Photo Credit: Inha Leex Hale

If you think cracking CAT (Common Admission Test) or/and GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) is enough of a bother, there is news. GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council), the body that conducts GMAT is soon to launch Reflect, an exam that checks soft skills.

To be launched on February 20, quite a few b-schools across the globe are already pondering whether to include it in the admission process.

That soft-skills are no more considered compulsory armour in a professional’s life is known. And that the downgrade has become a source of worry for both b-schools and also companies is also a given. It is this very concern that Reflect is trying to address and hopefully resolve at the b-school stage. The mantra today, that a perfect employee is not only substantially academic in nature but also loaded with soft skills, is what Reflect will try to prove nce launched.

The thinking towards this exam started in 2008, when GMAC hosted a symposium at Ashridge that 20 schools from across the world, included the Indian School of Business, attended to define the need to explore more about soft skills of candidates.

According to Ms Peg Jobst, Executive Vice-President, GMAT Division, Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), presently over 40 schools have expressed a strong interest in Reflect including ISB, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research and Mumbai and NMIMS University Mumbai.

She adds that Reflect will primarily check ten attributes, which include innovation, interpersonal intuition, valuing others, strategic self-awareness ,strategic vision, resilience, decision making, collaboration, drive and operational thinking.

This exam, however, as of now at least, will be entirely optional and candidates can take it online in the confines of their home after paying $99. David Wilson, President & CEO, of GMAC informs: “The exam will help a person check his strengths, weaknesses which will help for better preparation at the interview level during admission to a b-school.”

Ms Jobst adds that the information derived from exam can be used as a benchmark to understand drivers of success in potential career paths. “In other words, candidates may realise that while they think they are good in Operations, they might actually be better in marketing skills.”

Mr Wilson further reveals that this exam can also indicate whether a person is game enough to do an MBA. “His attributes might just tell him that he is not cut-out for an MBA. Not only that, knowing oneself better helps in every other kind of organisation as well, be it with family or friends.”

Prof Parimal Merchant, director of the Centre for Family Managed Businesses at SP Jain, says: “We are not using the exam immediately as part of the selection criteria. Over time, maybe we will. But yes, we will certainly test what the exam does. We will study whether the results of Reflect and the performance of the student in the school match. If they do, then we might consider this as part of the admission process.”

Mr VK Menon, ISB’s Admissions Director says: “GMAT is a competitive score; Reflect is not so am not sure how we would use it. We will not test Reflect for this year or may be even next year. Yes, soft skills are needed but whether it will become part of our admission process is not decided. We will check how it performs first before taking any decision.

PaGaLGuY take on Reflect

• By virtue of what it seeks to test (soft skills), definitely a must, but how much importance will candidates give to this exam? The general global mind-set and more particularly in India is to score high in academics, hence soft-skills are generally given a step-brotherly treatment. So will candidates want to take the exam only out of self-goodwill?
• Exams like CAT test a person for pure academic supremacy, just as many other MBA entrance exams. Till those continue to remain the main criteria for b-schools in India, Reflect will have few takers.
• At $99, the price is too steep for a candidate to take the exam especially when it is optional.
• Soft skills/aptitude is hopefully something that people try to find out earlier in life, possibly at under-graduate level so as to be able to decide the career path. To be taking it at MBA level may be a bit too late.
• After testing one’s aptitude and soft skills, then what? In India, with the education system directed towards high scores and few off-the-path careers, what does one do with Reflect’s assessment? According to Mr Wilson, Reflect may even tell if a person is not too inclined towards an MBA.
• Just as in narco-testing, where it is proved that those with super mind control can actually plan their responses to questions asked, here too candidates may be able to manoeveur their answers. To this Ms Jobst says that the questions are deigned in a way that it is very unlikely that they can be monitored with.
• Once a candidate undertakes Reflect, he can gain access to a comprehensive library of resources to continue to check his progress for the next three years. However, given the economic conditions in many countries, these days, career options are not bound by personal choice only. And so the readings of a Reflect exam may turn inconsequential over time.
• Anything optional and pricey does not have takers in India, unless there is a clear motive.
• With our admission processes so heavily tilted towards GDs, interviews, essays, to test soft-skills of a candidate, Reflect may be too off the beaten path.

Just to be fair to Reflect, it is worth giving this exam a chance. Not yet, launched, it is definitely too early to examine whether it will do its job of helping people find out who they really are – beyond the exam-mugging, rush for top percentiles and great placements.