New Delhi, June 22: Ashish Agarwal is getting used to sitting in front of a computer for three hours at a stretch. He takes no breaks, just scrolling up and down the screen in search of answers. Ashish is preparing himself for the biggest change that the Common Admission Test or CAT has ever seen. The test will be computer-based from now on.
“The time it takes to solve a question has increased, for example for RC and DI questions we have to read the passage and then attempt them,” he says.
Though the syllabus for the test is the same, most aspirants are still struggling with the new format.
They say it’s going to be difficult for people not used to sitting in front of computer and reading online and that in a paper-based format, they used to attempt any section as per their wish and had a lot of flexibility, which they won’t have in the new format.
So what has changed?
It’ll be entirely computerised, but it is not online – which means students won’t have access to the Internet
But students will still have to go to an exam center so they can’t take the test from home or a cyber cafe
CAT will be held not on one day but spread over at least 10 designated days, so students can choose when they want to take the test
There will be different question papers on different days
But what prompted the IIMs to change a decade-old test format?
IIM Bangalore Professor Subhashish Gupta says, “Every year we are seeing an increase of 20 per cent over the past year. We are simply finding it extremely difficult logistically to hold the test.”
This is the first of many more changes. The IIMs plan to issue a set of FAQs to help students by July.
A number of students trying for an entry into a top B school have some apprehensions about what the new CAT holds for them. But every CAT aspirant will sail on the same boat.
–Agencies