UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar has defended the equi-percentile method used for score normalization in the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG, stating that it has been a globally accepted practice for many years. The method is considered fair and impartial, eliminating the influence of luck. The results for CUET-UG, which serves as the entry point for undergraduate admissions in over 200 universities, were recently declared. However, some candidates have expressed concerns about their scores being impacted by the normalization process.
Conducting CUET in Multiple Shifts
According to Kumar, CUET was conducted in multiple shifts due to the large number of students participating in the test. Different shifts required different sets of question papers, resulting in slight variations in the difficulty level of each paper. To address this, normalized scores are used instead of raw scores obtained by students. The equi-percentile method is employed to normalize the difficulty level across different shifts.
Fairness and Impartiality of the Equi-percentile Method
The equi-percentile method has been in use globally for decades and is a statistical procedure that establishes correspondence between scores on different tests. Through this method, some students’ normalized scores may be lower than their obtained scores, while others’ scores may increase. Kumar assures students that there is no luck or unfairness involved in the process and they need not worry about it.
CUET-UG as the Second-Largest Entrance Exam
CUET-UG is the second-largest entrance exam in the country in terms of the number of applicants. This year’s examination was conducted in nine phases from May 21 to July 5, with three shifts per day. The equi-percentile method calculates the percentile for each candidate based on their raw marks in comparison to the raw marks of others within the same session. The percentiles are equated and transformed into normalized marks to ensure the comparability of candidates’ performance across sessions.
Utilization of Normalized Marks
The normalized marks obtained through the equi-percentile method can be used in the same manner as raw marks from a conventional single-session examination. In a particular university, the raw marks of the skill component can be added to the remaining weightage of the normalized marks to prepare the rank list.
As the CUET-UG results are announced and the normalization process is explained, UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar emphasizes the fairness and effectiveness of the equi-percentile method in score normalization.
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