Even students who are top rankers in the state board examination getting as much as 98% in the plus 2 examinations of the TN state board are unable to even get the "qualifying rank" in the IIT entrance test! When I explored the reasons for this disturbing situation, I was told that the IIT entrance tests are patterned after the CBSE syllabus which is vastly different from that of the state board syllabus. I can understand if the syllabuses are somewhat different; but not to the extent that even the top rankers can not "crack" the IIT entrance test.
Of course, I am not aware whether even the top rankers in the CBSE stream fail to "crack" the entrance test if they are not specifically coached for the same. If that is the case, then something is seriously wrong with the entrance test mechanism.
See my article in http://tinyurl.com/39vxf64
2 comments:
Something we would definitely need to ponder is whether the board exams and the entrance tests are parallel or tangential. What is ultimately being tested in both the cases? Is it that a particular student has the knowledge to explain the phenomena of the world or is it the ability to demonstrate to take up more responsibilities. The first one seems to be a more logical objective of the entire education. Both are different.
When I say I can do a particular task, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I am eligible to be promoted to the next level, so as to perform a more demanding task. I think that is precisely what is happening in the exam standards at the board and entrance levels.
Another perspective could be : there are students preparing only for the entrance test and concentrating more on it (and the associated techniques), rather than putting in a lot of effort for the board exams. The results in board exams come naturally when they prepare for the entrance exams (although not being the top scorers). However the top scorers in the board exams might be concentrating more on the board exams, rather than getting to know the tactics of scoring high on the entrance exams.
Sreejit, The question you raise is very valid. Unfortunately, I feel even the board exams do not assess what you consider as the purpose of education.
What bothers me is the divergence between the performance of the State Board and CBSE students even at the top rankers level.
Ramki
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