OFFICERS’ TESTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20826, 3 July 1942, Page 5

OFFICERS’ TESTS

BRITISH CANDIDATES NEW SELECTION BASIS u.s. & german methods (By Telegraph—Assn—Copyright.) (Special Correspondent.) (9.30 a.m.) LONDON, July 1. The British Army has adopted a new method of selecting officers based on American and German methods. Instead of the old system of a 15 to 20-minute interview, the candidates take a three-day course when they are treated as officers and live with .the officers’ mess with members of the War Office selection boards. The selection staff know candidates by numbers only, not being conversant with their previous records. Rigid military discipline is avoided and every effort is made to put them at ease and so give their best. The boards’ president interviews all candidates, forms his own opinion, while commanding officers who are visiting the school may interview them, watch them in action and also form a personal opinion. A psychiatrist sees all “border line” cases, while in cases of technical arms, a lieut.-colonel from each technical arm sees the candidates’ records for suitability of .their technical qualifications. The candidates are not interviewed by testing officers who live with them and thus have an opportunity for testing them under natural condP tions. Physical fitness is regarded as most important and also ability to act and ; think. . Intelligence and Ingenuity The tests call for intelligence and ingenuity. They frequently reveal presence or lack of physical and moral courage, pertinacity or dash. Natural leadership, tested by, situations ift which each candidate is given command of six or seven others. - He must solve a problem designed to show whether he can appreciate the situation, make a reasonably quick and sensible plan, give clear and practical orders and see them in action. Finally, a conference is held at which each candidate is fully discussed, every member of the board giving his opinion. Thus the verdict will result in a many-sided observatiop and examination of a man in a variety of circumstances. The verdicts tend to be mpst impartial and also reach a higher standard of accuracy. The tests are designed to assess candidates’ fundamental ability and character and not merely the extent of their military knowledge. They include a phychological test with patterns which must be arranged in older, the problems becoming increasingly difficult, demanding commonsense for a solution. Bodily Fitness After a crcss-country run, which induces a bodily condition comparable with the strain of war, the men are giyen a simple problem of organisation whic i .they must solve. Ingenuity and pertinacity are tested by an obstacle course, including a 10ft. palisade and a tight-rope. The successful candidates are divided into three classes, the outstanding in Grade A going to the officers’ cadet training unit immediately; Grade B must wait for a vacancy, while Grade C are placed in reserve for training when no A or B men are available. General Sir Roland Adam, who is Adjutant-General, stated that an average of 5 per cent of all candidates get A grading. It is estimated that there are over 100 definable qualities of leadership, some of which can_.be acquired by training, and others are largely innate.