Dear Editor,
This is solely in response to the letter with the title “Stop Building Unscientific and illogical Theories” by one of the readers of this daily. The prime purpose is to make people understand about the scope of a subject with regard to the syllabus of APPSCCE. Well the scope of a subject cannot totally be quantified as it overlaps with some or the other discipline. Let me quote an example to make this clear:
Physical Geography – which is a part of Geography Prelims syllabus requires the candidate to have knowledge about our earth and the universe, to be specific here one needs to understand how the stars and planets came into existence. Big Bang theory being the most acceptable one till date. Hadron Collider experiment was an attempt to study the phenomena as proposed by Big Bang Theory. Super Quadrupole Electromagnets were used to direct the beam which would enable the scientist to recreate the phenomena in a controlled environment. Now the scope of physical geography in one way or the other connects to the Hadron Collider experiment. A very legitimate question in the prelims for geography could be to name the type of magnet used in the experiment.
Now this is where the overlapping takes place. This experiment also has its roots in Astrophysics. As a civil service aspirant i would prepare and acquaint myself with theory of Big Bang and as a human with my own common sense and conscience I would limit my study to the theory and the experiment that was done to study the theory. But this Super Quadruple Electromagnet somehow connects itself to the scope of physical geography because the earth and the universe is part of the syllabus under Physical Geography. So let us act like humans and not take the scope so far to the electromagnet as the question if asked on the electromagnet will definitely be out of syllabus(because both physics & astrophysics are involved).
Now if the reader still fails to understand the scope of a syllabus, here is another classic example from the Syllabi Booklet of APPSCCE. Kindly refer page no 65, section B of Paper II Geography Mains syllabus. What do we infer from this particular statement “Regional Geography of the North East India with special reference to Arunachal Pradesh”?? Well in very simple language, the commission limits the scope of Regional Geography of North East to Arunachal Pradesh, or else the scope can even extend itself to Myanmar and Bangladesh. They do this because the state civil service aspirants have to be aware of Arunachal Pradesh in particular. The commission itself is limiting the scope here.
Also in very simple terms, the commission prescribes the syllabus differently for both Prelims and Mains to limit the scope of the subject because preliminary exam is of qualifying nature. The mains exam will test the other knowledgeable aspects in detail; hence the syllabus is large and also covers more no of pages in the syllabi booklet. And If this was not to be the case then the sole purpose of outlining separate syllabus for prelims and mains gets defeated.
All i want to convey is that one should understand the basics of the subject matter and then present one’s view on scientific and illogical deductions. I believe that with this letter I will be able to strike a difference between “from the syllabus” “and “Out of syllabus”. And still if the scope of syllabus doesn’t fit one’s understanding then the only possible route is for the commission to get all the candidates to take the mains directly with questions covering extensive topics under the mains syllabus. They are autonomous, they can do it.
Please note that knowledge of all the disciplines have value and should never be undermined, hence candidates are given the liberty to choose from a long list of subjects.
They accepted their mistakes after the first cancelled prelims of 2017 and an assurance was given that reforms will be brought to check the discrepancies in future. However, the scale and magnitude of the same nature of discrepancies is even larger this monsoon season. They are accountable for our unfruitful hardship.
Yours,
An Aspirant