Our experiences at CAT – a timeline and stuff to expect

Two of the PG HQ members and their experiences with the CBT CAT. We have put in the time-line and our experiences, feel free to comment with your own experiences at different centers. We have put in this specific format so that you can ‘live’ through the experience and be prepared for it tomorrow and for the rest of the days. Tell us what you think.

Apurv’s experience:

When I exited my CAT exam at 2 pm, I was feeling quite amused at the mismanagement at my center (Bandra, Mumbai). But as I walked out of the center and heard tidings of center cancellations across the country, it made my center look like an ace show in comparison. Anyway, here is my experience of taking the computer-based CAT, first day first show slot.

Arrived at the center (Fr Conceicao Rodrigues College of Engineering, Bandra, Mumbai) at 8:15 am. Around 250 people at my center. We were let in at 8:45 am. By about 9:20 am, I had entered my computer lab and began with the registration.
Everything was fine in the process until the part that used technology arrived. They took 10 minutes to register me due to a server snag while allocating me a terminal. It was like waiting at an airline check-in counter with a failed computer. Anyway, once they got the network up, their biometric device and digital camera failed. After 20 minutes, I was sitting at my terminal. At 10:10 am, the 15-minute tutorial started, which we had already seen on the CAT website.
We all waited for 10:30 am for something to happen on the screen, but nothing happened. After some time, we started getting impatient and the invigilators had no clue. But they assured us that we would get our full 2 hours 15 minutes of the test.
The test started around 10:50 am. Thereafter, things went quite smoothly as per plan. I’ll omit the test description here due to the legal non-disclosure clause.
The test ended at 1:05 pm. Logically, they should have collected our material and let us go. However, none of the five proctors and invigilators in our room knew how to end the test and log us out. So we were made to wait again. After about half hour of waiting, patiences started to run out again. A few people from other towns had trains to catch back home and some had taken half day from office. But all were held back because the staff did not know how to end the test. After about 40 minutes, two people with trains to catch decided that they had had enough and left. While leaving, they were made to sign agreements which relinquished the center of any responsibility in case their scores were lost. It was not a happy sight.
After more than an hour, two guys from Prometric (or NIIT) entered the room and asked the invigilators to log out using the same username-passwords they had used to log us in. This really made some people lose their temper, as everyone had been held back hour due to lack of such a simple instruction. People left, but not without sarcastic comments hurled at the staff for their untrained-ness.
I exited the center into a huge huddle of TV channel reporters, who informed us of the fiasco nationwide.

All in all, not that bad an experience, considering that the contrast is with having a canceled test.

Allwin’s experience:

Now I was excited about CAT (6th time and all that), I have very good memories attached to the times I’ve written the exam. So early morning I left home to reach the center at 8am. Here is my experience of the first day, first show.

The signs of delay were rather evident right off the bat. I took the exam at Thakur Polytechnic and even though I had come in at 8am, everyone was allowed it at around 9.15. We were asked to sit in different rooms and then the proctors came in to take us to the lab
At 9.55am, 5 minutes before the exam was supposed to start, I was still standing outside the lab and there were a few more people ahead of me. It didn’t look like we would start the exam at 10am.
I was ushered in and sat at the PC I was supposed to, without having done my bio metrics. Looks like they were running slow with the bio metric thing and they told the rest of the people who hadn’t fingerprinted that they would get a chance to get finger printed after they wrote the exam.
After being seated, we were all told to reboot our machines. All 20 – 25 of us had to do so. Now there are multiple logins, the OS login, the Exam login which needs to be entered by the proctors. The reboot took around 5 minutes for me and then the test software took another 5 – 7 minutes to initialize. The whole thing was slow and heck it was 11am and we hadn’t even started the exam.
11.15am, my exam started ( for people wondering about the time, the PC displays the time), you are not allowed to take your watch/phone et al in to the computer lab. Three times, I click on start the exam and it would throw me back to the prompt and the proctor had to come in an enter the password to proceed.
17 questions into my clickfest, I saw the stunning windows ’svchost.exe’ error. I got a bit alarmed and called the proctor, he happily clicked the ‘close’ button on the error and asked me to proceed. I grin, proceed and poof the screen goes blank. I call the proctor again and guess what, the PC now had to be restarted. Ah god, had to go through that evil 10 minute or so wait time till I could start again. Thankfully Prometric got it right here and I was able to resume the questions from the point the crash occurred. He told me ‘not to click so much’, how wise and technical eh?
I answered all the question and then exited the exam. Now here Apurv’s experience was different. Apparently some kind of password was required for the exam to end, but it wasn’t the case with my exam. I hope I get to view my scores. If you have had similar or dissimilar experiences, let us know.
2 hours into the exam, I decided to leave. Some folks had started leaving and I decided I too had had enough. I got myself fingerprinted and left the center. While I was musing about how the show was not run ‘perfectly’, I heard about the rescheduling across the nation.
The paper had 60 Qs, 20 QA, 20 DI/LR and 20 VA. I haven’t prepared for CAT for a single day in the last three years and my feeling is that the difficulty level of CAT was the least I’ve experienced. The Quant and English sections were really easy and so was the DI. A really easy paper, but heck, its all relative isn’t it. There was no information about negative marking. I clicked answers for all 60 Qs.

Important NOTE: Do not read selectively and strike off the negative marking in CAT 2009. According to Professor Deodhar, the negative marking “will be on the same pattern as last year”. A Practical guide to CAT released sometime back also said, “There is no penalty for questions that are left un-attempted and negative points will be given for wrong answers.”

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Vikas	#101 November 28, 2009, 9:23 pm CAT administration should learn and scrap all this online bullshit exam… Should take care of rural aspirants. Hope they learn a lesson.. Hope the best for the REST…..
