Day one of CAT 2009 retest concludes smoothly

Day one of the second phase of the computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) 2009 concluded smoothly today.

After experiencing technical glitches during the first phase of the test, which affected several candidates across the country, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Prometric had to announce the second phase (retest) of CAT on January 30 and 31 this year. Around 10,000 candidates across the country are taking the test in its second phase.

“Both the sessions, according to our students, went smoothly across all centres. We expect all students should be able to take the test tomorrow as well,” said a spokesperson of the training institute TIME in Ahmedabad. Candidates, too, found the paper easy this time.

“I found the difficulty level of the test easier than in my previous attempt. I hope to get better scores this time,” said Karthik Shelat, a CAT aspirant from Ahmedabad.

Originally scheduled to be conducted between November 28 and December 7, 2009, the first computer-based CAT had to be extended by three extra days as technical glitches marred the test. The first phase of the test was completed on December 8, 2009. Nearly 241,000 applicants registered for the CAT this year. CAT is mandatory for students who wish to study at the seven IIMs and over 150 other B-schools in India.

Results by the third week of February
The results of CAT 2009 are likely to be announced in the third week of February. Some coaching institutes, however, raised a question about the IIMs taking time to declare the final results.

Ravi Pokharna, Director of the New Delhi-based PT Education, said: “With this year’s marathon CAT exam finally and steadily coming to an end, there are still a few questions that are troubling CAT 2009 test takers. Through a computer-based test, IIMs would get the result by next hour. Then why are they taking so long to announce the results? When all the results have been recorded on a central server and compiling them would be an hour’s job, why are IIMs taking three weeks — especially when the whole process has already got significantly delayed?”