Is the interest for the Common Admission Test (CAT) waning? The queues outside Axis Bank branches for CAT vouchers seem to point so, though first day numbers are hardly indicative. The general overview from across the country was that while queues for buying CAT vouchers were shorter this year, it took more time to get the voucher in one’s hand (because some Banks had assigned only one counter) and took much longer to register online.
Additionally, while last year many Axis Bank branches sported eager CAT aspirants as early as 6 am to grab the first spot (and also have a better chance at choosing the exam slot) this year, aspirants generally trickled in around 8 am. Queue-waiting time was an average 45 minutes in most places.
Even Abhay Nargund, Assistant Vice-President and Branch Head at the Shivaji Park (Mumbai) branch of the Bank too noticed a decline in the numbers. Too early to say but yes, compared to the previous years, this year I felt the queue outside is shorter. Also last year, students were outside the Bank very early in the morning. Today the first person arrived only at around 8 am, Mr Nargund told PaGaLGuY.
In fact, there was a general calm outside the Banks, unlike a good deal of excitement sported in the years before. The queues were orderly and quite a few middle-aged and old people were seen sharing space with youngsters. It was a strange assortment comprising of parents, drunk servants, siblings, friends and confused MBA aspirants. Even as rains changed to sunshine, the mood in the queues was pretty much the same — bored and just waiting to get done with it.
Not even the server crash at Shivaji Park branch of Axis Bank which lasted for about one hour could manage to rouse anyone from their slumber. Mr Nargund says the problem was rectified in a short while and additional counters were opened to make good the loss of time. We are keeping anything between one and three counters going at a time depending on the crowd outside, said Mr Nargund.
A dog keeps bored CAT aspirants amused outside an Axis Bank branch.
The conversation in the queues mostly ranged from the changes in the CAT this year to Anna Hazare. Some were keeping tabs on the latest on Hazare via their mobile phones, while others remained engrossed in newspapers they had brought with them to kill time.
Speaking on the changes in CAT, Atul Kumar Anthony, an MBA aspirant, who had queued up at the Borivali (Mumbai) branch, was worried about two sections in the exam. I cannot move back and forth as per my wish. It is quite worrying. It is going to be true test of my judgement for correct answers in a limited time frame, he mentioned.
As usual, engineers were in a majority in the queues but there were those who wanted to move away from tech careers. Charni Nagda, a student at Shivaji Park branch is currently studying Pharmacy and is sure that once her studying is over, the pharmaceutical job she will land in, will be of a pure technical nature. As an option she wants to do MBA in HR. If my plan A of cracking the CAT exam does not work out, I am ready with plan B of getting a job and attempting CAT again next year.
But the engineers-in-the-making also had their say. Suhail Bhansali, Pushkar Doshi, both engineeering students who were waiting for an hour in the line said that it is obvious that the next step after engineering is MBA. After technical knowledge, getting into management is the right way to go ahead. It’s a good combination, said Suhail. When asked about the ‘diversification’ drive by the Indian Insitutes of Management (IIMs), both Pushkar Doshi and Akshaye Shetye, also engineering students said that while diversification is fine, the engineers will finally see their way through. It’s good to diversify and have a good mix of students but the engineers will always be the most in the lot, said Pushkar.
Bangalore’s Adesh Sharma had to be at his workplace so sent his dad to pick up a voucher. There were students in the queue but since my dad seemed like an elderly person, they allowed him to buy the voucher first, said Adesh. This is Adesh’s second attempt at CAT (the earlier one being in 2009). I wanted work eperience so decided to take a pass last year, he reasoned. And why does he want to do an MBA? I want a better pay packet and a better job. And in 12 years I will have my own company too, Adesh added.
Delhi’s Sector 7 sported long queues today, though apparently they were shorter than last year. Ashutosh Vats who is attempting CAT for the seventh time was in the queue for more than an hour. When asked why CAT seven times and why not just do an MBA from a non-IIM and finish off with it, Ashutosh said he has lost nothing in his several attempts. I have a steady job and am sure I want only an IIM. So what is the harm in attempting the CAT till I get into an IIM, he justified.
Having seen the CAT transform from a pencil-paper exam to an online, Ashutosh is all for the earlier version. In the online version, after about an hour, staring at the screen irritates. Also the earlier system meant that it was a uniform paper for all and issues like normalisation never cropepd up, Ashutosh told PaGaLGuY. And for the eternal question Why MBA?, he said that the MBA tag adds to the resume. It develops logical skills and you do learn much more.
This was Hyderabad-based Sai Chandan Duggirala’s third wait for a CAT voucher. “I have attempted CAT in the past but did not get through an IIM so am trying for it again this year.” Sai Chandan was at the Bank at 9 am and got his voucher only at 11 am. “And I got registered only at 3 pm. There was just too much of a problem trying to register online,” he sighed.
But online is the way the aspirants want to be. Generally, since the wait was longer, there was an overall outcry from students front about the availability of vouchers online. In this fast paced internet age, they said it was a valid demand and should be put into practise next year onwards.
Issues like normalisation and psychometrics hardly seemed a concern for the aspirants, they did not seem to care. Some had borrowed advice, some were indifferent and the majority was clueless about normalisation (the methods used by Prometric to equate test scores across 20 days). Neha Mehra, at the Borivali branch, is studying IT engineering from a Malad college said that her coaching class has prescribed selecting a first week slot to get a better percentile. She has no idea on what basis the advice was given and she has not bothered to ask. Parag Menon, another student, waiting at Mumbai’s Borivali branch was all for normalisation, Normalisation is fair. Everyone should be judged on the same bar.
Sai Chandan too believes that normalisation is fine and it does not bother him too much, having gone through it last year, when students did make a hue and cry about it. Abhishek S, another aspiring MBA, who completed engineering last year is not concerned about normalisation. “I am really not bothered. I just want an MBA for my otherwise technical background,” he said.
And when students were generally asked about the increase in voucher price, the answer was pat and quick. What’s Rs 200 anyway, was the general retort.
Tale of an old man and a drunkard
On days such as these one comes across the entire spectrum of humans ranging from proud parents to quirky strange characters. Possible every Axis Bank counter had an elderly ‘mother’ or a ‘father’ waiting for a voucher. Generally they were in the queue because their children were busy at work or at college. An applause for Mr AJ Louis who was standing in the queue since 6 am at the Borivali Axis Bank branch to get the CAT voucher for her daughter who resides in Pune. He was one of the first persons to reach the branch. His daughter Joyleen is working in Pune at Infosys. This will be her second attempt at CAT and she hopes to get into one of the IIMs. Very proud of his daughter and a son who had taken the CAT way back in 2002, Mr Louis was clearly irritated with the escalating voucher price. It has clearly become their monopoly (referring to IIMs). However, nothing much can be done as there are so few seats and so many people appearing for the exam. It is a tough competition scenario.
On another far flung spectrum, was a drunk man who was loudly and clearly smelling of booze and was also surprisingly standing in the queue. When enquired he mentioned forcefully and irritatingly that he was standing there for his boss’s son, without wanting to divulge any details about the mysterious boss and his ward.