TheRisingForce	#102 November 28, 2009, 9:25 pm My frnd had his slot scheduled at 10.30 even he experienced delays but got thru the test. As far as the level of difficulty is concerned i got a similar feedback from him. He solved 66% of the total questions without any kind of preparation. This is not what one would expect from the CAT.
parthchoudhary	#103 November 28, 2009, 9:26 pm can u tell me the difficultly level of both the slots.
priyanka_amin	#104 November 28, 2009, 9:46 pm I think problems r bound to cum on the first day of any major change! however these shud not harm the interest of any student who has worked hard! lets hope everything gets fixed up in comin days! All the vry best to all the cat aspirants!
gopo	#105 November 28, 2009, 9:49 pm Amazing!!! , these ppl cannot conduct d test poperly , nevertheless they r gonna teach mangmnt n poduce d best managers f d country – As dey say – “It is d teaching which is important not d teacher “”
nv_kkd	#106 November 28, 2009, 9:53 pm Injustice to the core….people have shared their experiences of taking cat online with computers getting hanged in the middle , timings getting changed,buttons not working.Even if these things do not happen from day 2,think about the fate of people who took the exam on day one.Are they the unlucky ones? CAT is an aptitude test and you need a calm mind to think and if there is so much of chaos,how can a person think normally and answer the questions.The IIMs have fooled the people who took the exam on day.No one even comes on board to address the concerns of the test takers.All of them are cowards,they do not want to accept their mistakes and they will put the blame on the agencies to which they have outsourced.
gopo	#107 November 28, 2009, 9:53 pm Or well, may b it is part f d test, rigorousss ,test centres located in farthest corners, future generations gonna giv test @ moon centre…
Shshank	#108 November 28, 2009, 9:58 pm I think iim’s should go back to that paper and pen stuff. a friend of mine was unable to write his paper today because of server problem. But what he told me was astonishing. He said that there were some guys whose system got hang after every 15 minutes or so and in that period they looked through the questions and then the system got hang. they used that time to solve the questions. this process was repeated thrice. 135 minute paper was written in almost 360 minutes. now what kind of standard is this????????
Felon	#109 November 28, 2009, 9:59 pm so, if the PC restarts due to viral infection or software problem, can someone just read or note some LR caselet(s), or QA problem(s) and then stealthily restart the PC when no one is looking and then solve the problems in the meanwhile (5-10mins) while it boots up? If some ppl do that, it will be very unfair to the rest of (honest) ppl (like me)!!!
jigar	#110 November 28, 2009, 10:09 pm hy,, frinds Respect the “IIms”….. .. I now the prob.. is serius… But this is first time frinds…. Hota hai.. “.Agar esa kuch nahi hua hota to hum kuch nahi likhte”"”"”".. U just concentr… on yor Day…. Once again…”EK HI DIN EK HI PAPER EK HI TIME” past HONA MAGta hai…. Best luck…….
Ashish	#111 November 28, 2009, 10:17 pm The TIME institute had conducted the online mocks more professionally than Prometric( but they too had teething problems in the first mock). Sadly, prometric is supposed to be a professional and was hired so as not to hv any teething issues. Hope that everythin gets resolved by tmrw. Am worried abt the number of new issues that ur reports have brought up. As days go on, i believe different issues will pop up but i hope the cat convenors wont b caught pants down again as they hv today. Take care all, staying cool is all that we can do. best of luck.
RAMAN	#112 November 28, 2009, 10:19 pm can any1 say how it was at future b school,sonarpur,kolkata ,W.B
shrieky	#113 November 28, 2009, 10:22 pm Hi Guys , To add to the experience and suggestions given by Apurv and Allwyn , I would like to put one more point. During my exam , there was power break down for 5 times and the faculty there was not using any UPS. So that gave us another 15 minuntes of time to review the questions which where roughly drafted on the scratch sheet given. I suggest the aspirants to note this as you may gain in such circumstances.
sam	#114 November 28, 2009, 10:26 pm GUYS…JUS A WORD OF CAUTION….the difficulty lvls can go higher in subsequent sessions/days….dont go with any expectations/notions abt the CAT ppr……go with an open mind….and jus CRACK it!!! -IIMI Alumni
TanuA	#115 November 28, 2009, 10:50 pm Definitely they’ve proved to be INDIAN INSTITUTES OF MISMANAGEMENT. N they’ve been showing this trend since the beginning of the registration process. Remember how the website went down on the first day of registration due to sudden load, n now the exam servers too!! Even had to reopen the registration window only b’coz there were no validation checks on their forms, n hence partial info got entered by students. N then they are so proud of their CAT n themselves… Nonsense! Naak katvaa li apni…
jpj	#116 November 28, 2009, 10:50 pm two things– wil your score come up as u end the test.. and wats the marking scheme like– +4, -1. and how many options per questions- i dont think u’ll get sued by letting out the ans to these questions>>
subhakimi	#117 November 28, 2009, 10:56 pm You are amused by that ? [:O] right word should be bemused [:D]
estranged_gnrs	#118 November 28, 2009, 10:57 pm @jpj – Scores DO NOT come up as you end the test. You will get your results on Jan 22nd. No marking scheme has been specified.
