CAT 2009 Update 12: IIMs to take decision on online CAT after Dec 7
The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are now collating all relevant data on how the technical glitches happened in the online Common Admission Test (CAT) this year and would take a decision once the staggered exam is over by Dec 7, an official of the premier B-school said here Thursday.
“Right now, we’re all aware of the problem. We can’t take any decision on what is to be done. We’ll have to go through the whole process and will collect all information from Prometric on what exactly went wrong in the system,” IIM-Calcutta director Shekhar Chowdhury told reporters.
US firm Prometric was awarded a $40-million contract by the IIMs to switch the highly competitive CAT from the paper-based version to online system. “We’ve already ordered a full-fledged enquiry into the entire issue. Prometric will provide us with full information on the technical glitches. We’ll also talk to Management Information System (MIS) people to know the actual problem,” Chowdhury said. However, Prometric has alleged that “viruses and malware that attacked the test delivery system were not detected by the anti-virus software at the testing centres”.
CAT determines admission to country’s prestigious IIMs and many other B-schools and it went online for the first time this year. The examination process was largely hit by technical problems and poor management affecting thousands of students in many test centres in 13 cities across the country. Around 240,000 students had registered for the CAT this year, which is scheduled at 105 centres in 32 cities, all linked to a main server. More on this here at ET.
CAT 2009 Update 11: CAT questions lifted from coaching guides?
CAT 2009 seems to be no tough deal for Hyderabad students. Officials of the city-based coaching classes claim that over 50% of the questions in CAT so far were lifted from their question banks.
‘‘This’s in stark contrast to the previous years where less than 10% questions were familiar even to the above average student. IIMs this year have reproduced questions from coaching material, with just a change in certain figures,’’ said head of a coaching centre that has branches across the country. After a six-day analysis of CAT questions, experts said that a student who had taken mock CATs from at least two coaching centres in the city would get a 100 percentile easily.
“‘On the first day of the test, over 75% questions were found to be similar to what we had prescribed for our students. Out of this, over 50% of the questions were the same as the ones we had prescribed for mock CATs. This is strange, as earlier if even two questions seemed familiar students felt they were really lucky,’’ said IMS coaching centre director A Vamsidhar. Most coaching centres follow similar questions patterns, developed by IIMs graduates and expert educationists.
While this might seem to be a good sign for the first time test taker, the more experienced ones sense the hidden danger of cut offs shooting through the roof.
“CAT has come down to the standards of ICET which is a state level MBA examination. While in the previous years, clearing 30 to 45% of the questions would mean a sure IIM call, this year, even those who had cleared over 70% might not get a call,’’ veteran test taker T Nageswar Rao said.
Officials of another coaching institute from the city said that the IIMs had picked up questions from some of the cheap reading material on CAT. “There are CAT coaching guides from which questions were picked up without even changing the measurements. Even a below average student who can
mug up the questions can score well in CAT this year,” he said.
Representatives of another coaching centre — Career Launcher — said that some of their questions have made it to CAT 2009. “Students told us that questions with just change in figures were introduced,” said Career Launcher director Naresh Reddy.
Experts say IIMs should now ideally calculate percentile of each student based on the number of test takers on that day as the difficulty level of the test has been varying each day.
Many say CAT has become a game of luck. ‘‘One will no longer be able to say that IIMs have the cream. Bright students who are making silly mistakes will be the only ones who might not qualify CAT this year, while the average ones will,’’ Vamsidhar said.
More on this here at TOI.
CAT 2009 Update 10: IIMs said to be in discussions over conducting CAT 2009 again!
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According to a report from The Telegraph – a Kolkata based newspaper, The Indian Institutes of Management are considering a proposal to scrap this year’s computerised Common Admission Test (CAT) and re-conduct CAT 2009 in the original pen-and-paper examination format to select students for the upcoming academic year of 2010.
Sources claim that The directors of the seven IIMs are discussing a proposal to scrap the glitch-plagued computer based test that has proved embarrassing. This news report follows an announcement made by the IIMs, which on Monday upheld the decision to continue with the ongoing CBT module of CAT for 2009.
The Telegraph’s sources however talk of a different situation possibility and are quoted as follows – “We are under serious discussions to see whether scrapping the computerised test midway will help us regain some of the confidence generally associated with CAT,” the director of one of the IIMs said. The proposal — put forward today by a director at a meeting of the institute heads — has been accepted “in principle” by most directors as the “best damage-control option”.
