HOW KEAM EXAM ROW THROWS THE SPOTLIGHT ON SKEWED MARKS NORMALISATION PROCESSES

KEAM entrance exam controversy exposes flaws in Indian admissions systems, highlighting the need for transparency, fairness, and predictability.

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Another year, another entrance exam controversy. This time, the Kerala Engineering Architecture Medical (KEAM) examination is under fire. The admissions process is stalled, and thousands of students, after months of grueling preparation, have been thrown into a state of acute anxiety.

The reason? A sudden, last-minute change to the ranking rules, made after the exam was already over. For students who had meticulously calculated their potential ranks and admission chances based on the established system, this move shattered all predictability, throwing their future plans into chaos. This isn’t an isolated incident; it’s a symptom of a deep-seated rot in the admissions systems in our country, built on a foundation of opaque and statistically questionable formulas.

The KEAM fiasco began on July 1, 2025, when the Kerala government issued an order fundamentally amending the prospectus. This order completely altered how Class 12 board marks, which account for 50% of the final rank, are calculated. Changing the rules after the game is over is a cardinal sin, and it left students feeling betrayed and helpless.

The necessary evil of score adjustment

To be fair, in a country as diverse as India, some form of score adjustment is unavoidable. When an exam like JEE Main or CUET is conducted in multiple shifts, the difficulty level varies. Similarly, when board exam marks from over 30 different boards are given weightage, how does one fairly compare a 90% from CBSE with a 90% from a state board?