Why Exams are Ballyhooed

 ..and why they shouldn't be, is the full title of this piece.

The major reason is that they don't give the full picture. It's a small part of what a student or applicant is. The other problem with exams are that they often become a game rather than a real test of knowledge, application or skill. The written exam as it is done in the education system is, more often than not, a test of how well you play the exam game-hence the undue importance of coaching classes. They can cook up the menu to order, and train you to crack any exam on earth, provided there's a pattern to the exam.

The purpose of an examination may not just be to test your regurgitation skills, but maybe also to test how you can think about a problem, or even state what is the problem. Too much emphasis on solving a given problem begs the question- is it the right problem, in the first place? A good example may be chasing GDP growth without looking at the Human Development Index, in national terms. You may achieve one at the cost of the other, so teaching tradeoffs or thinking about these in an exam may be important.

Life is multidimensional, and exams should also reflect that..a score alone cannot define a person, who may have talents that are not measured by it. Sometimes a narrow skill is required which an exam may test for a particular job, but in most cases, we need a broad set of thinking skills that can be applied in multiple ways. That, most exams fail to test. Maybe it's time to relook at it, pandemic or no pandemic...

Marketing Research

This is a subject/course I have been teaching for around 27 years, starting in 1991. I got interested in it because of my stint in a company called MBA founded by 3 MBAs from IIM Ahmedabad. Later, after a Ph.D. I returned to India and started teaching M.R., and soon after, wrote a book. Its 4th edition is on its way. A lot of students have contributed to the chapter-end cases in the book, starting with Kirloskar Institute and ending with IIM Indore for the latest edition.

A pic from a recent M.R. class where an interesting in-class exercise is on. I rely on a lot of these to enhance learning about the subject.

There are a lot of hands-on exercises as well as a course project that trains students in doing different things- from formulating research problems, designing a study and executing one. Analysis is just one part of this process.

The Purpose of Exams

We thrive on exams- educational institutes, I mean, and the profs. in them. But what exactly is an exam, why was it invented, and does it serve its purpose?

Yes, and No.

If it makes people think-before, during and after the event, it is a good thing, in my view. If it doesn't, not serving its purpose. just like education.

Maybe with smaller classes, one can explore different types of exams. Oral, for instance. With large classes which are a norm even in institutions that can afford to have smaller ones, your options are limited. But creativity can probably be used here as well, to make it a more meaningful experience.

I have of course, found brilliant students through exams. But I have also found them by other means. So exams might not be the only way to grade the student. Application, which takes time to show up sometimes, could be another.

Entrance exams are another kind. They largely want to filter out a large populace, and so concentrate on that purpose, rather than being a genuine test of a person's all-round capability for engineering, medicine, or whatever the entrance exam is for.

I have had interesting experiences with exams of all kinds- open book, closed, viva, projects, presentations.. will try and list them out one day.

Applying for a Job

No, I am not applying right now. I have a job. But this is about the process of applying for one. I am not including campus placements here.

When do you feel like applying for one? Usually there is either a positive or a negative reason. You may be motivated by something on offer (salary, location, job challenge) or trying to escape from something- a bad boss, bad colleagues, subordinates you cannot handle, bad location, etc.

Your search begins. You apply. This in earlier days involved getting a CV typed by sitting next to someone, later morphed into typing your CV and printing it, and further has changed to emailing it or posting it on a  job site.

Then, you wait, with no news until you suddenly get an invitation to an interview. Then you try and figure out what the interviewers want to hear-How you love challenges, you are a quick learner, dynamic, and all the rest. If you speak the truth, you generally stand no chance.

So, if the process encourages deceit, you may have to go with the flow, and once you get hired, revert to your real state, whatever that may be. And get found out, and resume the search, ..for the next job..

Guide to Management Core Subjects-Statistics

It's one of the most misunderstood subjects in the world. Usually because (pardon me teachers) it is taught badly. With no appreciation that it can do wonders for you, if you don't seek perfection from it (like with most things in life, I might add).

Statistics is the art or science of estimating things, and sometimes calling these predictions- they are still estimates, and can be wrong to varying degrees. But within its limitations, you can estimate a lot of things using simple statistics. For instance, people visiting a store on a given day, or time of the day, can be observed, mapped, and used to determine how many staff would be needed, for example, at what times.

Or, you can look at purchase patterns and send out promotional offers to customers most likely to buy. Online marketers seem to have cottoned on to this, coz I am flooded with pop up ads for air tickets, if I have just browsed for a particular sector on yatra, without buying the ticket.

The trouble is, teaching starts at the wrong end- the theory, which is worse than nuclear physics, and hardly anyone understands it. Practice or application might be the place to start, and present a practical problem, and then go back to how statistics could help solve it (with a margin of error, naturally). And the discussion of errors of all kinds (Type 1, Type 2 are the least of them) goes on and on, that by the time you are done listing all of them you forget what problem it was you were trying to solve.

The other extreme is trying to fit a problem to a technique. As in, I want to use Regression (or Multidimensional Scaling, or whatever). How do I use it in my research? Or, after a questionnaire for a survey has been filled up, saying I want to use x,y,z, technique for analysis. That is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, surely? The scale of measurement determines what analysis can be performed. QED.

I will not even talk about probability, until I have understood how to make it better understood.