3 days on, CAT still crippled by technical glitches

It was another frustrating day for IIM aspirants as technical glitches continued to disrupt the computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) for the third consecutive day today.

Candidates could not take the test at a few centres in Mumbai, Bangalore and Ghaziabad due to technical problems due to malfunctioning of computers at these places. At a lab in IMS Ghaziabad, frustrated students launched a protest.

The launch of the computerised CAT involved delivery of exams at more than 360 testing labs in 104 centres. About 2.41 lakh students are scheduled to appear in the test for admission into seven IIMs and a few other B-Schools.

Directors of the Indian Institutes of Management are livid with the exam delivery of Prometric, which was awarded the $40m contract of computerising the process. They held a meeting with the representatives of Prometic last evening.

The test eluded nearly 4,000 students in the first two days of the ten-day long staggered exam that began on Saturday. Prometric blamed the glitches on a virus attack, which they said would be checked.

On Saturday, the test was rescheduled at 24 centres for carrying out repairs. On Sunday, several labs were closed, including 11 in Bangalore, eight in Bhopal, six each in Lucknow and Mumbai, five in Delhi, four in Ghaziabad, two each in Varanasi and Hyderabad and one each in Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Kolkata and Coimbatore.

Candidates who could not appear in the test have been notified through SMS and e-mail and their exams are being rescheduled within the testing period, said Prometric. 

indianachu : 09