Phase-II of CAT 2009 to be held on Jan 30, 31

Candidates who could not take the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2009 exam due to technical glitches at the test labs in the first phase, can now sit for the examination in the second phase scheduled for January 30 and 31, 2010 convener of CAT-2009 said here today.

"The second phase of CAT will be conducted on January 30 and 31, 2010," convener of CAT-2009 Satish Deodhar told PTI.

A detailed criterion for the candidates eligible for the second phase of exam has been posted on the CAT-IIM website, he added.

The first phase of CAT-2009 which was held from November 28 to December 8, 2009, was marred by glitches due to which students had to face difficulties and many of them could not appear for the test.

The candidates identified for the re-test in phase two would receive communication from Prometric by January 10, 2010, CAT-IIM portal stated.

The results of CAT-2009 are likely to be declared by the third week of February 2010, it added.

The criterion for eligible candidates in phase-II of CAT-2009 has been arrived at after analysis of calls and e-mails received from the candidates, site reports, computer logs and information captured from blogs, the convener said.

The computer-based CAT-2009 was marred by technical glitches from the very first day as students faced problems in logging on to the computers at centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Bhopal.

The CAT glitches were attributed by the IIMs and Prometric, the American firm conducting the test, to virus attacks and some hardware problems.

Prometric has been awarded a $40-million contract by the IIMS to computerise the prestigious CAT exam.

Nearly, 2.15 lakh students had appeared for CAT till December 7, 2009, IIM-A officials had stated earlier.

A total of 2.41 lakh students had applied for CAT.