'There is a life outside IIT, UPSC, CAT': Finfluencer calls exam race a failure of system

Akshat Shrivastava, startup founder and creator of financial education platform Wisdom Hatch, on Monday raised concerns about India's intense exam-centric culture, saying that the current system often overlooks talent and pushes students into years of uncertainty.

In a post reflecting on a personal interaction, Shrivastava wrote: "Few months back, I met a student who prepared for UPSC for 4 years, failed. Then took a 2 year break to study for CAT, failed. Cleared neither. And, is now struggling."

"It is easy to say: that he made a mistake. But, there is a more fundamental issue at play: I feel that mine was the last generation that benefitted from acing exams. The competition now is unreal. Add reservation to the mix, these exams get unrealistically hard to clear."

"Many hardworking/smart kids fail these. And, think they worthless," Shrivastava continued. "To be honest: Competing for 1 seat out of 100/200/1000 candidates is not a test of your talent. But, a failure of our system."

Suggesting alternative approaches, he wrote: "Your energy could be better used getting into top 1% of something which actually improves your life." For instance, he said, "any vocational skill, ability to build a small startup, ability to learn new things fast. And, experimenting with different career paths."

"Even if you don't want to do any of the above, it is fine. Try to get into the workforce early. Preparing for exam is not a job. There is a life outside IIT/UPSC/CAT/NEET," he concluded. 

Vishnu Agarwal, founder of Stock Knocks, concurred with Shrivastava, saying it is true that exams have become quite the challenge these days. Government jobs have very few vacancies, while there are lakhs of applications for the same positions, Agarwal said. "Additionally, there are numerous obstacles like reservation policies, bribery, and more, like the recent SSC scam. It’s not worth wasting years in preparation for something so uncertain."

Adding perspective from the engineering entrance track, Vishwas, who cleared JEE Mains in 2021 with a rank of 1687, said: "JEE Mains 10L+ applicants and rank above 30-50+ not getting a good branch in a good NIT. You need to be the top 0.1 percent to secure a CSE seat in top NIT in the general category non state quota. You have to be the top 1000 out of 10L+. The competition now is even bad. You have to completely dedicate your life for those 2 years to secure a good rank."