Standardized testing is one of the tools institutions rely upon to compare apples to apples. The format, type of questions, scoring pattern and evaluation are standardized so that the ultimate score of one candidate can be compared to another, irrespective of who took the test, when it was taken and where. Well, at least in theory.
While no one disputes the popularity and convenience of these tools, critics of the standardized testing concept point out several flaws. The test is not a level playing field. Many of these internationally recognized tests are administered in English and so non-native English speaking candidates may be at a disadvantage.
However, with training and practice, it is possible to score better. Again this puts rich kids, with resources to afford coaching classes and study material, at an advantage. In spite of knowing the underlying concepts being tested, some candidates may face test-taking stress and perform below their optimum capabilities.
Competitive tests like GREand other similar tests are predominantly objective in nature. In order to ease the scoring part, answers to the test questions are either right or wrong. The test does not question how a candidate thinks and approaches a problem. There is no way to judge how a person arrived at the answer.
This means if you had to choose one from a choice of four optional answers, you still have a pretty high chance (25 per cent) of getting it right even if you have absolutely no clue about the topic. In fact, eliminating the wrong choices to raise your hit-rate is actually a common test-taking strategy.
Standardized testing also opens up avenues for cheating. While this book was being written, a controversy related to GMAT cheating was gaining a lot of media coverage. Thousands of candidates were being questioned about their tests, after using the services of a website to cheat. When the officials found out that students who had taken the GMAT test were posting the ‘live’ questions from the test on this website, they brought it down and sued it for copyright infringement. The GMAT uses a computer-adaptive format and a question bank of several thousand questions to simulate different tests for each candidate.
However, given the scale at which candidates take the test (apart from the non-disclosure agreement that disallows prospective students from disclosing actual questions from the test), what stops a candidate from going online to any of the hundreds of MBA preparation sites to upload questions fresh from memory, to be viewed and practised by thousands of others, either knowingly or unknowingly?
Interesting Post, thanks for sharing
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