But at least one IIM director expressed reservations over scrapping the computerized test, the sources said. The director said the IIMs should persist with the computerised test this year. His concerns reflect worries among a section of the organizers that scrapping the computerised test mid-way would be tantamount to an admission of failure. The institutes are likely to take the final decision over the next couple of days, the sources said, following which the directors will inform Prometric.
The IIMs have only once before re-conducted CAT — in 2003, when law enforcement agencies found that the test paper had been leaked. The test was held again within three months. The IIMs have a five-year contract with Prometric — the US-headquartered testing service provider — and not utilising the company’s services this year could be construed as a waste of funds. The proposal under consideration of the IIM directors does not involve discarding the computerised test option for the future — the format will be used next year.
Rescheduling CAT in the original pen-and-paper format will mean that all students who have appeared for the computerised test which started on Saturday will have to reappear for the paper based test again.
As of today, Well over 8,000 candidates could not take the test because of various hardware and technical glitches. With Five more days are left in the 10-day testing window period, The fate of all IIM aspirants hangs in balance as authories concerned try to come to a unanimous decision.
The last announcement made by the IIM’s on November 30th categorically assured candidates that those who could not take the test would get another opportunity to take the test within this year’s CAT 2009 test window period. The same announcement also mentioned that responsibility for rescheduling cancelled test slots will be taken up by Prometric.
But IIM officials are arguing that their biggest fear revolves around questions that are already being raised about the standard of candidates picked through a selection process under criticism for its lack of uniformity.
Questions have been raised over if it is fair for some students to be forced to take the test a second time when others need not. Most students who could not take the test because of the glitches have not yet been told when their computerised test will be rescheduled.
Several candidates who could take the computerised test have complained that their computers ran slower than those of other competing candidates, placing them at a disadvantage in the timed test.
There have been reports wherein timers did not appear on some computer screens; Mark/Unnmark & review buttons not having worked for others; Computers restarting while candidates are in the process of taking a test; Disturbances at test halls where computers crashed and many other such technicalities which have raised some serious concerns over how this year’s Common Admission Test would be Fair one to assess student admissions.
While it remains to be seen if CAT 2009 will be reheld this year as a paper based test, Candidates surely will be wondering what’s going to happen to their MBA dreams.
Read Analysis and Experiences of CAT 2009 Test Takers’ here and If you are a CAT 2009 candidate, Share Your Cat 2009 Experience here with other aspirants on Minglebox.
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CAT 2009 Update 9: Will CAT be canceled? An Open Letter from T.I.M.E. to the IIMs
An open letter from T.I.M.E. to the Directors of the IIMs
(Sent as an email to the IIMs & released it to the Press)
2nd December 2009
Dear Sirs,
The IIMs have a well-deserved reputation for being the best B-Schools in the country. A seat in the IIMs is coveted by lakhs of MBA aspirants. This puts tremendous responsibility on the IIMs to ensure that students are given a fair chance to get into the IIMs – not only should it be fair and transparent, it should also be seen to be so.
Till last year, when the CAT was a paper & pencil test, there were hardly any complaints from students. However, the various happenings in the current scenario of online/computerised CAT and the way the IIMs have handled the issue is making many students feel that the exam has not been fair to them. And the reputation and the credibility that the CAT exam has – and more importantly the IIMs have – are crumbling.
There are a few issues that are bothering students no end, and the response from the IIMs is leaving them disappointed and confused. The main issues that are causing a lot of angst among the students are given in below:
Cancellation of test slots causing huge uncertainty in the minds of students apart from a lot of inconvenience.
Improper guidance about the test interface (END button on REVIEW screen and deselecting an answer already marked) leading to premature submission of the test for a number of students – for no fault of theirs.
Inadequately trained invigilators causing problems like disturbance to test-takers while taking the test.
Bugs in the testing software leading to some students getting extra time for the test. In an exam where every minute makes a difference in scores and percentiles, this means that some students are getting a huge unfair advantage over others.
Problems with the testing interface leading to some answer choices not being visible in some cases.
Unacceptably poor levels of invigilation leading to examination malpractices including copying – as reported by a number of students.
