Can Marks really judge a student?

Hotstuff

Skilled
I read the following article on a blog and I am quoting it here:

Well, merely by looking at the heading, most of you must have already guessed correctly about the matter in this blog.

Let’s start with an example-

A student called Mr. A. Passed his XII in 2008, a so called IIT aspirant (nowadays anyone who wants to be an engineer is called an IIT aspirant). Has already written many competitive exams like JEE, AIEEE, BITSAT, Manipal, VITEEE etc.

He is sitting in his room, trying to crack a hardcore physics problem. His dad surfing the internet, actually public portals meant for students and going through the posts in which different students from all over the country have posted the marks obtained/calculated by them in different competitive exams.

Just then A shouts on top of his voice “Yes, Yes. I did it. I cracked one of the toughest problems of mechanics which none of my friends could crack.”(I will mention about these friends later in this post)

Dad: Why are you shouting so loudly?? Its OK if you have cracked this problem but lemme tell you one thing. You don’t stand anywhere in comparison to different students all over the country.

A: Huh??? What do you mean by that???

Dad: come here and see the marks calculated by these students. This guy is getting 323 in BITSAT, he is getting 366, he is getting 320 and look at this guy, he is getting a mammoth 412. And look at your score. A paltry 295.

A: But dad, I have already told you a hundred times that it was not my fault. The chemistry portion was too much knowledge based and a lot of questions asked the information not given in the chemistry books I have.

Dad: Whatever!!! You always have an excuse. Alright then, look at their AIEEE and IITJEE scores. Most of them in 200s and some of them even crossing 250. And look at your scores. AIEEE-165 and IITJEE-182.

A: (was just about to speak but suddenly stops himself because he knew that his explanations will be of no use. Instead of making his dad understand his situation, they would only serve as excuses given by him for his poor performance)

Now something about A. No need to mention that he is a genius in physics and loves this subject but on the other hand, he is not so good in maths and poor in chemistry.

It’s a fact that we are all human beings and not robots and you can’t expect everyone to be perfect in all the 3 subjects. A’s case is not much different. He has a genius’ mind but as he is not that good in chemistry, he could not score well in his competitive exams and might end up with very poor ranks in almost all of them.

So does it mean that he is not intelligent, he is not studious, he is not hardworking?? Do these marks give any idea of his intelligence, hard work and dedication?? If he is getting low marks in BITSAT just because the chemistry questions asked the info he did not have in his books, does it mean that he doesn’t stand anywhere??

And now about his friends, almost all of them are getting marks higher than him in all the exams but none of them is able to do hardcore physics problems which A can do quite easily. But just because his friends will get a higher rank and higher scores in exams, does it mean that they are more intelligent, more hard working, more studious??

Well, a better question is-Can an exam judge a person in just 3 hours?? Is it possible to judge someone’s intelligence, I.Q., determination, sincerity etc in 3 hours?? Is it possible to judge the amount of hard work put in by anyone for whole 2 years in just 3 hours?? Who knows what happens in those 3 hours. There are several reason due to which many deserving people can’t get a seat in one of the India’s most prestigious institution.

What are those reasons??

Lemme take one more example. This time I will call this guy Mr. B.

His strongest subject-Chemistry and he is pretty decent in Maths and physics at least to the extent of clearing the cut-offs in the exams. He was pretty confident of getting a seat in IIT. But fate had something else in store for him.

To his bad luck, his family was full of IITians and people with excellent academic achievements/records. So the pressure of performing well automatically came upon him.

To add to his bad luck, his elder cousin got a rank of 52(rank changed to hide the identity but it is very close to the original rank) in JEE-07. Now his family’s expectations from him and pressure on him increased manifolds. Right from declaration of results of JEE-07 to JEE-08, the pressure kept on increasing constantly because of his family members who kept reminding him of their expectations from him.

And lemme tell you, his miseries are not over yet. He has a competitor also. His cousin brother, who has always been ahead of him in academics, has also given JEE this year. So now B has an extra pressure to perform better than his cousin.

So now, I hope that most of you can estimate the amount of pressure on B. And this pressure told upon his JEE-08. As soon as he got the question paper, his hands were literally trembling. He broke the seal of the question paper, saw the first question and imagine what? He was not able to recall even a single formula. He had to derive most of the formulae there only and that consumed most of his time. So this way, he messed up his first paper.