TITAN	#119 November 28, 2009, 11:05 pm THAnk u so much for this experience>>>>>>>>>>
Ashish	#120 November 28, 2009, 11:09 pm @estranged_gnrs That implies another 5 to 10k will go into the kitties of the undeserving institutes. Any person who scores low in any paper will not even know his score so as to compare with the others and hence will panic and go on a buyin spree. This is a gr8 way to increase an institutuions ‘other income’. it will show smartly on the p&l n prolly the balance sheet too.. smug ass corporate educationalists with education being the last thing on their bloody minds..
silentwarrior	#121 November 28, 2009, 11:27 pm @Neha please write in aam-aadmi’s inglisss .it’s hard to read your post
Viraj Desai	#122 November 28, 2009, 11:28 pm What is funny about most of the replies is the defeatist attitude of the people and the willingness to blame people. There were problems. YES. There were mistakes by Prometric. YES. But, then you got to live with it, and fight another day, and think of ways to improve it, rather than blaming the IIM’s and disrespecting it’s students – both past and present. What is disheartening, more than being funny, is the fact that most of you who are abusing and complaining about the IIM’s will be the first ones going huhahuha, if they do get a call and God willing, a convert to one of the coveted institutes. People…Please realize, that things are going wrong at the moment, and their are people out their working to correct it. So for now, keep the comments session limited to discussing the issues people had on the first day, and steps that can be and should be taken to avoid them later on.
savita	#123 November 28, 2009, 11:31 pm so this is the very first time of inline CAT.full of tensions,humuor and lots more:)
Taau	#124 November 28, 2009, 11:33 pm Hey,can any1 plz tell me if we can take our wallet to test center or not because i have heard that they will keep ur wallet oustside the center ad its quite troublesome that ur wallet is outside and its unsafe because any1 can take ur money without ur knowledge…so twat im thinking that if i need to take the walllet or i can take only 30rs with me as my center is not too far… plz plz plz suggest sum1.. i m worryig sooo much…
Arpita Dessai	#125 November 28, 2009, 11:42 pm svchost.exe is a system-process (one of the props for Windows OSes) which acts like a parent-process for all other processes/services on the Windows OS. It provides support for every new hardware/software installed on the machine. Our CAT exam’s software (provided by Prometric) is installed on the test-center machines and its’ program has a process/processes of its own, running in the background, which definitely uses svchost.exe. Normally, the load on svchost is quite high (even on a machine with a freshly installed Windows OS) since it has to handle various child processes hence the “Fatal error”. The suggestion provided by the Prometric-authorized person, does sound unwise, but in reality its’ the best preventive measure. More the clicks, more the load on crucial OS processes/services. Also, the time between any two clicks also plays a rather important role since every click expects some part of the program to be executed, which naturally, needs resources (RAM, svchost.exe, cache et al). Of course, that doesn’t mean “Les cliques de l’importance” shouldn’t be made. The redundant ones can be avoided (especially for techie guys)!
tarun.iiita	#126 November 28, 2009, 11:56 pm Hello Guys, any information on whether the questions from 3 sections are jumbled up or we have the pattern similar to previous CAT paper, something like QA:1-20 , VA: 21-40 and DI: 41-60 ?
Aficionado10	#127 November 28, 2009, 11:58 pm They should have used Linux instead..!!
Kaustubh	#128 November 29, 2009, 12:06 am Apurva and Allwin?How many options did the questions have 4 0r 5?
Ajeet Singh	#129 November 29, 2009, 12:24 am they have done what they had to, well plz, can somebody explain why the test should get tougher as the days go. if so, this turns out to be a sin if somebody registered for a later appointment. At least this was not mentioned anywhere, from any side…. IIMs or Prometric…
pt_ct	#130 November 29, 2009, 12:39 am @ Viraj Funny that you see this as just ‘ mistakes ‘ and ‘ problems’. It shows complete sense of apathy on your side towards those who are affected just like how the IIMs and Prometric are responding now with absolutely no sense of guilt. Just shows one thing though: Out of 100 ppl if 10 are affected , ppl simply shrug it off saying ‘Oh well the rest 90 are not affected’ They wont think of the 10 ppl who ARE affected.
miten	#131 November 29, 2009, 12:46 am about the negative marking thing…. after u start the test… u’ll get a screen prior to ur first question that clearly says that there is negative marking for wrong answers… the question is how much…? it is usually 1/4th if there are 5 options but there were 4 option so i guess negative marking is going to be 1/4th… usually when procters star the test and give it to test takers they aren’t aware of this screen i m talking about but i’ve given the test and i’ve seen it myself…
miten	#132 November 29, 2009, 12:51 am Also a lot of ppl have concerns abt cut-offs and all…. I believe that they cannot have 20 tests with exactly same difficulty level…. and here even 1 question matters… so there might be normalized scoring… that is percentile is noramalize for each batch and then it is worked out through some formula to give the closest possible result…
cataddict06	#133 November 29, 2009, 1:05 am So does it mean the paper doesnt mention about the negative marking at all or i missed it :O If it doesnt is thr possibility of negative mark of 50%? Wat is the dissimilarity between the test conducted today?
megha_gr82003	#134 November 29, 2009, 1:13 am Hey Puys, Please be aware of the SUBMIT button in CAT exam.. Its between the NEXT and PREVIOUS button… One of my friend told me that in hurry, he pressed SUBMIT instead of NEXT, eventually losing his exam…
Amit nigam	#135 November 29, 2009, 1:15 am reading above comments i think to better to prepare for other management exams now as cat is moved towards luck based test
megha_gr82003	#136 November 29, 2009, 1:25 am See Puys..why create unnecessary fuss abt the exam…nobody has compelled u to go for it..if u believe in its authenticity,well n fine..bt if u think its nt worth it then just leave it…decision is urs….why unnecessarily mortifying prometric or CAT authority, instead of lauding there endeavours of taking step in new direction, which was inevitable..
sal_peppridge	#137 November 29, 2009, 3:12 am ———ABOUT NEGATIVE MARKING———– Hi Puys, I am a bit surprised that IIM managed to miss that but if we dig deeper I took the Cat Demo on the main IIM website http://content.catiim.in/catdemo/index.htm and page 4 does mention about negative marking being applied. Just wanted to know if u anyone noticed this and is true or even this is subject to change as usual?
sal10peppr	#138 November 29, 2009, 3:19 am Goodluck to all! That’s all I can say.
