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DIPR to introduce online test

Ravi Sharma

Bangalore: The Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), in consultation with the Recruitment Directorate, is introducing an online self-assessment inventory that will help candidates determine their potentiality for military service.

With almost one lakh applicants applying for the 17 Union Public Service Commission and non-UPSC entries that enable a candidate to get into the various branches of the officer cadre, the in-house DIPR test will also lessen the burden on the overstretched selection process and the exchequer. Estimates show that the process of selecting an applicant, who could then be trained as officer, costs the exchequer Rs.6 lakh.

To be called the Military Aptitude Test (MAT), it will be uploaded onto the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) website in September. The ab initio test will contain questions and tasks to determine the personality and cognitive ability of a candidate.

According to William Selvamurthy, Chief Controller, Research and Development (Life Sciences and Human Resource), DRDO, candidates can take the online MAT and then go for the required UPSC entrance examination if they feel they have the aptitude for a career in the armed forces. The test will eliminate unwanted material at an early stage itself. However, it will not be compulsory.

Speaking to The Hindu, DIPR Director Manas K. Mandal said the test would help candidates judge for themselves the degree of difference between their own ability and job reality.

While online assessment is being seen as a helpful tool, senior group testing officers from the Service Selection Board say the idea of giving candidates a peek into personality assessment tests (on what the military wants) beforehand could compromise the selection system, taking away the surprise element in the existing tests. If a candidate gets familiar with the tests he could hoodwink “low level assessors,” say the officers.

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