CATcalls for scrapping test
Aspirants Say They Have Lost Faith In Once Prestigious Test
Nikhila Henry | TNN
Hyderabad: With a million errors seeping into CAT-2009 , students and Common Admission Test (CAT) experts have put their foot down and have asked IIMs to call it quits with the online test experiment.
While IIM heads have decided to hold a review meeting next week, B-school aspirants from the city said that they have lost faith in the sanctity of the once prestigious test.
According to test takers, CAT in its first online format had opened up a Pandoras box of woes. Ranging from bugs in computers and lack of trained invigilators to guide students, to questions on privacy and security of personal details including fingerprints given to Prometric before CAT 2009, the online test has seen it all. Now its time to shut the server down for the year, and go back to the pen and paper model, students said.
Sharing some of the CAT horrors , the students and experts said that there was nothing called strict time limit this year, though the stipulated time frame for the test is 2 hours 15 minutes. The students invariably got less or more time, observers said. The systems on which we were to attempt the test were not formatted , to clear it of bugs and viruses. The system kept rebooting and many of us lost plenty of time, said a test taker from the city.
Meanwhile, experts claimed that some students also got extra time due to the bug problem. Bugs in the software had given some students extra time for the test. In an exam where every minute makes a difference in the scores and percentiles, many students got a huge unfair advantage over others, said P Viswanath, director, TIME in an open letter to IIM heads. He explained that many students reported the problem and asked IIMs to cancel the test which was not conducted in a fair way.
A student said that he was allowed to attempt only one question as the system he was using was virus infected. As I moved from one question to another, the answer of the previous question would get cleared automatically. I kept ticking the same answer over and over again wasting much time, said a bewildered student who wrote his test from a centre in the city.
According to students, some invigilators too were a source of trouble. I accidentally hit the review button and wanted to exit the page. The invigilator interfered and pressed the end button which ended the test three minutes after I started it, a student said. She managed to submit only one answer.
The systems should have been formatted before the exam. Why should students be put through this erroneous test The IIMs should cancel the online test and get back to the pen and paper model for this year at least. In 2010, they can introduce a flawless online model. Peoples careers are at stake here said A Vamsidhar, director, IMS coaching centre said. Trained professionals should have been recruited , he said.
Apart from the four cancellations at three test centres in the city and numerous delays, students said that they had received wrong directions from Prometric, the private partner in CAT-2009 .
There were SMSes and emails sent stating that my examination was cancelled even after I took the test on November 29, a student who wrote test at JNTU, Hyderabad centre said.
Some CAT observers said that the problems had sprouted even before the commencement of the test.
Private companies had sent marketing emails to many CAT takers after taking information about them from the CAT database . This itself is a violation of privacy terms and conditions. What if students fingerprints submitted with Prometric is misused , said a senior CAT expert from the city, adding that the system has lost its sanctity.
While those concerned across the country are crying foul over CAT, through open letters, blogs and social networking sites, the IIMs are, however, silent. The test takers are hoping for the pen and paper test to be back, replacing the glitch-ridden online test.
RTI activist moves CIC on CAT deal
An RTI activist and CAT observer D Rakesh Reddy from the city has moved the Central Information Commission, New Delhi, asking the IIMs to disclose tender details of their deal with Prometric, the company in charge of the online test, CAT 2009. Reddy filed a petition with the commission on December 2 and is awaiting reply. He had approached the Public Information Office, IIMAhmedabad in September, seeking details on the tender process and his appeal was rejected. If all is fair, why the IIMs rejected the plea There is something fishy about the deal and according to the RTI Act, the plea should not have been rejected. So I went further with my petition, Reddy said. His plea was rejected by the IIM-A on the pretext that Prometric had threatened legal action if business information details were made public. Meanwhile, students turned up in large numbers at MVSR Engineering College, Nadirgul and JNTU, Kukatpally test centres where examinations were cancelled in some labs on Friday to inquire about further cancellations. Alarmingly, some of the students whose test dates were intimated as cancelled were allowed to write the test. In JNTU, Hyderabad centre, a student who was sent email notification about the cancellation and reschedule of her test was allowed to take the CAT. Things are pretty much muddled, Jaideep Singh Chowdry, coordinator, TIME said. It was also reported that some of the students whose test were scheduled were asked to attend the test from centres other than Hyderabad. TNN
Aspirants Say They Have Lost Faith In Once Prestigious Test
Nikhila Henry | TNN
Hyderabad: With a million errors seeping into CAT-2009 , students and Common Admission Test (CAT) experts have put their foot down and have asked IIMs to call it quits with the online test experiment.
