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CAT to go online from November 2009
Kalpana Pathak / Mumbai February 04, 2008
The directors of the seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) will meet later this month to discuss details of a proposal to take the Common Admission Test (CAT) online by 2009.
 
The CAT exams may also be formatted on the lines of the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) so that the scores are valid for two to three years.
 
An IIM Calcutta professor who is working on the proposal said the primary reason for taking the CAT online is the increasing number of aspirants.
 
“However, we are also considering other possibilities for conducting the CAT exams,” he added.
 
The move could benefit thousands of students. In 2007, around 230,000 students took the exams. This year the number is expected to exceed 300,000.
 
For online CAT exams, the IIMs could outsource the project to an IT firm specialising in education and training services.
 
“The company will provide us with the infrastructure, but the control of setting the question paper will remain with the IIMs. The company will also be allowed to conduct exams at its franchisees,” the professor said.
 
The IIMs may also conduct a preliminary test for students to be eligible to take the CAT. The format of group discussion and personal interviews will, however, be the same.
 
Taking CAT online stems from IIMs’ concern over the chaos that occurs during declaration of results. Last year, for instance, heavy traffic caused the website to crash on January 8, when the results were declared.
 
Besides the seven IIMs, which conduct the exams, the CAT results are also used by 124 other management institutions to enroll students.

 
 
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   Discussion Board / User Comments    
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Sonali August 18 , 2009 ,16:59 IST
I think taking the CAT online could be a good idea, however its purpose of increasing CAT aspirants isn't wise. So many children take the CAT yet so few seats are available in IIMs. The number of these institutes should increase before any such step is taken. Besides, India's infrastructure needs to step up to be able to handle the technical difficulties with conducting online tests. Not to mention, training institutes will have to completely revamp as online testing requires a very different thought process to paper pen test. Furthermore, creating and eligibility test to take the CAT is only a way of reducing the number of students who take the CAT and just making our education system even more score centric than it already is. Thoughts people?
Reply
ajantha May 26 , 2009 ,13:17 IST
hi...guys...im a Btec passed out student. its rediculous that CAT is going online..and i want to know 1 thing that, is it will be implemented in november CAT 2009 or from the next year????
Reply
RahulRanjan May 02 , 2009 ,18:45 IST
hii guys..i m doing be frm TIT bhopal..i think its not d right time to impose such a change in am pattern as we r accustomed to pen n paper rule.4 d past 33 yrs...and going online means creating a diff thought process..also dere is no guarantee of discrepancy not to creep in..like wat if power failure occurs..or dere is delay in the flashing of ques...dey r playing a risky game....ALL D BEST..
Reply
  Reply by Rohit:May 04 , 2009 ,15:15 IST
Hey I m a 3rd year B.tech student in NIT Trichy. Dude i guess your reasons are quite corny. such risks are always associated with such big exams. for e.g. there cud b a delay in the distribution of exam papers by the invigilators,any page cud b missing in the question paper which you get etc.. IIMs are responsible for taking care of all such things. Let them worry about it. Why bother so much abt the things which are not in your control??? Rather concentrate on your preparations.
kritarth April 29 , 2009 ,01:21 IST
this move by the iims would be a deter for 2009 aspirants. it would a totally new challenge for them. next year would be much stable. one major problem could be a tech. error during paper involving electricity ,network,system issues. Any slight error can disturb the fluency of a candidate . i don't think it end up as a fair play
Reply
Pavithra February 03 , 2009 ,13:02 IST
hi all, i am a BE student passed out in the year 2005.. i am am IIM aspirant and would like to know about the best training institute in Bangalore..
Reply
thajuddin January 25 , 2009 ,16:43 IST
hai, iam studying engineering third year can i able to write the exam CAT 2009 and which book we have to refer for that and tellme the getting seat in cat for iimb
Reply
goparajuraghu February 04 , 2008 ,18:07 IST
It is not recommended to conduct CAT online like GMAT and other exams.The exam is online means everbody will get different papers which is not to judge the capability of the individuals.
Reply
  Reply by Prashasti:July 06 , 2009 ,23:08 IST
i also think so abt that as long d CAT2009 is going online everybody should to know about that the Ques. which skipped once will never repeat on that time so b prepared fr that guys!
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