There was a time when passing intermediate/HSC (High School Certificate) with good grades could get you into a public university. Not any more. The standard of testing at HSC level is presumed to have fallen so low that not even public universities are accepting candidates on sole basis of passing HSC exams. The requirement of a separate entrance test in addition to passing HSC exams has now become a de-facto requirement by public universities in Pakistan.
In most universities, HSC grades still get some weightage when calculating the total acceptance criteria but a good grade in HSC alone is not sufficient.
My question is what is the purpose of spending so much time, money and effort on conducting HSC exams? Now a student has to do hardwork in HSC exams and once those exams are over, they have to prepare again for entrance exams to several universities they intend to apply. Don’t you think it is an added and unnecessary burden on students to pass all these extra entrance exams?
A counter argument can be made that if a student prepares for HSC exams in letter and spirit i.e. by understanding the concepts and not by ‘rattafication’ (memorizing) then he/she can pass any entrance exam. That is true and I agree with that argument. But then my counter argument would be to improve on testing method at HSC level. Make all HSC exams MCQ type where ‘rattafication’ will not help. Today the criteria of passing HSC exams is memorizing long descriptive answers, which do no help a candidate in any entrance exam.
The situation has now reached a point where there is a perception that those universities which do not conduct entrance test are below standard. Therefore 2nd or 3rd-tier public universities and colleges are also in the business of conducting their own Entrance exams because they don’t want to appear as having lower acceptance criteria.
For the past few years I’ve also noticed a trend of commercialization and politization of Entrance exams. Whole new institutions of private coaching have sprung up across Pakistan which guarantee you success in all kinds of entrance exams. I’ve also noticed the trend where student wings of notorious political parties conduct practise/mock exams for candidates to public universities. One reason that prompted me to write this post was that today I even saw a statement from a political leader where he has demanded to standardize the university entrance exams all over Pakistan. Good demand, but my point is why don’t we reform the insitution of HSC boards and exams instead of creating more and more roadblocks for students.
Below I want to summarize few arguments for and against Entrance Test to the public universities.
Arguments For Entry Exams to Universities:
1. HSC exams and their marking criteria are not consistent across the country. HSC results differ by huge margin from board to board and region to region.
2. HSC exams are prone to corruption and cheating.
3. HSC exams test a person’s memory and not concepts. e.g. descriptive questions on which marking is also qualitative (read as “depends on the mood of an examiner”) and not quantitative.
4. Centralized exams are a worldwide norm e.g. SAT, GRE, GMAT etc scores have weightage when admission is sought to Universities in the Western Hemisphere.
5. If a student goes through HSC curriculum by learning concepts then he/she should be able to pass all entry exams with minimum effort.
Arguments Against Entry Exams to Universities:
1. It renders the whole institution of Intermediate (HSC) boards country-wide useless and meaningless. I would even go as far as saying that it is like wasting 2 years of students.
2. Monetary burden on students who pay examination fees at HSC boards and then for individual entry exams at universities. Conducting entrance exams has almost become means for extra income for the universities.
3. Psychological burden on students. At first the students have to do two years of hard study at HSC level only to know before hand that it alone won’t be enough to get them into a university.
I concede that my arguments against entrance Exams are lesser in number than those which are for entrance exams. But I believe my ‘against’ arguments have more weight. If I were a student going thorugh two years of rigorous HSC Studies, I want that exercise to be worthy enough to atleast get me to next level of education.
I would be willing to prepare for a different (reformed) type of HSC testing where my concepts are tested and not my memory. I will be happily going through this 2 year of hardwork, if I know it is worth something.
The photo above shows a self assessment test being conducted by a student wing of a political party in Hyderabad. This is for preparing students for the entrance test to Sindh University, Jamshoro.
To conclude this post I want to say that in my opinion HSC boards and their exams should be reformed so that their results are worthy of admissions to public universities. Entry exams conducted by public universities on their own should be abolished.
What do you think?
