Would you be in favour of university admissions being purely based on exams?

In some countries like Brazil (and China I think), to get a place at a university course you only need to pass the entrance exams. If too many people do, they get the top scoring candidates. (Edit: in Brazil the entrance exams are different depending on the university and course)

Whereas in England, as you know, you need references, personal statement etc, and the university can still reject you if they feel like it, and don't even have to explain the reason.

To help the disadvantaged, in Brazil public universities, which don't charge fees and are considered 'the best', have to by law reserve some places for people who studied in state schools, black/brown people, and very poor people

Reply 1

ErasistratusV

Absolutely not. Interviews are very important for some courses.

Reply 2

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

There's already a standardised entrance exam for several subjects, (LNAT, STEP, TMUA, UCAT). Introducing a single uni entrance exam akin to the gaokao would likely just stress people out needlessly, and widen any disparity between those with good college support and those without.

Throwing out some consolation places seems like a poor way of addressing that imbalance. Just assess people fairly over a range of methods and criteria.

Reply 3

ErasistratusV

Original post

by Admit-One

There's already a standardised entrance exam for several subjects, (LNAT, STEP, TMUA, UCAT). Introducing a single uni entrance exam akin to the gaokao would likely just stress people out needlessly, and widen any disparity between those with good college support and those without.
Throwing out some consolation places seems like a poor way of addressing that imbalance. Just assess people fairly over a range of methods and criteria.

I feel interviews are fairer than even standardised entrance exams.

Reply 4

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

Original post

by ErasistratusV

I feel interviews are fairer than even standardised entrance exams.

They definitely play a part for some courses, (although obviously you could argue that some students don't perform well at interview for no fault of their own), but from an admin POV they are too laborious to use on the majority of courses. At my uni I'd wager we interview for less than 5% of places.

Reply 5

safari24

Original post

by Admit-One

There's already a standardised entrance exam for several subjects, (LNAT, STEP, TMUA, UCAT). Introducing a single uni entrance exam akin to the gaokao would likely just stress people out needlessly, and widen any disparity between those with good college support and those without.
Throwing out some consolation places seems like a poor way of addressing that imbalance. Just assess people fairly over a range of methods and criteria.

I didn't mean one single entrance exam.
In Brazil different universities set their own entrance exams, tailored to each course, although there's also one big national exam similar to the gaokao (people normally have the option of doing either).

(edited 7 months ago)

Reply 6

ErasistratusV

Original post

by Admit-One

I would agree with that. I know for sure that for some students, particularly for those from difficult backgrounds or anything similar to what I myself endured, they will be unfairly disadvantaged in interviews for a variety of reasons that are no reflection on them as individuals.

But that being said, they should still be interviewed or assessed in some comparable way to other applicants. I don't know the exact answer here.

I dislike standardised tests like the UCAT a lot for a variety of reasons.

Reply 7

Emiai

Original post

by safari24

In some countries like Brazil (and China I think), to get a place at a university course you only need to pass the entrance exams. If too many people do, they get the top scoring candidates. (Edit: in Brazil the entrance exams are different depending on the university and course)
Whereas in England, as you know, you need references, personal statement etc, and the university can still reject you if they feel like it, and don't even have to explain the reason.
To help the disadvantaged, in Brazil public universities, which don't charge fees and are considered 'the best', have to by law reserve some places for people who studied in state schools, black/brown people, and very poor people

As a person who's parents are mainland Chinese immigrants I think I'll give my own words on this. In a nutshell no, but also yes. Let's start with the "no" bit, why would I NOT be in favour of the UK adopting the GaoKao?
Because of the stress that it brings many students, the "involution" and the immense unfair competition of families that it brings. This means that many student's can not properly enjoy their teenage years and are almost unnecessarily working too hard when there are plenty of spaces in good universities (Compared to China for example).
But why would I say yes I am in favour? Because that is the gaokao is the most suitable system for a country with a large population (the 1.4 billion people), it allows students to be quickly split into score groups and allocated suitable roles in society therefore leaving the top university spaces to (generally) the people who would make the most out of it (as in contributing to the country and society). Many don't know but China does have creative equivalents of the GaoKao that is done accompanying the gaokao, such as the YiKao (Art, Music and dance examinations) which allows efficiency in quickly splitting people into groups.
E.g 670+/750 generally go to top universities such as Tsinghua peking, 600-670 go to almost top tier universities such as FuDan, Shanghai Jiaotong, 550-600 generally either go to good universities such as LiaoNing tech uni or universities with specific careers linked allowing an insured job such as Police schools, Normal universities (for teaching) or Army schools. 480-550 generally go to lower ranking universities that feed largely into the middle class such as banking, 300-480 feed into the same lower ranking universities but into lower middle class of jobs such as accounting that are equally essential but arguably doesn't require a degree from a top university to be able to do well, and below 300 go to vocational universities/ academies that offer essential courses such as cookery, building, sales etc things that are important but do not require a degree.
This way of quickly and efficiently grouping people would only work in countries such as China with large populations so that people go to (generally) the spaces they are most suited, only then society spins smoothly. Whereas in countries such as the UK, such a urgent demand is not a big concern, and allows universities to be more selective when choosing people and therefore even better at choosing the people that (generally) are the most deserving of the place, and obviously China with 1.4 billion people cannot afford interviews or reading personal statements and references and discussions when you have lots of people to go through.
I'm sorry about my waffle, but essentially I am in favour of such a universalised exam when it is the best option. and for the UK, it isn't the best option.

Reply 8

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper, Careers Forum Helper

Original post

by safari24

In some countries like Brazil (and China I think), to get a place at a university course you only need to pass the entrance exams. If too many people do, they get the top scoring candidates. (Edit: in Brazil the entrance exams are different depending on the university and course)
Whereas in England, as you know, you need references, personal statement etc, and the university can still reject you if they feel like it, and don't even have to explain the reason.
To help the disadvantaged, in Brazil public universities, which don't charge fees and are considered 'the best', have to by law reserve some places for people who studied in state schools, black/brown people, and very poor people

I thimk we should leave it as it is here.
The entrance requirements are different for different courses. There are a lot of different courses available at uni.
Certain courses already have some form of entrance exam (e.g. UCAT).
Certain courses require an interview.
All courses require certain grades at A-level (some require specific subjects as well).