Siddanth	#139 November 29, 2009, 4:19 am Holy cow i have written my microsoft certifications which are conducted by such a big brand name i.e Prometric. I was shocked that they couldn’t handle this methodically.My exam is on 2nd and to be frank i haven’t studied anything at al.May be i am overconfident that i good in maths and Verbal.Lets hope everything goes smoothly and god be with everyone. Cheers
Viraj Desai	#140 November 29, 2009, 9:51 am @pt_ct If you read again, both your post and mine, you’ll see there is a stark difference in attitude. I never said, it was a minor mistake or problem. All I want to say is, blame Prometric and IIM’s for the problems which happened, but no need to disrespect them, by calling them names like Indian Institute of Mismanagement. I, as a current student of one of the IIM’s, take offence. That is my only point and a humble request.
conveytosumita	#141 November 29, 2009, 9:51 am this must be a bad experience for all IIM guys nd students as well.wen they can’t arrange ol exam in proper way then why the hell they changed the pattern frm paper pencil to online. after reading all this we can hope that from next year they will come back to same old pattern.
NarenShekhawat	#142 November 29, 2009, 10:27 am I am very disappointed the way the shattered condition of CAT 2009 being handled by IIMs and prometric at our center Garden City College Bangalore. first of all we didnt get any msg regarding the Cancellation of the Exam.Next we reached there and there wasnt any concerned person from prometric to handle the queries from the candidates whose all hard work and career was at stake. One of my frnd gotta his exam cancelled yday and today morning 3 am he is getting a mail of rescheduling the exam for 10 am slot today morning at GCC Bangalore ,but one more surprise was waiting for him that the rescheduled xam is also cancelled. So prometric and IIMs should tell us how much it is justified. So folks keep tabbing the refresh button on your mail box and dont rely on the sms…….
ashwin	#143 November 29, 2009, 10:32 am i have lost my voucher though i have the voucher ID tomm is my exam please let me know what can i do
youthfull	#144 November 29, 2009, 11:07 am one of the centres in chandigarh has got 4 labs… 2 labs out f these had the paper in sections.. and 2 labs had no sections and the paper was all random…i mean 1 ques DI, the next Quant ans so on… so tell me… how about the sectional cut-offs in d latter case…??
letssee	#145 November 29, 2009, 12:01 pm [b][/b][size=3][/size=3][blue][/blue][font=Tahoma][/font=Tahoma] Hey guys, My D-Day s 6th… Am really terrified after hearin dat abt 20% of applicants are writin on 6th as its both a hol and also pretty towards d end… ANd due 2 d crowd, thr ll also b a lot f server prob…[:(]….. Those who had exams yest and today…. How was d exam…? I heard dat d paper aws easy,but du e 2 a lot f problems, every1 was distracted & mentally exhausted… Can u ppl help me out in this…. Can u mail me ur exam exp and qn pattern 2 my ID which s [size=2][/size=2][red][/red]letssee.cat@gmail.com [size=3][/size=3][blue][/blue] Thanks n Advance Guys..[:)] All D Best 2 all CAT-TAKERS..!!![:D]
letssee	#146 November 29, 2009, 12:02 pm Hey guys, My D-Day s 6th… Am really terrified after hearin dat abt 20% of applicants are writin on 6th as its both a hol and also pretty towards d end… ANd due 2 d crowd, thr ll also b a lot f server prob…….. Those who had exams yest and today…. How was d exam…? I heard dat d paper aws easy,but du e 2 a lot f problems, every1 was distracted & mentally exhausted… Can u ppl help me out in this…. Can u mail me ur exam exp and qn pattern 2 my ID which s letssee.cat@gmail.com Thanks n Advance Guys.. All D Best 2 all CAT-TAKERS..!
saurabh	#147 November 29, 2009, 12:14 pm hey my voucher has been damaged a bit can it be a major problem on the day of cat mine on 3rd.plzzzzz reply soon i m realy tense bcoz of this!!
Kumar_THE MAN	#148 November 29, 2009, 12:19 pm What are you guys saying? I took my test at Chennai and had no problem at all….I think this is fine
Siddanth	#149 November 29, 2009, 3:05 pm @NarenShekhawat Hey even i have my exam in the same college on 2nd Dec..provide updtes on the college thanks…
sunny	#150 November 29, 2009, 4:50 pm i guess the manage gurus of IIM fall flat with this kind of poor management just because they r an IVY league college,they think they can get away after this disaster it’s horrible prometric my ass.
messi108	#151 November 29, 2009, 5:17 pm Hey ! Does everyone get a unique paper ? Or is it a same paper everyday ?
vermaster	#152 November 29, 2009, 6:33 pm omg!!! neha ki baat sunkar paseenay chuth gaye hain saabke…..mera 6th ko hai lets see tab tak shayad CAT n Prometric waalay kuch dhagka kar de
pulkit_74	#153 November 29, 2009, 7:41 pm what about so many other college forms that we have bought ( IMT, MDI, NITIE etc etc, which sums up to a bomb ), which have CAT as their admission criteria?.. How can an exam as mismanaged as CAT 2009, with unfair advantage to many, disadvantage to even more (unlucky ones), be the deciding factor for thousands of students’ future… C’mon, CAT’s supposed to be the mother of all entrance tests.. sheeaaa.. what a sham!!!!!! CAT has just not let the takers down, but the other premiere institutes who accept the CAT scores too!!!!
paras bhutani	#154 November 29, 2009, 8:10 pm anyone who has given get recntly. kindly mail me d info at ma id paras.coolboy@gmail.com. plzzz
Malapropism	#155 November 29, 2009, 11:37 pm I am going to go for it tomorrow i.e. if I don’t get a message at 3 in the morning(which I’ll obviously check at 6) saying that Prometric guys didn’t want to be disturbed on a Sunday, just like Koda, and so the problems at Asia Pacific have still not been sorted out. I’m going “EXPERIENCE” it. Infact I have an amazing stress busting strategy in mind. I am going to start laughing the moment ‘the server crashes’ or ‘my screen goes blank’ I’ll raise my hand, call for help, and then start LAUGHING. I’m going to then take my GMAT. And go and study at Harvard:P Sorry NATIONAL ASSET CAT IIM BLAH. I’m better off not being a part of this messed up system. They say you should try and ‘be the change’. I did try and get into the system, didn’t I? Too bad the servers crashed on me.
