AIB. All about Admiralty Interview Board - Officer Selection

[lucy]

Thanks for that! I still haven't received all my paperwork for AIB yet so I'm unsure as to the guidance I'll receive in that, apologies therefore if I'm asking things that will become apparent! Will the info I receive in the AIB paperwork give me any idea as to what the planning exercise will consist of or can anyone give me some pointers? (apart from the glaringly obvious that it will require planning!)

[Craig_C]

Well, you will receive a little AIB booklet... in there it will tell you what they are looking for.. e.g effective intelligence, confidence etc.

It will include some quick fire questions and Speed Distance Time questions.

I don't know really, where else to find info.

You will not get told which plan you will do until the day and time of the planning exercise.

[jrwlynch]

I think I'm most worried about the Planning Exercise!

Lucy,

If it helps, I did mine last month and made it, so if I can get in it can't be that bad. All advice here is based only on own experience, so treat with proper caution: I may have got through despite my planning exercise, not because of it!


On the planning exercise, you'll get a written brief describing the situation you're being assessed on, and some time to go through it as individuals: then some extra problems will be briefed to you on top of the written scenario (e.g. one of your survey teams has crashed their vehicle, immobilised with two serious casualties) and you'll put together a plan as a group. One of you will be asked to describe your aims (i.e. what's most important that you need to do) and then someone else will be asked to summarise the plan: you'll each be asked whether you agree with it or not.

The N2 will then go into a quick-fire question round, a few minutes per person but with any wrong or missed answers immediately batted to another candidate, on scenario information, times & distances, constraints on your actions, et cetera. This may be where you realise you overlooked something really significant but inconspicuous...

After that, you get a few minutes of solo silent thought, before going back in individually to give a two-minute brief on "so what *are* you going to do?"


As someone else said, try to be balanced during the group planning stage: they need to hear you make useful contributions to give you marks, but they also want to see you listening to the others and taking in what's said. Stay positive but aim to get a coherent plan together. You will be asked whether you support the group plan: I'm not sure what happens when someone doesn't, but the working default for the Board is be honest.

Don't get worried when the N2 rips your plan to bits, hits you with lots of questions you don't know the answer to, and points out vital bits of information you completely overlooked: that happens to everyone, and you're being assessed on how you cope with it.

When you go back in to present your final plan as individuals, I believe they're looking for something that's got a chance of working, but takes the points already raised into consideration. If you stick with your original plan but adjust it to fix the issues you got called on, that seems to work (at least it did for me) - I'd imagine that you could also sack the original as a bad job and try something different, if they'd ripped so many bits off your first try that it wasn't fixable, but that's a lot of mental effort required.

I don't recall any cross-examination on that final stretch, just two minutes by the map with a pointer to describe the last draft of my plan.

I'd suggest starting the final brief with a fast restatement of your key aims - let them know what the plan's meant to achieve, then describe how you intend to do it.



Once you're actually doing it, it's an interesting challenge. If you're enjoying yourself you probably come across as more enthusiastic, which is hopefully a good thing. Be warned, though, that at least for ours the "example" planning exercise was a lot simpler than the real one even before they started throwing extra wrinkles into it.

In fact, trying to enjoy the Board and concentrating on each task as it comes up is probably the best advice I can give you: we were advised quite strongly not to try to post-mortem the various tests, either to think "that was rubbish, I've blown the whole Board, might as well give up now!" or "that was easy and I must have done really well..." Give each element your best shot, then forget about it and focus on the next task.

Hope this helps, wishing you luck, and hope you enjoy it.

[lucy]

Thank you so much for that! It's put my mind a bit more at ease, though that's not to say that I am not suitably nervous! Will see how it goes and just give it my best! Thanks again for the fantastic advice, at least I know a little more of what to expect and congratulations on getting through yours

[TheRowan]

jrwlynch has given a very clear description of the planning exercise. The only thing I would add, that caught me out slightly, is that you should try and remember as much of the detail frojm the scenario briefing as possible even if it seems totally irrelevant to the task in hand... the N2 will probably question you on it! For example, our exercise involved a frigate in the Caribbean that had been diverted to a humanitarian relief operation... we got questioned on things like how much in the way of drugs our ship had seized on that deployment, and what our original deployment plan before being diverted was, none of which had any impact on the problem (rescuing survivors from a volcanic eruption) whatsoever.

[Craig_C]

Good point there! When I was doing my planning Exercise, the N2 questioned us on time scales. What day of the week it was and what time did the ship leave.

Also make sure you know what role everyone is planning and also know what people are in the scenario. Eg If Mr J Black is a Radio Operator and Dr Green is a GP... the N2 may ask;

"Who is the only person that is trained to use the radio?"

or

"Which member of your team would be the best to leave behind with a casualty?"

[geoffers]

If you can, practice speed/distance/time calculations as from my experience this is the part that leaves most people hanging. Expect one person (possibly you!) to be asked a question and the response is merely a blank stare!

Craig_C pointed out probably the most crucial point there - State your aims clearly and your plan, they might be shit but as long as they are clearly stated you will earn marks!

[lucy]

Thanks! All is a lot clearer! AIB will soon be here, and then over!

[sgtpepperband]

If you can, practice speed/distance/time calculations as from my experience this is the part that leaves most people hanging. Expect one person (possibly you!) to be asked a question and the response is merely a blank stare...

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

[BigglesAEO]

Just adding my thanks to jrwlynch for the planning exercise tips and all the rest for the info in here, got my AIB on sunday and the stuff in here had been really helpful, so ta