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After reading this article you will learn about the methods used for testing candidates for civil service in India. The methods are: 1. Written Examinations 2. Oral Test or Interview 3. Performance Demonstrations 4. Selection by Evaluation of Qualifications and Experience.
Method # 1. Written Examinations:
Written examinations are generally used in all the countries for judging the qualifications of the candidates. The written examination test is of several kinds. It may be so designed as to test either the general ability and intellectual calibre of the candidates or their knowledge of the specific subjects related to the duties of the job under recruitment. In India and England the purpose of examinations is to know the general intelligence of the candidates.
Macaulay, who was the greatest protagonist of this view, observed:
“Men who have been engaged, up to one and two and twenty in studies which have no immediate connection with the business of any profession, and the effect of which is merely to open, to invigorate, and to enrich the mind, will generally be found, in the business of every profession, superior to men who have, at eighteen or nineteen, devoted themselves to the special studies of their calling. Indeed, early superiority in literature and science generally indicates the existence of some qualities which are securities against vice—industry, self-denial, a test for pleasures not sensual, a laudable desire of honourable distinction, a still more laudable desire to obtain the approbation of friends and relations. We, therefore, think that the intellectual test about to be established will be found in practice to be also the best moral test that can be devised.”
Candidates appearing for higher civil service in India take examinations in the subjects which they learn in the universities. “The outlook, power and quickness in comprehension, the gift of dealing with the people, the readiness to take the initiative and to assume responsibility, are all in the main highly developed when the business to be transacted is seen by the civil servant against a background of other knowledge of the type through which the mind has become developed,”
Today many people may not perhaps go to the whole hog with Macaulay in accepting examination in academic subjects as the sole criterion of suitability for administrative posts, yet the basic truth of his contention is still accepted in many countries including India and Britain.
Special Test:
In the United States, examinations are held to test the specific knowledge which the candidate possesses concerning the job which he has to perform, e.g., knowledge of law, geography, criminology, etc., in case of a police post or of economies, finance, etc., in case of post in the finance or accounts department. There is no combined competitive examination for all the services of a particular grade or class as we have in India.
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Essay Type and Objective Type:
From the dependability point of view there are two testing criteria, viz., (i) Essay answer type or standardized type test and (ii) Short answer type of tests.
Under the former the candidate is required to write a fairly long essay in answer to a question while under the latter answers to the questions are not in essay form but mostly in ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ or in one or two words. ‘The true—false’ questions are put, and the candidate has just to say whether the statement is correct or incorrect.
Sometimes he has just to fill in the blanks or provide the missing words. It is a more reliable and fairer type of method. It is a mechanical type of test and even scoring machines can be employed or marking papers. The system is therefore economical and fairly simple. Moreover, marking is objective and there is no room for the subjective vagaries of the examiners.
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The former system enables the examiners to judge the power of expression, standard of reasoning and continuity and consistency of thought of the candidate. The defects of this system are that (i) there is a great difficulty of the evaluation of answers.
Marking by examiners is largely subjective, and sometimes differs sharply from one examiner to another and even by the same examiner from one candidate to the other. It is also apprehended that if the same script is evaluated by the same examiner at different times marking may differ. Hence the method is not considered reliable; (ii) it is costly because remuneration payable to the examiners is quite high.
Merit of Short Answer Examination
The merits of short answer type are as follows:
Through short answer type of tests expression or language of the candidate cannot be examined. His ability to prepare analysis of complex material cannot be known. If the short answer questions are not very carefully devised, the system will test only the factual knowledge and not his connected thinking.
True capacity and ability are not thus revealed by such tests. Secondly, unless a very large number of such tests are available, they quickly degenerate into stock tests which can be easily anticipated and provided for by coaching, thus largely eliminating their value.
Some American writers believe that if these tests are prepared carefully, they can measure judgment, reasoning and ability of the candidate much more precisely and exactly than the essay type.
Writing about these tests, Prof. William A. Robson observes, “Clerical assistants are chosen by means of short tests consisting of simple ‘right-wrong’ questions on arithmetic, spellings, meaning of words, etc. Such tests have a serious disadvantage —they offer no scope for positive ability, such as in clear expression; but they have the compelling practical advantage of speed.”” In the opinion of L.D. White, “It permits the testing of the test itself and has no dependability.”
Which of these systems is better?—is a moot question. The dependability of a test is measured by its validity and reliability. A test is said to be valid when it measures what it purports to measure. It is reliable when it does so regularly during repeated use.