In the next sitting, the pressure was even higher as he had messed up his first paper but this time he was more determined to do well. He started off pretty well doing a majority of chemistry questions and some maths questions also but then he stuck some physics questions and the pressure started building again. He somehow managed to do the second paper better than the first one but his total marks are no where near the expected cut-offs.

So, you can clearly see that a deserving student who was confident of getting a rank in top 2000 in IITJEE would now hardly get any rank + his parent’s disappointment + embarrassment in front of his academically great relatives. And he was not faulty anywhere in his preparations. He is a mentally strong person but after all he is a human being and under such circumstances and pressure, a mental breakdown is not surprising.

Well, it is just one of the numerous reasons. I think this much is sufficient to start with. I will keep posting more such reasons and examples.

And lemme make it very clear that these examples are not my mind’s creation. These are real life examples of my friends, and different students I have come across till now. And to hide their identity I am using names like Mr. A, Mr. B.

I wanted a platform to express my views and that’s why I started this blog.

I can assure you one thing that you will surely find yourself in one of the examples I have posted so far /will be posting in future.

Now I am looking forward to your views. So feel free to express your views.

Can an exam judge a student’s real potential in 3 or 6 hours??? Are marks the only criteria which differentiate intelligent/deserving students with dumb people?? Is the selection of few thousand students out of lakhs on the basis of a 3 hour test justified??

What are your views on the above? Lets the comments come in.
 
I really hate this system..

I know, I can study well, but I don't do.. I get less marks.. No Admission in good college... Ahh :mad:, take talent entrance... will f*$k all's A$$.. Sorry for abusive language... :(

Also, this Caste thing is killing us.. Open Caste students... Please do study and get marks.. or you will be in trouble as I am :cry:
 
KingKrool said:
Having been through it, all I can say is "suck it up".
Life is tough. Deal with it. It gets better anyway.

+1

The way education is imparted needs reform though - making it less rote based. Although the reform has to be a 2 way street - if students still bunk 90% of the time, there is no point in a fancy system, the current one is good enough
 
marks generally can;t show a students' capabilities 100% but I believe that they DO show how you work (me being a person who thinks the low marks I got are nowhere close to what I know/capable of)
 
i know many cases who are capable of many things things big but the exam just didnt reflect their true ability ( they are people who have cracked olympiads but didnt manage to scrape through a good rank in IIT)...also it does not always reflect on how much you have worked... 3 hours cant and should decide the fate of a person....

moreover it doesnt take into account the extra curricular abilities and other talents of a person
 
Hotstuff said:
moreover it doesnt take into account the extra curricular abilities and other talents of a person

I'd like to differ..

If one is good at extra curricular activities might not translate into studies most of the time. Exams are for testing academic abilities and not for any other activities (which might have their own benchmarks). So a good sports performance still won't get you good marks IN ANY ACADEMIC EXAMINATION.
 
no i dont agree,

In India no one gives a damn to what your good at other than ur studies... for instance i know some fantastic quizzers, having been a quizzer myself.... they were absolutely brilliant at what they did but that didnt mean they were exceptionally brilliant at studies too... What MIT or for that matter most top league global universities do is that they see your all round profile.... I have seen people with below average SAT scores but with other talents, get into some of the best universities from my school. Apart from this they look at other aspects also...

What IIT or for that matter any other entrance in India does is that it tests you on the basis of your performance in those three hours, as if its a matter of life and death....

I believe it is a very wrong way to judge someone...
 
Hotstuff said:
no i dont agree,

In India no one gives a damn to what your good at other than ur studies... for instance i know some fantastic quizzers, having been a quizzer myself.... they were absolutely brilliant at what they did but that didnt mean they were exceptionally brilliant at studies too... What MIT or for that matter most top league global universities do is that they see your all round profile.... I have seen people with below average SAT scores but with other talents, get into some of the best universities from my school. Apart from this they look at other aspects also...

What IIT or for that matter any other entrance in India does is that it tests you on the basis of your performance in those three hours, as if its a matter of life and death....

I believe it is a very wrong way to judge someone...

MIT does not have 350000 people trying to get in. If they were, even they would have to make drastic decisions. I can't think of one alternative way to pick up 3000 people from 350000.

I believe there is no right way to judge someone, just a way which would be acceptably applicable to most people.

