The IIM’s CAT committee decided to conduct the CAT exam as a computer based exam this year. So far the decision has not been successful.
14% of the centers facing problems and close to 8% of students not being able to take the test is no ordinary problem. The IIM’s must acknowledge the failure to implement the idea successfully.
Admitted, this is no easy task. Accommodating 2.5 lakh students, across India, in a 10 day time span is no easy task. But hey, isn’t this the IIM..!! After all, they teach you how to implement radical plans, minimizing unforeseen risks. Is it harsh to expect them to walk the talk? Certainly not.
Prometric, the US based company with the necessary exposure to conduct a test of this scale (they conduct the GRE and TOEFL exams.), is also getting a lot of flak. And I think that is also justified. The contract given to them by the IIM’s was no small one. It will go down as a business failure for Prometric. A success here would have probably given them the edge to conduct other entrance exams on the computer. Now, that market is open.
Here is the bottomline, it was a courageous venture by the IIM’s to go online. Surely the logistics of the paper based exam was getting tough to handle. Only, the implementation left a lot to be desired. Surely other exams will follow suit. And soon paper based exams, at least the ones where so many people write, will become a thing of the past. Already another institute is conducting its entrance exam on the computer (NMIMS) this year. That’s proof enough.
Computer based testing is going to be a huge market for the IT companies in the coming years. Prometric squandered its first chance. Perhaps any Indian IT company would fit the bill. The coming days will tell.
