Shailesh is an Engineering graduate from MP, 5'9'' tall, is handsome with a distinct presence of his own, comes from a well to do family, even politically well connected. He is rash, blunt, well versed with current affairs and one with a distinct but studied opinion of his own on every issue. He has a great hold on Hindi Language and is particularly keen on Foriegn affairs of India. He is currently persuing an MBA from a leading (& I actually mean leading) B-School of India. He is also angry in general on a host of issues that touches today's India.
Devesh is an arts graduate from a small village in Bihar, speaks fluent and confident English in measured words, comes from a lower middle class family where the head of the family devoted his entire life to teach uninterested students affected by wretched poverty, His family has a younger sister whose marriage is his responsibility, has a devoted wife and a kid both of whom he adores.
Prince is another Engineering graduate who after his engineering received a call from various IIMs for GD/PI and finally achieved selection to IIM Calcutta. He joined the institute but left in a couple of months time because he received a call from the UPSC to appear in the mains exam. He is currently trying to get addmission into a top B-School again.
What is common to these three seemingly very different people - they all have burning desire to do something for the country and its people. All three dreamt of becoming an IAS officer. All three of them gave four of their best years to preparing and giving the exam. All three did not make it into the academy.
No, I am not saying that UPSC or the exam is corrupt or biased - in fact - I feel that generally they are not. But what the hell they deserve to be IAS just because they have raging fire to make a difference to their country and its people. No, they are not dumbos - they are sharp, one of them is currently doing his MBA at XLRI, another left IIM Calcutta for clearing UPSC and the third has calls from the best B-schools in India (XLRI, SP Jain, MDI, NITIE etc.). Why would government not want them in their teams ahead of a few who are possibly a notch better then them on subjects but may be no where near in their desire to make India a shining one. I believe that even if govt. does not have a post for them - they still need to be an IAS. They will make a difference because they want to do it from inside.
Something is fundamentally wrong with the concept of the IAS exam if we are unable to find out people with such desires and bring them in the main stream of our governance and administration.
Till then the Government's loss is private sector's gain. They are pursuing MBA so that they can still make a difference to a substantial part of the society by affecting those affected by their company or their profession. However, private sector wants profit and so they have twin objectives to meet at work. And I am not even talking about home. They are behind their cadres - they have lost four years to an excruciatingly slow process of evaluation where the decision on the first years process is taken after the person has already appeared in the next year's process and may have even cleared the first step to it.
While these three are still fighting - keeping the desire inside alive, not many has the same zeal. They capitulate to frustrations, some are confused beyond imagination, others live a meagre life and I know of some of them. Even these three need lot of counselling every now and then to refocus. They have a tendency to fall back into memories of those four years and in their weak moments they come out with lines like
"I know so many IAS officers - who know much less then I do"
"I still say that if I had become an IAS I could have helped so many people, my village, my area"
"Sometimes I feel that I have lost my life to the UPSC, today I do not offer even a decent life to my family when I compare them to families of my friends who graduated and joined jobs immediately"
"So many people join the IAS to earn money - so why won't they take me if I want to work for my country"
What can one suggest than a lame "you don't have to be an IAS to serve your country". But they deserve to be an IAS of my country - is somebody out there listening??
Friday, February 23, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
The mess behind CAT Analysis
Ever wondered about what owning responsibility should mean. This year's CAT and its aftermath is a burning example of how high pitch ad campaigns, promotional programmes and the likes are empty and worth nothing. Moreover they misguide and confuse students to no ends. Read on......
Sample this. About an hour after CAT 2006 ended - most major names in the business of MBA Entrance training started flashing answerkeys and results on their websites. By the evening all major players had uploaded the complete answerkeys and solutions to each and every question of CAT (which this year were too few - 75 only) properly arranged in various sets. All of them also provided their analysis of what the test was like and what a particular score could mean for a student.
Thousands, if not Lakhs, of students logged in to these sites and tried to calculate their scores. On the basis of these scores the students worked out what could be their possible ranks - on the suggestions of these sites and the so called CAT Experts. It is important to note that the students take decisions based on these scores and suggestions about institutes that they would apply to for admissions. And this practice is followed for years now.
So what was new this year??
Not much except that this year IIM-Ahmedabad decided to be more transparent than earlier. Along with the result the institute put on their site
1. the criteria for sending GD/PI calls based on CAT percentiles and
2. they also uploaded their version of answerkey on the site.
For many people like me it should be eyeopening. Following table list the number of errors (wrong answers) in the answer keys of major MBA Entrance players across India.
Ps. All Comparisons with the first answer key published by respective classes on their official sites, collected the day after CAT 2006 was conducted. The author has a copy of all of them. The classes have obviously either removed the answerkey from their sites or have changed it later. Also the comparison is with the answer key published by IIM Ahmedabad on their official site which can be visited here
The only thing that is funny is the perfect AP that the nubers create - otherwise this is a big question mark on the competency of some of the best names in the industry who claim to shape the careers of the youth in India.
