How to Prepare Your PIQ for the SSB Personal Interview

Your starting point

Review each entry for accuracy, examples and questions it may naturally invite. Prepare to explain choices in your own words rather than memorising a biography.

Start with accurate information

Use the Personal Information Questionnaire instructions supplied at your selection centre. For preparation, make a private factual record of education, dates, responsibilities, activities and achievements. Check uncertain details against your documents. Where information changes, understand the change rather than trying to preserve an old coaching version of your biography.

Understand the experiences behind the entries

For each substantial activity, recall your actual role, how often you participated, a difficulty and something you learned. Distinguish membership from leadership and participation from an award. If you wrote that you organised an event, be able to explain what you organised, who else helped and what decisions were yours. Ordinary, accurate details give a conversation substance.

Prepare for choices and changes

A change of subject, a gap, a lower result or a discontinued activity can be discussed clearly. Establish the sequence, your reasons at the time and what you did afterwards. Avoid composing an elaborate justification. If your judgment has changed, explain what you understand differently now.

A PIQ reflection exercise

Create three columns headed entry, example and question. Take five entries from your record, add a real example for each and write one natural follow-up question. Close the record and discuss two entries with a practice partner. Ask whether the explanation was understandable, not whether it sounded impressive.

• Can I verify the facts?
• Have I described my own contribution accurately?
• What follow-up detail would help someone understand the experience?
• Is there a current responsibility I should reflect on more carefully?

Keep your preparation notes private

A practice partner rarely needs identity numbers, financial details or copies of sensitive documents. Share only what the exercise needs. For the actual process, provide the information requested through the official procedure. Use preparation notes to improve recall and reflection; do not memorise paragraphs for every entry.