Steep Cut-off Score

St Stephens College of Delhi is reported to have increased its cut-off score for admission to its English major course to 99 per cent marks. Strangely enough, the cut-off score for Political Science and Economics is 98 per cent. One is at a loss to figure out how the cut-off score for admission can be 99 per cent for language and lower for Political Science and Economics. In any case, such high cut-off scores impel one to raise questions about the very validity and reliability of the examitions at which such high scores were achieved. We seem to have reached an age when virtually all testing of achievement in different subjects at the secondary level is beginning to be done with objective-type questions, with one-word responses or the mere selection of the right answer out of three or four responses provided. We are convinced that no valid and reliable test of language can be carried out merely with objective-type questions demanding one-word responses or the selection of the correct response out of several responses provided. As such, it is unlikely that even a cut-off score of 99 per cent will provide the authorities of St Stephens College with a reliable assessment of a student’s real achievement or potential.