THE 2021 MDCAT exams are over. Based on their performance, approximately 20,000 top performers will make their way to public and private medical and dental colleges. But much like last year’s test, MDCAT 2021 has triggered a controversy that refuses to die down. Students have been protesting that some topics in the exam were not in their syllabus. They have also said that the MDCAT was not held on a single day which gave an unfair advantage to some students, who presumably had more time to revise. And they have criticised the testing conditions complaining of defective internet facilities. The students have approached the Pakistan Medical Commission, which conducts the now centralised MDCAT, with their grievances. The PMC has sought to respond with detailed explanations by, for instance, asserting that the testing system operates on “a wireless local area network” and not on “live open internet”. It also insists that the test was “within the prescribed syllabus”, and has said that a “post-exam analysis” will be conducted and remedial steps taken if required.

The students’ charges cannot be taken lightly. Many have felt that they have been deprived of fair marks and that their choice of pre-medical subjects has now jeopardised their career path. An independent probe is therefore needed to assess what exactly went wrong and to address genuine concerns. However, it is also necessary to go beyond the immediate controversy. For years, students in the country have been exposed to an educational setting where rote learning takes precedence over critical thinking. Facts are taught and theories learned. Nevertheless, the extent to which the students have understood a concept does not depend on memorisation alone. No doubt rote learning has its advantages. But of what use is it if students are unable to apply the concepts learned to correctly answer tricky questions? The PMC mentions that 30pc of the MCQs in the MDCAT were “application-based”. That presents a dilemma for our educational authorities: should the exam be restructured or should classroom learning be revamped?

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2021