A hot topic which brewed quite a strong storm a couple of months back, I have been wondering whether I should comment on it or not. I am referring to the first barrier for entry to B Schools – the entrance tests - and all the wrong reasons for which different tests have come under the scanner.
CAT – the single largest test taken by the highest number of people who aspire a career in the business world – went online a couple of years back. And ever since that happened, it has only been marred in controversies. This year, the controversy cake was taken by SNAP – for faulty question paper setting and also to have some questions directly picked from preparation material provided by “Coaching Centers”
Having closely been involved in work related to Admissions of a B School for two years, I have a couple of observations to make. Referring to the SNAP fiasco, there apparently were some questions where none of the options given were right. There apparently were some questions which had multiple correct answers. There might have been major mistakes in the question paper and the authorities conducting the test need to be meticulous and have due diligence when you are conducting something at such a large scale which has such a large impact. But let us park that thought here.
It is true that a lot at stake in these exams. Candidates prepare for months and go through a lot to crack these tests in order to get a call from B Schools of their choice. It’s the pinnacle of months of waiting and sacrifice and the probability of succeeding at times is lesser than 0.01%. The pressure is tremendous because it stems out of expectations – your own and your folks, and also because if you don’t succeed this time, the wait continues for another year!
Mistakes in the questions set however doesn’t give the test takers a license to take on the test conducting authority. It was hard to digest B School aspirants vent out their anger in public, on news channels, on online forums, creating videos and viral campaigns trying to fight against the so called mishaps. I think such an action is unjustified and uncalled for, for the simple reason that indulging in something of that magnitude is not going to reverse whatever has happened. Public demonstrations, showing mob mentality, displaying traits of netagiri while responding to situations under frustration, anger and disgust is not going to solve or simplify the issue in any way.
Figure this. What if those few incorrect questions were intentionally put in the question paper? Everyone who takes the test gets to answer the same question paper. So there is absolutely no point in sitting and complaining about it. Different tests assess you on different aspects. Some test your knowledge, some your speed, some your agility, and some a combination of all of these in various proportions. There are certain tests in which you are required to mark all the options that are right. And there are some, which might not have a right answer at all. This might just have been one of those that test your ability to spot potholes on your path and how you navigate through them! Why do we always need to go to a test – that too a competitive one at it - with a certain preconceived notions?
Life is full of surprises. Everything in life doesn’t come with loud announcements. Not all situations can be addressed with fixed algorithms. As a manager, not everything that you face in the business world comes with a definite solution. A lot of occasions arise, where one has to take a decision with limited resources. That time, you cannot sit and complain about it, for you will be branded as incompetent. And to handle all these, the most basic requirement is a calm mind that thinks rather than an impulsive aggression that speaks!
At the end of the day, the B Schools are looking at selecting the people who show characteristics and potential to lead businesses tomorrow. Further rounds of selections anyways make use of different tools and criteria to evaluate the candidates and filter the pool so that only the best survive. So what’s wrong if some of those is built in the first phase of filtering?
Simply put, MBA is just a journey, not the destination in itself. Entrance tests are some of those milestones you pass on the way. If one cannot handle simple hurdles, how would he gear up for bigger challenges?
3 comments:
MBA is turning out only for an additional qualification these days..when those aspiring people get into the private industry, you already have managers who have got there without an MBA/without MBA methodologies...And finally that ends up being the benchmark for those new entrants...
Then its high time to coach the coaching centres to stop coaching :) .. this is not just for MBA .. this plague started as "tuitions" when i was in high school. "Aa teacher helkodo problemse examge barutthanthe, adakke neenu serko" .. such were the inspirations for joining tuitions .. And, the reason for people's outburst is fair, as this is the "only way" to enter B-schools.
Do the B-schools in India have the courage to let a person get educated, in spite of his/her percentile, based purely on his/her managerial skills?
I really dont understand all the fuss over going into media. When communication media has been provided to us all to express ourselves then there can be no one to question that. If someone or the authority has real issues with this then they ought to remember that all their actions are open to public scrutiny. What this requires is to be thorough with your work and also learn to handle crisis - s part of business and daily life. The aspirants take to a public forum when the institution fails to own up to its mistakes and take corrective and preventive action. Its a classical case of how a marketing firm needs to function. It needs to gauge customer sentiment and acknowledge customer feedback or be ready to face the wrath of irate customers. Practice what you preach in the Marketing classes.
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