And it's the people who make it a life and death situation, where it is not even close. Getting into IIT may give an initial boost to your career, but not getting in should not be a life and death thing.
 
There is no way someone can judge a person's intelligence in 3 hours , but there is no other way to do it when u have millions of students appearing for exam . Exams however does show hardworking capability of a person . Even if you think that the other person who got higher marks then you is not as intelligent as you are , that does not change the fact that he got better marks than you . I do know that it is not easy to study 8-10 hours a day fanatically ( myself included :( ) . If you are intelligent and yous till don't study much while othe person studies like crazy mugging up whole books , then i think he deserves seat for his hard work . I myself have missed free seat opportunities because of the caste system . It's so frustrating to see that person sitting next to you got a free seat when he has less marks than you and comes from a well to do family <_< .
 
whatsinaname said:
And it's the people who make it a life and death situation, where it is not even close. Getting into IIT may give an initial boost to your career, but not getting in should not be a life and death thing.
+10000000

You took the words right out of my mouth....

The college is like the starting grid of a race - sometimes even good cars are down the gird for some reason or the other - the good drivers fight their way up and finish in the points, and the great ones finish on the podium. The true ability of the driver will eventually show over the full race distance.
:p
 
In India quantity is an issue,too many people doing trying to do the same thing. competitive examinations are the only way to get over that problem.

Sooner or later though you'll have good Private universities changing their admission system.
 
I have read quite a lot about such things. But whats the solution??

What methods do others use? AFAIK there has to be a certain criteria on which all prospective students have to be measured. And such exams are one of the means. I think the people who complain about such things should also show some sense and suggest probable solutions.
 
Case study: First hand experience :p

My group of 5 guys in school were kinda above average in school. We always scored over seniors in quizzes science/history whatever. But never broke into Top ranks. I could never finish my answers in time(slow writer). Other guys had problem with bad handwriting etc. Some were good at sports some not. All were in extra curricular activities. Always part of any team going out of school.

Dudes who ranked 1st and 2nd had brilliant handwriting. Teachers always showed their answer sheets to the whole class :p

But looking back now, all those high school scores don't matter. It was a different story once in college. but yeah...story repeated again...different characters. Guys who scored top back then are doing ordinary jobs now. Of us 5 guys 4 are out of country within a year of finishing college. One chose to stay back :D

Disclaimer: None of us got through IIT JEE
 
There used to be a Deer. Lets call him Deer A. He was the fastest deer in the herd. He used to be the winner of all the races in the animal kingdom. Deer A loved to run, In fact , he felt that it was the purpose of his life.One day a mean old cheetah came to attack.The entire herd was running for dear life. Deer A was unfortunately overwhelmed. He tried to run, but was trapped in the dust and the mayhem of the herd , Poor Deer A was confused. And then he saw the cheetah closing in. He was scared. He tried to run , but he couldn't concentrate. He was sweating. For a moment , he thought that he had escaped , but then the cheetah gained on him and killed him.

He was the fastest Running Deer in the herd. Was it fair that he couldnt run fast enough to save his life during the attack?

There were other deer in the herd who were running slower. Was it fair that the cheetah decided to pounce on him?

He was a helpful, good natured and clear headed deer. Was it fair that he tensed during the attack giving the advantage to the cheetah?

The entire herd was running to save their lives. Is it their Fault that they inconvenienced our poor deer A leading to his death?

Why Did the cheetah attack the deer? He obviously had so much merit, promise and fulfilment.Isnt it unfair that the Cheetah had to attack this particular deer?

Why should all deers lives be subjected to this every now and then? They are being killed for no fault of theirs.

Bottom line, The world is unfair. get used to it. I agree with you 100%, but what are the alternatives? Can you name another way to evaluate over a lakh of people consistently?

The questions you are asking are similar to the ones I've asked above.I've asked the questions you are asking at one point in my life as well. But a few years down the line , once you've gotten the big picture, you'll see it from my POV :)
 
I think everything should be made interview based. As explained one cannot judge a person by his examination marks besides these days "setting" as we say is rampant so no marks are trustworthy.

But concerned authorities can try and judge the person according to the profile/requirement they are looking for. Because written exams can't be 100 percent proof of a person's capabilities.

Some might argue that how can some one be judged in an hour interview but its up to authorities to consider all the factors.
 
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