Thousands of B-School aspirants who could not take the computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) due to technical glitches will get a fresh chance to take the test, the date for which will be announced in a fortnight, reports PTI.
CAT 2009, conducted from 27th November to 8th December, was plagued by technical glitches and virus attacks from Day 1. While the first two days saw the most disruption, the problems persisted throughout the 11-day test schedule, due to which many registered candidates failed to take the test.
"There are still some candidates—numbering a few thousand—who could not take the test due to genuine reasons and the test has not been rescheduled for them as yet. A new test date will be announced in about a fortnight to provide an opportunity to all such candidates to write the test," IIM-Ahmedabad said in a press release, adding that it regretted the "inconvenience caused to the students".
A major problem reported by students was that it took too much time to download the test onto their computers, so they could not complete the test in the stipulated time. Many students reported that even though their test was rescheduled, Prometric Inc, the American company which administered the test, failed to communicate the new date to the test centres. Moreover, some students were expected to travel from one city to another in a matter of a few hours to retake the test, which was physically not possible. Students also complained that the commotion caused by technical glitches was distracting and affected their performance.
CAT 2009 was scheduled to be taken by 2.41 lakh students for admission into the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and a few other prominent B-Schools across the country. The test was subsequently rescheduled for around 20,000 candidates who were affected by technical problems or virus attacks.
"We have put in place a process to identify and assess the impact of various types of disruptions noticed and reported during the entire testing period; these are being addressed to ensure fairness in testing,” IIM-Ahmedabad said.
“Of the candidates who could not complete the test successfully in the first slot allotted to them, most have already been accommodated in another slot to take the test.”
While the IIMs and Prometric are finalising a fresh schedule for those who missed the test, what about the thousands of other students who gave the test but not to the best of their ability? Should they suffer for no fault of theirs? Many students said they were hesitant to speak out publicly but were seeking advice from their coaching class on how to cope with the current situation.
Gautam Puri, vice chairman of Career Launcher, which coaches MBA aspirants, said, “Those who didn’t get to give the test have had their exams rescheduled. But, what has definitely not been taken care of is that many students have not taken the test in the right environment. In a few centres, students weren’t allowed to use the Mark and Review buttons; if you don’t use these two buttons, you end up losing 20-25 minutes and the number of questions you attempt will be lower by 5-7 questions or around 15%, which is huge in this kind of exam. And these students are unlikely to get another chance.”
CAT 2009 was held at 361 labs in 104 locations spread across 32 cities. Each edition of the test involved the use of over 17,000 computers. "It was therefore a mammoth task being attempted for the first time. We regret the inconvenience caused to candidates due to disruptions experienced in the conduct of the test, particularly in the first three days of testing," the statement from the IIMs said.
But despite the apologies, explanations and the prospect of a re-test for some candidates, many students have reportedly communicated their frustration and grievances to the IIMs and Prometric. Many also said that they would seek legal recourse if they fail to clear the test.
The statement issued by IIM-Ahmedabad has assured that the outcome of the process on completion would be fair to all candidates. "We would also like to state that test papers have been designed by experts to ensure that no one gets an unfair advantage. Statistical methods are commonly used to equate difficulty levels across the test papers," it said. — Lorain Viegas
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