Picture Perception and Description Test (PP&DT) : SSB Interview

Picture Perception and Description Test (PP&DT) is a simple yet a very complicated test and one of the main reason, why most of the candidates get eliminated in the very first round of SSB Interview. This test is designed to screen out candidates who are undesirable or below par and to filter those candidates who have some chance of making it in the Stage II of the SSB interview.

How it is Conducted ?

After completion of the Officer Intelligence Rating (OIR) Tests, candidates are shown a hazy/somewhat blurred picture and asked to write a story based on the picture. The picture will be shown for around 30 seconds (Not exactly) and thereafter about 4 minutes are provided to write a story behind that. Before Writing the story, you have to identify the leader and other characters in the picture and mark them on booklet according to their positions with details like Age, Sex and Mood(Positive, Negative or Neutral) of the characters. You are given an extra minute for marking the characters.

Try to write the story before the stipulated time period of 4 minutes, because actually it is less than 4 minutes.

Thereafter candidates are made to sit in a semi-circular fashion in a group of 15 to 20 candidates and they are asked to narrate the story one by one by describing leaders and other characters and the story behind them. The time given to narrate the story will be about 1 minute. After all the candidates have finished narrating the story, Group Discussion starts and arrive at one common story. However usually it is not possible to arrive at the common story of the group.
In this test generally three membered panel is present to observe the whole narration and Group Discussion and simultaneously they grade each candidate according to their performance.

Do's and Don'ts during PP&DT ?

1. Never write or narrate pre-planned story, because every picture has different story.
2. Give appropriate time to identify the characters and situation to write the story.
3. Some candidates narrate their story but do not take part in the Group Discussion, never do this.
4. On the other hand some candidates, try to dominate the discussion by hampering others opportunity to speak. 
5. Be confident! This is not the end, opportunities will come to you several times. Hence keep repeating again and again.

Download Sample Pictures for Picture Perception and Description Test (PPDT)

Final Words

An acceptable candidate will be the one who is confident, sensible and having sharper mind. After OIR and PP&DT around 20 to 50% of the candidates get recommended for Stage-II.

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