Universities, particularly public universities, in Bangladesh, still follow the age-old practice of allowing students the choice to answer a specified number of questions from the available total. Elsewhere, at home and abroad, there are variations in the practice. In American and Canadian universities, this choice is uncommon. In the UK, Australia, and Japan there is a mixed system. In professional and civil-service examinations in our country, all questions have to be attempted.
Even in our public universities the choice system appears to be inconsistent – the universities allow choices in regular examinations, but in the university entrance examinations, all questions have to be answered. In public universities, this choice system is compulsory. In the private universities, the practice depends on individual teachers – there is no official policy on this.
Having a choice in questions has two problems: First, different students answer different bundles of questions. As a result, evaluating students becomes similar to comparing apples to oranges. While grading the scripts, teachers cannot keep track of the various standards by which the different sets of questions were evaluated. Secondly, it leaves the possibility that students may not go through the entire syllabus, instead opting to study selective chapters and ignore the rest. This can be very harmful. Studying the broader syllabus is necessary to fully understand the subject.
Any content of the syllabus is quite related to the other – one complements and supplements the other. This maintains an internal consistency. Teachers do not start teaching a chapter before completing its related and prerequisite chapters.
In some areas, universities design their curriculum in collaboration with and under the consultation of various prospective employers. For example, business faculties, particularly that of accounting departments, consult with professional bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Institute of Certified Public Accountants. These professional bodies want their students to know the various contents of a subject, and they in particular require that the tests cover issues from the whole syllabus.
Students do not attempt to tackle strange and unseen questions in the choice-based system. When a choice is given, a student tends to pick the common questions and delivers the answers which he has already studied and had prepared. He does not have to think any further. But when he has to answer all the questions – both seen and unseen – then his job becomes more challenging. He has to tackle unforeseen situations, which is an important part of the education and examination system, particularly in universities.
In our country, because there is a choice-based system, students and their parents often ask teachers for “suggestions,” which translates to marking specific, important chapters that are more likely to appear in the examination. This is a common problem in the education sector, from primary to university level. If the choice-based system is withdrawn, this behaviour would go away as students would have to study the whole syllabus.
When a choice is given, teachers have a tendency to prepare difficult questions for the tests. The questions they prepare turn out to be more technical, more difficult, and sometimes, entirely unrealistic. They think that since a choice is given, students must work hard to find the answers. But if students are required to answer all the questions, teachers keep in mind that the purpose is not to examine the students for their technical skills alone, but to examine whether the students have enough knowledge on all the topics of the subject.
Here, the purpose is to see if students can think, rather than being able to just answer questions perfectly.
Also, students can get better grades in the “whole syllabus” system. In the choice-based system, since fewer questions are to be answered, each question carries higher marks, and if a student cannot answer a question, they stand to lose more marks. In the whole syllabus system, there are many questions, and each question carries smaller marks. If the students cannot answer a question, they lose fewer marks.
In the choice-based system, the teacher usually looks for a definite answer, which tends to be more rigid. On the other hand, when the students have to answer all the questions in a test, the teacher looks for a closer answer.
Giving choices in answering questions in an examination is not without reasons. For example, the probability of getting common questions is higher, therefore the examiner needs less time to check answer scripts. But, the reasons and arguments for a whole syllabus examination system, as explained above, appear to be stronger. Better knowledge is based on adequate grounds and complete evidence.