American firm Prometric, which conducted the first computer-based Common Admission Test (CAT) for the Indian Institutes of Management, took responsibility on Monday for the technical glitches that had marred the exam last year.
“It was a lapse on our part,” said Charles Kernan, chief operating officer of Prometric, responding to a question about the technological failure that meant thousands of students could not appear for the CAT as several test centres across the country reported server failure during the test.
“We have learnt several lessons from our experience. There was a lot of local hardware being used and more needed to be done to secure public networks,” Kernan said.
He added that changes needed to be made from the application process up to the delivery of the tests and Prometric would discuss the possibilities of improvement with the IIMs.
Kernan also denied that their contract with IIMs was under review.
“There is no reason not to be planning to go forward,” he said.
The IIMs had earlier said that they would review their contract with Prometric following widespread criticism on the failure of the international firm to conduct a smooth computer-based CAT.
{{/usCountry}}The IIMs had earlier said that they would review their contract with Prometric following widespread criticism on the failure of the international firm to conduct a smooth computer-based CAT.
{{/usCountry}}With many students dissatisfied with their CAT scores, Prometric said the test scoring was done scientifically and was aligned to international standards. “We have tried to be transparent. We have put the entire scoring procedure on the website,” added Soumitra Roy, MD, Prometric (India).
Almost 11,000 students, who were affected due to the technological problems and could not either sit for the CAT or whose exam was disrupted, were asked to sit for the second phase of the CAT test on January 30 and 31 this year.