Common Admission Test pushes Telugu students to the wall
Hyderabad: The Common Admission Test (CAT) entrance examination is giving jitters to the students from social sciences and humanities from the two Telugu states as the pattern of entrance is heavily tilted with questions on quantitative aptitude, numerical ability and the like.
Responding on the recent results of the CAT, officials from the Telangana State Council for Higher Education (TSCHE) opined that with a few exceptions, "it was the students of engineering background who are qualifying in common entrance tests of both IIMs and IITs."
The current pattern test is leaving a huge number of bright students from the social sciences and humanities background unrepresented at these premier institutions. The current pattern needs to be changed drastically," they added.
Speaking to The Hans India, TSCHE vice-chairman Prof V Venkata Raman said, earlier, general knowledge and reasoning aspects were given adequate importance in the entrance for taking admission into the management courses in the top institutions and universities. But the same had been changed, including more quantitative aptitude and numerical abilities.
But, "It is not necessary that managers take their decisions all the time on the basis of quantitative and numerical abilities. This need not necessarily be made as a pre-requisite to test the students for taking admission into the IIMs," he said.
Further, due representation from the social sciences and humanities and testing such abilities will increase the abilities of the managerial decision process.
For example, though those in the managerial positions take a decision, it has to be implemented in a social and cultural eco-system. Without such awareness that comes from the general abilities, the decisions taken might not get anticipated results.
It was against this backdrop that the CAT entrance test should be revamped to ensure proper representation of all fields of academics to make the management education more vibrant, Venkata Ramana said.