Irony of CSS results

[idealsome]

AOA,

FPSC has announced results for CSS-2015 written exams, however the percentage of candidates who have passed this exam is very very low.

Total of 12176 candidates appeared in exams
Total of 379 candidates passed the exams

percentage is 3.11% on the basis of total number that appeared in exams.


Please discuss the main cause which lead to this low number of candidates passed the examinations and what could have went wrong with rest of the 96.89% who did not qualify for next phase??

This is an irony that very large of candidates fails in the initial written tests of CSS every year, even though Pakistani students are good enough to compete such competitive examinations.

Will anyone elaborate the exact reason(s) behind failure at such a huge number??? Thanks


Regards

[emikszone]

Even though I am a junior member and I will be attempting CSS for the first time in few months but the irony you have mentioned is simple to understand actually.

Its a descriptive type of exam. Unlike many international exams in which only one answer is right and every question is designed to judge multiple aspects of candidate, CSS still falls in the category of archaic exam systems where descriptive answers are required to judge a candidate.
This poses great problem. Greater when the number of candidates is so huge. The factors which influence the final result are greatly controlled by the person who checks exam papers. His understanding, his personal approach, his idea of an ideal expression, his favorite way writing, his favorite style of referencing and so much more. So when there is no perfect answer for a question and when there is no absolute standard of awarding a candidate, how do you see the accuracy of whole system to select the best candidates?

I heard people saying CSS is all 50% about luck. I say , its the failure of a system . When a system can't give a perfect output, it relies on random selection of choices. sometimes it works, other times it fails.

Peace

[kingfalcon]

The main reason is to pass as few people as possible. Since there are about 250 seats every year, they aim to pass about 300-400 people so that after filtering in merit and other things, about 250 people are selected. Another main reason is that FPSC cannot interview thousands of people all over Pakistan, just 300-400 people is easy to handle. Few people mean fewer legal cases as well.

This is shear injustice.

[husseych]

Originally Posted by emikszone

Even though I am a junior member and I will be attempting CSS for the first time in few months but the irony you have mentioned is simple to understand actually.

Its a descriptive type of exam. Unlike many international exams in which only one answer is right and every question is designed to judge multiple aspects of candidate, CSS still falls in the category of archaic exam systems where descriptive answers are required to judge a candidate.
This poses great problem. Greater when the number of candidates is so huge. The factors which influence the final result are greatly controlled by the person who checks exam papers. His understanding, his personal approach, his idea of an ideal expression, his favorite way writing, his favorite style of referencing and so much more. So when there is no perfect answer for a question and when there is no absolute standard of awarding a candidate, how do you see the accuracy of whole system to select the best candidates?

I heard people saying CSS is all 50% about luck. I say , its the failure of a system . When a system can't give a perfect output, it relies on random selection of choices. sometimes it works, other times it fails.

Peace

No doubt CSS needs immediate reforms but it does not mean to replace descriptive essay type questions with MCQs (Which I believe you were referring towards). Both type of questions have their own importance and every educational expert agrees.
Essay type questions are necessary for CSS Exams as the purpose is not only to check the knowledge but depth of knowledge and most importantly the analytical and critical skills are also judged. Descriptive essay questions are the best option in this regard.

As with the checking process, again some reforms are required but remember this is a competitive exam, you do not only have to perform good but perform competitively. So, papers are checked relatively to others. If 100% people performed reasonably well then everyone will get just an average score and vice versa.