Online CAT crashes on day one

Hundreds of students were left stranded on Saturday as the first-ever online Common Admission Test (CAT) failed to take off in several centres across the country after some servers crashed due to an “overload”. HT Correspondents reports.

Hundreds of students were left stranded on Saturday as the first-ever online Common Admission Test (CAT) failed to take off in several centres across the country after some servers crashed due to an “overload”.

HT Image

But the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), which conduct the test, and Prometric, the US firm organising the online examination, said there were minor technical glitches only.

“There is absolutely no reason for students to worry,” Samir Barua, director, IIM Ahmedabad told Hindustan Times.

Candidates who could not take the test because of the glitch would be accommodated in other slots, he said.

About 12,500 candidates took the test on Saturday. Panic and confusion reigned as many students were unable to log into the online system or view questions.

Complaints poured in from at least nine states, including Delhi, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

“I had spent months preparing for the examination, but was not able to connect to the server from my computer terminal,” said Ravi MV, a first-time candidate for CAT.

Soumitra Roy, managing director (India), Prometric, said CAT 2009 had not been cancelled in any of the test centres.

“In fact, thousands of tests were successfully delivered in hundreds of test centres throughout India,” Roy said. “As a result of isolated technical issues, some candidates are being rescheduled and provided a new appointment via email and SMS.”