Entrance Exams in India

Examination also spoken as exams can be defined as a process to evaluate the skill or knowledge of the person going through it. Candidates are passed through this process to ascertain his preparation for a course of studies. This process is prevalent in the society from time immemorial although motive behind this process keeps on changing from time to time. It is supposed that examination system was introduced - whenever it was - for the assessment of the acquired knowledge of the examinee before and after going through the course of study. Examination system was supposed to be helpful for knowing the comparing the examinee with himself after a certain period of time. With the passage of time and spreading of the education the concept and form of examination has under gone a major change not only in its concept but also in its elements, structure and format.

As far as the concept of examination system in India is concerned it has totally changed from the process of comparing a person to himself to interpersonal comparison i.e. to access a person’s abilities compared to his counterparts in the race. This concept is based on the postulates of well proven and widely accepted theory of world famous Biologist “Charles Darwin” which suggests “Survival of fittest” means that only those creatures on this earth will survive who are fittest of all. This postulate is an integral part of the natural life on the earth whether it is wild life in the deep forests, aquatic life in the water bodies or civilized life of human beings. Everybody is competing with each other for the scarce means at their disposal and only those who are fittest and most competitive survive at the end. Here in the context life in general and education in particular every aspirant has to compete with his counterpart and only those who are more capable will survive in the race and others have to leave way for the perfects. This is what the present concept of examination system in India irrespective of its categorical classification.

Since the independence of India its examination system has under gone a lot of diversification thanks to the increasing awareness among the masses about the importance of quality education (whether it is basic or professional) in life. This diversification has resulted into categorization of the examination like academic examination (terminal exams, early assessment exam etc.) scholarship examination, eligibility examination, recruitment test/exam or entrance examination/exams/ test - the most indispensable and mother of all test- are some of them.

Of all the categories of the examination the entrance exams in India has become an indispensable part of one’s life cycle. An entrance examination is an examination that many educational institutions use to select students for admission. These exams may be administered at any level of education, from primary to higher education, although they are more common at higher levels. Every person has to take one or more of them at some point of time in his life. In fact every child aspiring for quality education has to face an entrance exam on the very onset of his journey towards the enlightenment. He/She has to compete with other tiny tots to get admitted in ever scarce best pre-schools with limited seats for unlimited aspirants. Although entrance exam in India at this level is still debate able but it is just the first step, even if, skipped he has to compete as his life progressed. This race starts becoming tough and tough as one climb the ladder of education system in India and become the toughest once schooling is just near completion and the aspirants has to choose a specific path to his career. It is the time when one has to fight and win his toughest battle of life and prove his worth in the entrance test to join the professional collage - his ultimate path to his successful career-.

Globalization has opened the flood gates for the India professional in the world market in almost every field be it management, medicine, engineering, computers, information technology, civil aviation or banking, insurance, etc. This has forced Indian education system to produce quality professionals who could compete the best in the world. And we have done the same by developing some of the world class higher education institutes like IIT’s, IIM’s, AIIM’s, IIFT’s, IISc’s along with world famous state and centre universities. But to get admission to these premier institutes and be some of the most competent the aspirants has to go through the rigorous entrance examination specifically designed to get the best out of the masses in their respective fields. Like the engineering aspirants has to take engineering entrance exams like IIT-JEE or AIEEE etc, those interested to join premier medical collage of India have to compete in the Medical entrances exams like CBSE medical entrance exams or state organized PMT’s exams(Pre Medical Test) that those who want to prove their mental at the top managerial posts in the multinationals has to sharp their skills in IIM’s by competing in the Combined Admission Test acronym as CAT.

There is an endless list of the entrance exams in India which are must be cracked by the aspirants to join premier institutes to be able to get the best professional education.