Rohit Awasthi wrote in to me with info on a screw up at this year's IIFT extrance exam, held on 27th Nov. As this thread on pagalguy.com shows, students at some centres are aggrieved. This is the gist of their online petition which currently has 69 signatures
The complaints:
1) The papers were not sealed and were distributed 5-7 minute before the test started. In some centres they were distributed 10-15 min earlier because invigilator were unaware of the correct instructions to be followed i.e. Question papers were distributed before OMR sheets.
The point being that in an exam where there is fierce competition even a small headstart may give an unfair advantage. A single extra answer may get you that coveted GD/ PI call.
2) At some centres there was precious time lost by the students owing to mismatching between Question paper and OMR sheets distributed by the invigilators. In many centres the mismatching went unnoticed.
3) There were numerous printing errors on the paper leading to confusion in marking answers.
More discussion is going on here.
There is even talk of exerting pressure on IIFT to reconduct the exam - by filing a PIL. Given the current media obsession with everything-to-do-with-bschools, it may make the front pages as well.
Not a nice prospect for IIFT, which is generally considered an A + or "top 10 institute".
Questions that arise
Must IIFT have its own separate exam based on the argument that we are a 'foreign trade institute'? If MICA can take in students through CAT, although it is a specialised advertising and communications course, why not IIFT?
They can test short-listed candidates on foreign trade knowledge at the GD and interview stage - MICA does something similar.
The reason I stress on more institutes joining CAT is that barring the 2003 leak it is a well-conducted exam. There is a set procedure where senior academic and non-academic staff from IIMs are deputed to supervise the administration of the exam at different centres.
From what I know they take the discharge of this duty extremely seriously and one has not heard of IIFT-like complaints.
The reason b schools insist on their own exams is to make a neat packet on the exam fee (average : Rs 1000) from the 10-15,000 students who take each test. (adding up to a couple of easily earned crores)
To put students through this expense and hassle and then not conduct a fair exam is, therefore, rather inexcusable.
With regard to the IIFT exam the buzz is 'such things have happened before'. It's just that with online discussion forums like pagalguy.com more students are airing their grievances. And their voice is more likely to be heard.
Going online
Conducting paper and pen exams on gigantic scale is becoming a pain for b schools. But when XLRI did an online exam a couple years ago the result was an embarassing system crash. They're back to pen and paper since.
The future of b school entrance is online, but getting the technical and infrastructural details right will take a couple of years. We would have to go the GRE/ GMAT way and not insist on a simultaneous exam for 150,000 students.
But then, doubts might be raised about the difficulty levels not being the same for every exam taker. Yes, the same happens with GRE/ GMAT but that is not a make-or-break score.
Even with a relatively poor GMAT score you can hope to get into a good b school - if your profile is outstanding in other ways. The same is not true in India.
If CAT is to go online, the entire approach to b school admission would have to change. But, you might ask, how will an IIM A or B cope with the US style admissions. How will they sift through essays from 150,000 students?
Allwin Agnel, a non-MBA and founder of pagalguy.com has an interesting perspective on this. Right now, he says, we have 150,000 applicants because all they have to do is take a 2 hour multiple choice exam.
Make it harder - ask applicants to write 3 essays, get recommendation letters, demonstrate leadership capability through past work experience. The number will fall drastically, as only committed students will apply.
Winds of change
That could well be true. IIM A's newly launched PGP X program is a 1 year course for managers with 7-15 years experience. The admission procedure was very different - GMAT scores were accepted, candidates had to write essays and 'leadership potential' was an important selection criteria.
This participant profile: average GMAT of 700, age of 32 years and work experience of over 9 years. The average salary applicants are forgoing to join the program is Rs 10.7 lakhs. The course fee for PGP X is another Rs 10 lakhs.
So while IIMA is offering placement services, that is not the only carrot. This is going to be one bunch of let-me-get-the-most-out-of-this-course participants. Compared to regular PGP students, these folks will be far more knowledge-hungry - no doubt about it!
