Situation Reaction Test (SRT)

In the Situation Reaction Test (SRT), the candidates are expected to give out spontaneous and instinctive responses to certain stressful, unfamiliar and real to life situations.

A total of 60 situations are required to be addressed in 30 minutes, i.e. 30 seconds per situation.

These are ‘real to life’ situations, which you may encounter in your day to day life. These are given in a Booklet, in the form of statements which you have to complete by giving appropriate reactions.

Due to a constraint of time, you will generally give a response, which would be close to your actual reaction, while facing similar situation in real life.

The following aspects must be borne in mind while attempting the SRT:

You must write your responses in the separate sheets given to you for the purpose and not inside the SRT Booklet.

Give your response to a situation in a methodical / step wise manner, which is brief, but complete in all aspects; e.g. if you see a road side accident, you must start by giving first aid (if available), followed by organizing transport to take injured person to hospital, then inform police authorities and lastly inform the next of kin of the injured person.

Be realistic, and do not show illogical bravado or foolhardiness in your responses; e.g. fight alone with a number of hoodlums while returning from a late night movie show with your girl friend, or jump into a river to save someone, when you are told in the situation that you are a non swimmer.

However, if your honour is at stake, then you can even sacrifice your life to protect it; e.g. if the hoodlums tell you that we will not harm you, if leave your girl friend behind and walk away.

Do not show wishful behaviour, by presupposing things to make your problem easier; e.g. should not imagine that police will come out of the ‘blue’ and apprehend the hoodlums.

Do not demonstrate panic in your behaviour by writing phrases like, shout for help, cried out for assistance, etc.

You must show presence of mind and utilize various recourses available at your disposal to their fullest potential while giving out your reaction. Besides, it shall also show your general awareness and resourcefulness.

While giving your responses, you must never forget your moral responsibilities towards the society and show empathy in your responses while dealing with the ‘feelings of others’.

Most important is that you need to actually mould your thought process closest to what you portray in your responses. Because, somewhere or the other in your responses in SRT/TAT/WAT/SD, your true personality traits will be visible to the assessor and naturally, it will not match with the “prepared” responses given by you.

Different Types of Responses Given By Candidates

Action Oriented Responses

In these responses the action is executed and completed. These are considered to be the best responses, and reflect the qualities of a candidate, who is self sufficient, self-reliant and a “doer”.

For example, “he jumped into the river and saved the boy”; “She along with other students controlled the fire by using fire fighting equipment available in the college”.

Make sure that all intermediary actions are written and the outcome is completed, e.g. called fire brigade, mobilised help, used local resources to contain fire, assisted in evacuation of victims and finally controlled the fire effectively.

Starts Action but Leaves it Incomplete

In such responses, the candidate plans, but shows a doubt with respect to the execution/completion of the task; e.g. he willtryto catch the thief; such responses reflect lack of determination, inept self confidence and all those specific qualities to which the situation is related.

Unrealistic Responses

Responses that shows that the candidate lives in a fantasy world and in which the candidate often jumps to conclusions; e.g. He participated in Olympics and got a gold medal. It might show lack of self awareness or a defence mechanism of the candidate to glorify a quality that is deficient with him/her.

Unable to Complete Response
This happens due to high level of stress on the candidate, presented by the situation. Such responses by the candidate are interpreted by the psychologist as, from a highly stress prone candidate or that the candidate is unable to grasp the situation correctly or his speed of thinking process is slow, etc.

Leaving Blank SRTs

Invariably, a candidate will leave blanks, as he is unable to handle that particular emotion appropriately and is incapable to responding to it. Hence, that particular personality trait or quality would be found deficient with that candidate.

SAMPLE SRT’S

PRACTICE SET