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When the news was leaked in late 2007, no one really believed this could be a possibility. “It is difficult to conduct and manage the test at different centres across the country. Availability of latest technology will enable us to make an easy shift to online system. So we are talking to a few players and examining feasibility of the same,” said a member of the CAT committee back in October 2007. The body was working out ways to prepare a question bank that can be used for the online test.
More recently, sources quote Mr. Devi Singh, Director IIM Lucknow saying “The initiative will be rolled out in 2009. The idea is to provide a time window, whereby students can take the examination within the stipulated period.” The pre-qualification bid document issued on 31/03/2008, inviting service providers, IT firms specialising in assessment and testing services, for computerisation of the CAT exam states that the selected service provider will undertake tasks right from application processing, test construction, test delivery, result processing to score reporting.
Asish Bhattacharyya, Admissions Chairperson at IIM Calcutta, said that an online system would "help us handle the huge number of students appearing for the test every year. Last year the number crossed 2.3 lakh". This number is only expected to increase with projections of three lakh-plus in 2009.
The process of conducting the exam—including processing the results and reporting the scores—will be outsourced to a private service provider who has prior experience in online tests. "But the IIMs will retain complete control over the test," said another official.
With the CAT going online, 124 other management institutions which use the CAT score will also streamline their admission processes in accordance with the new system. Experts, though, believe that there will be significant challenges the IIMs will have to overcome to implement a robust system, the primary one being providing physical infrastructure. There is a case where implementation on such a large scale has failed — the computerisation of the Xavier’s admission test (XAT) in 2002.
Students’ will not be charged exorbitantly for taking the exam online. According to sources, the price is expected to increase marginally, about 40-50% from Rs 1,100 now to about Rs 1500-1600.
Sources:
- The Economic Times
- The Times of India
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