Questions being apparently repeated from one exam slot to another – as reported by a large number of students who have already taken the test. This is extremely unfair to those who took the exam on the first few days.
The above issues have led to a situation where some students seem to have got an unfair advantage over others.
Also, there is a lack of confidence among the test-takers in the current process making them wonder whether the answers they marked would have been captured properly. This is creating new doubts about the sanctity of the test results that are expected to be declared on the 22nd of January 2010. The fact that some students who have already taken the test have been called by Prometric and asked to take the test again is only creating huge fear in the minds of all students.
In light of the above, we believe that the computerised CAT should be cancelled for this year – and a paper & pencil test be conducted in its place. This will do justice to all people who have suffered because of the problems faced by them with the computerised CAT. After a series of more thorough dry runs, computerised CAT can be reintroduced next year after solving various problems that are currently plaguing the computerised CAT.
We earnestly request you and strongly urge you to take a decision at the earliest to restore the reputation of the CAT and the IIMs and to do justice to the aspirants of CAT2009.
Thanking you,
T.I.M.E.
(on behalf of its students and thousands of other students)
CAT 2009 Update 8: Papers Leaked?
With uncountable discussions going on thousands of online forums regarding the online CAT, several seem to have crossed the boundaries specified by the IIMs and Prometric.
The disclaimer is being pitied at, with candidates openly declaring the pattern of the question papers even in TV Interviews in front of the camera. Leading newspapers are also a party to this, trying to cash the most of opportunity. The Hindu allegedly carried an article recently mentioning the no. of questions on the first day, and the difficulty level of questions. Leading lawyers have been quoted saying that, since the regulations are being violated everywhere, Prometric can’t practically file thousands of cases. One of them went far to saying as much as that there is no legal base for Prometric penalising people for using the freedom of expression.
Hundreds of students are leaking out original questions from the CAT papers of 2009, and while these “reputed” forums are actively deleting such posts, they usually wait for a few hours before taking such action. This time-gap allows them to cash on big advertising revenues from the lakhs of hits being generated on such posts, as well as encourages students to remain active throughout the day on these forums, waiting for the questions to come. Prometric will have areally tough time challenging such double standards in courts.
In the midst of all this, some students have actually tried to reproduce the entire papers, and uploaded them on various file sharing sites. Links are floating around on popular forums. No matter how hard the moderators try to keep the discussions clean by deleting such posts, people keep registering with new ‘nicks’ and posting the links again.
Feel free to voice your opinions on this by commenting on this post, but please refrain from posting any links.
CAT 2009 Update 7: Govt seeks report from CAT convener on Exam disruption!
NEW DELHI: Swinging into action, government on Monday sought a report from the convener of Common Admission Test (CAT) Satish Deodhar on the ongoing disruption of the computer-based entrance test for admission into IIMs.
The HRD Ministry shot off a letter to Deodhar, asking him to submit a factual report on the whole issue of disruption in the test, which is being conducted by an American firm Prometric, a ministry official said.
Scores of students were unable to appear in the test at several centres on Monday also as technical glitches continued to disrupt the exam. Candidates could not appear in the test at a few centres in Mumbai, Bangalore and Ghaziabad owing to malfunctioning of computers at these places.
About 2.41 lakh students are scheduled to appear in the test for admission into seven IIMs and a few other B-Schools.
The American firm Prometric has been awarded a $40 million contract by the Indian Institutes of Management to computerise the prestigious CAT.
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad director Samir Barua said the main hindrance for the smooth conduct of the first ever computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) is virus attacks.
“The major reason (for hindrance on the computer-based test) appears to be virus attacks. Though all precautions had been taken to ensure that our computer labs are insulated of such attack, even then there is always the possibility of virus attacks,” Barua told reporters here. For details, visit TimesofIndia.
CAT 2009 Update 6: Experts question virus attack theory!
MUMBAI: Chaos and confusion prevailed over the online Common Admission Test (CAT) to the IIMs with technical glitches and cancellations at nearly 14% of all test labs across India preventing 10% of aspirants from appearing for the exam on Saturday. However, the official explanation for the fiasco arrived a day later: Viruses.