Implications
Do some arithmetic to digest the implications of these errors. This year there were just 75 questions asked in CAT. Now a simple calculation will tell us that the most visited sites in India for analysing solutions had an error rate that ranges from 13.33% to 18.66%.
Thus on an average the students checking their results based on this answerkeys would be wrong on their analysis of results by about 10%.
This is a whooping error because a less than 1% difference in marks can make a difference of several hundred ranks if not thousands. This means that if somebody makes a decision of which institutes to apply for based on these errorenous calculations he/she might be wrong by miles on his approach to his/her career. CAT happens just once in a year so it is expected that a large number of students have lost their year or at least they will compromise on the levels of college that they will finally get admitted to.
I am personally in touch with students who calculated a negative score in the verbal section based on these sites and are now sitting with a CAT score card with 90+ percentile in the section.
Why Does this happen?
Because the aim of the coaching classes is different from that of the students. For coaching classes this is a time to grab eyeballs/attention of stundents to their brands. In management its called ensuring strong brand recall.
Its speed which will sell? The site which puts up solutions to most questions fastest will get maximum attention from students - never mind the quality of solutions or the accuracy of it.
What helps further is short public memory - even those students who might have taken their application decisions based on these solutions do not care once they are done with the application process. Later if they do not achieve the expected percentile scres they would attribute it to fate, some unexplained glitch in the system and/or simply their misfortune.
Where does one go?
Take this as one of the following
1. A reason for students to become more aware customers as education is no more a job of teachers - it is the business of education and they are the target customers.
2. A reason for watchdog bodies to come up - though personally I am against it.
3. As an opportunity for some or the other coaching classes to become a TATA of education - a name one can trust - by being ethical, slow but sure, and dependable
Any takers
Sample this. About an hour after CAT 2006 ended - most major names in the business of MBA Entrance training started flashing answerkeys and results on their websites. By the evening all major players had uploaded the complete answerkeys and solutions to each and every question of CAT (which this year were too few - 75 only) properly arranged in various sets. All of them also provided their analysis of what the test was like and what a particular score could mean for a student.
Thousands, if not Lakhs, of students logged in to these sites and tried to calculate their scores. On the basis of these scores the students worked out what could be their possible ranks - on the suggestions of these sites and the so called CAT Experts. It is important to note that the students take decisions based on these scores and suggestions about institutes that they would apply to for admissions. And this practice is followed for years now.
So what was new this year??
Not much except that this year IIM-Ahmedabad decided to be more transparent than earlier. Along with the result the institute put on their site
1. the criteria for sending GD/PI calls based on CAT percentiles and
2. they also uploaded their version of answerkey on the site.
For many people like me it should be eyeopening. Following table list the number of errors (wrong answers) in the answer keys of major MBA Entrance players across India.
Ps. All Comparisons with the first answer key published by respective classes on their official sites, collected the day after CAT 2006 was conducted. The author has a copy of all of them. The classes have obviously either removed the answerkey from their sites or have changed it later. Also the comparison is with the answer key published by IIM Ahmedabad on their official site which can be visited here The only thing that is funny is the perfect AP that the nubers create - otherwise this is a big question mark on the competency of some of the best names in the industry who claim to shape the careers of the youth in India.
Implications
Do some arithmetic to digest the implications of these errors. This year there were just 75 questions asked in CAT. Now a simple calculation will tell us that the most visited sites in India for analysing solutions had an error rate that ranges from 13.33% to 18.66%.
Thus on an average the students checking their results based on this answerkeys would be wrong on their analysis of results by about 10%.
This is a whooping error because a less than 1% difference in marks can make a difference of several hundred ranks if not thousands. This means that if somebody makes a decision of which institutes to apply for based on these errorenous calculations he/she might be wrong by miles on his approach to his/her career. CAT happens just once in a year so it is expected that a large number of students have lost their year or at least they will compromise on the levels of college that they will finally get admitted to.
I am personally in touch with students who calculated a negative score in the verbal section based on these sites and are now sitting with a CAT score card with 90+ percentile in the section.
Why Does this happen?
Because the aim of the coaching classes is different from that of the students. For coaching classes this is a time to grab eyeballs/attention of stundents to their brands. In management its called ensuring strong brand recall.
Its speed which will sell? The site which puts up solutions to most questions fastest will get maximum attention from students - never mind the quality of solutions or the accuracy of it.
What helps further is short public memory - even those students who might have taken their application decisions based on these solutions do not care once they are done with the application process. Later if they do not achieve the expected percentile scres they would attribute it to fate, some unexplained glitch in the system and/or simply their misfortune.
Where does one go?
Take this as one of the following
1. A reason for students to become more aware customers as education is no more a job of teachers - it is the business of education and they are the target customers.
2. A reason for watchdog bodies to come up - though personally I am against it.
3. As an opportunity for some or the other coaching classes to become a TATA of education - a name one can trust - by being ethical, slow but sure, and dependable
Any takers
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