Thursday, December 3, 2009

CAT Test Failure

The Head of IIM Ahmedabad just recently said to the Hindustan Times: “We have failed in delivering an error-free system … We feel responsible and will move forward (in correcting those errors). Read it again...this is IIM saying they have Failed. As we all know by now the CAT exam on its first online attempt had been a total failure. Prometric had been the organization that has been conducting the online CAT this year and have themselves admitted to the failure of their system. Now instead of being on just one day the test is being held for 10 days, but instead of being an easy affair it has become a very disturbing experience for the test taker.

At least 45,000 students had enrolled for the test in the last three days out of which 8,000 could not take the examination due to technical problems. From many experiences some points noted below have been gathered regarding the new test.

- Due to a virus many were not able to even log in and were told that their test would be rescheduled
- Many found it quite similar to the SNAP online test
- This year the difficulty level was much lesser that earlier CAT’s
- Total questions were 60.. so even if 30 are attempted and are accurate it would be fine
- The time factor is important as you need to keep track of the time
- Do as much manual work you can. Do not depend only on the review button to identify the question you want to go back to. Make a note of that question on the rough paper.

After such a disaster it would really seem like the IIM’s are overrated. It would be much better to go for the MAT test which is conducted both as a paper based test as well as an online test. Also the wait for the MAT is much less as it is conducted four times in a year. So next time your looking for a B-School, do try got yhr MAT test.

No comments:

Post a Comment