Software experts and those in the field of CAT coaching rubbished the claim, adding that viruses are the best excuse for anything that can go wrong with computer systems. ‘‘A virus attack is the standard excuse you give when things go wrong. Today we have learnt to deal with viruses. This is not a probable reason for what went wrong,’’ said Vijay Mukhi, technology expert and president of the Bombay Technology Club. ‘‘The computers on which CAT is being conducted should be completely disabled and then the CAT software installed on them, so that there is nothing else on those computers. In this case, how did the virus enter the system?’’ asks Mukhi.
‘‘Unless there was a world-wide outbreak of viruses, it’s hard to believe that viruses could have been the reason. The IIMs have a very secure system. Moreover, CAT is not being conducted on a public network,’’ said Sujit Bhattacharya, director, technology for Career Launcher, a CAT coaching class. For more details, visit IndiaTimes.
CAT 2009 Update 5: CAT cancelled at 24 Exam Centers on second consecutive day!!
The launch of the computerized CAT involved the delivery of exams by Prometric into more than 360 testing labs at 104 individual locations. While a significant majority of the candidates successfully completed their exams on Day One, various technical issues arose at selected computers in approximately 50 labs that prevented approximately 2,000 exams from being delivered. Prometric has generated new appointments for these individuals and they are in the process of being contacted through SMS and email messages. Prometric technicians have been dispatched to address these isolated problems. To avoid candidate inconvenience and to allow for the necessary repairs to be completed at the impacted labs, Prometric has scheduled a closure of these labs on Sunday, 29 November 2009. Candidates affected by this closure will also be notified by Prometric in the manner described above and provided with new appointments within this year’s testing period.
City Test Centre Lab (referred to as Site Code on your Admit Card) Bangalore Garden City College of Science And Management Studies IIL98 Bangalore Garden City College of Science And Management Studies IIL99 Bangalore Garden City College of Science And Management Studies IILA0 Bangalore Garden City College of Science And Management Studies IILA1 Bangalore Garden City College of Science And Management Studies IILA2 Bangalore Garden City College of Science And Management Studies IILDR Bangalore Garden City College of Science And Management Studies IILDS Bangalore Garden City College of Science And Management Studies IILZ6 Bangalore Garden City College of Science And Management Studies IILZ7 Bangalore Garden City College of Science And Management Studies IILZ8 Bangalore Garden City College of Science And Management Studies IILZ9 Bhopal TIT Group of Institutes IIL06 Bhopal TIT Group of Institutes IIL07 Bhopal TIT Group of Institutes IIL08 Bhopal TIT Group of Institutes IIL09 Bhopal TIT Group of Institutes IIL10 Bhopal TIT Group of Institutes IILCE Bhopal TIT Group of Institutes IILCQ Bhopal TIT Group of Institutes IILCR Bhubaneswar Silicon Institute of Technology IILB1 Chandigarh Rayat and Bahra Biotechnology Centre of Excellence IILB4 Coimbatore Karpagam University IILD3 Ghaziabad Hi Tech Institute of Engineering and Technology IIL29 Ghaziabad HR Institute of Technology IIL59 Ghaziabad IMS Engineering College IILCT Ghaziabad IMS Engineering College IILCU Hyderabad Siddhartha Institute of Engineering and Technology IILE2 Hyderabad Vidya Vikas Institute of Technology IILV4 Kolkata Heritage Institute of Technology IILH9 Lucknow Sahara Arts and Management Academy IILAP Lucknow Sahara Arts and Management Academy IILAQ Lucknow Sahara Arts and Management Academy IILAR Lucknow Saroj Institute of Technology and Management IILCC Lucknow Saroj Institute of Technology and Management IILW0 Lucknow School of Management Sciences IILI3 Mumbai Fr Conceicao Rodrigues College Of Engineering IIL46 Mumbai Fr Conceicao Rodrigues College Of Engineering IIL48 Mumbai M H Saboo Siddik College of Engineering IILQ0 Mumbai Thakur College of Science and Commerce IILBF Mumbai Thakur Polytechnic IILEA Nagpur Priyadarshini College of Engineering IILBQ Navi Mumbai Saraswati College of Engineering IIL56 New Delhi Asia Pacific Institute of Management IILEB New Delhi Asia Pacific Institute of Management IILK9 New Delhi Delhi School of Professional Studies and Research IILX4 New Delhi Management Education and Research Institute IILX1 New Delhi Management Education and Research Institute IILX2 Varanasi School of Management Sciences IIL81 Varanasi School of Management Sciences IIL82
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