The Hindu Business Line : Road to Common Proficiency Test

In the paper Training Accountants for the Future, presented by The Institute Of Chartered Accountants of India at the 8th CAPA Conference held in Hong Kong in September 1976, some observations on the examination system in India were made.

It stated that examinations are conducted in the old British way, where a question paper is to be answered within the allotted time and answers are valued based on individual parts of the question paper.

Though this system of paper setting and valuation is not ideal, when one considers the huge task involved — of examining more than 20,000 students twice a year — one can only conclude that, under the circumstances, that is the best available method. This again leads to cramming, and examinations are regarded more as a burden than a true test of skills and as a test of memory rather than knowledge. To that extent, the true purpose of education is diluted.

The ICAI has continued with this pattern till date in spite of the fact more than 50,000 students take the examination. Committees on Review of Education and Training, constituted by the ICAI from 1970 onwards, have never thought in terms of changing the system, though the pattern of examinations has been debated and discussed. The current ICAI Council needs to be commended for the bold step taken with regard to the Common Proficiency Test (CPT). It proposes to change the pattern to objective type fully, a welcome change indeed.

A major advantage in this is that there would not only be better coverage of the syllabus but also greater satisfaction in terms of evaluation. By and large, the evaluation in the existing system has caused widespread apathy and doubt among the students.

The ICAI seems fully geared for the new pattern, that is, in terms of providing the study materials and also coaching. However, as there is a fundamental change in the pattern of the exam, the students also better be prepared. The same holds good for the faculty as well.

Structural change

In terms of the norms for passing the exam, the ICAI's system has been quite unique, that is, a candidate has to secure a minimum of 40 marks in each subject and an aggregate of 50 marks. In the proposed pattern, there is no individual minimum, as there is individual identity of a subject. The student is expected to score 50 per cent to pass. However, what is of concern is the negative marking which is being introduced. On the assumption that one, 0.5 or 0.25 marks will be reduced for each wrong answer, the student is expected to answer correctly 150, 134 or 120 questions respectively. Effectively he has to be confident of handling 60-75 per cent of the questions. Negative marking will have a psychological impact on the young minds. The ICAI may think of raising the pass mark to 60 instead of 50 without this condition.

With syllabus in each of the papers — accounting, law, economics and quantitative aptitude — being voluminous, whether the proportion of marks in the new pattern will be 50 for each paper or not has not been spelt out. However, it is hoped that at least 40 marks would be allotted from each of the subjects.

Practical problem

Any changeover results in practical difficulties. The real difficulty is when the students want to join articleship under the proposed scheme. On the optimistic assumption that the first CPT exam will be held in November 2006 and the results are declared in December 2006, the student will be in a fix, as he will be midway into the first year of college. The students of day college will be forced to shift over to the correspondence form of education for pursuing the degree course. Here he has to take a calculated risk since some of the colleges insist on payment of fees for the second and third years as well.

A less risky solution is to join the correspondence stream straightaway. On comparing the CA course with other professional courses such as medicine and engineering, the ICAI may perhaps think of awarding a bachelors degree on passing the PCE exam with appropriate modifications to the syllabus. If this happens, the students can save a lot of time.

Irrespective of the problems likely to face the students in transition, they should at large be happy that their knowledge, rather than memory, will be comprehensively tested at the entry point. Perhaps, it is worthwhile taking up the CPT exam in the earnest hope that the Government will okay the ICAI's proposal. It would not be too much to expect a similar pattern, if not fully at least partially, in further examinations such as PCE and Final. The ICAI should bring out this radical change, which will enable the Indian CA to compete globally.