Prior to WW-II there was no defined selection system for officers cadre rather it was based on the discretion of the commanding officers. The selection was mainly carried out based on the blood lines and educational background of the candidates. Due to the experience of WW-II, the British institutionalized the induction streams of officers cadre through establishment of war office selection boards in 1942. The same arrangements were extended to British India in 1943 which was later replaced with services selection boards in 1945.

    These boards employed scientific methods of personality screening mechanism and adopted 2-3 days based examination system comprising written tests and interviews.  In the post war scenario, these boards made their mark by stimulating a continuous flow of good material to the army and so won the confidence of Royal Army. 

    In 1947, Pakistan inherited three services selection boards as a partition plan which were amalgamated into inter services selection board in 1952. ISSB initially remained functional at Lahore however was later shifted to Kohat in old Park Lane hotel building. Later with the increased induction in Pakistan Defence Forces, two additional ISSB centres were established in Gujranwala and Malir in 1982 and 1987 respectively. ISSB centre Quetta was established in 1999 to facilitate the youth from Balochistan province and it has been made permanent since September 2021 on the directions of the Chief of Army Staff.