Height, Chest and Stopwatch: Deciding Eligibility at the PET Ground
At the physical efficiency test ground in Cuttack, a 24-year-old male candidate is measured at 07:40. The recruitment notice for this post lists four standards: minimum height 168 cm barefoot; minimum chest 79 cm unexpanded with an expansion of at least 5 cm; a 1600 m run to be completed within 6 minutes; and one re-measurement on request on the same day, before the board disperses. On the digital stadiometer his first reading is 167.6 cm, but for that attempt he was wearing shoes with 3 cm soles. At 08:05, after forty minutes of standing, a wall-mounted scale gives 167.2 cm. His chest reads 78.5 cm unexpanded and 83.5 cm expanded. In the run, two timekeepers with hand stopwatches record 5:58.4 and 5:59.1. Ninety more candidates are waiting, and the observer must sign the eligibility certificate before 13:00.
1. Is the candidate eligible on height? State the decision and the measurement procedure you would apply before recording it.
Read the worked answer
The 07:40 reading cannot be used: the notice requires a barefoot measurement, and 3 cm soles void that attempt, even though it happens to be the higher of the two figures.
Procedure before recording:
- Remove footwear and re-measure on the digital stadiometer, which is the instrument of record. Do not mix instruments; the 0.4 cm gap between 167.6 and 167.2 is instrument and posture noise, not a trend.
- Heels together, head in the Frankfort plane, breath held normally, taken at a fixed time of day.
Decision: both available readings sit below 168 cm. A re-measurement can realistically gain two or three millimetres from posture and heel position, not the 8 mm plus that would be needed. Averaging the two figures would be wrong (the notice does not provide for averaging, and the mean, about 167.4 cm, still fails).
So record 'below standard' on height, and offer the single permitted re-measurement as a matter of fairness and to close off an appeal at the certificate stage rather than later.
2. The chest reads 78.5 cm unexpanded and 83.5 cm expanded. Does he meet the chest standard, and how should a 0.5 cm shortfall be handled?
Read the worked answer
Chest has two independent conditions and both must be satisfied: unexpanded at least 79 cm, and expansion at least 5 cm.
- Expansion: 83.5 minus 78.5 equals exactly 5.0 cm. 'At least 5 cm' includes 5.0 cm, so this limb of the test is met; there is no rounding down to 4 cm.
- Unexpanded: 78.5 cm is 0.5 cm short, and the shortfall is not cured by a generous expansion.
A 0.5 cm gap is inside the normal error band of a tape measure, so the correct handling is a procedural one, not a discretionary waiver: same measurer, tape snug at nipple line, arms raised and then lowered to the sides, three readings taken, highest recorded, and the reading written in the candidate's presence. If the re-measurement reaches 79.0 cm, record a pass on this standard; if it does not, record a fail.
Both standards must appear separately on the certificate, because height is independently disqualifying and the appellate authority must see each ground, not a combined verdict.
3. Both hand-timed run readings are under 6 minutes. Should the run be recorded as a pass, and which time? Does it change the outcome?
Read the worked answer
Record 5:59.1, the slower of the two valid readings. Taking the faster reading would reward timing error, and the standard is a ceiling, so the conservative figure is the fairer one. Hand-stopwatch reaction error is typically a few tenths of a second; here the margin under 6:00 is under one second, and the notice prescribes hand timing, so 5:59.1 stands as a pass. An unofficial electronic reading must not be substituted to override a procedure the notice does not provide for.
Outcome: the run is a pass but does not rescue the candidate. Selection requires every standard to be met, and height (twice measured at 167.x cm against 168 cm) and unexpanded chest (78.5 cm against 79 cm) are both short. The certificate should therefore list: height - fail; chest unexpanded - fail; chest expansion - pass; 1600 m run - pass at 5:59.1.
Recording each item separately also protects the board: a single 'not eligible' line invites a challenge that the candidate was never told which standard he failed.