As regards selectivity: around 1000 applications were received; admit offers were made to 71 candidates of which 67 accepted (a bit of a surprise - the institute was expecting 60 to join). But overall, the selection committee was delighted with the profile, depth and breadth of experience on offer.
This could well be the future of b school entrance but then we would have to accept some level of subjectivity creeping in. And that, in India, always leaves scope for doubts and corruption.
ISB admissions and IIM A's PGP X are indications that it can be done in a fair and credible manner. But it would mean moving out of the comfort zone. Never easy but probably inevitable.
Let's wait and watch!
CAT, and most MBA entrance processes in India are very messy. Incidents like these are rampant.
ReplyDeleteStarting this year MICA accepts CAT, XAT or GMAT scores. Had it been a regular B-School, it would have been the right step. But for an institute that is trying to position itself as the Communications Management School (C-School), it might work the wrong way. We have thousands of students applying to MICA each year, just because they wrote CAT. Thy believe that MICA gets them the usual MBA Marketing, Finance & HR jobs.
It might be a failed positioning exercise for MICA, but for niche B-Schools, it might just make sense having a special entrance. The only pitfall is that we might not get quality MBA level applicants.
Well most of the competitive exams are conducted in a pathetic fashion..lets hope atleast these premier exams are conducted well!!Sad state, this.....
ReplyDeleteAbout Allwin's idea....
ReplyDeleteBring in the concept of Essays & Recommendation letters into the eequation and you'll soon have the coaching institutes selling "sample/Illustrative" letters & essays...
Adding letters & essays is not going to serve the purpose of reducing the number of applicants and thus enabling the whole system to go online...
It will only add subjectivity (hence corruption) into the system....
Make it harder - ask applicants to write 3 essays, get recommendation letters, demonstrate leadership capability through past work experience. The number will fall drastically, as only committed students will apply.
ReplyDeleteHaving friends and cousins who went on to study in US, let me assure you there's a non-negligible industry out there that does tehse jobs for applicants. They start with long 'consultation' sessions to gather as much information about the candidate as possible and then in agreement with the applicant to write their SoPs, 'design' recommendation letters and suggest which proffs to get them from, writing instances from work experiance (or life) that could project any dim-witted lazy loser as the best go getter on this plannet and a bill gates or jack welch in the making.
We are a country of innovators (remember those 'jugar' jokes?) and the way out has to be innovative, not just a copy of a process developed almost a century ago in a foreign land which is under debate even back home!
I agree with raven. Essays will only make the process seem easier (no need to "prepare" to take an exam, the impression will be: "spend a week or so to write a nice essay and you're done". This does not mean that essay will be good enough to get selected, but the impression will be that of greater ease).
ReplyDeleteReference letters, previous work experience (for leadership) are dangerous territory. Suppose I am from an A grade Delhi University college - do I stand a very unfair advantage over a student from a Government Arts College in a town centre? Especially given that the concept of reference letters is a big scam. You have to essentially bootlick all the right profs and egg them on to write a glorious proof of your existence. The prof's academic standing also makes a difference.
ReplyDeleteOpportunities in smaller towns for joining associations or fruitfully engaging oneself in a college based society in India are small. CAT is a great equalizer in many senses. (Or not - Given that more rocket eh.. career launchers makes money out of damn exam!)
Obviously CAT would have a role to play but it would not be the ONLY criteria. Say candidates accepted to Harvard or Wharton have an average GMAT score of 700.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly it could be that at IIM A it's a 95 percentile in CAT. The interview call would be based on CAT score + recommendations + essays + academic record.
CAT would still filter out the numbers. But some outstanding people may not do as well in CAT - say they are at 91 percentile. BUt based on the oter info available they may get a chance to go for the GD/ PI round.
On the other hand everyone who makes a 99th percentile may or may not get a call if they are lacking in other aspects.
