Assessing & Treating: Fill & Download for Free

Not at all.The test Trump apparently took to assess his cognitive skills is known as the ‘Montreal Cognitive Assessment’.I should be clear: cognitive assessments are not intended to be difficult. You’re not being tested on high-level algebra, or asked to write an essay. The point of any effective cognitive assessment is that it tests basic comprehension and cognitive skills to determine if there has been any marked decline in basic function.If you’re curious, the assessment looks like this:The “last five questions” under ‘orientation’ are simply knowing the date and where you are at the moment you take the assessment. As you can see, it’s not a difficult assessment. It’s not designed to be.You’d expect any reasonably-functional individual to be able to complete this without any problems whatsoever.Trump describing the test as difficult then celebrating the fact that he “aced it” is just an indicator of low intellect and severe narcissism.

Perspective of AssessorsWe, as assessors, consider the conference as the fourth technique of assessment. For assessors it is very important. Let me explain:Each technique, “Interview”, “GTO” & “Psychology” has certain strengths & weaknesses. For example by the interview technique I could not comprehensively assess the ‘physical courage’ of a candidate. This could be done much better by the GTO & Psychologist.The quality of ‘Sense of responsibility’ can be assessed much better through interview, rather than the other techniques because only the interviewer has access to the complete background of a candidate since childhood.Experienced assessors have total faith in the other assessment techniques and benefit from the inputs of the other assessors to assess a candidate more comprehensively.Before the assessors come for the conference they have no knowledge of the assessment by the others. Conference is a great reality check for all the assessors to assess their respective competence in the art of assessment. I always looked forward to the conference and when my assessment had differed from the others I interacted separately with the GTO and psychologist to understand their perspective. I found this exercise very beneficial for my professional growth.Perspective of CandidatesFrom the perspective of candidates the following aspects are relevantIn case you are asked response to some situation it means that the assessors have tried to resolve some difference in assessment in your case. Thus your response to this situation is significant.Questions like: “How was your stay?”, “How do you rate your performance?”, “How many friends you made?”, “Which all places did you visit?”, “Any suggestions for improvement?” are just courtesy questions and have no relationship with assessment.Broadly speaking conference is of little consequence for a candidate because the assessment stage is already over.

I strongly believe that the present system of selecting civil servants in India is far from satisfactory.We select the officers based on their scores in General Studies, optional (like History, Geography, Anthropology) and 20 minute interview.There is no correlation between what a civil servant does and what he is tested.Hence, there is an acute need for changing the selection method for the civil servants because with the present selection method, we are one of the worst bureaucracy in the world.Hence, we all agree that the change is necessary in the selection procedure, because if we continue to use the same method to select civil servants, we shall continue to have the same type of civil servants as we are having now.Albert Einstein said this wisely, “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”.It is for this reason that I welcome any change in selection procedure that can select better civil servant.There is no doubt that if the assessment of a civil servant is made after three months of the Foundation Course, it would be much better than assessing a candidate in just 20 minutes of interview.The main challenge is how to make this assessment objective without any bias as many candidates may feel that people can use their influence to manipulate the assessment.I was the Course Director of the IRS (C&CE) Probationers for 2008 and 2009 batch and we introduced the weightage of the performance of the probationers during training for deciding their first postings. This has tremendously improved the quality of training and hence the quality of officer.Hence, I would suggest objectivity in the assessment rather than discarding this new initiative at all.Let me propose the following methods of assessment, which has little score of subjectivity.Weightage to the attendance and punctuality of the officers as recorded by their biometric attendance system.Weightage to their score in the FC on the different subjects. The copies can be assessed independently outside the LBSNAA by the examiner selected by UPSC.Weightage to their performance in co-curricular and physical activities by independent examiner selected by the UPSC.The assessment of the overall officer like quality of the officer by the Course Director with senior faculty members (may constitute not more than 10% of the total weightage).I would, therefore, desire that subjectivity in the FC assessment should be reduced rather than rejecting the proposal because it tries to change the status quo.PS:I am almost 100% confident that this proposal shall be rejected because of politics.The SC/ST/OBC would give this a caste angle and the people of South would give it a linguistic angle. It would become a political issue which would harm the BJP. Hence, no reform would see the light of the day in India.We shall remain as we are now.We shall keep cursing civil servants, but do nothing to solve the problem of bad selection.