New CAT dates at centres for repairs

Prometric,the online test provider helping the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) conduct the online version of the Common Admission Test...

Prometric,the online test provider helping the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) conduct the online version of the Common Admission Test (CAT),on Sunday said that computer viruses had forced cancellation of the exam for as many as 2,000 students. It was dispatching its technical teams across the virus-hit exam centres to ensure a smooth testing experience for candidates.

The computer-based CAT in some 50 centres across the country was on Sunday rescheduled to allow necessary repairs to be completed at the labs where technical glitches disrupted the exams on the first day. Computer viruses are learnt to have slowed down systems at several exam centres,making it impossible to hold the online version of the exam in a time-bound manner. As a result,the exam had to be cancelled at several exam centres on Saturday.

The students faced problems in opening the computers at the exam centres in Delhi,Mumbai,Pune,Chennai,Bangalore,Kolkata and Bhopal on Saturday. The labs that were closed on Sunday include 11 in Bangalore,

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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.

The launch of the computerised CAT involved the delivery of exams into more than 360 testing labs at 104 individual locations. It is an ambitious project but well within the means and experience of Prometric.

While almost 20,000 candidates completed their exams on Day One,computer viruses at a number of testing centres prevented over 2,000 candidates from taking the exams. Prometric is committed to ensuring a smooth testing experience for CAT test-takers and has dispatched additional technicians and hardware to address these isolated issues, said a statement issued by the testing solution provider.

Prometric has generated new appointments for these individuals and they are in the process of being contacted through SMS and email messages… Candidates affected by this closure will also be notified by Prometric in the manner described above and provided with new appointments within this years testing period, it added.

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We understand how stressful it is for candidates to adapt to this new computer-based format, said Soumitra Roy,managing director,India,Prometric. We truly regret the additional stress that candidates were subjected to over the first weekend of the CAT 2009,and are doing everything we can to make the rest of the testing experience as smooth as possible.

Over 2.4 lakh students are expected to appear for

the CAT in the 10-day window between November 28 and December 7.

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