Mumbai online CAT stumbles

On Saturday, Ajit Khedkar (26) went to a test centre for the first online Common Admission Test (CAT), with two years of studying crammed into his head.

On Saturday, Ajit Khedkar (26) went to a test centre for the first online Common Admission Test (CAT), with two years of studying crammed into his head.

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He returned without writing the exam.

That’s because his was one of the many centres where computer servers crashed, both in the morning and evening sessions.

There are five centres in Mumbai and five in Navi Mumbai. About 20,000 aspirants from Mumbai are taking the exam this year.

At the Father Agnel Ashram centre at Bandra, about 30 students couldn’t take the test because of a software glitch. The evening session saw a bigger technical snag and more aspirants sent back.

The story repeated itself at the Saraswati College of Engineering, Kharghar, and the Thakur Polytechnic at Kandivli.

“They told us they would reschedule our exam, and that we could ask for a new date if the one they give us is not convenient, but this is just very disappointing. I’ll have to go through the whole process again. Also, most aspirants have other entrance exams,” said Khedkar.

For those who did take the test, it proved fruitful. The format was as the IIMs had stated on their website. “The test was far simpler than I expected. It didn’t seem like a CAT test. But it’s all relative when it comes to the IIMs’ cut-offs,” said an aspirant who did not want to be named because of the non-disclosure clause.