This post was written by a a 21-year-old engineering student who sat for the computer based Common Admission Test (CAT) which launched on Saturday. We are keeping the post anonymous because of a disclaimer that IIMs have asked all candidates to sign, stating that they will not discuss the test till Dec 7, when CAT closes. This is his account:
28th nov, 09, the date app 2.5 lakh people had been waiting for. Thank God it’s over.
The run up to the test was pretty smooth, with an email from prometric telling me all the do’s and donts. I also received a message a day prior to the exam confirming my test date and centre. I was asked to reach at least 2 hours before the exam started, allowing time for security and biometric checks.
My exam was slotted for 3:30 pm. So I reached there around 1. While waiting for the gates to open, i got a call from one of my friends who told me that all the news channels were talking about how CAT servers had crashed across the country. This came as a shock to me. I knew some years ago XAT had tried to go online and failed miserably.
But prometric..??
The gates opened around a quarter past 2 ( candidates were not supposed to take the exam if they arrived after 2). There was a long line for security and then biometeric checks, with not even a pen allowed inside. There were photographs and fingerprint recordings to get through before seats were allotted.
i must have reached the lab at around 3.30pm (watches weren’t allowed inside.) It was pretty cool to find the photograph they had just taken of me, already on the computer screen. another 20 odd mins of waiting and we were asked to start the exam.
I had been told that i could take a tutorial of 15 mins prior to the start of the exam, just to get familiarised with the software. I was quite looking forward to it. But no, the invigilator directly clicked on the exam tab without even asking if i wanted to go through the tutorial. even after i told her i wanted to, she just sulked, and went ahead. After nearly three hours of waiting, standing in queues, etc., i had never expected that the low point of the day was to come sitting in an air conditioned lab, just before the start of the exam.
i was pretty lucky with my exam though. it started with a single click. All around me i could hear people complaining about their systems not responding. Even for those of us for whom the exam did start, found it hard to concentrate what with with all the noise and shouts all around the room.
The exam itself lived up to its reputation of delivering the unexpected. There were 60 questions in all, divided equally among the three sections. The questions were relatively easy, with the most difficult questions belonging to logical reasoning. one could jump from one question to another. people had been worried that unlike in a written paper, one would not be able underline things in a reading comprehension etc…but it had all been taken care of.
During the exam, i saw a student in my row in complete shock. he had just submitted his paper “by mistake”. apparently, he had clicked on the quit test tab and without a confirmation, his test had ended. I could not help but think how sad an end this must have been for the poor guy. And to top it all, he could not leave. He had to sit there and watch other people solving there questions. All the same, This acted like a wake up call for me, “dont even go near the quit test tab.”
As time passed, i heard a few more people had done the same thing.
once the test started, time flew. The next thing i knew was that 135 mins were over, and the test was auto submitting.
It was around 6 30, 45 mins later than the scheduled time. We were handed back our admit cards and vouchers. and made to wait for another 15-20 mins, for no apparent reason. Once allowed to leave, the crowd formed a bottleneck at the checkout centre collecting their phones etc.
All in all, the six hour experience ( with just 135 mins of actual testing) was not as good an experience as i had expected it to be. But even with all the technical glitches, CAT managed to pull it off. I just hope the next 9 days are a far better experience for CAT takers..”
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hi,
Thanks for sharing your views with us.I just hope that evrything goes well with me during those 6hrs marathion.
Tc
Regards
And what is so much the trouble for after all? Even if one is selected, she/he will be taught by a bunch of fools, most of whom never had to clear this test ever. Then, even if one slogs for those two years, you end up joining some investment bank or become another boring copycat enterpreneur with one of those highly unoriginal ideas that you try to justify by saying “it sells” – but how long? More importantly, what is the lasting contribution to humanity? How long can you abuse the Indian tax-payer’s hard-earned salary to useless things and very soon withdraw in the guise of “the saint”?
tuhin good cooments…managers don’t contribute to mankind at all..it is engineering science and research and polity peole who take the mankind forward
Even I want to share some experience, which is not exactly the same but it is what I thought after the exam. My test was okay except one difficulty of finding the exact location which is not provided very detailed by prometric. A new guy (even localite) has to search it because most of the centers in hyderabad are out of the city (30-40 kms out). I didn’t face any problem apart from the queues and crowd.
But after the exam I just gave a though that what is the objective of introducing technology in any process? I think its improvement, but the experience tells us totally different story. It is a hectic and bad experience for most of the people even the organizer I suppose. They have to take care of so many issues now. The one objective of the technology is accessibility, availability and quick results. Can anybody answer that which of the objectives got fulfilled in this process. The accessibility led to difficulty, the availability of infrastructure is really a problem, and even online payment was not accepted to enroll for the test. About the results everyone knows that this will declare in January last week. Why so… if it is technology driven process then why not on 8th Dec, 2009 itself. Computer will take care of all the calculation, they just need to put formula. Why they are taking so much time for results….
I hope my points are very much clear that rather than just following others IIMs should first have given a thought about the requirements and objective. It looks like just blind following path what USA did when it was beaten by Japanese auto industries.
The same thing happened to me . i quit the test inadvertently. Was shocked to see there was no multiple confirmation.
For a second, i thought that you were writing about me, i too “accidentally” quit the test in between..
after that it was the most boring 2 hrs of my life
Well I am glad u were successfully able to complete the test. I too hav an experience to share.I took the test on second day..morning slot.. After waiting for 2 or 3 hours we were told that they havn’t received data .so probably test is going to be cancelled ……..it sent the tempers soaring high n ppl protesting.After an hour we actually forgot what we had originally come to do here.i.e to give THE CAT..near noon we received the good news that finally the connection with server has been achieved……………
We were called for biometrics……..which was again a total failure……
We were said to take the exam n complete the biometrics after wards Finally the exam started only to stop again. The computers hanged, mouse stopped working n finally the timer finished. I was able to do satisfiable number of question right..But whose gonna be responsible for our lost time n cool of mind which is too necessary for giving the exam….Has any got the answer to it.!!!
Thanks all, for writing-in with your CAT experiences. Deepak, I have talked to test prep companies through the week and they say it is not technology per se which is bad but how it is used. Prometric should have conducted mocks to see if their servers can take the load of so may test-takers. Your test was quite smooth, you say, apart from the queues. I am sure Prometric is learning lessons from this. (Such as to have multiple confirmations with the ‘quit test’ option so that candidates such as Tarun don’t suffer. Or to make sure that disasters such as Liza’s experience are not repeated). After all, their international reputation is at stake. They do want more contracts in India, don’t they?
Tuhin, no education is a waste. And we are lucky to get any in a country where so may struggle for the basics. Business graduates are doing a lot of different things these days in terms of giving back to society. Not all are joining investment banks.
Hey everyone,
I am from Bhopal (M.P). I was scheduled for cat on 29th nov, but the exam was cancelled due to God knows what the reason…
It’s 6th Dec today and I still haven’t got any Reschedule date. When I called Prometric Customer Care Service, they said there are no seats available in M.P., let alone Bhopal and the only places where seats are available are Jaipur and Punjab. Now Jaipur doesn’t conduct exam on the 8th (the last date given by IIM) so I am supposed to give my exam tomorrow and by no means I’ll be able to reach there tomorrow…
I have been given no written confirmation by Prometric, either through e-mail or sms. I don’t even know where the centre is or whether or not my name will be on the list if I somehow find about and reach the Jaipur centre.
What should I do now?
I am writing this just after 3hrs. of my talk with the prometric people and I still haven’t got any confirmation!