Every year, I set a question paper for a local science talent examination for class VIII /IX /X from schools in rural and urban areas of AP. I firmly believe in a comprehension type of question paper where concepts, not necessarily in the syllabus, are explained and questions asked on that passage. I believe that it levels the playing field and eliminates the bias against those who have bad teachers. However, at the pre-question paper meeting of the academic committee, people objected to this saying it takes up too much time to answer. I do not think that is a valid objection. There should not be a fixed number of questions to be answered in 1 min each or so. That is what makes these exams unreliable. The 1 min/question makes it difficult to give questions that require thought. This leaves us  with a lot of fact driven questions and  avoiding them makes paper setting  very difficult, specially for the VIII class, where the syllabus is entirely about preparation and properties of various substances. Well I have been trying my best and so far so good.