Suyash	#156 November 30, 2009, 12:34 am One thing i would like to add up which none of us has mentioned that interface was very slow,after clicking on the NEXT button u have to wait for around 3 secs until the next question comes…and REVIEW button was even more slower.Interface of Career Launcher mocks was almost same in look and was very fast u dont have to wait for the response after u click…..but here i dnt know wat prometric has done. System also hanged for around 30secs in between ..it freezed up in between Suyash suyashrocking@gmail.com
dimplegrover	#157 November 30, 2009, 8:20 am hey guys my xam is on 3rd…. m vry bad at quant..n hv jus done no. system,lil bit of speed dist time…wil dt b okay??i mean,satisfactory?…do i need to practice clocks?calendrs?p & L?probability?mixtures? pls help…
aashish0512	#158 November 30, 2009, 10:25 am Thnx Puys…thnx alot…bt plz let us knw abt d paper pattrn regarding the marks distribution (esp. negetive marking sceme)…..ofcourse there’ll b negetive marks 4 wrong attempts….bt how much???? 1/3rd or 1/5th ??? also u said paper ws easy bt on the othr inning it seems to b diffrnt 1…… wese thnx alot….. aashish dadhich
insomniacreturn	#159 November 30, 2009, 10:51 am After this CAT Crash and all the stories….I don’t feel like taking it seriously .. Did ya guys read Gautam Puri’s write up about Cat in today’s ET…Perhaps u get there some idea there.. I believe Paper and pencil format is better….Best thing would be to reschedule for all and make it paper and pencil..But guess Prometric n CAT panel won’t don that…A lot of money involved…!Who who benefits…..Contract givers, Deal clinchers etc etc High authority etc etc..?? don’t know.. But genuinely for the benifit of all deserving candidates they should conduct a fresh and clean,combed,all bandage- free,sling-free , hospital discharged healthy CAT. PS:I missed el-clasico but watched Drogba winning for CHelsea against Gunners.lol
kritika	#160 November 30, 2009, 11:27 am y d hell did IIMs decide to go online…..v belong to india n there r loads of ppl appearing for cat.plz plz plz switch to paper pencil xam again.
rani	#161 November 30, 2009, 12:00 pm y don u ppl help with sum more tips regardin the questions
Jaseem	#162 November 30, 2009, 12:28 pm Hi guys, I am jaseem here, an unfortunate CAT aspirant who was brave enough to book the first day first show slot for CAT 2009.I was in Bandra centre for the exam. We were made to wait for more than an hour.The simple reason was that they had assigned more than 30 students( my role number was 33) to a lab which has the capacity of 30 only!!!.They had no clue of why it happend.Then after almost one hour they let us into the same lab.So I think they messed up with alotting the role numbers only. My server had no problem..I started the exam after getting the instruction to start.Then after 5 mins one guy came and asked us not to start.Then he told those who started to continue and others to wait!! There were lot of problems happening around and in the middle of it half of the crowd was giving CAT.Felt like I was in an internet cafe. Some of my questions in quant were not clear also.We were asked to click some option and move ahead. Then after 1.5 hours one guy came and collected the numbers of questions which were not clear.We had to go to the section and literally search for those questions.While doing this one of my friend by mistake clicked the “endtest” button the exam ended without confirming with him( no pop-up came). I dint expect these kind of things happening even in my dreams.India’s biggest management entrance exam was poorly managed.It is a huge disappointment.I couldnt give my best shot.And I am really upset.
Ashok	#163 November 30, 2009, 1:21 pm Hey guys can you unmark the answers
anonymous	#164 November 30, 2009, 7:34 pm this is the WORST ONLINE EXAM i have ever seen..! huh.. to start with the exam started very lately..! i was at the exam centre at about 8 am ( as mentioned ). and these authorities came very lately.! we entered into the venue at around 10.15..!! the exam was supposed to be from 1000 to 1215 hrs..!! huh x-(..remember they said ” candidates who come after 8 30 will not be entertained “..lol all these two or three hours we were standing..!! not even chairs were provided at the venue…!! silly checks and many other formalities..!! the exam started at around 11 45 or twelve..!! by the time i entered the venue i got fully exhausted due to sweat..!! NO COMMENTS abt the questions..!! as we were instructed not to say anything abt them..! BUT.. my comp hanged twice in the middle..!! i lost some 4 minutes…!! 4 valuable minutes..!! the centre authorities dunno what to do if in case something happens.!! they say ” please dont panic .. the problem will get solved..!! ” bull shit man the timer is running.! got many errors like 1. ” not a valid win32 application “…. 2. ” an unauthorised user has tried to access….” 3. “USTHost failure…” and in all these cases does the PROMETRIC TEAM expect us to remain cool..!! that too during the middle of the exam..!! suddenly all were raising their hands and screaming ” hello come here.. excuse me come here..” huh..!! all these disturbances caused some sort of fear abt the exam…!! and the invigilators were NOT SILENT .. they were chatting as though they are the next ministers who were going to solve indian issues..!! FK… this is the most horrible thing..!! u cannot concentrate when u are doing ur VERBAL section, particularly RC…!! and speaking silly English ..” u are not pencil and rubber .. we are pencil and rubber..!! we sharp them and give u..!!” .. funny moments during cat 2009..!! and everytime one guy came and asked ” is ur system now working properly.. is ur system not working properly “..! huh..!! and the exam was over…. somehow i finished my cat exam..:). i got an error message ” error in submission ..” and there was a progress bar the same thing as we can see when u install some software..!! process 1 .process 2..!! process 3..4..5…. and so on…!! i called the authorities and said abt this… he said ..TO START EXAM AGAIN…OMG..!! then said to clcik END EXAM…!! . they dint leave us until all finished ..thats a good thing actually..! in our hall there was a guy who did his tutorial fully for 15 mins.. so he started the exam lately..!! we all had finished . think he had some 5 mins..! one invigilator was standing behind him and seeing his time..!! meanwhile they collected all our pencils and eraser..!! the worker asked his pencil and eraser.. he was struggling through his paper..and do u expect him to say to each and everybody ” i have still 5 mins.. i have still 4 mins..!! “.. small small disturbances cost a lot in then end..!! LITTLE DROPS MAKE A MIGHTY OCEAN..!! a few seconds added will cost a few mins..!! better scores..!! better chances of a good mba ..!! i think PROMETRIC should conduct re test for all students again..!! and a single ALL INDIA WRITTEN EXAM and any such BULL SHIT FKing ONLINE EXAMS….!! this is the WORST ONLINE EXAM ever…and the WORST CAT exam ever..!! all credits to PROMETRIC team… i took my exam at KCG COLLEGE of Engg and technology, CHENNAI TAMILNADU…!! to add on, this college was located in such a place which had the most horrible roads..!! finally i made a conclusion WASTE OF TIME… WASTE OF MONEY .. and WASTE OF ENERGY..!!!.. i demand a re exam ..WRITTEN ONE..!! i prepared like hell for cat 2009 and PROMETRIC ruined me..!! x-( and any body there to support this..?? do reply..?.!!! a sad anonymous user ABCDE..!!! ….
