IIM Planning for a New Format for CAT Exam. CAT Could Go 2 Tier in the Future.
Common Admission Test (CAT) could go two-tier in the future.
The IIMs, that conduct the prestigious B-school entrance, might introduce a preliminary
screening to the examination. This would mean that CAT would soon have a screening
test like UPSC to weed out poor candidates.
The information was revealed in a reply to an RTI query filed by Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu,
an RTI activist from the city in 2009 when CAT was ridden with several technical
glitches. The IIMs, however, not specified the year in which the two-tier system
will be introduced.
The RTI response has revealed that a majority of IIM board members had approved
the introduction of the new process, which is meant to improve the pool of students
who would finally get through to IIM. After two decades of pen and paper test, CAT examination was computerised in the year 2009.
The IIMs in their RTI response have said that the details of the structure of the
test will be made public at "an appropriate time".
The IIMs are also planning to "establish a CAT corporation under section 25 of the
Indian Companies Act, 1956." The corporation will be responsible for the conduct
of the computerised examination, the IIMs said in their reply. The IIMs have also
stated in their response that marking system for CAT will be decided by the online
test conducting agency.
CAT experts from the city are taking the RTI revelation rather seriously. "A change
in the pattern would mean that the IIMs could be trying to introduce a second level
test for the serious contenders of CAT to improve their scores. The first level
of the test could be a computer based test and the second level could be a more
detailed, tougher pen and paper test," said Naresh Reddy, a CAT expert from the
city and director, Abhyas coaching centre.
Reddy said that the introduction of the CAT Corporation could be to make CAT an
equivalent for GMAT. "The total number of takers for GMAT across the world is equal
to the number of takers for CAT in the country. The IIMs could be thinking of developing
CAT into a global business school test," Naresh Reddy said.
Courtesy: Times of India
