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The Story Test

TAT: Thematic Apperception Test

Eleven hazy pictures and one blank slide. Thirty seconds to look, then the picture vanishes and you write a story. The story is never really about the picture. It is about the hero, and the hero is you.

What it really tests

You see a vague, blurred scene for about 30 seconds. The picture then disappears and you get roughly 4 minutes to write a short story around a central character. Because the picture is ambiguous, whatever you project onto it comes from you. The assessor reads the hero as a projection of the writer: how you see problems, and what you instinctively do about them.

Like the rest of the psychology set, TAT is cross-checked. The hero of your stories must be the same person who shows up in your WAT, SRT, self-description and interview. One consistent, capable, positive person across all of them is the whole aim.

The format, in short

• 11 pictures + 1 blank slide, shown one after another.
• About 30 seconds to view each picture, then it is removed from the screen.
• About 4 minutes to write each story before the next slide appears.
• The last slide is blank: you imagine your own scene and write its story.

The structure of a strong story

Decide your hero fast, then tell a complete little story. A reliable shape:

1. 1Fix the hero in one lineRoughly your own age and sex. Give a name, a mood, and what they want. A clear hero is the single most important thing.
2. 2What led to the sceneOne or two lines of background, the past that created this moment. Keep it brief and plausible.
3. 3What is happening nowThe present problem or task, and what the hero thinks and feels about it. This is where character shows.
4. 4The action and outcomeThe hero takes concrete steps using real resources and reaches a positive, believable result. End on the action paying off, not on luck.

Write in the past tense, keep it to a tight paragraph, and finish inside the time. A complete ordinary story beats a brilliant unfinished one.

How to write stories that land

Pick a positive, realistic theme and let the hero drive it. Show officer-like qualities through what the hero does, not by calling them brave or responsible. Use resources a normal person would have. Avoid the temptation to make the hero win single-handedly against impossible odds, that reads as fantasy, not leadership. For the blank slide, write about a real kind of situation you have handled or could handle, with the same positive, active hero.

Good versus weak, in practice

The hero.
Weak: "The man was very tense and did not know what to do."
Stronger: "Ravi saw the machine had jammed, calmed the trainees, and organised them to restart the line before the shift ended."

The ending.
Weak: "Sadly, nothing worked and everyone gave up."
Stronger: "By nightfall the bund held. Tired but satisfied, they had saved the fields together."

What sinks a story

• Negative, tragic or hopeless endings.
• A helpless, passive hero who only watches, worries or waits to be rescued.
• Violence, revenge or aggression as the solution.
• Unrealistic heroics and superhuman feats.
• Memorised, templated stories reused for every picture.
• No clear hero, or just describing the scene with no story.
• Running out of time, or leaving the story unfinished.
• A hero who contradicts the person in your other tests.

Practise it