SSB Allahabad is the common name for Selection Centre East, one of the Army’s Services Selection Board centres, in Allahabad, now Prayagraj, in Uttar Pradesh. The Army’s recruitment pages describe it as raised in 1957 with five boards, numbered 11, 14, 18, 19 and 34 SSB. You do not choose it: the Army allots your centre and date, and your call-up letter gives the reporting point and time. This guide sets out what is confirmed, what is not, and how to prepare.
A note on sources. The Army’s recruitment portal could not be read directly by us, because it asks visitors to enter a captcha. We relied on UPSC’s current notices, the Army’s current career pages, an official Army call-up letter (from Bhopal, dated 2019) and an official Army notification of 2016 that names Allahabad as a selection centre. The 1957 date and the board numbers come from the Army’s published history of the centre as reproduced in search results, and we could not open that page ourselves. We have left out the street address, station routes and fare or stay tips, because we could not confirm them from an official source.
What is Selection Centre East?
The Army runs its officer selection through Services Selection Boards. An official Army notification for the Technical Graduate Course (TGC-124, issued in 2016) names Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Bangalore in Karnataka as the selection centres where shortlisted candidates were interviewed by a Psychologist, a Group Testing Officer and an Interviewing Officer. Allahabad was one of them then. The Army’s recruitment pages continue to list Selection Centre East at Allahabad.
Which service uses which board matters, because candidates mix them up. The Air Force’s own boards (AFSBs) are at Dehradun, Mysuru, Gandhinagar, Varanasi and Guwahati, so Allahabad is not an Air Force board. The Navy’s boards, per its instructions page, are at Bangalore, Bhopal, Visakhapatnam and Kolkata. Allahabad is an Army centre. The nearest Air Force board is the 4 AFSB at Varanasi, covered in our 4 AFSB Varanasi guide.
Can I choose SSB Allahabad?
No. UPSC’s NDA and NA (II) 2026 notice says candidates who qualify the written examination must register on the Army’s recruitment website with the same e-mail ID they gave UPSC, and that they are then allotted selection centres through that website. The 2016 TGC notification says the allotment of the selection centre is at the discretion of the Directorate General of Recruiting and no request for change is entertained.
In practice that means you cannot plan for a particular city. If your letter names Allahabad, travel arrangements are yours to make. For dates, the notice says requests for postponing an interview are considered only in exceptional circumstances and only if administratively convenient, and they go to the selection centre that issued your call-up letter, not to Army, Navy or Air Headquarters. The Army’s centre is also not where an Air Force or Navy first-choice candidate goes. Those candidates use their own service’s boards.
The five days at an Army selection centre
UPSC’s notice describes the SSB as two stages: Stage I (the Officer Intelligence Rating test and the Picture Perception and Description Test) and Stage II (interview, group testing tasks, psychology tests and the conference, over four days). The Army’s own description, reproduced in a 2025 Supreme Court judgment, gives the detail:
- Day 1: the screening tests. The picture is shown for 30 seconds, you note down the characters and their details in one minute and write a story in four minutes, and you then narrate it in a group of about 15 and discuss it. The intelligence test is given a rating from I to V. Candidates who do not clear Stage I are sent back.
- Day 2: psychology tests, namely a thematic apperception test, a word association test, a situation reaction test and a self description.
- Days 3 and 4: the group testing tasks, from group discussion and the group planning exercise to the outdoor tasks, the lecturette, individual obstacles and the command task.
- Days 2 to 4: each candidate is interviewed once.
- Day 5: the conference. See our SSB conference guide.
Our SSB interview process guide takes each test in turn, and the 15 OLQs page shows what each test looks for.
What your call-up letter covers
The only Army call-up letter we could read is from the selection centre at Bhopal, dated January 2019. We use it to show what such letters typically cover, not to describe Allahabad. It told candidates to report only on their allotted date, said that dates would not be changed once allotted, listed the documents to bring in original with two self-attested photocopies each, and set out what to carry and how to report. Allahabad’s letter will carry its own reporting point and time. Read yours line by line.
- Documents: in the 2019 Bhopal letter, the Matriculation or equivalent certificate for date of birth, mark sheets, Class 12 and degree papers where relevant, a photo ID, and declarations. Your letter lists your exact set.
- Free boarding and lodging during the stay, in that letter, and mobile phones deposited on arrival.
- Travel allowance: in the 2016 notification, candidates attending for the first time for a type of commission get AC-III Tier rail fare or bus fare both ways. Repeat attempts for the same commission are not entitled.
- Tattoos: the letter spells out the Army’s tattoo policy, so check yours.
- Medical: recommended candidates have a medical examination after Stage II. The Bhopal letter said three to four days.
If your letter differs from this, your letter is right.
Getting there
Since the centre, the reporting point and the time are in your letter, we do not give directions. A few sourced points: the letter we read said a representative would receive candidates at a named railway reporting point and arrange the conveyance to the centre, and that candidates reporting directly at the centre are accepted only up to a stated cut-off hour. Prayagraj is also a UPSC examination centre, as the NDA (II) 2026 notice lists, so many candidates know the city from the written examination.
Do not arrive earlier than your date. Boarding is provided only from the day you report. If you are coming from Dehradun, the UPSC and Army sites are the places to check timings, not a forum.
Preparing for the board
The board is the same wherever you are sent, so preparation does not change with the city. Work on the habits behind the 15 OLQs, rehearse your story and answers from your own PIQ (see how to fill the PIQ) and keep up fitness. We run SSB-focused preparation in Dehradun and can run a mock board for you. For a first conversation, call or WhatsApp +91 70170 31757 for free counselling.
To see other centres, read our SSB Bhopal guide and the list of SSB centres in India.
FAQs
Questions parents ask us.
Can't find yours? Ask on WhatsApp; a counsellor usually replies within working hours.
Ask on WhatsAppWhat is SSB Allahabad?
It is Selection Centre East of the Army at Allahabad, now Prayagraj, in Uttar Pradesh. The Army's pages list it with five boards, 11, 14, 18, 19 and 34 SSB.
Can I choose my SSB centre?
No. UPSC's notice says centres are allotted through the Army's recruitment website, and requests for change are not entertained as a rule.
Which boards run at Allahabad?
Army boards. The Air Force's AFSBs are at Dehradun, Mysuru, Gandhinagar, Varanasi and Guwahati, and the Navy's boards are at Bangalore, Bhopal, Visakhapatnam and Kolkata.
How long does the SSB take?
Five days of testing after the day of arrival, in two stages, followed by a medical for recommended candidates.
Is SSB stay free?
The Army call-up letter we read said boarding and lodging were free during the stay. Check your own letter.
What is the SSB Allahabad address?
We do not print one because we could not confirm it from an official page. Your call-up letter gives the reporting point.
Sources
- UPSC: NDA and NA (II) 2026 notice (centre allotment, SSB stages, postponement, examination centres)
- Supreme Court of India: Arshnoor Kaur v Union of India (2025 INSC 954), reproducing the Army’s description of the SSB
- Indian Army: example call-up letter from Selection Centre Central, Bhopal (2019)
- Indian Army: TGC-124 notification (2016), naming Allahabad, Bhopal and Bangalore
- Indian Army: history of SCE Allahabad (the 1957 date and board numbers)
- Indian Air Force: AFSB centres
- Indian Navy: instructions for SSB (Navy board locations)
Heading for an SSB? GS India Defence Academy runs SSB training in Dehradun with separate hostels for boys and girls and a mess. Current options are on our fee structure page.
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