What’s My Raw Score? IBPS Candidates Demand Transparency

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) plays a pivotal role in recruiting candidates for various Public Sector Banks across India. Each year, lakhs of aspirants appear for exams like IBPS PO, IBPS Clerk, IBPS RRB, IBPS SO, and all SBI’s, also with the hope of securing a prestigious job in the banking sector. However, despite the competitive nature of these exams and the rigorous selection process, one issue still continues to disappoint candidates the lack of transparency regarding the raw marks.

What’s My Raw Score?

When IBPS publishes exam results, candidates are only shown their final or normalized scores, not the actual raw marks they secured in the exam. This raises a fundamental question in every aspirant’s mind: “What’s my raw score?” Without access to these unaltered marks, candidates are left in the dark about how they truly performed, leading to confusion, mistrust, and calls for greater transparency in the evaluation process. The situation reflects a larger issue Normalization Without Clarity?, which continues to frustrate serious aspirants across the country.

What’s the Issue?

After every IBPS exam, the organization releases a final scorecard, which includes the normalized score, sectional cut-offs, and final marks after moderation. However, candidates are never provided with their raw scores the actual marks they obtained before normalization or scaling. This lack of transparency leaves many aspirants confused and skeptical about the fairness of the process, further fueling the ongoing debate: Is IBPS Losing Trust?

Why Are Candidates Demanding Transparency?

Understanding Performance: Without raw scores, candidates cannot truly evaluate their real performance in the exam. Knowing the exact number of correct answers can help them improve in future attempts.

Doubt on Normalization Process: The normalization method used by IBPS has always been under scrutiny. Candidates often feel that their final scores don’t reflect their actual effort or performance, especially when they are just below the cut-off.

No Way to Verify Results: In the absence of raw marks, candidates are unable to verify the authenticity of the result. This lack of access makes the selection process feel opaque and unaccountable.

Comparison with Answer Keys: While many other competitive exams (like SSC, UPSC, and even some state-level exams) release answer keys and raw marks, IBPS has never followed this practice, despite repeated requests from candidates.

What Do Candidates Want?

• Release of Raw Scores: Candidates want IBPS to share raw marks along with normalized scores.
• Publishing Answer Keys: Aspirants are demanding the release of official question papers and answer keys after the exam, just like in other central exams.
• Clarification on Normalization: A clear explanation or document outlining the normalization formula and logic used by IBPS would go a long way in building trust.

What’s at Stake?

The lack of transparency not only demoralizes genuine aspirants but also raises serious concerns about fairness and accountability in one of India’s most trusted recruitment bodies. When the system is opaque, even a minor error can lead to massive consequences for deserving candidates.

The Way Forward

In an era where most government bodies are embracing transparency and fairness through digitization and open data policies, it’s high time IBPS adapts too. By releasing raw scores and answer keys, IBPS can strengthen its credibility and reassure aspirants that the selection process is completely fair and merit-based.