May 16, 2011

and then the eee-leaks!

The late risers of IIT Roorkee (like me) got up on the morning of 1st May 2011 to the news that the AIEEE had been postponed by a few hours due to administrative issues. No one could be a hundred percent certain at what exact time the exam was to start! Such was the chaos at the centres due to the high no of students (and the parents, brothers, sisters, pets, relatives, friends and neighbours accompanying them) appearing the exam.
Now, think about the students who were supposed to give the AFMC exam later on the same day, who then gave the AIEEE on 11th May. Why exactly did it happen? The rumours in the morning were confirmed indeed- some morons leaked the paper!

I am fortunate enough not to have faced such trouble during my time with this exam... Imagine the state of mind of a general student due to such a fiasco! I can only sympathize! The delay must surely have changed the mindset of the student before starting the (second) most important exam in his/her life! Although I agree that such an exam has ranking system based on the relative performance, but the mentally strong get an extra advantage over others as this new variable can change results drastically. (Now, do I sound like Dr Charles Eppes from Numb3rs?)

CBSE effectively maintains two separate sets of question papers for the AIEEE in secret locations in case of such situations! I do appreciate them doing so but do you think the fellows who make the question papers give enough importance to the backup plans over the main paper, which does lead me to the conclusion that the 2011 paper was not the result of full dedication of these people; so does that do justice to the students who read for two or three straight years for this day?

Back in '97 the IIT-JEE paper was leaked by a private institute in Lucknow. What the authorities did was that they let the exam continue and declared the fact later stating the actual exam will be held on a later date. This approach, according to me, was better in the sense that in that case, that 'extra advantage' is minimised as you've a few days to settle down mentally! Also, this avoided the chaos at the centres!

This thing, which I'd consider nothing less than a crime, is, most probably done by the intermediates to make some quick bucks. But how many of you think this doesn't happen every single time? All it takes is a multimedia cell phone to take a few snaps, that's all! The only difference is how good the tracks are covered, which differentiates it from being a normal exam to a highly publicised affair!

How to stop it? I still have no clue! As long as corruption stays, this will... Any other ideas on how to stop it?

Liked this post? Have any suggestions? Just let me know. Feel free to comment below!

7 responses:

Ram said...

Ya....conduct online exam and protect the question papers by multiple firewalls!

Shaumik Daityari said...

Well Taran, I had thought of that initially, but there are quite some issues. firstly, it will be tough to conduct such an examination for so many students. secondly, a large number of them have never used a computer in their life! next, we wont be able to have a multi lingual exam (consider the space constraints). also, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to maintain the difficulty of the papers (although bitsat guys admit they try to ensure this)

but it will be safe though. in addition to the firewall and proper encryption, you can always keep the server offline at times when it is not required, which can of course be prevented from hack attacks

abhilekhmukherjeein said...

Well certainly both the conclusions, evovled as a result of this nonsense cannot be neglected. Coming to the practicality, from the point of view of which I do support Sam, but the lack of knowledge about systems by many such candidates do further imply its unadaptability in this regard.
Now lets hope for the best.... Thats all we can do!

sneha said...

ya, it was a lot of chaos for many of the candidates who were not residents of the exam centre cities. JEE ppl are certainly the smartest in the country!! B-)

Shaumik Daityari said...

that's the main issue, so many people from villages give this exam, which makes it the most popular in the country! making it online will make it tougher for them -another variable which creates differences in the situation of students changing the final results.

Well the JEE guys had a very low number to handle comparatively, but I they did the more sensible thing as the reputation of the IITs was at stake. This time, however, CBSE was at fault, not the NITs or any other institution!

Ram said...

How abt storing the question papers in concussion-proof vaults protected by alarm upon unauthorized entry?

Shaumik Daityari said...

that's the best way but costly!

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