan of your unit, resultantly other jawans working under you refused to co-operate in your task. You will…
- The day she was about to return from expiry of leave to her Defence unit, all of a sudden her mother developed heart attack and became very serious. She will…
Things to keep in mind
- Think of simple and obvious actions.
- Use short length keywords to answer the situation as this saves time. Use a ‘;’ to separate an action.
- Normally the reaction depends on the individual’s capacity and ability.
- Keep your responses as short as possible but do not compromise with quality.
- Do not skip the situation. Leaving a question in the paper may reflect your lack of decisiveness. Candidates are supposed to respond to every type of situations. There are NO easy or hard situations.
- There is no, correct solution or book answer, for any situation.
- Do not write answers like – I will solve the situation, I will find out the problem, I will inquire about the problem or I will plan the action as required etc.
- Do not write an answer to the situation if you do not understand the situation or you do not know about it to avoid giving wrong response.
- Solve the problem as it is. Do not make any assumption and aggravate the situation by adding the problems from your side e.g. if an accident has happened and you add that he will have at least fractures etc. or if someone comes in the dark you add that it has to be a lonely spot and you cannot raise alarm or shout for help.
- Do not write that I will not do anything, and pass the situation. (If armed men confront you in dark do not write you will not do anything because they can be Defence /Police personnel. Similarly, if you lose your purse and have no money do not write that you keep some money in the box or in your shoes and you will use that money.) This amounts to a dilution of the problem.
- Do not avoid the situation by writing that this cannot happen e.g. I do not have younger sister or brother or my parents are not there or all my friends are very good etc.
- Never permit yourself to be in the begging or pathetic state.
- Avoid joining strikes and activities creating disharmony.
- Use money carefully. Do not waste it for parties etc as a student. (It leads the psychologist to conclude, wasteful of resources.) If it is big money, use for a future plan for self-employment and development.
- Do not give alternatives e.g. I will do this and if not then I will do that…
- Act smartly and clearly if the situation involves boys and girls.
- Short and brief answers will save time. Vague answers are not desirable.
- Sometimes the same situation is asked in a different way to ensure your consistency of responses.
- Do not forget that time is crucial, so be very fast to write your responses.
- First, think of saving human life, then an animal’s life, and then plan for saving materials (prioritize your actions).
How to improve the quality of reactions?
Now, to be frank, this is a bit difficult task. Because improving your reactions directly means you want to change your personality. As said before, your reactions are the direct results of your behaviour pattern, so changing them will obviously take time as your brain will take time to get out of its comfort zone. But remember, you are here reading this article only for one reason and that is to see yourself in the uniform, ready to serve the nation and make your parents and yourself proud of you. So get ready to change yourself. Below mentioned are a few points that you will have to follow to change yourself slowly but steadily and improve your personality.
I. Smile:
Smiling can trick your brain into happiness and boost your health. A smile spurs a powerful chemical reaction in the brain that can make you feel happier. Even forcing a fake smile can legitimately reduce stress and lower your heart rate. Science has shown that the mere act of smiling can lift your mood, lower stress, boost your immune system and possibly even prolong your life.
Keep faking a smile. Smile unnecessarily throughout the day. Smile at yourself. Smile when you wake up in the morning. Smiling will keep you calm and happy. You won’t at all feel stressed or sad. You will always remain in a positive mood and a positive mood results in increased self-confidence.
A smile is also something that is easy to pass on. Much like yawning, smiling is contagious. Smiling is contagious not just because of how a smile looks from the outside, but also because of the intention and the feeling that is put behind a smile. When someone smiles at you, you feel the good vibes from them, which makes you want to pass a smile on the next person, and so on and so forth. Your shyness will slowly fade away and you will actually start feeling comfortable in initiating a talk with new people as well.
II. Follow a daily timetable:
Time management is one of the most crucial parts of a soldier’s life. If you really dream of wearing the uniform then you’ll have to make a timetable and follow it on daily basis. The accomplishment of your goals depends on how well they are planned and how much efforts you put in to achieve them.
Maintain a diary for your schedule. Note down everything in it. Note down short-term and long-term goals. Make monthly goals and plans, and later divide the steps to achieve them in days or weeks. This will help you keep a track of your progress and will keep you motivated to go on achieving new goals. Having an organised life will help you with everything. You will become more punctual as compared to people around you. Your changed behaviour will soon be noticed by your family and friends. They will start respecting you and your time.
Having known how you are going to invest your time will obviously reflect in your reactions as you will be well conscious of prioritising things.
III. Read as much as you can:
Yes, it is one of the most important things you will have to do if you really want to live a life less ordinary. Keeping the SSB in mind you will have to read subject books, newspaper, and fictional & non-fictional books as well. Reading blogs and articles will keep your knowledge updated.
Reading will help you improve knowledge and fluency in various subjects and languages. Your knowledge and imagination power will boost up. You will start listening more and will avoid speaking unnecessarily. Your facts will be clearer which will make you feel confident while expressing your views on a topic. Your confidence will be high which will reflect in your body language.
IV. Exercise regularly:
A physically fit person has a stronger and healthier mind. You will feel much stronger and this will improve your mindset. A person who exercises doesn’t feel low easily. Your actions will be swift and smooth. Your confidence level will be much higher. The sweat and satisfaction after the workout will make you believe that you can handle any situation and bring a positive outcome. Thus you will be obvious with your reactions as you know how far you can go.
V. Meet friends and spend time with them, visit your relatives and speak with them:
I am serious about it. Doing so will not make you feel awkward when you have some surprise guests at home. Your bond with them will get stronger with time and you will be respected among everyone. Your shyness will disappear and you will become more socially adaptable.
VI. Volunteer at home, school, college or at the workplace:
Volunteering in any task gives you a good hand experience of that task. It helps you learn new things and understand people as well. You start co-operating well and respect everyone’s opinion. Volunteering for anything directly builds OLQs (Officer Like Qualities) in you thus making you a better person than others.
VII. Always remember, each day is a Situation Reaction Test:
Yes, treat each and every moment of your life as an SRT. Be it planning a journey, a movie, a friend’s birthday surprise, helping someone on the way, or sudden arrival of guests at home when you are busy with your work. Always keep yourself calm and positive, remember to smile wide, and then react to every situation. Doing so will gradually change your thinking pattern and you will always tackle a situation with a positive mindset.
So, these are the few points that you must follow to improve your personality in order to react better to any situation you come across in life. After all, SSB is just a personality test and if you are doing best in your day-to-day life then you will eventually perform best in SSB making a way closer to achieve your goal.
Practising Situation Reaction Test
You get very limited time to answer SRTs in SSB and quality cannot be compromised at all. Thus practising SRTs beforehand will give you a good experience about a range of questions that can be asked in the SSB and will also save your time in thinking on reactions during the test.
Here below you will get a few sample SRTs for practice. Download the pdf and use it for practice and check your responses.
Practice Original SRT Questions
But why limit your preparation only till sample SRT? The good news is that DDE has already brought an SSB bundle of 10 e-Books to boost your preparation with original SSB content. You will get not only SRT questions but overall guidance for various other tests in SSB. For the SRT part, you get solved SRT and over 500+ practice SRT questions. This is enough to make you more confident and crack the SSB so you move closer to achieve your goal.
So why to delay your preparation? Go and get your SSB Bundle now.
