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
I read this news in Dawn today. Not a single student passed HSC exams for 2009 from 45 institutions in Karachi. Isn’t this alarming? Read here.
If I was a college administrator, there is no way I would take students without an entry exam. Pakistan has become an international hub for cheating in tests, standardized or otherwise. We need a drastic change in the entire system.
The coaching clinics you mention are not only present to coach for college entry exams; they replace schools because no real teaching is done in most schools anymore. Pathetic.
It is clear from majority of comments here that students would like to continue with entrance exams to universities.
Entrance exams are considered to give fair chance to deserving students – however, couple of commentors have mentioned corruption in entrance exams too.
From reading comments here, I also feel that there is a general consensus against HSC boards and their exams.
‘kaash ke asar kar jaye meri baat’ :) my point remains that HSC exams should be standardized country wide to (say) MCQ type so that the whole institution of Intermediate Boards does not go to waste and HSC certificate should have some value. Today HSC certificate seems worthless.
I do agree that until HSC is reformed, Entrance Exams do give deserving students better chance on merit. We cannot just abolish entrance exams and go back to HSC-only criteria without reforming HSC exams.
I don’t think the real question is whether we should have the entrance exam or not, I think the real question is whether we have an assesment system which is fair( treats every one equally),transparent and meets the desired academic standards or not. Yes it is true that exam content, marking practices and corruption across different boards vary a lot. At the same time it is true that entrance exams are better suited to students in big cities who have been to English medium school, have been trained well in MCQ type questions by the academies in big cities and finally some are given extra ” insight” thrugh their connections. So this sytem hurts students from smaller cities and less prevelliged backgrounds.
My suggestion: 1) Change the education system in a way that it promotes thinking and not Ratta.
2) Education should be imparted in one medium throughout.
3) There should be one exam, be it MCAT ( medical college admission test) / Eng univeristy admision exam. But it should be one exam instead of every institution having thier own tests.
4) The above test should replace Fsc exam.
I am totally in favor of Entrance Test as HSSC exams pattern, marking policies and curriculum standards greatly vary from board to board and further there is not cent percent transparency in such exams.
Further the board exams inculcate “Ratta trend” in the students and to be able to excel in professional fields like engg, medical and Computer Science, the universities have to check the caliber and mental level of the students. I personally know many of my friends who got superb grades in their board exams but are conceptually at a very low level.