JEE, NEET cannot gauge aptitude
answer sheet, it revealed how she had been marked. Here are two examples.
A one-mark question was: “How far do you agree with the statement that cultural globalisation is dangerous not only for poor countries for the entire globe?” Her answer was: “I do not agree with this statement as cultural globalisation leads to enhanced cultures with newer combinations arising from external influences, cultural heterogenisation and greater influence of all cultures.”
She was given zero for this answer. The model or ‘correct’ answer used by evaluators was: “Yes, Cultural globalisation does lead to cultural homogenisation which affects all countries as it causes shrinkage of the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the entire globe”. If you compare the two, you will conclude that the girl was punished for her creativity.
But in this case, her answer was closer to what the textbook, ‘Contemporary World Politics’ (Chapter 9, p. 143), says: “It would be a mistake to assume that cultural consequences of globalisation are only negative. Cultures are not static things and all cultures accept outside influences all the time… Sometimes external influences simply enlarge our choices, sometimes they modify our culture without overwhelming the traditional.”
In many other questions, she loses marks because her answer is slightly longer than the desired answer or differently worded. But there are answers where she is spot on, and still loses marks.
For instance, in analysing the biggest constraints on American hegemony, a 6-mark question, the desired answer mentions the ‘institutionalised architecture’ of the American state based on the division of power, free press and NATO. The candidate mentions all three, but uses words like ‘engineering of the government’ instead ‘architecture of the state’. For such difference of vocabulary, she gets three out of six. Clearly, she was expected to cram the exact words from some exam guide.
This is just one example exhibiting the arbitrary and opaque nature of our exam system. Much has changed in India since the late 19th century when the public exam system was put in place. Minor reforms have occurred, but its core remains solidly opaque.