Students and teachers alike say they will welcome any move to make CAT online and increase its frequency to twice a year
The buzz among management students is that the CAT may soon go online and its frequency increased to twice a year. Sources say the CAT committee is in touch with a global testing firm, Prometric (known for conducting tests for the GRE and the TOEFL).
With the number of CAT applicants increasing from 90,000 to 2.3 lakhs in the last four years, conducting the test on the ground has be come increasingly difficult. “An online test will help us handle the huge number of students appearing for the test each year,” says Asish Bhattacharya, Admissions Chairperson, and IIM-Calcutta. The leak of the CAT question papers in 2003 may have also influenced the need to go online.
CAT online means one will have to take the test sitting at a computer. “Online testing is definitely not web based,” says shiva kumar, Director, career Launcher. The test duration will probably vary between three and three–and-a-half-hours.
Of all the available test models, two are most commonly adopted by examining institutes. The first is based on a fixed pattern of questions categorized as easy, medium and difficult. This is similar to the BITSAT model of testing. The Second model is based on student aptitude. Questions appear in succession and difficulty levels change based on each student’s ability. This is the pattern followed for the GMAT and GRE.
Though an online test does not spell a fundamental difference to students, they will just have to be more comfortable with appearing for an examination on a computer. “An online test for CAT is a very good move, for us though it will still be the same old paper and pen exam.” Says Deepali Sen, a B-School aspirant who will be appearing for CAT this year.
