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IIMs to hold CAT 2009 re-test on January 30, 31
New Delhi, January 2, 2010
The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) announced today that a re-test would be held on January 30 and 31 for those candidates who faced disruptions because of technical glitches during their Common Admission Test (CAT 2009) held between November 28 and December 8.
"Equity and fairness requires that candidates who faced disruptions during the test be given an opportunity to complete the test while not requiring those who completed the test successfully to take the test again," a statement posted on the CAT website said.
This was the first time that CAT was conducted as a computer-based online test after being conducted in the paper-and-pencil format for 33 years.
Hundreds of candidates could not appear for the test on their scheduled days or had faced problems because of technical glitches that arose during the examination. Many such candidates were given a chance to appear for test during the original 10-day window upto December 7 and an extra session on December 8.
On December 8, the IIMs had announced that all candidates who could not take the CAT on the scheduled dates would be given the opportunity to do so on a new test date to be announced later.
According to the statement, the following candidates would be scheduled for a test in the second phase of CAT 2009:
-those who could not take the test due to planned or unplanned closure of their test lab and were not rescheduled later in the first phase. (This does not include voluntary no-shows.)
-those who were rescheduled but could not appear for the test because of notice period of less than 48 hours.
-those who were rescheduled but could not appear for the test as they were rescheduled in a city different from their original choice.
-those who pressed the End/Quit button within the first 120 minutes during the first three days of the testing window and have not been rescheduled yet. (If a candidate in this category chooses not to take the rescheduled test, then his/her score from the first phase of testing will be retained.)
-those who completed the test in more than 140 minutes of clock-time* due to computer disruptions. (If a candidate in this category does not appear for the rescheduled test, then his/her score from the first phase of testing will be considered null and void.)
-those who completed the test in 136 minutes to 140 minutes of clock-time* due to computer disruptions would have an option to take the rescheduled test. (If a candidate in this category does not appear for the rescheduled test, then his/her score from the first phase of testing will be retained.)
-those who experienced difficulties due to various kinds of disruptions such as frozen computer screen, blank screen, and data/graphic elements not displaying properly; identified through site reports recorded at the test labs and have not been rescheduled yet.
(* Clock-time refers to actual elapsed time from the start of the test to the end of the test for a candidate. This is different from the time indicated by the count-down timer which was displayed on the computer screen.)
The statement said the criteria had been arrived at based on the analysis of calls and e-mails received from the candidates; site reports filed by the site managers; computer logs; and information gathered from websites and blogs.
The rescheduling (based on the above criteria) and the psychometric equivalences that will be established across the tests address all issues of equity and fairness raised in various forums (including those pertaining to candidates getting additional clock-time), the statement said.
The candidates identified for the re-test in phase two would receive communication by January 10 from Prometric, which has been selected by the IIMs to deliver the test.
The results of CAT 2009 are now likely to be declared by the third week of February 2010, instead of January 22 as originally scheduled.
The computer-based online CAT involved the delivery of examinations on 17,000 computers in 361 temporary testing labs at 104 centres in 32 cities throughout India.
A total of 241,582 had candidates registered for CAT 2009. The test, reputed to be the toughest entrance examination for business schools in the world, used to be held across the country in a single session on the same day -- usually the third Sunday of November.
In the first few days of this year's CAT, hundreds of candidates could not appear for the test on their scheduled days because of technical glitches, which Prometric attributed to computer viruses, malware and other difficulties. Many of those who did appear for the examination also complained of a variety of other problems that they faced.
On day 2 and 3, about 50 of the affected labs had a planned closure to avoid further inconvenience to the candidates and to allow for all the necessary repairs to be completed.
The CAT is a pre-requisite for admission to various management programmes conducted by the IIMs, including their flagship two-year Post-Graduate Programmes (PGP) in Management. Many other institutions also use the CAT scores to finalise admissions to their management programmes.
The seven IIMs are located at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Kozhikode, Indore and Shillong.
Four more IIMs are due to start functioning from the academic session 2010-11 at Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Raipur in Chhattisgarh and Rohtak in Haryana. Two others in Uttarakhand and Rajasthan will be set up the following year.
NNN