Photo Credits: Associated Press of Pakistan
More comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “Offcoarse. u cant rely on the marks of all the boards. Thre r so many boards and most them r below standard. deserving studends dont get marks and undeserving do. So it necessary that admissions should be on the basis of test. Fsc marks should be completely ignored”
– “Sad to say that but it is a fact that our educational system is highly flawed and encourages memorizing instead of understanding the concepts. Most of us have gone through this system and so I believe that there should be some aptitude test criterion for the admission. FSc marks should be for the eligibility only….”
– “Watching on tv the coverage of how some students are given the privilege of giving their exams with the help of their parents/teachers/other friends ….and the leakage of papers not to mention a few cases i have personally seen ,makes it necessary for the educational institutes who want to maintain their ranking and reputation ,to have these aptitude tests”
– “no”
– “no because everybody cheats there ;)”
– “YES”
– “yes ofcourse cuz there small chances of cheatng while majority of nalaik students increase their marks in board due to their so called father high post. SO THERE SHUD BE ENTRY TEST.wE see so many students getting very high marks in board exams but they merely manage to pass the entry test.”
– “Yes Merit Is the First Thing”
– “Yes, dere should b entry test, it catches d talent!”
– “Yes”
– “ya there should b”
– “absolutely not… i would have gladly given these entry tests if i only knew that i’d b gettin in a good enough uni…..15000 engg applicants this year n how many total engg seats in pak…5000!!!!”
– “Either Remove or Improve the system.”
– “ofc yes…filters talented nd non talented”
– “yp”
– “i got 880 in equivalence of A levels…coudnt make into a govt medical college…my mistake..hard work?”
– yes dere should b an exam, but it should be in da hands of competent people…the standard of entry test is a bit worse dan pathetic! dey have no idea how to make mcqs…almost all mcqs are based on memory recall none based on higher levels of problem solving!”
– “no”
– “Yes to avoid entrance of mama’s boys to universities and for deserving papa’s boys”
– “yes it is a real exam of any students ability”
– “me to 1 me b pass nai hwa is liye free betha hwa hun just ….. entry test”
– “It would not matter. People will buy their way in.”
– “I agree with whats in the article generally. I think HSC is just a waste of time and energy for students. The Uni exntrance exams are also full of corruption, especially the public Unis, where all the high and mighty manipulate the score for their kids. This is a very hard question and i think NO system can work as long as there is inherent corruption in the society generally. Whatever checks you put in or system you bring, people will always find a way around it and use it to get in the universities. Thats why the degrees we have are not worth more than the piece of paper they are printed on. One solution can be – first of all, have ONE syllabus and mode of education throughout Pakistan, at least from year 9 onwards. Then – have a national testing center (like SAT or GMAT etc) which should hold the SAME paper in all parts of Pakistan at the same time . this can be combined with HSC and internal assessment. Then leave it to the universities how they want to implement their admission”
Both, HSC and University test are fine for now.
But SAT type test may be introduced in Pakistan as alternative option for HSC candidates. In the long run HSC must be killed.
If the student or candidate gives “memorized”answers and not able to explain the “concept” in his/her own words, its the teachers or professors failure and not the students fault, provided the whole course was attended.
I dont care which method , quizes or psychological ways were used, its teachers responsibility to make sure that the message has been conveyed to each student.
Given the current situation of our Boards, their methods of conducting exams and checking papers; I think, entry tests should stay. The credibility of our Boards is very doubtful. Corruption seems to be in play most of the time.
We see the merit of matric and intermediate exams going upwards – where as the capability and knowledge of the students going downwards. Its depressing to read simple job applications and resumes of B.A and M.A graduates with number of mistakes. I wonder, how do they such high marks?? Is it corruption, lack of commitment of our educators, examiners, and the policy makers…..
I love this idea of entry test. I was the last batch and right after the year I did my fsc, entry tests sytem got implemented. A lot of potential students who due to any reason could not take exceptional marks although got very good marks were got selected in engineering universities and medical colleges which were impossible before entry tests system.
Our education system particularly matric and Hsc level is based on craming. if a person is a good crammer, he will got excellent marks and if a person is intelligent got rounded personality take interests in extra curricular but could not get “extra ordinary marks” in HSC was unable to get admission into engineering or medical institutes.
shahbaz sharif zindabad…