The CAT (exam) is Out of the Bag
The CAT is out of the bag. The exam for admission to prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) that is. Ever since the the computers crashed across various exam centers across India many aspiring management students have been in a frenzy. They complained that they could not take the exams for various technical glitches. Many felt that some students with better network access had an unfair advantage. Some pined for the “Good Old Days” of ” Low-Tech”. exams. A big Black Eye for for a an Educational Institute that wants to be recognized as a top Global Player.
Here are some excerpts from the letters the students wrote ( for more letters on the subject go to Publishaletter):
CATastrophe said this letter. The ongoing fiasco over conducting online CAT has raised a serious question on the education system in India. The IIMs have been given a free run to do whatever they can which has left the students desperate, dejected and frustrated. The IIMs seems to be shifting from meritocracy towards autocracy and are blatantly repudiating their failure in conducting a fair exam.
The letter, CAT 2009 - playing with future said: I took my cat test on 2nd Dec. at 15:30 hour from New Delhi at a management institute. I ended attempting 30 questions in 2 hours. I could have certainly attempted 4 to 5 more questions only if I had those 15 minutes which were undoubtedly mine.
The letter outlining CAT exam fiasco goes beyond the computer failures and virus attacks and claims that the design itself was faulty. Say the writer: In Cat this time, the End Button is just beside Next button. This may not seem to be a problem, but look at the situation below. One has to show competence in all the section in CAT so after doing problem in one section he has to go to another section. Since during the first two days, Review Button was not working, One has to press Next Button a lot of times before he could go to next Section. Now arises the problem, If you are pressing the next button a lot of times, a slight deviation in mouse pointer would end his test.
A student that had to travel to Mohali wrote:
I am one of the candidates appearing for CAT2009. At the RAYAT and BAHRA institute, Mohali, I was supposed to take the CAT at 10 AM session. To our disappointment, almost 30% of the students were asked to go back home after 4 hours stating that the test can not be completed due to “Technical Issues”. No further information was provided to the candidates and they were asked to contact “Prometric“.
Yes, “Technology” took a small leap backwards; IIM’s presumably learnt a few management lessons. Is there anything good that can come out of this? Publishaletter humbly suggests that one of the IIMs prepare a case study on “How not to Bring about Technological Change” - so that the students can learn from it.