DKM	#165 November 30, 2009, 8:51 pm I’d selected Lords institute of Engineering and Technology as my test center (Well, I missed JNTU and CBIT), but, I am quite glad that I chose this center. I reached the center before 8 (for my 10 AM exam). Luckily, I had my player to calm me down. We were allowed to get to the exam area at 8:55am. Our admit cards and Id’s were checked. The exam area is on the second floor. This center was quite nicely managed. We were asked to remove our footwear (including socks in this winter !). Anyways, once we were filed in, we were asked to put in all the electronics, pens, pencils, etc. in a pouch. After a verbal “no funny papers in my wallet” commitment, our ID’s, vouchers and the admit cards were verified. I was carrying my Voter’s ID (thanks to the GHMC elections) and was asked a different ID at which I turned my wallet upside down and gave him my insurance card, driving license and my Pan Card, I am sure that it really confirmed that I am who my admit card claimed to be. The proctor directed me to my cabin (Amazingly neat and with enough illumination). I was then asked to put both my index fingers at a time at the scanner, photographed and directed to my designated seat. A card with guidelines, a pencil and an eraser were already placed on my station. The computer asked me to enter my registration ID. Once the ID was entered, the screen for the username and password was up. At 9:30(as on the computer) the proctor entered the username and password. The proctors then asked if we had any queries with the process. All the queries were curtly answered (A guy even asked if we could ask for spare rough’s, which got a smirking affirmative). The center had a stock of water bottles if we ever got thirsty. The amazing part was the tutorial(as on catiim.in) we could go through the tutorial before 10. At 10, the proctor informed us that they were waiting for the initialization key from the center head. At 10:07 we got our keys and the 135 minute test started. At the end of the test, the computer informed me that I’d run out of time and asked me to log out. Coming to the test-taking part, After I completed the first two sections, I clicked on review and checked the incomplete answers, so once I was in my review mode, I could not get back to a particular question I wanted to. Well, I figured it later that I had actually got that right so it did not matter. However, I suggest that you hit the review only when you are done with the test. In the review, I am not sure if we could directly jump to a particular question from the list given. May be one of you could try it out and post it for the rest of us. Also, the mark option is a good one. It really helps when you want to get back to the question. For example, I used “mark” for the questions which would have taken me more time to solve. At the end of it, I am pretty satisfied with the complete experience at my center. Btw, if any of you are using a two wheeler, try using some warm gloves. It was freezing in the morning. I had to literally burn my hands with friction to get them working again. All the best and Cheers !
Ruth.Dhamone	#166 November 30, 2009, 10:32 pm Thanks a lot for sharing your experience. I am sure that will help lot of us who are still waiting to give the exam. I also wish “all the best” to all Pagalguys here for their exams and even results:):)
catty	#167 November 30, 2009, 10:56 pm had my exam on 29!!!but was cancelled bcoz of some problem at the center… got a msg and mail that it will be rescheduled soon…still waiting for any sort of response from their side..this is so pathetic…had my appointments and still has no clue when i will be asked to come…people if faced with the same problem plz..share…
savita	#168 December 01, 2009, 12:26 am u cant rely on th fact that after 2 days management must have done smething to tackle out,today also it happend that people couldnt make it to give xam. it got delayed,cancelled today as well.
tejashreedb	#169 December 01, 2009, 9:21 am Is the login details same as we used for filling prometric CAT form??
rameez.raza	#170 December 01, 2009, 11:09 am guys we can crib as much as we want but ultimately we’ll have to tamely surrender to what the IIM’s decide. be it the quantum of negative marking or call criteria or even the scores. i’m dead sure there would be some of us who would attempt (say) 40 questions but on the APOCALYPSE(22nd jan) your score would reflect something far lesser than that. i wonder though if we can use RTI then. but going by the horrible response to the RTI queries i dont think it would help either. so ultimately most of us would bite the dust and there would be a few thousand lucky mortals who’ll survive all the odds (and the viruses [:D] ) who’ll bag the calls – by luck/fluke/technical glitches , whatever you may call them and it’ll all be over. so better not worry so much about that. lets just give our best shot with whatever we’re provided at the test labs and then hope for the best as thats the only thing that we can control.