Sure, coaching classes will get in here as well. But selection committees are generally able to smell the genuine candidates. Malcolm Gladwell's 'Blink' explains how and why their instincts should be trusted.
And given that there are 3-5 interviewers biases do get evened out.
If such a process involves a larger no of interviews then alumni could be roped in to also sit on some of the interview panels (it happens but has not been institutionalised).
Neha, 70-90% of current IIM students are engineers. Some may be from 'small towns' but to the best of my knowledge there are hardly any Govt Arts College graduates there - even with the current entry system.
As I am an MBA aspirant & gave CAT this year, I could not resist myself from writing some of my views on this topic.
ReplyDelete1-It is not possible for all small/Medium level MBA institutes to conduct exam on such a large scale. There is always a possibility of leakage of question paper, lack of standard of question paper (includes wrong questions & printing errors) or some carelessness shown at the exam center which happened in IIFT's case.
2-Also, the exam center of all these entrance exams is in big cities only. For students coming from small towns, traveling to different city to give exam is very problematic. It is very expensive also considering the fact that sometimes students have to come a day before the exam (if the exam starts early) & rent a room in a hotel. Travel costs are anyway there.
3-But these institutes don’t do it for exam fee. Anyway students have to fill separate forms for the institutes in which they want to apply. So, institutes are making money even though their selection is based on CAT scores.
4-Some of the institutes give the reason of not referring to CAT scores that their question paper pattern doesn’t match with CAT & they want to evaluate students according to their criteria. Like some institutes add a GK section or an extra essay writing section.
5-I personally think that it is the need of the hour is to make the entire admission procedure more effective & better. Suggestions like going online (computer adaptive test) or weight age for SOP’s, letters of recommendation, quality of work-ex etc are most welcome.
6-Advantage of making it on the lines of GMAT/GRE is that sometimes deserving students are left out because they perform badly on D-day. What if one performs well in all Mocks but on the final day his luck doesn’t favor him or he is unwell or he misses out the test because of some important work on that day. CAT (computer adaptive test) provides the test taker extra options of taking the test on their own chosen date & even if he gets bad scores, he can give himself another try.
7- SOP’s, letters of recommendation etc. should also play an important role in final selection. It is true that students can take help of coaching centers in writing SOP & they can even fake their letters of recommendation (dude, everything is possible in India) but admission panel can easily identify it in the interview or by simply scanning through the profile of the candidate whether the candidate has himself written it or has he expressed his own opinions in SOP’s.
PS: I am not a good writer. So, please overlook the grammatical errors if there are any :)
Including essays, recommndations etc. is a better idea. Just because the existing system is not geared up to do a fair evaluation on a new and better criteria does not mean that the new changes should not be included.
ReplyDeleteBTW, if some people can get their way by cheating/providing false information, and can do so (and flourish too !!) for their life, they have a "sustainable competitive advantage"..., which now a days is equivalent to attributes like IQ, good looks, street smart etc..
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI was also an MBA aspirant and remembers the same thing happening in SNAP(Symbiosys entrance exam) last year.I remember the papers were without seals with no proper instructions and the exam was a total mismanagement personified.
This not only gives an unfair advantage to few but also hits the moral of the student who has been slogging for a year(or more in some cases).Its is the time that someone takes all this matter seriously and do something about it.
I think BITS, Pilani has achieved a pretty decent start in terms of online exams with students being able to take the exams as and when they want to (somewhat like GRE) and also maybe twice with a duration of a month separating the two attempts. Hats off to them.
ReplyDeleteFor further information visit:
www.bits-pilani.ac.in
Let us NOT correct one wrong with another. Is the aim simply to reduce the number of applicants to an exam?
ReplyDeleteThe difference between India and most other countries is the sheer number of people available to try every lucrative looking career option.
While a lack of focus among students in India is a reason for these numbers along with a thriving coaching class culture. (Read here for more on this), However by making it difficult to appear exam (either through exbortent price tags or through an elaborate process) looks a sarcastically capitalistic idea.
