Indian Institute of Management (IIM) conducted Common Admission Test (CAT) will go online from November 2009. However, the final approval is still awaited, which will come in May at the meeting of IIM directors. But it's almost certain, as mentioned by an official who preferred to remain anonymous.
IIM Calcutta Director, Dr Shekhar Chaudhuri, in an interview during the 44th convocation of the institute, told the reporters that decision to conduct CAT online was due to increasing number of management aspirants appearing for it and the new online format is undergoing the process of improvement. As per the sources, the online model will be similar to US exams like the GMAT (Graduate Management Aptitude Test) and GRE (Graduate Record Examination) except that the results will not appear instantly.
The traditional method of the test using 'pencil-and-paper' has been scrapped as the number of IIM aspirants has grown considerably over the years; CBT will help accommodate this increase.
The CBT format also would improve communication between candidates and IIMs in terms of programs information, test delivery, receipt of admit cards, and receipt of score reports.
CBT CAT will be a candidate-friendly test in terms of flexibility in the selection of test date, ease of registration process, better physical environment and test experience, and enhanced security in terms of biometric identification of candidates and video monitoring.
The test will be conducted in a window of about 10 days sometime at the end of the calendar year.
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