Validity means the degree to which the test measures the ability. The latter, if properly construed, means memory, power of reasoning, aptitude, and speed of reaction of the candidate. Obviously, it can be best measured through the device of ‘free answer’ type tests rather than short-answer type. Reliability of test signifies the extent to which persons would be marked in the same relative order by their scorers.
Scoring is more objective and mechanical in the short-answer type of tests. In the long-answer type of tests, much depends upon the personal judgment of the examiner. Moreover, uniformity of standard of marking cannot be maintained as many examiners are appointed to mark the papers.
Thus there is less reliability, though more validity, in the free- answer type. U.K. and India have been showing preference for free-answer type tests for the competitive examination. In India preliminary examination of IAS and allied services has catered to short answer rather objective type of test.
IAS and Allied Services Test schemes in India (UPSC Exam.).
In the IAS and Allied Services Examinations there are two type Examination.
Preliminary:
It consists of two papers (i) General Studies of 150 merits (ii) one subject to be selected out of the list of optional subjects which are 23 in number.
The question papers in both the papers are objective type (multiple choice questions). The question papers are set in Hindi and English. The course content of the syllabi for the optional subjects is to be of Degree level. Each paper is to be of 2 Hours duration only.
In the Main Examination are to be IX papers in all as detailed under:
Paper I – of one of the Indian languages as given in the 8th schedule of the constitution — It’s of 300 marks and “Its marks are not counted in ranking and is of qualifying nature and of Matric standard.
Paper II is of English carrying 300 marks.
Paper III is of Essay of 200 marks
Paper IV and Part V are of General Studies of 300 Marks.
Paper VI, VII VIII & IX – Any Two optional subjected to be selected from the list of optional subject. Each subject is to have two papers of 300 marks each
Interview Test will have 300 marks.
In U.S.A., however, short-answer type of tests are given preference. Prof. Pfiffner has very well compared the two types of tests in these words, “The written tests of to-day are almost exclusively of the short-answer type with simple choice questions being preferred. Essay or free-answer questions are still used occasionally when the field of competition is small, the preparation of a short-answer test is uneconomical or the subject-matter does not lend itself to short answers.”
Forms of Written Tests:
There are four types of written Tests—(a) Tests of general or special mental abilities; (b) Aptitude Tests; (c) Achievement Tests; (d) Personality Tests.
The ability tests may be of short-answer or essay-answer type. Both these tests judge the general mental calibre of the candidate—his memory, degree of reaction to problems, power of reasoning, etc. Besides testing the general ability of the candidates, devices have been devised by experts to test the specific traits of mind.
To enumerate a few:
(a) General Intelligence Tests:
Messrs Binet and Simon of America devised this test in 1905. It measures mind through the Group tests of mental ability.
(b) Unit Trait System:
L.L. Thurston discovered this system. It identifies unit traits of intelligence, viz., perception, verbal comprehension, word fluency, memory, reasoning ability, deduction, etc.
(c) Social Intelligence Tests:
Thurston and his associates devised this test. Social intelligence denotes ability to adjust to new situations which involve relations to people and take a course of action which is effective in the sense that it induces others to do consistently and voluntarily the thing it is desired they should do.
Such a quality is expected to be found in police officials, railway officers and Taxation Department. Such a trait of character is measured by means of a series of tests given to a group of candidates who are asked to reside together in a camp with the examiner for a fortnight to a month.
(d) Administrative Ability:
Thurston was responsible for organising an experimental study of administrative ability in 1939. Intellectual and temperamental qualities comprise the administrative ability. These qualities are measured through a test termed as Gottshchold Test.
(e) Mechanical Intelligence Test:
This test is used in skilled trades and positions which involve use of clerical machines. The Assembly tests of Minnesota Mechanical ability are made use of for this purpose.
II. Aptitude Tests:
Military service in the UK and also in some other universities of U.K. and the U.S.A. have discovered methods of measuring the aptitudes of the candidates. These tests are used for filling up trade and clerical positions.
III. Achievement Tests:
The academic examinations are termed as achievement tests. Certain basic academic qualifications are required for competing in the examinations. A B.A. degree enables a candidate to compete for I.A.S. and other allied services examinations.
IV. Personality Tests:
Not much has been done for devising written tests for testing the personality of the candidates. Personality inventories which measure emotion, temperament, introversion have been devised for the purpose. The British discovered a device for appraising personal qualities meant for strategic services, during world war.
The candidates are invited for delicate and hazardous foreign posts to a country house where they are minutely observed under varied conditions. Social decorum is maintained in the house. The candidates are given pencil-paper tests and are exposed to several forms of stress and strains. Such a method is fairly complex and is generally used for unitary service.