Our aim should be to encourage focussed people to appear for these tests. Some of the solutions offered are making the exams exclusive to "richer people" - not necessarily to the focussed ones.
I feel I am going to write an entire blog on this. So visit my blog for more discussion after 5th Dec 2005
This is worth following up: http://nileshgupta.blogspot.com/2005/12/b-schools-are-great-they-fool-countrys.html
ReplyDeleteMy followup on this post at Correcting the Competitive exam mess
ReplyDeleteur site is nice.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to show you some superb resourses on the net.
ReplyDeleteLearn to earn 90000$/Month
For which you may also see my Personal Website
Here.
and for a Personal Education Career Tools
free Study Database.
This site is for seeing the
Hifi Electronics.
And this is for
World Class Gadgets
I wanted to show you some superb resourses on the net.
ReplyDeleteLearn to earn 90000$/Month
For which you may also see my Personal Website
Here.
and for a Personal Education Career Tools
free Study Database.
This site is for seeing the
Hifi Electronics.
And this is for
World Class Gadgets
Please See these new Sites purchased by me.
ReplyDeleteSluze
Adsense Talk
DomainBar
HostBoard
Review my Site
All Free Softwares
减速机 齿轮减速机 SEW减速机 摆线针轮减速机 蜗轮蜗杆减速机 interlining
ReplyDelete明星代言 明星经纪公司
制动单元 铝壳电阻
modern abstract art sofa manufacturer
净水器 开水器 净水机 净水 软水机 软水 直饮机 家用净水 家用净水器 家用净水机 中央净水 中央净水器 水家装 水家电 水卫士 混合机
过滤机 DHL快递 俄罗斯签证 回转支承 Laser marking
保险箱 法兰 法兰标准
polycarbonate sheet 回流焊 波峰焊
压球机 注册上海公司 儿童摄影
牛皮癣 皮肤病 制氮机
食堂售餐机 校园一卡通
学校一卡通 ic卡售饭机
食堂售饭机 深圳一卡通
广东售饭机 机电设备安装
北京发票 代开发票
餐饮发票 住宿发票
广告发票
网络电话 免费网络电话
假发 补发
织发 植发
压滤机 板框压滤机
蒸馏水机 纯蒸气发生器
上海搬家公司 上海搬场公司
大众搬家 大众搬场
张家界旅游 香港旅游
深圳旅行社 打包机
收缩机 对讲机 电源模块
血管栓塞剂
售饭机 水控机 水控器
萎缩性胃炎 neoprene laptop bags
SEO优化
SEO优化 计量泵
胃炎 胃病
冷水机 冰水机
工业冷水机
北京特价机票 北京打折计票 北京国际机票
北京机票预定 北京飞机票
北京订机票 北京机票查询 饮料机械
银杏 水培花卉 企业宣传片 空分设备
化工泵 离心机
