Thread by @shrikanth_krish

On the different types of Examinations. Excellent read.

Reading this blog after 12 long years!

ravikiran.com/blog/examined/…

The main problem in India is that we do not have very well designed examinations.

At least this was the problem back in the early-mid 2000s when I was in college

We have two extremes -

Very very tough examinations like the JEE or CAT - which can reliably distinguish a 99.99th %iler from a 99.8th %iler (Yes, there is usually a difference in quality)

But totally hopeless at distinguishing a 90th %iler from a 75th %iler

On the other hand, we have terribly inane board exams, that are hopeless in every respect.

The ostensible purpose of these exams is to distinguish the 95th %iler from the 75th %iler (which JEE and CAT don't).

But these board exams DO NOT achieve this goal

What we need is an exam design right from primary school till 12th boards, where every percentile carries a meaning.

There has to be a qualitative difference between the 25th ranked student in a class of 100 and the 40th ranked student. Today that difference is non-existent

This is one of the main reasons for the lop-sided nature of Indian scholastic achievement

We have some of the brightest kids in the world in our best schools

But outside of the top 2-3 dozen colleges, quality is highly variable - we get wheat mixed with chaff in every college

So is there any difference at all between the 65th ranked engg collega and the 90th ranked college?

None, I'd venture.

Because both entrance exams and board exams lose their discriminating power in that range

The Indian cultural obsession with excellence and genius implies that as a society we never are interested in grading mediocrity

Not all mediocre people are the same.

Some are less mediocre than others.

And that discrimination is necessary for a society to work well

This is the reason why while we may be good at sending students to the best US graduate programs, we are not so good at identifying the "best" clerks, the best policemen, the best electricians, the best travel agents

Because test scores are hopeless at discriminatng P75 from P45

People scream "merit", "merit" all the time.

But hey...there is no way to figure out "merit" in the Indian set-up, where the exams do a good job of identifying the top 1%, but are hopeless at ranking the rest

This is the reason why you get this very widespread feeling that the "System" is unfair.

No wonder some people see affirmative action as the solution. Some employers may subconsciously use nepotism for hiring, as "references" may be a stronger indicator of merit than scores