Malapropism	#171 December 01, 2009, 1:23 pm My exam was at Asia Pacific Institute of Management, Delhi on 30th morning. It was very organised. Nobody there faced ANY problem whatsoever. The process was streamlined and infact, everyone was asked to start the exam at 9:55 (5 minutes earlier) as the Prometric guys had finished with the formalities well before time. I finished at 12:10. Nothing went wrong during the exam. There was ample help if anyone needed it. But I heard nobody call for any. I’m not defending PROMETRIC. I think whatever has happened to my other friends is UNFAIR. We were just lucky. I guess. All the best to everyone! Try not to panic. Believe nothing will go wrong and it actually won’t!
iwillwin	#172 December 01, 2009, 6:10 pm hey frendz cud any 1 tell me ….. which password we will hav to enter there…… will they give it 2 us.???????
anonymous	#173 December 01, 2009, 8:12 pm ppl pls y don u tel the topics frpm which quants questions were mainly asked.. it was even or??
prashantmittal1	#174 December 02, 2009, 12:15 am @iwillwin dude we are not required any passwrd…nor they will provide they will come to ur desk and enter it themselves….just chillax yar
rishi	#175 December 02, 2009, 3:17 am please help me …i m nervous..
rahulamiable	#176 December 02, 2009, 11:12 am hey frnds i apprd 4 exam,,all i can say dat it was of avg level..but ppl who hav ease of working and sitting:) before PC for 2.5 hrs with no movement…has sm edge:) just dnt be nervous….its just normal paper…give it calmly u vil cm with flying colours..gud luck….
rahulamiable	#177 December 02, 2009, 11:13 am no passord no nthing take only 3 things as dey r saying..admit card,voucher,id proof….
1cattaker	#178 December 03, 2009, 5:06 pm hi ppl i gave the exam on d 1st of dec, there were no problems at our centre & there ws plenty of help available. so overall my experience was just fine….. but yes there were a few ppl whose comp hung in between 4-5 times which i blv definately puts them at an advantage as they effectively got much more than 2.15hrs……… also i am nt sure if the answers have been posted already but i did see a few ppl asking about -ve marking – to that i would like to reply that yes there ws a disclaimer which mentioned that there will b -ve marking for incorrect answers although not specified how much, & that no -ve marking for unattempted questions. i blv there is an alternation between the difficulty level of the sections as in, some sections r moderate on sum days n easy on the others. i am not sure of the repeated questions though but if dat is d case it is grossly unfair…….. def like to add 1 piece of suggestion fr ever1 yet 2 take d exam – plz try n attempt as many questions as possible, there will b times when you can eliminate 2 options altogether so try n go fr a lil calculated guess here n there……… i wish every1 all d best!!
1cattaker	#179 December 03, 2009, 9:18 pm hey guys forgot to add that you shud beware of the “END” button while reviewing the questions…. DO NOT PRESS IT as it would end the test for you n not take u back to the main questions as thought & pressed by some students, instead just click on the question # from where you wish to restart the exam. also the other is “QUIT TEST” button which is right next to the “NEXT” button plz STAY CLEAR & keep you mouse at a distance so as to avoid even hitting it by mistake. best of luck!!
bantu0309	#180 December 04, 2009, 10:45 am The whole fiasco reminds of the Last year’s SNAP exam, atleast in that exam people were later called for GD/PI and SNAP people accepted their mistake, but here IIM people are too adamant to acknowledge this. I think Online tests on such a big platform can’t be fair: Lab ambience will never be the same Hardware can’t be same at all Labs Comfort in seating arrangement can never be same Test can’t be taken on a single day, it needs to be spread on a few days– and here the main problem comes–different papers with different difficulty levels and all other issues which we have till date. There are ample of other problems that against that are against online CAT
varunvenkatesh	#181 December 04, 2009, 2:21 pm people who got a message yesterday saying that the exam has been rescheduled please check with prometrics before deciding not to go to center…….i was scheduled for the 6th and i got a mail that my slot has been rescheduled….. when i called prometrics helpline they told me to ignore the mail….. something is colossally wrong bout the whole thing…..
ravishri	#182 December 05, 2009, 11:20 am CAT 09 sure had a lot hype and a lot of expectations … no one was quite sure of what exactly to expect on the d-day… One thing was for certain … this wud be a CAT like none other … Sadly, these expectations were met. CAT 09 did go off with a bang… aiming to do what was hitherto not considered feasible on a country like India – certainly a very ambitious project. The prestigious IIMs collaborated with the leader in online testing – prometric – looking forward to start a new dimension in online testing in India. clearly, it a huge leap … and an euqally messy fall. The worst part is that the people responsible for this fiasco are still actively defending themselves. IIMs have made a shoddy attempt at washing their hands off this fiasco. By putting the entire blame on Prometric. Had the CAT gone on smoothly – without any glitches for anyone – I wonder whether they would have been so modest and passed on the entire praise on prometric. In any case, no one can change what has haapened. The only way that the IIMs can walk away with some semblance of respect from this diaster is to scrap the entire operation and do a paper based test until they can come up with a fool proof method of online testing. One is forced to wonder why a test that in no manner ought to test computer skills, would change its format from a proven paper based pattern. I cannot see any reason that made it imperative to have the CAT online – that too without insufficient testing. While the IIMs have put on a shameless front and seem adament to see things through, I would like to highlight certain aspects wherein it seems that the ease & comfort of the candidates was the last thing on the minds of the testing authorities: 1. An over-excited young man declares with apparent pleasure on the “what to expect at the test center” video that the candidates must be prepared to sit and wait for almost 2 hours before the exams begin without even expecting the luxury of going to the washroom or have a drink of water. 