November 28, 2009 Saturday.
The first day of the PROMETRIC IIM CAT 2009. Just like many other MBA aspirants across the country, we started our journey to the test center at KARPAGAM University, near Coimbatore early in the morning. I had the company of VP, RD, SP and Tony from thrissur. The starting itself became eventful with me forgetting VP's admit card in my room and driving back to get it. The next blow was forgetting our CAT vouchers, which we painstakingly unearthed from under the pile of rubbish that is typical in our rooms. Remembering (just in time) that we had forgot the vouchers gave me and vp a second shot at the CAT and we followed the others on another bus after vinayan heroically retrieved our vouchers.
We reached the center at 1.30 which according to prometric's SMS the previous day, was the time we were supposed to check in at the test center. Siddhu, who had been giving us directions was waiting there for us. As we were about to proceed to the verification counter, a volunteer asked as to kindly wait in the auditorium which according to his was ' straight down, then right'. All we could see there was a gate leading to the main highway. After mentally thanking him for the impressive direction giving skills, we decided to wait there.
Sometime after 2.00 pm, thejus, whose exam was scheduled for the morning session came out, running directly to the restroom. He was checked in at 8.00 in the morning and had been holding of the calls of the nature for an astounding 6 hours. It was then we noticed a white board on which was written
" Please use the restrooms before you check in. You will not be allowed to leave the test center before 12.30".
We were checked in by 2.30 and the signing in procedure continued on one side. The test started by 3.45 and then the real tragedy began.
Most of you mite have read through the papers or other media that the CAT 2009 exams were disrupted due to server troubles. Apart from the bleak logistics, there is a larger impact. There were mainly three kinds of trouble at the test center.
1. The prometric software client getting struck now and then requiring a system restart.
2. The system itself hanging at occasions which again requiring a restart.
3. The questions not loading properly. ( At places designated for answers, all that appeared was white boxes with red cross marks, just like when an element of an html page does not load properly or is missing)
The first and second problems were simply time consuming and disturbing at the most. But the last problem is what is really going to cost CAT 2009 it's credibility. The announcement on the IIM CAT website www.catiim.com today read
The launch of the computerized CAT involved the delivery of exams by Prometric into more than 360 testing labs at 104 individual locations. While a significant majority of the candidates successfully completed their exams on Day One, various technical issues arose at selected computers in approximately 50 labs that prevented approximately 2,000 exams from being delivered. Prometric has generated new appointments for these individuals and they are in the process of being contacted through SMS and email messages. Prometric technicians have been dispatched to address these isolated problems. To avoid candidate inconvenience and to allow for the necessary repairs to be completed at the impacted labs, Prometric has scheduled a closure of these labs on Sunday, 29 November 2009. Candidates affected by this closure will also be notified by Prometric in the manner described above and provided with new appointments within this year’s testing period.
Of the six of us, everybody lost questions because they wouldn't load properly. I lost 4 questions, siddhu lost 5, VP lost 2, Tony lost 6, RD lost 4 and shiva lost 4. The proctor came and took down the my name the first time i complained, and did the same with some others. The next time he asked us to continue with the questions, and that they will see to it. After the test, when another student asked for a written statement stating that he had lost such number of questions due to some unforseeable error, the center in-charge couldn't provide one. Nor they have the exact number of questions each candidate missed. Their excuse was, they were not supposed to look at the monitor or see the questions when a candidate is doing the exam. Another excuse they provided was that the CAT authorities will know the number of questions that were 'marked' by the candidates and act accordingly. I marked more than 15 questions as 'marked' for review later. Will that count as 'questions not loaded properly' and will i be awarded the marks for the same? Ain't all this absurd for an exam, counted among the best in the world?
The CAT website says a significant majority of the students completed their tests. What about the students who couldn't complete it properly? What about the students, like us, who missed out on a number of questions because there was some error with the hardware or software? What about the hours and months of study put in for this single exam? Who is gonna justify all these errors? Who is gonna answer? The CAT Administrators? The Center in-charges? The Prometric people?
And the candidates? What about them? What if they lost their IIM admissions for a fraction? This is not acceptable. Someone has to be responsible. Someone has to do something so that the work put in by those students are not wasted on some minor technicalities.
To all those people who are going to write the CAT 2009 exam over this week, please make sure that any technical errors you face while writing the exam are accounted for in a proper written manner. Make sure that the work you put in doesn't go wasted. All the best.