While IIM heads have decided to hold a review meeting next week, B-school aspirants from the city said that they have lost faith in the sanctity of the once prestigious test.
According to test takers, CAT in its first online format had opened up a Pandoras box of woes. Ranging from bugs in computers and lack of trained invigilators to guide students, to questions on privacy and security of personal details including fingerprints given to Prometric before CAT 2009, the online test has seen it all. Now its time to shut the server down for the year, and go back to the pen and paper model, students said.
Sharing some of the CAT horrors , the students and experts said that there was nothing called strict time limit this year, though the stipulated time frame for the test is 2 hours 15 minutes. The students invariably got less or more time, observers said. The systems on which we were to attempt the test were not formatted , to clear it of bugs and viruses. The system kept rebooting and many of us lost plenty of time, said a test taker from the city.
Meanwhile, experts claimed that some students also got extra time due to the bug problem. Bugs in the software had given some students extra time for the test. In an exam where every minute makes a difference in the scores and percentiles, many students got a huge unfair advantage over others, said P Viswanath, director, TIME in an open letter to IIM heads. He explained that many students reported the problem and asked IIMs to cancel the test which was not conducted in a fair way.
A student said that he was allowed to attempt only one question as the system he was using was virus infected. As I moved from one question to another, the answer of the previous question would get cleared automatically. I kept ticking the same answer over and over again wasting much time, said a bewildered student who wrote his test from a centre in the city.
According to students, some invigilators too were a source of trouble. I accidentally hit the review button and wanted to exit the page. The invigilator interfered and pressed the end button which ended the test three minutes after I started it, a student said. She managed to submit only one answer.
The systems should have been formatted before the exam. Why should students be put through this erroneous test The IIMs should cancel the online test and get back to the pen and paper model for this year at least. In 2010, they can introduce a flawless online model. Peoples careers are at stake here said A Vamsidhar, director, IMS coaching centre said. Trained professionals should have been recruited , he said.
Apart from the four cancellations at three test centres in the city and numerous delays, students said that they had received wrong directions from Prometric, the private partner in CAT-2009 .
There were SMSes and emails sent stating that my examination was cancelled even after I took the test on November 29, a student who wrote test at JNTU, Hyderabad centre said.
Some CAT observers said that the problems had sprouted even before the commencement of the test.
Private companies had sent marketing emails to many CAT takers after taking information about them from the CAT database . This itself is a violation of privacy terms and conditions. What if students fingerprints submitted with Prometric is misused , said a senior CAT expert from the city, adding that the system has lost its sanctity.
While those concerned across the country are crying foul over CAT, through open letters, blogs and social networking sites, the IIMs are, however, silent. The test takers are hoping for the pen and paper test to be back, replacing the glitch-ridden online test.
RTI activist moves CIC on CAT deal
An RTI activist and CAT observer D Rakesh Reddy from the city has moved the Central Information Commission, New Delhi, asking the IIMs to disclose tender details of their deal with Prometric, the company in charge of the online test, CAT 2009. Reddy filed a petition with the commission on December 2 and is awaiting reply. He had approached the Public Information Office, IIMAhmedabad in September, seeking details on the tender process and his appeal was rejected. If all is fair, why the IIMs rejected the plea There is something fishy about the deal and according to the RTI Act, the plea should not have been rejected. So I went further with my petition, Reddy said. His plea was rejected by the IIM-A on the pretext that Prometric had threatened legal action if business information details were made public. Meanwhile, students turned up in large numbers at MVSR Engineering College, Nadirgul and JNTU, Kukatpally test centres where examinations were cancelled in some labs on Friday to inquire about further cancellations. Alarmingly, some of the students whose test dates were intimated as cancelled were allowed to write the test. In JNTU, Hyderabad centre, a student who was sent email notification about the cancellation and reschedule of her test was allowed to take the CAT. Things are pretty much muddled, Jaideep Singh Chowdry, coordinator, TIME said. It was also reported that some of the students whose test were scheduled were asked to attend the test from centres other than Hyderabad. TNN
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