2. Lack of maintenance of standard testing conditions, eg, water bottles being allowed at certain places and banned in others, test center “proctors” not knowing that their talking during the exam is a disturbance to the candidates, etc 3. Certain absolutely baseless rules followed, eg, forcing candidates to remove their shoes & socks & outerwear(sweaters, etc) before the exam while allowing them to keep their wallets 4. Not disclosing the marking pattern for the test. A very important part of the CAT exam is stategizing. But how are the candidates expected to strategize correctly when the rewards and penalties are not told to them upfront. This makes the entire exam a matter of luck – even more so than has already become evident. It seems that the IIMs have started thinking of the candidates who put in year(s) of preparation for the CAT as nothing nore than guinea pigs. Why else would they still be holding their heads up shamelessly and that too after fouling up the test for thousands of candidates. Maybe the IIMs ought to be reminded that they are not doing any favor to the candidates. Each candidate has paid a good amount of money to have earned a rightful chance to appear for the CAT exam. The IIMs cannot just treat more that 2.75 lakhs candidates as a vast testing lab. Considering the lack of IT infrastructure in India, many candidates had to face unnecessary hardships by having to select ceters outside of thier city of residence. They have spent thousands of rupees in making arrangements for travel, stay and other miscellaneous expenses. Even if prometric reschedues the CAT exam for these candidates, they will have to go thru the entire cycle of spending 1000s of rupees for an exam which until last year had no such special needs. The money aready spent for travel, stay, etc is something that is lost and the IIMs are not even acknowledging it!!! That was about the candidates who have an opportunity to be rescheduled. How is prometric going to cater for those candidates whose machines shutdown for 20-30 minutes in between – thereby giving a lot of extra time for those pesky questions that can be solved but need extra time for the same? There was certainly no pressure on the IIMs to conduct CBTs. They ought to have pushed the use of till India could afford to comfortably host such exams or at least after a fool proof round of testing by the testing authorities. The worst part of it all is that CAT has lost its credibility. With even the marking pattern not specified and marking a gap of 53 days till the declaration of results, one cannot conceive of any reson for the entire exercise. If the IIMs remain adament and go on with this approach, they have to come up with a good answer – looking into all the cases – and giving crystal clear explanations on how the anomalies (which, by the way, have run into tens of thousands so far) such as – cases of computer shutting down giving extra time to solve questions, inablility to complete the test and inability to even start the test – have been catered for. The IIMs ought to act in a mature fashion. Mistakes do occur at times. But true character is exhibited in how you cope by acknowledging it – not stifling or ignoring it. The CAT, until last year, was an exam where even a single mistake on the candidates’ part could potentially cost them a call from their dream institute. There is no reason why the expectations of the candidates from the conducting authorities should not be the same. And in this aftermath, after having bungled at least tens of thousands of exams, CAT authorities must be prepared to pay the price and conduct the exam entriely again in a fool proof manner – even paper-based tests would do.
Wynand	#183 December 05, 2009, 2:09 pm Give the conduct of CAT 2010 to an Indian company like Wipro, Infosys. These American companies cannot cope with the scale and pressure of India. Prometric is a loser. Did you guys read today’s TOI? Prometric is leaking out information on CAT aspirants to coaching centers!! A lawsuit is due!
1cattaker	#184 December 05, 2009, 2:11 pm every1 here plz sign this petition n get ur friends n family 2 do d same…….. http://www.petitionvoice.in/cancellation-of-online-combined-aptitude-test-petition.html i hope it makes a difference!
abhisekdas	#185 December 06, 2009, 2:07 am I’s supposed to take the test on 29th in the afternooon slot. Got an sms @ 2:30 in the morning from a friend that exam has been cancelled in our particular lab due to technical problems. Checked the same in CAT’s website where Prometric promised to reschedule us. It’s a hair raising news to say the least. Still we went to our test site, only to know more shocking news that Prometric had in store for us. 50 people were supposed to take CAT in our slot but they just chose 5 people randomly and I got selected but my friend wasn’t.I’s astonished like anything but exam went well. My friend took the test on 5th (was scheduled in the morning slot but began exam only @ 12:30 as his name was not there in the list)………this is not the end……..I’ve got a mail & an sms on 4th and 5th respectively from Prometric that my exam has got rescheduled. I don’t know whether it’s a mistake on their part or I’m seriosly supposed to take it again. But I hope you all would agree that IIM (Indian Institute of Mismanagement) appointed PROMETRIC [Professional Riddler Ordered (to) Make (us) Extremely Tired, Rabid, Irritated and Cracked] to conduct CAT 09!!!
Insomnia1	#186 December 07, 2009, 1:47 am Well my experience was a strange one, i had my CAT on dec 6th and the exam started bang on time and was very smooth nd well organised for everybody in the centre. But an hour later my system got hung, n i freaked out. The prometric guys were very helpful, they restarted my system in about 5 mins and also made sure that no one left the exam room in the end before i finished my paper. I must say im highly impressed with the smooth n organised conduct of the exam. The prometric people at my centre were very well trained and there were no other glitches there watsoever. It came as a surprise to me as i had heard a lot of prometric bashing in the last few days. I guess the criticism is over-hyped after all. And the quit button does show a prompt asking if u want to quit, since i saw it myself, so those who pressed it both the times accidentally both the times, have themselves to blame for it. I hope the exam doesnt get scrapped for the 2.2 lakh of the rest of us who are too exhausted to write it again.
netfundu	#187 December 07, 2009, 10:30 pm In my centre 5 guys equally distributed the sctions of the paper and solved it…they are surely going to get more than 99.5+…so for all the guys who worked hard for CAT…like me IIM says :balls to you as well!! sorry mods…dont ban me for this…just a bit upset with all this..
rishabsri	#188 December 07, 2009, 10:57 pm sir, this is to bring to your kind notice that my test was on 29th nov which was got cancelled and the next date which I got was after 5 days .. This was just the beginning of problems…finally I was allotted at AZAD institute of engineering and technology on 7th of dec… But when I started the test without my asking examiner started the test and I was not allowed to see the tutorial….. After that the real problem begins there was one case lets in which there was no questions to follow that case let. 2.. in another case let in was mentioned that the table give the sales, revenue etc of company but the table preceding it gave details of student of marketing, HR and finance and their salary etc.. After all these my got completely upset. Now I don’t know what to do…Please look after the problem of we the like students
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