电话交换机 程控交换机 集团电话 集装袋
混合机 混合机
混合机捏合机 捏合机
捏合机导热油炉 导热油炉
导热油炉 反应釜 反应釜
反应釜 spherical roller bearing
搬运车 搬运车 电动搬运车 油桶搬运车 堆高车 电动堆高车 半电动堆高车 堆垛车
高空作业平台车 电动叉车 平衡重叉车 前移叉车 电瓶叉车
韩国饰品批发 模块电源
X架 超薄灯箱> 易拉宝 展柜制作
代理服务器 游戏加速器 网络加速器
网通加速器 电信加速器 电信网通转换器
电信网通加速器 网通电信互转
网通电信互通 网络游戏加速器
美国VPN代理 美国独享VPN 美国独享IP
pvc ceiling panel Spherical roller bearings
SEO优化
安全鞋 劳保鞋 防砸鞋 电绝缘鞋 上海安全鞋 上海劳保鞋 江苏劳保鞋
服装软件 服装管理软件 进销存软件
进销存管理软件 服装管理系统 服装进销存软件
进销存系统 进销存管理系统 免费进销存软件
吉林中医 东北特产
打包机
阳痿 阴茎短小 阴茎增大
早泄 前列腺炎 阴茎增粗 阴茎延长
国际机票 上海国际机票
国际特价机票 国际打折机票
砂磨机 砂磨机
砂磨机 卧式砂磨机
卧式砂磨机 卧式砂磨机
三辊研磨机 三辊研磨机
三辊研磨机 混合机 混合机
混合机 锥形混合机 锥形混合机 锥形混合机 行星动力混合机 行星动力混合机 行星动力混合机 无重力混合机 无重力混合机 无重力混合机
干粉砂浆设备 干粉砂浆设备
干粉砂浆设备 捏合机 捏合机 捏合机 导热油炉 导热油炉 导热油炉 反应釜 反应釜 反应釜 搪玻璃反应釜 搪玻璃反应釜 搪玻璃反应釜
乳化机 涂料设备 干混砂浆设备 无重力混合机 胶体磨 涂料成套设备 双螺旋混合机
北京婚庆 北京婚庆公司
400电话
办证 呼吸机 制氧机
亚都 亚都加湿器 亚都净化器
亚都装修卫士
饰品批发 小饰品批发 韩国饰品 韩国饰品批发 premature ejaculation penis enlargement
安利产品 马来西亚留学
网站优化 网站推广
衬布
代写论文
代写论文
论文代写 代写论文
磁力泵
离心泵
化工泵
隔膜泵
螺杆泵
潜水泵
油泵
耐腐蚀泵
泵 水泵
拖链 防护罩 排屑机 塑料拖链 钢铝拖链
化工离心泵
计量加油泵
自吸式离心泵
管道油泵
自吸式排污泵
潜水排污泵
自吸式磁力泵
耐高温磁力泵
不锈钢多级离心泵
多级离心泵
耐腐蚀自吸泵
自吸化工泵
玻璃钢液下泵
液下式排污泵
卧式离心清水泵
氟塑料磁力泵
磁力驱动循环泵
耐腐蚀污水泵
卧式化工离心泵
玻璃钢耐酸泵
防爆管道油泵
不锈钢多级泵
立式多级离心泵
塑料磁力泵
水泵厂
手摇油泵
上海水泵厂
上海水泵
离心泵厂家
热水泵
清水泵
气动隔膜泵
深圳装饰 深圳装饰公司 深圳装修公司
特价机票 打折机票 国际机票
机票
新风换气机 换气机 立式新风换气机 风机箱 新风系统 能量回收机
搅拌机 混合机 乳化机
分散机
毛刷 毛刷辊 工业毛刷 刷子 钢丝刷
涂层测厚仪 硬度计
兆欧表 激光测距仪
测振仪 转速表
温湿度计 风速仪
超声波测厚仪
粗糙度仪
噪音计 红外测温仪
万用表
硬度计 万用表
美容院 美容加盟
澳洲留学 澳大利亚留学
什么是法兰
电烤箱
酒店预定 北京酒店预定 北京酒店
离心机
nail equipment nail products nail product nail uv lamp nail uv lamp nail uv lamps uv nail lamp nail brush
nail file nail tool nail tip nail gel curing uv lamps lights
万用表 风速仪
红外测温仪 噪音计
苗木价格 苗木信息 标牌制作 深圳标牌 北京儿童摄影 防静电鞋 淘宝刷信誉
威海凤凰湖 威海海景房 大庆密封件
打标机 淘宝刷信誉 TESOL/TEFL国际英语教师证书 英语教师进修及培训 北京快递公司 北京国际快递
这表明互联网普及后在线翻译的异军突起,翻译更为准确呢?对此,笔者做了一个小小的实验。我们分别通过GOOGLE、百度、雅虎这三个在线翻译深圳翻译公司软世界的关注。喜迎2008中国奥运年北京翻译公司了。深圳翻译公司搜索巨头谷歌、俄语翻译,
ReplyDelete韩语翻译广州同声传译百度对在线翻译广州翻译公司,上海翻译公司。,德语翻译,
