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NSE deploys Net based examination system

NSE has developed the system for assessing competence of candidates dealing in stock and money markets.

"The system transcends time and geographical barriers," claims NSE Vice-President Ashish Kumar Chauhan. He is in charge of capital market operations for futures and options.

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"Though GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test), is conducted from the United States all over the world by using computer systems, it is not Internet based," Chauhan points out.

All the activities pertaining to examination registration, setting question papers, specifying maximum answering time, declaration of results, preparation of progress reports could be done in sequence through the system without human involvement, Chauhan claims.

Unlike the examination system used in schools and colleges, which is fraught with many hassles, particularly pertaining to leakage of question papers and complaints about subjective assessment, the system has done away with human intervention in assessment, Chauhan says.

All the questions are objective in nature carrying five options from which the student has to choose the most appropriate answer. Besides, each candidate gets a new question paper with total marks being the same for all the question papers.

For the purpose of the examination, a question bank with all possible questions has been developed. These questions are graded according to their perceived levels of difficulty commensurate with due weightage. "The computer picks up questions randomly so that they do not repeat frequently," Chauhan claims.

The system is Net based so that candidates can appear for the test from any place in the world. But NSE has made provision for candidates to take the NSE test at seven centres in Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Madras, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad or Pune.

Thus, logistic problems such as sending the question papers from the printing press to various centres and their leakage could be conveniently avoided, he said.

The exam system used by 1,800 candidates from September 1998, when it was introduced, saves time and costs of conducting examinations, particularly when candidates are scattered and are prone to different work schedules, he said.

The system is being shared with 23 partner educational institutions across the country, which are spreading knowledge about capital market related activities, he said and added that the software package would be made available to other educational institutions on request.

However, academics disagree that objective type questions could assess all the faculties of the candidates as is done now.

"It does not assess the candidate's", creative writing ability, said Nandini Sardesai, head of sociology department at St Xavier's College.

"This can only supplement the present system and it is not economically feasible to extend the facility to all the students in the country in the near future," she said.

However, this could be used for conducting unit tests to save time spent on these tests now, she said adding that the conventional exam system, introduced in 1829 by Lord Macaulay, was not streamlined from then on.

A professor of chemistry at Wilson College, Ratnakar Shetty, said that objective type questions are quite insufficient for assessing knowledge of candidates, particularly science students.

However, internal assessment tests, as are conducted in the University of Bombay, could be simplified by taking to objective type questions, added Shetty.

Apart from educational institutions many other agencies that conduct entrance tests selection tests for employment could also use the software package for conducting spot test, Chauhan said.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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