Method # 2. Oral Test or Interview:
The written examination, it is said, does not reveal the true personality of the candidates. To properly gauge the qualities of initiative, presence of mind, power of decision, etc., which are vital in a successful administrator, resort is made to oral tests or interview.
The oral test is intended to obtain a look at the candidate and to detect his positive or negative qualities and thus serves as a corrective of the estimate arrived at by written examinations. The first use of ‘interview device’ was made in England in 1909 to select the managers of the new labour exchanges.
In England, after World War I the interview became established as part of the selection process for the Administrative Class. It was extended to other classes later on. In India for Indian Administrative and Indian Foreign Service the viva voce carried 300 and 400 marks respectively and for IPS and other Central services 200 marks.
However, since the acceptance of Kothari’s Commission Report (December, 1978) the new pattern of competitive examination was accepted. Total marks presently for the Interview are 300 in all services–IAS, IFS, IPS or other allied services in case of India.
Types of Interview:
Interviews may be of five principal types. The first type known as the Selection Board Procedure is an independent method of selection in itself and not an auxiliary to the written examination. The second is to supplement written examination usually used to test the candidate’s grasp of the subjects relating to the post.
It is not really an interview but a viva voce. The third type is one in which the candidates first appears in an open competitive examination which includes written papers and thereafter are required to appear before an Interview Board whose object is to judge the personal qualities such as initiative, presence of mind, etc.
Marks obtained in the interview are added to those obtained in written examination. The fourth type is the so- called ‘weeding interview’ whose object is to make a preliminary selection of the candidates before they are allowed to take the written examination.
No candidate takes the examination unless he has first been approved by the Interview Board. It does not form a part of the competitive examination that follows. The fifth type which has been invented by the Americans is termed as Group Oral System.
According to it, a group of candidates are made to discuss a topic under the close observation of their examiners. The discussion may last for an hour and a half or more. It is contended that this method of oral examination is fairly objective.
Merits:
The oral test or the interview has today become the most common method of personality test. In England, a committee on Class I examination was appointed in 1917. This committee was in great favour of interview or viva voce test.
It observed:
“We believe that qualities may be shown in a viva voce examination which cannot be tested by a written examination, and that those qualities should be useful to public servants.” It is sometimes urged that a candidate, otherwise well qualified, may be prevented by nervousness from doing justice in viva voce.
We are not sure that such lack of nervous control is not in itself a serious defect, nor that the presence of mind and nervous equipoise which enables a candidate to marshall all of his resources in such conditions is not a valuable quality….We consider that the viva voce test can be made a test of the candidate’s alertness, intelligence and intellectual outlook, and as such is better than any other….We consider that the viva voce examination should not be in matters of academic study, but in matters of general interest, in which every young man should have something to say.
Demerits:
But there is another side of the picture also concerning viva voce tests.
These tests have been widely criticized on the ground as under:
(i) they are subjective and uncertain. The different members of the board have their own individual notions of a good personality,
(ii) the atmosphere of interview is artificial and prevents the candidates from appearing at their best. A few questions of the ‘hit or-miss’ type cannot reveal the real worth of the candidate. An aristocratic member of the Board may judge personality by attractive physical appearance and dress rather than anything else, while the other one may be impressed by simplicity and unassuming physical appearances. It has been said that “God takes a whole life-time to judge a man’s worth, while interviewers have to do in a quarter of an hour.”
(iii) Interview reveals nothing except the superficial aspects of the candidate’s personality.
Deeper traits of tact, leadership and resourcefulness go undetected. Marking differs from member to member. An analysis of the interview result shows that marks awarded to candidates who competed more than once for the same service vary surprisingly.
A candidate who in his first attempt secured fifty marks out of 400 secures 200 marks out of the same number next time. Should it be presumed then that this time he has improved his personality four times? Such a presumption would be ludicrous.
All this showed there was a great element of chance in the interview test. An investigation was undertaken by the International Institute Examinations Enquiry. This body established a replica of the civil service viva voce examination and discovered that for the same candidates, but by the different boards, differences of as many as 92 and 70 marks were shown in extreme cases, with the average difference of 37 marks.
The Board of Enquiry commented, “These extreme differences….amounting to 20 to 30 marks out of 100 and the average difference of about 12 marks out of 100 point to the unreliability of the interview test, and indicate the great influence that this test might have in the final placing of a candidate in the civil service examination….We must conclude that the different influences of the Boards have been sufficient in this case to mark the common influence of the same set of candidates.”
