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CAT's out of the bag, on to the Web. But it needs to be belled before it can get purr-fect in its new avatar, say experts

CAT's out of the bag, on to the Web. But it needs to be belled before it can get purr-fect in its new avatar, say experts

Scratch a voucher; get tested for prestigious B-schools online. But the CAT's Web avatar isn't all error-free. No doubt it saves you the trouble of buying bulky bulletins, forms and all that, but it has its flaws alright.

For those unfamiliar with the development, under the new format, a candidate just needs to buy a scratch voucher from the designated bank branches, and later register online and sit for the exam. Starting from registration to announcement of results, everything happens online. With the test being spread over 10 days, CAT is more or less going the GRE/GMAT way. Experts, however, feel that accommodating such changes need at least two to three years of time, and everything can't be implemented at one go.

u00a0"Last year, IIM officials decided to make CAT online. Much money and resources went into making the new system foolproof. However, in the last couple of days, many loopholes have been exposed," said Ulhas Vairagkar, an IIM-A passout and Director of T.I.M.E. coaching institute.

Thousands of students from across India opt for CAT every year to make it to 150 affiliated B-schools in the country, apart from the IIMs. But not all applicants are techno-savvy. "Students coming from states like Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand are not very comfortable working on computers. This would certainly act as a deterrent for them. They would not be able to prove their capability," Vairagkar added.

The number of proxy candidates, too, is expected to go up significantly this time. "There is a likelihood of candidates sending in their friends to appear for the exam during the early slots, and know the trend before taking the test themselves," adds Vivek Kumar, a 2000 batch passout of IIM-B who runs an institute in North Delhi for some underprivileged students.

Powerless

Moreover, most of the centres where exams are scheduled to take place, aren't power-cut resistant. "In India, where power keeps tripping every now and then, the centres must have a good power back up. The internet connectivity should not be faulty, and computer accessories like mouse and keyboard must work properly," suggested Kumar.

Hacking, too, is an added threat, though far less common in terms of academic data than physical paper leak.u00a0

Earlier, the online application form did not make it mandatory for applicants to fill in their HSC and SSC grades.

This is despite the fact that IIMs require these two grades for shortlisting the candidates. Now, of course, this has been fixed after repeated complaints. Students are also confused on other fronts. "I applied on the first day itself. Later, I wanted to edit my profile, but there was no such provision," said Sunil R Singh, a final year Delhi University student who registered on the very first day. Another applicant, Harsh Khandelwal, was left shocked.
"After filling the forms, I realised that I entered some wrong details. When I called the helpline, I was told I would have to fill up a new form and spend Rs1,400 again." The number of test centres, too, is inadequate, most students say.u00a0

CAT 2009 test would be conducted online for the first time between November 28 and December 7, and around 3 lakh candidates are expected to appear in the examination.

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