CAT authorities asked to furnish daily updates on test

In the wake of technical glitches disrupting the computerised Common Admission Test (CAT), the government has asked for daily updates on the entrance test, the Lok Sabha was told today.

The convenor of CAT 2009 has been asked to furnish the updates on daily basis, Minister of State for HRD D Purandeswari said in a written reply.

The test, which was conducted by an American firm Prometric for 11 days, ended on December 8. However, a few thousand students are yet to write the test, which was marred by virus attack and other technical glitches from the beginning.

Conducting the entrance involved 361 servers across the country for the 11 days, amounting to 3,971 server-days, she said adding of these, 192 server days were down during the testing period.

The IIMs have put in place a process to identify the causes for disruptions. These are being addressed to ensure smooth testing for the currently held CAT and future test, Purandeswari said in a reply to questions put by seven MPs on the issue.