In India there has been a great criticism of interview held by Union Public Service Commission for administrative services. As said above viva voce test previously carried 400 (now it is 300) marks. It depended solely on the fancies of the members who sat with a view to eliminate the large number of candidates and so gave arbitrary marks. They were awarded marks like 100 out of 400 and this is not for one or two but for hundreds of candidates. It was also seen that a candidate who secured the highest marks in the written examination generally failed badly in the viva voce test. To cap it all if a candidate failed in viva he was declared a failure in the Exam.
It was on account of these contradiction in theory and Interview that certain changes were made in^ the viva voce system for Central services. Total marks of theory and viva are counted. Viva of IAS and Allied services now carries 300 marks only. A candidate failing in viva is not declared a failure.
To reduce the iniquities of the interview system, Dr. Finer suggested the following reforms in it:
(i) The duration of interview should be increased from 15 minutes to half an hour.
(ii) It should almost entirely be devoted to a discussion ranging over the academic interests of the candidate as shown in his examination syllabus.
(iii) It should be a supplementary and not a decisive test.
(iv) The Interview Board should include a business and a university administrator.
(v) The interview should come after and not before the written examination.
(vi) The reports of the university teachers should be consulted only after the interview by way of checks and that tutors should exercise self-restraint in giving the testimonials.
(vii) Since the arbitrary will still prevails, the marks of interview should be reduced from 300 to 150, i.e., half of their present magnitude.
Moore made the following suggestions:—
(i) Questions already answered in the application blank should not be repeated unless the applicant is told why his answer is inadequate.
(ii) No direct questions should be used until rapport is established and the interviewee is ready to give the desired information accurately.
(iii) Questions relating to one phase of the applicant’s life and interests should be arranged in succession and given in simple, straightforward manner, without any attempt at shrewdness, cleverness or trickery.
(iv) The interviewer should avoid the attitude of the authoritative, impertinent cross-examiner, who always puts the applicant on the defensive and prevents any natural expression of hopes and interests.
The Kothari Committee on Recruitment Policy and Selection methods in India submitted its report in December, 1978.
The Committee accorded more importance to Interview. They recommended 700 marks for viva though their viva marks were 400, 300 and 200 for Indian Foreign, Indian Administrative and other services respectively. However, Government of India did not accept this recommendation. They agreed to keep 250 marks in total for viva for all their services without discrimination. Since the introduction of two types of examination – Preliminary and Main interview marks were enhanced to 300.
Method # 3. Performance Demonstrations:
To recruit personnel for skilled crafts and trades like electricians, stenographers, typists and mechanics, etc., the performance test device is employed. The candidates are actually given a piece of work in their line to do to show how well they do it. Thus stenographers may be given a dictation and typists a piece of passage to type, thus to find out their speed and accuracy. Similarly, a wireman can be asked to do a piece of wiring. This test may be used by itself or it may be supplemented by written tests to judge the candidate’s knowledge of the technical terms, tools and methods of his trade.
Method # 4. Selection by Evaluation of Qualifications and Experience:
This method is used for selecting candidates for those posts for which written examinations are not suitable. Specialist personnel for medical, legal, scientific and other similar posts are selected in this way. The candidates are called upon to produce evidence of their possessing necessary qualifications and experience. An interview board assesses these qualifications and selects the candidates after interviewing them.
Psychological Tests:
According to Dr. Herman Finer, the psychological tests of various kinds constitute a peculiarly American contribution to civil service ideas. These tests are of two kinds—the intelligence tests and the aptitude tests. Intelligence tests are given to assess the mental maturity of the candidate, while the aptitude tests, instead of judging the innate general mental qualities, seek to discover the ability to learn some special thing.
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It is believed that mental maturity is achieved between 14 and 16 years. The mental calibre of a child is judged in terms of ‘intelligence quotient, commonly referred to as the “I.Q.” An I.Q. of 96 or less is supposed to indicate feeblemindedness; 90 to 110 normal; and above 130 superior. However, there is no agreement about these figures. These tests are generally used in the army to eliminate the unfit.
Some Observations:
Above we have surveyed briefly the various methods of testing candidates. After this survey it may be said that no single method can prove to be an ideal test of the relative qualities of the candidates. Every method is exposed to its own dangers. In England and U.S.A. great efforts have been made to improve and refine the existing methods.
As a result of these efforts greater objectivity and reliability may be reached in course of time but we have not yet reached that stage. Generalizing from what has been said above, the Selection Board method is used for specialists and also for a few very high administrative posts.
The method of open competition consisting of written and interview tests is used for recruitment to posts both higher and lower, the number of which is fairly large and in which cadre-forming is done. For recruiting skilled tradesmen the performance test is used.