的重视程度商务口译,同传设备已经说明一切。翻译是一门严谨不容践踏的语言文化。同声传译,凡购买中国移动手机充值卡深圳同声传译翻译主要以网络为基础深圳翻译.深圳英语翻译 ,无需制作炫丽的界面和复杂的操作功能深圳日语翻译,中国移动后台词库和网络搜索资源来获得最接近的翻译结果。所以 广州翻译公司,用户的体验不能停留同声传译如果广州翻译公司,韩语翻译的今天,同声传译偶尔会和翻译公司,东莞翻译公司。在线翻译工具的应用越来越凸显出强大的亲和力。法语翻译思同声传译设备租赁,是会议设备租赁,一项调查显示法语翻译思同声传译设备租赁,是会议设备租赁,深圳手机号码网,深圳手机靓号,有67.1%的用户同传设备出租会议同传系统租赁选择在线翻译会议设备租赁乘坐和所有客户一起分享奥运来临的喜悦。新疆租车,奥运喜充天”活动更多的是通过线翻译同声传译
^^ nice blog!! ^@^
ReplyDelete徵信, 徵信網, 徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信社, 感情挽回, 婚姻挽回, 挽回婚姻, 挽回感情, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信, 捉姦, 徵信公司, 通姦, 通姦罪, 抓姦, 抓猴, 捉猴, 捉姦, 監聽, 調查跟蹤, 反跟蹤, 外遇問題, 徵信, 捉姦, 女人徵信, 女子徵信, 外遇問題, 女子徵信, 徵信社, 外遇, 徵信公司, 徵信網, 外遇蒐證, 抓姦, 抓猴, 捉猴, 調查跟蹤, 反跟蹤, 感情挽回, 挽回感情, 婚姻挽回, 挽回婚姻, 外遇沖開, 抓姦, 女子徵信, 外遇蒐證, 外遇, 通姦, 通姦罪, 贍養費, 徵信, 徵信社, 抓姦, 徵信, 徵信公司, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信公司, 徵信社, 徵信公司, 女人徵信, 外遇
徵信, 徵信網, 徵信社, 徵信網, 外遇, 徵信, 徵信社, 抓姦, 徵信, 女人徵信, 徵信社, 女人徵信社, 外遇, 抓姦, 徵信公司, 徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信社, 女人徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 女子徵信社, 女子徵信社, 女子徵信社, 女子徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信,
徵信, 徵信社,徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 外遇, 抓姦, 離婚, 外遇,離婚,
徵信, 外遇, 離婚, 徵信社, 徵信, 外遇, 抓姦, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 外遇, 徵信社, 徵信, 外遇, 抓姦, 徵信社, 征信, 征信, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 征信, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信, 外遇, 抓姦, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信,
希望大家都會非常非常幸福~
ReplyDelete「朵朵小語‧優美的眷戀在這個世界上,最重要的一件事,就是好好愛自己。好好愛自己,你的眼睛才能看見天空的美麗,耳朵才能聽見山水的清音。好好愛自己,你才能體會所有美好的東西,所有的文字與音符才能像清泉一樣注入你的心靈。好好愛自己,你才有愛人的能力,也才有讓別人愛上你的魅力。而愛自己的第一步,就是切斷讓自己覺得黏膩的過去,以無沾無滯的輕快心情,大步走向前去。愛自己的第二步,則是隨時保持孩子般的好奇,願意接受未知的指引;也隨時可以拋卻不再需要的行囊,一路雲淡風輕。親愛的,你是天地之間獨一無二的旅人,在陽光與月光的交替之中瀟灑獨行.........................................................................................................................................................................................