You will be able to edit your information in the online registration for CAT 2009 now. Finally. We talked to Prof Satish Deodhar, CAT 2009 convener and professor at IIM Ahmedabad who told us how the online registration will become simpler in the days to come, solving many problems reported by anxious CAT aspirants on September 9. You will also get a refund if you bought a second voucher in panic.
The following clarifications are based on our conversation with Prof Satish Deodhar on Thursday evening.
Will there be an Edit button in the online registration for CAT 2009?
“I mistakenly left some fields in the form empty, will I be able to complete them?”
Yes. In ten days from now, Prometric will provide an ‘edit’ button in the online registration for CAT 2009. All candidates (including the ones who have already registered) will then be able to edit their information in the online registration form.
During the registration process, candidates receive two emails from Prometric. The first arrives when they create a profile (stating personal information) and the other email contains the admit card.
After the edit option is introduced ten days from now, you will be able to change/update information in your form (academic scores, degree details and so on), following which you will receive an updated personal profile email. In case you edit information such as name (see errata below) address, location and such, you will receive a new admit card. This will be the admit card you will take to the CAT 2009.
“I entered my state of residence as Maharashtra in the form, but the email I received put my location as Andaman and Nicobar Islands. How do I correct it now?”
All such candidates will be able to edit their information once the ‘edit’ button is introduced, thus, all problems of misspelled names and wrong states will be taken care of.
“After I entered my information wrongly, I panicked and bought another CAT voucher to register myself correctly. Will I get a refund now?”
Yes. All the candidates who registered again because they entered wrong information will be reimbursed. For the reimbursement, they will have to go to the ‘Contact us‘ page on the CAT website and call the helpline at the toll-free number: 1 800 103 9293. Else they can contact Prometric using the form at http://www.prometric.com/IIM-CAT/contactus and state their case. Personnel from candidate care services will then contact them about the refund process.
“But I now have two registrations. Which one should I correct for final usage and which one should I ask refund for?”
It is upto you. Prometric will free up the slot for usage by someone else.
There is no option for a middle name in the registration form. What does a candidate with a middle name do in such a scenario?
The middle name can be entered along with your first name, in the area given for first name, with a space in between both the names. For example, if your name is ‘Amit Kumar Sharma’ then you enter your name as:
First Name: Amit Kumar
Last Name: Sharma
Candidates who have names such as ‘IJ Krishna’ can either enter IJ as their first name and Krishna as their last name or they can expand the ‘I’ and ‘J’ and enter it as their first name.
(Added later)
According to Prof Satish Deodhar, a candidate can choose how he wants to represent his name in the registration. For example, if the candidate’s name is Srinivas Shekhar Rao, he can choose what name he wants to put first. The instructions for registration also state:
“Name and surname: Enter your name as it appears in the school leaving certificate. You can decide what part of the name should go into the Surname and First Name fields”.
So relax folks, and prepare peacefully for the D-day!
Errata (added on September 11, 2009): Editing names will not be possible in the CAT online registration form. We apologize for stating earlier that you can do so. If you have entered your name wrongly, first clarify with the CAT helpline if your manner of entering the name will get you in trouble. If they say so, then you might have to re-register using a new voucher.