Decks are being cleared for the Combined Admission Test (CAT) for admission to the Indian Institutes of Management and other premier business schools to move online starting November 2009. All seven IIMs are pushing to take CAT 2009 online,highly placed sources confirmed to The Sunday Express. The online test will be based on the GRE/GMAT format with multiple versions of the test formulated with consistent difficulty level and conducted over a period of timeon different dates across cities. As many as three versions or more are being considered. However,there will be no major change in CATs content which will remain a Multiple Choice Question exam even when it goes online. An IIM committee examining the matter for a year now will take the final call later this month when it chooses from among four global testing companies to have the exam conducted online. There is a 99 per cent possibility of holding CAT online this year itself and IIMs are keen on doing so. The test,however,will be exactly similar as was in pencil-paper format. It will be held in just the same manner as before in centers across 23 cities or more. We are in the final stages of detailed evaluation of the bids made by the four vendors and will take a final call by month end,an IIM director told The Sunday Express. Ever since the CAT was leaked in 2003,IIMs have been keen to take the exam online,more so in the light of increasing number of candidates each year2.38 lakh students took it last year. We are clear that handling the increasing number of candidates in a paper-pencil format is going to be very difficult now. We expect a 15 per cent growth this year in the number of candidates as has been the trend for the last few years. That means another 30,000 candidates and close to 2.5-2.6 lakh examinees. So its best that it be taken online this year itself,said another IIM Director. In the fray to land the testing contract are US-based ETS Prometric that conducts the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL),UK-based Pearson VUE that conducts the GMAT,Bangalore-based Eduquity Ventures that conducts the entrance test for BITS,Pilani and Aptechs Attest division.
