ISLAMABAD: The recent paediatrics paper of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) confused students who wondered if questions asked a year ago can be repeated.

The students, who took the exam of the Fellow of College of Physicians and Surgeons (FCPS-II) paediatrics Paper-I, were surprised to see that exactly the same questions had been asked in the February 2015 paper.

However, the regional director of the CPSP Islamabad, Dr Shoaib Shafi, said there was no legal bar on repeating questions in a paper.

“It does not matter because the transparency, merit and other affairs of the CPSP are beyond any doubt,” he maintained.

When contacted, Vice Chancellor University of Health Sciences, Lahore, retired Maj Gen Prof Mohammad Aslam said though there was no written rule that past papers cannot be repeated, it was ethically wrong.

A student, who took the exam, requesting not to be quoted, told Dawn that usually candidates thought that questions asked in a paper in the past would not be repeated completely. So they did not give special attention to such questions while preparing for the exam.

“However, this time, last year’s questions were totally repeated and most of the students could not solve them,” he said.

According to the paper, available with Dawn, questions asked in the exam held on August 10 were the same as that of February 2015. Even there was no difference in statistics given about the patients.

A former examiner of the CPSP, requesting anonymity, said question papers should not be repeated.

“There can be 25 to 30pc repetition but the remaining questions should completely be different. Moreover, I believe that as we prepare doctors to treat patients, in every paper some questions related to the most relevant issues should be included,” he said.

However, explaining the criteria of the CPSP, he said questions were selected by three paper setters and then checked if they had been asked in the past.

“In case of a repetition, the questions are removed. So I don’t feel that the blunder was made at the examiner level, there can be some other problems,” he said.

Dr Shoaib Shafi added that some of the students had also contacted him about their grievances but they were told that it did not make a difference for those who worked hard.

“The graduates of the CPSP are working all over the world and contributing to the development of the country. We are the most reliable institute in the world,” he said.

However Prof Aslam said though he had nothing to do with the exams of the CPSP, there should be only 20 to 30pc repetition and almost 40 to 60pc questions should be new. The repetition of the previous year’s paper is against ethics.

Nawaz Butt, the director media CPSP, said the repetition of questions was not objectionable.

Students can only object if out of course or curriculum questions are asked.

Moreover, the CPSP takes exam in different phases and each student has to pass through almost 50 examiners so they are filtered at different levels and those who are not capable are dropped, he said.

“We have the most transparent examination system and no one can get information about the question papers. Moreover, students also have to give clinical tests so it does not make a difference if questions are repeated,” Mr Butt said.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2016