Isolated technical glitches reported during CAT exam

The first computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) for admission to Indian Institutes of Management today got off to a troubled start with the server crashing in some centres, forcing the authorities to reschedule the examination for those affected.

Nearly 2.41 lakh students across the country would take the exam for getting entry into seven IIMs and other B-schools in 105 centres in 32 cities in the next ten days.

"It has certainly not been cancelled in any of the test centres," Soumitra Roy, Managing Director, India, Prometric, the agency conducting the test, said.

"As a result of isolated technical issues some candidates are being rescheduled and provided with a new appointment via email and SMS," Roy said.

He said that thousands of tests were successfully delivered in hundreds of test centres throughout the country. "To accommodate the maximum number of candidates, Prometric and IIMs delayed the start of the morning session by about half an hour," he said.

Students complained of glitches in certain centres in Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bhopal.

However, IIM, Bangalore, Director Prof Pankaj Chandra claimed the first session of the examination was a "smooth affair".

The IIMs for the first time have entrusted the task of conducting the CAT to Prometric, an American firm, which is organising the computer-based test over a period of ten days.

There will be two rounds of test each day. The first round will start from 10 am to 12.30 pm while the second round will be from 3.30 pm to 6 pm, Prometric said.

A total of 2,41,582 students have registered for the exam this year, which is a marginal drop as compared to last year when 2,46,000 students appeared for CAT. The candidates will vie for around 2,000 seats in IIMs.