Article - The Exam Scam

The Exam Scam

“India has a very well-organized examination system. It is not very clear if it has an educational system.”

-         - Attributed to a former advisor to the Government of India.

Gaming examinations through diverse methods is a popular activity worldwide. This has the power of often magically transforming a “D” grade into a seeming “A” grade.

In India, much of such activity is generally considered cheating.

For many, this is justified as ingenious creativity in beating a flawed system that puts desperate students under crushing pressure. To educationists, it’s a very unethical practice that invalidates the very purpose of examinations. That is, of accurately assessing the actual academic status of individual students.

In a system that greatly values degrees, certificates, grades and scores as a gateway to lucrative positions and careers, the temptation to cut corners and manipulate results and outcomes is understandable.  Anyone remember the Vyapam scandal in Madhya Pradesh?

Parental pressure and the social status conferred by higher educational rankings play a part too. In our country “Toppers” are commonly celebrated; their likenesses adorning rolls of honour, often also being showered with awards, trophies and other prizes. 

There are pitfalls in an examination-oriented culture. Recent dropouts from IITs and IIMs revealed that the students concerned had successfully gamed the competitive entrance examinations through pattern recognition. They had skillfully predicted the likely questions and prepared accordingly.  Unfortunately, these students were later found to lack the learning skills required for the sustained studies demanded by these coveted institutions.

A word of caution here; scoring high grades in written examinations could often just be a sign of super competence limited to a narrow range of academic activity. Studying for examinations is an essentially solitary activity that bears little relation to the many ways to being successful in the real world of work.

That’s why so many “Toppers” vanish into obscurity post academic honours; they didn’t achieve any distinction in the many “tests” of the real world that followed their academic careers. These are often among the toughest examinations of all, without a clear syllabus or study plan to help pass them.

And in most cases, cheating can only get you so far. There have been a few successful tricksters blessed with the rare ability to advantageously eel their way out of virtually any situation. For the rest of us, Nemesis is waiting, an ever-present ominous shadow in the wings.

The fight isn’t always to the strong, nor the race to the swift; but that’s the way to bet. So, in the absence of any better methods of academic evaluation, written examinations will continue – and so will unethical attempts to “beat” these tests.