Editor,
The Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB) chairman and all its members should be congratulated for the level of transparency that the board has shown since the Kapter Ringu case, but the standard of setting the questions is a bit arbitrary.
It has been observed that the board sets the difficulty level of the question papers according to the number of posts and applicants and not according to the level of education.
Aspirants must have observed that every year the combined graduate level (CGL) exam has questions much easier compared to the combined higher secondary level (CHSL) exam. This year’s question paper for CGL was laughable. The level of the questions was such that luck played a huge role in determining the final selection.
Among the 25 candidates, 13 scored 184, four scored 186, and there were many candidates who scored the cut-off mark of 182 and were disqualified because of age difference. Also, there were a large number of candidates who scored 180, just below the cut-off mark.
No doubt the selected candidates are really good, especially the topper, but question paper level did not test them to the required level and those candidates who scored above 175 also cannot be doubted over their intelligence or hard work.
Barring general knowledge, the questions for maths, reasoning and general English were substandard. If GK alone is to play the major role in determining who finally gets selected, why give equal weightage to other subjects?
The first solution to this can be by setting questions according to the level of examination, with CGL being the most difficult, and then CHSL, and lastly CSL.
Secondly, the board should definitely introduce negative marking of at least 1/4th to reduce the role of the luck factor to the bare minimum.
Thirdly, the board could conduct one exam for all non-limited departmental Group C and D posts with moderately difficult standard questions and select the final candidates according to their marks and educational qualification. This would save a lot of time, money and human resource for both the candidates and the board.
Fourthly, if the third is to be implemented, the board may introduce two-tier written exams for those not requiring skill test, and three-tier for those requiring skill test, with Tier-2 written exam being more difficult than the Tier 1 exam.
It is my request to the board members to look into these suggestions because I am one of the candidates who has consecutively been unable to get into the final selection of CGL, scoring just below the cut-off mark, including this year.
Luck should not be playing a huge role in the final selection for employment. Merit should play the role as much as possible.
Disappointed candidate