BREAKING NEWS ABOUT CAT

CAT 2009 will not be scrapped, says CAT committee
This year's computerised Common Admission Test (CAT), which was marred by technical glitches, will not be scrapped, the exam committee announced today.

The CAT committee, which comprised IIM Ahmedabad Director Prof Samir Baruah, IIM Bangalore Director Prof Pankaj Chandra and a few other professors, made this announcement after meeting with senior Human Resource Development Ministry officials here.

"IIMs have decided to continue with computer-based test for 2009. We also look forward to continue the CAT through computer-based testing in future," Baruah told reporters.

The computer-based test has drawn flak from many quarters as a few thousand students failed to appear in the test owing to the disruptions caused by virus attack and other technical glitches.

A fresh test would be held around mid-January for those genuine students who could not appear in the test, which is conducted by American firm Prometric.

IIMs will put in place a system to identify all the genuine students who failed to appear in the test during the testing period that continued from November 27 to December 8.

Asked whether the IIMs will review the contract with the American firm, Baruah said the focus of the IIMs is to complete the test in a fair manner. But the entire test will be reviewed to ensure that such problems do not occur in future.

Prof Chadra said minor verification will be conducted to identify and ascertain the genuine students who have failed to take the test.

Nearly 2.4 lakh students had registered for the test for admission into IIMs and a few other B-schools. However, 2.16 lakh students have completed the test so far, CAT convenor Prof Satish Deodhar said.

"It is indeed our regret that a number of candidates faced difficulties during this test window and the execution of the exam has not been flawless," he said.

About 24,000 students did not show up for the test at the first instance, he said. Another 2,000 candidates, who were rescheduled from the first testing window remain to be tested, he said.

There was divergent of views within the IIMs about whether to scrap the computer-based system for this year. Prometric presented detailed data to the IIM directors on Sunday, explaining the nature of problems faced by students.

"After analysing the fresh data, we could know the nature and extent of the problem. We are convinced the test has been done in a fair manner," Baruah said.

Based on data, feedback from students, site and audit reports, the CAT committee said the problems faced by the students include complaints of premature exit through the Exit/End button, slowness of computers while reviewing and refreshing questions, rebooting of computers and disruptions, missing graphics and data.

Bangalore's B-schools school online CAT

Bangalore: The common admission test (CAT) 2009 fiasco has made at least 150 business schools across India see red. Besides the seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the B-schools too utilise the CAT scores for admitting candidates to their institutions.

However, with the last four days seeing several thousand candidates not being able to take the first online CAT due to computer glitches and virus problems, the B-schools are now questioning the efficacy of this test conducted without a prior trial to ensure that everything went on smoothly.

On Wednesday, tests at two labs at the Garden City College were cancelled because of glitches. Many students were turned away.

Most B-schools pay a fee to the IIMs to utilise CAT scores for admissions. Per student, these institutes pay around Rs200-300.

The cancellations have made a few institutes want to revert back to the paper-pencil format for CAT. "I would suggest that the IIMs go back to the old paper-pencil system. At least till they are better prepared to conduct an online test, I don't see how hosting a test over 10 days is helpful to students. Like the GRE, they should host the test over a period of three months for the benefit of students," said Dr KN Balasubramanya Murthy, principal, PES Institute of Technology.

"Candidates who have to travel back and forth because of cancellations are under stress. This will affect their composure, which in turn will affect their performance," said S Sudeep Kumar, associate professor, chairman-admissions, TA Pai Management Institute.

Copy CAT: Widespread cheating reported in city

Mumbai: Touted as one of the toughest entrance tests in the country, the Common Admission Test (CAT) has lost its credibility, say aspirants to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) who attempted the exam's first online avatar. Reason: widespread copying is being reported across the city.

"Throughout the two-and-half-hour long test, the lab was chaotic and full of noise. I saw several students purposely rebooting the system so as to gain a few extra minutes to solve questions. Invigilators were busy fixing problems of other candidates who were also grappling with their systems," says Amit Bushan, who attempted the test from Fr Conceiciao Rodrigues Agnel College of Engineering, Bandra.

Another candidate, who attempted the test from Saboo Siddik college of Engineering, Byculla, complained about people consulting with each other while solving problems in the quantitative section. "I saw a group of students talking and peeping into each other's computers. They were also discussing problems and solutions, but the invigilator failed to notice it," said the candidate on condition of anonymity.

"Problems reported by examinees range from noisy testing labs, candidates talking to one another with no interference from invigilators, chatting on mobile phones, etc. How can this be called a competitive exam, when there is no level playing field?" said Rohit Awasthi, spokesperson, PaGalGuy.com, a popular MBA resource website.

The website has asked students to write in with their problems which will then be mailed to the IIMs and Prometric, which is conducting the test. Further, questions are being repeated in different versions of the test. Consequently, communities are mushrooming on social networking sites, raising questions about the validity of the process.

"Questions are being leaked through various private channels. While we are moderating our website respecting the non-disclosure clause, several un-moderated social networks are sharing questions. Given that there are reports of questions being repeated, it obviously puts test-takers on each subsequent day at an advantage," said Apurv Pandit, editor, PaGalGuY.com.

Triumphant Institute of Management Education (TIME), an MBA training centre which accounts for over 1/3rd of CAT examinees, has written to the IIMs asking for cancellation of the online test. "The credibility of the online CAT is in doubt. Since there was no uniformity in exam and test centers, we request the authorities to conduct a pen and paper exam," said Arks Srinivas, director, TIME.