Editor,
Through your daily, I would like to request the members of Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission to institute mark moderation between different optional subjects (if no mechanism for the same has been established so far). Mark moderation allows for balancing of varying levels of optional paper difficulty, thus allowing candidates from different optional subjects to compete on a level playing field.
Say, if the paper for geography or agriculture contains direct questions, and if the paper of English literature and geography are a little subjective, the candidates in the latter two subjects will on average score much lesser in the optional paper.
The UPSC has a formula where it takes the average of all the mains appeared candidates from respective optional subjects and moderate the same. Say, if the average mark scored in geography is 300, and the same is 280 in English, this formula allow for additional 20 marks to the English candidate, and likewise vis-à-vis other optionals, thus allowing for exceptional scores to be attained by the toppers in their respective optional papers. This allows for candidates from different backgrounds and optionals to fill the ranks and does not limit the successful candidates to one or two optionals, as is the case in the UPSC exams.
I had provided the same suggestion when the commission asked for opinions last year. Hopefully, this will be implemented (unless already done).
A mains candidate