'It's a more secure process of taking test'

With the Common Admission Test (CAT) going online, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) Director Pankaj Chandra explains how the new process will work in a chat with KALPANA PATHAK.

What are the key advantages of CAT going online?
It will be a more efficient and effective mechanism to manage an increasing application pool of test takers. It creates a better test-taking environment for students. It saves enormous effort by the faculty in managing the testing process and test centers. It’s a more secure process of taking test. The test can be taken over a window of time (10 days) and not at a given time slot. Hence, more cities can be covered in the future.

How do you plan to deal with the logistics?
We are partnering with a global service provider, Prometric ETS (who deliver GRE) to deliver the computerised test in India. They will organise the logistics of test centres, technology and security under our supervision There will be at least as many cities covered by the computerised CAT as there have been in 2008 — these cities are likely to grow in future.

Could there be a security lapse, given the flexibility in choosing test dates?
I don’t think so. It gives the students more flexibility to chose a test date and we can administer the tests through relatively fewer test centers via multiple administrations. Security will be more stringent in this case, since we would be handling fewer people at any given time slot. We will also have advanced technology solutions to ensure that security is not comprised (this is in addition to invigilation). These measures include closed circuit television (CCTVs) and biometric identification.

Will the fee structure be different for online CAT?
We are still working out the details but most likely it will not be very different.

What could be the time differential in appearing for the exam and declaration of the results?
This would be worked out as we go along. We expect this duration to be somewhere between 4-6 weeks, as is the current practice.

IIMs were planning to modify CAT on the lines of GMAT, where scores could be valid for 5 years...
No plans of this nature at this juncture.