I have given my CAT examination on 30th November in Bangalore. I had 2 restarts in the middle of the examination. And the proctors have been using their mobile phones in the examination hall. We could not concentrate on what we are doing in the examination hall.

I called CAT helpline the next day. They redirected my call to Prometric. I asked them why proctors are allowed to use their mobile phones in the examination hall. The answer given by them is ridiculous. They say "As this is a online test you candidates have some problems with the systems, so in order to allow all the candidates write the examination we asked the proctors not to switch off their mobile phones.".

They asked me to "hope for the best". Prometric doesn't take any responsibility for the events happening.

what has been finally the decision?

since i feel that although i would still make it to this prestigious institute i am not convinced and happy with the cheating and the way the exam has been conducted.

i just hope that it is re scheduled so that every1 gets a fair chance.

Hi,

I am not writing this to vent my frustation of not clearing the exam since i am quite sure that i would still make it but to the point out the concerns which I have after getting the first hand feel of the exam.

This mail is the voice of "those thousands" who have suffered in the events which have unfolded for the past some days.May be they are not yet ready to speak up. However I sincerely want to put forth my views in the perspective of ongoing "drama" and hope the best action- "cancellation and rescheduling of CAT takes place" which would be in the best interest of students and our very own prestigious IIM's- for this can be the only last saving grace and the sooner done the better it would be.

The issues i want to stress at the moment would primarily be:

1. What does a non-disclosure agreement truly mean? Can we anyhow keep track of the people who would by some means transfer the content of the exam which is now freely happening on all the sites?
Is it fair for some students to suffer since some of them already know a few questions( there have been instances of question repetition..!!) when this is an exam in which time plays a huge role?When there are so many other exams who take up these same scores how do you justify that the whole effort that has been put in day and night just goes waste due to the above mentioned scenario?

2.How do we justify technical snags? Can you compare two persons on the same parameter when one due to a technical snag could attempt three additional questions since he tried those while the system was restarting to the one who could not write the exam at all since was rescheduled to a date which clashed with that of his internal exams to the one who suffered no such snags..!!! How do we justify a "Quit " button on each page which without any warning closes the whole test at one shot and then according to the rules you are supposed to sit there till others complete the test .

I hope the concerned authorities still take the final decision and scrap this exam for rescheduling because that would at least ensure that the truly worthy students get the deserved institutes rather than simply "Luck by chance"

I had cat on the first day, the first slot. Initially i felt a lack of communication at the centre. There is supposed to be a strict security check up at first. While the security guards were dutiful there was no organisation between them. While a guard frisked at a corner, we had to deposit our valuables at another place, giving ample oppurtunity for someone to carry valuables inside. Inside the test lab there was one batch of students who were told to wait for the test as there was some technical glitch. According to the cat website stipulations we were to start at around 9 45 with the the tutorial. The proctors didnt know about it and some guys got into an argument regarding that. As soon as the test started someones computer crashed, causing him to raise hue and cry for that. The proctors took an hour to fix it, thanks to some loud talking on the phone. Meanwhile i could see two or three people discussing a part of the comprehension questions.
The atmosphere in the examination room could hardly be described as quiet. If anything it was chaotic, loud and noisy. As far as i can see the proctors were in no way responsible for the mess; they tried their best to solve it. I think prometric should largely own up responsblity for their shoddy work and conduct a reexam for the benifit of everyone involved, or else there will be questions raised, whatever they do no to try to fix the problem, about the authenticity of the results.

IT can be rephrased as 28/11 attack by IIM's and Prometric on 2 lakh+ people.. the only difference is no casualities as of now(physically)...


When it all started in September we all had faith in IIMs that they will never play with the lives of people..but the first attack came whem without any authentication applications got submitted and students have to rush to get another voucher, so that they can fill in the details again.No grudges the first aid was provided by refunding the money and opening the edit window again and ...again... Thanks!!

The second shot was on 28/11 when the first slot went in, to gave the exam.. already that time out of stress people are about to die and at the same time a sudden explosion ... CRASHED SERVERS... No one can do anything.. Prometricis not responsible..IIMs are not responsible... If I am correct i think it implies that the students are the only one who are responsible? For few it got ended without any of their fault,the only fault was that they clicked REVIEW which is suppose to be a tab to view the question(Human Bomb ..Disguised).. End exam tab was on each and every page without fail and to make sure that you end the exam even if you hit it unknowingly...BEWARE!! It is not suppose to give you any kind of warnings or TIME, even if you close the tab of click cancel.. you have already commited suicide noone can save...

Adding to this utter amusment, was the fact that the questions got repeated slot after slot after slot..... GOD!!! CAT exam or what is this....

NON-DISCLOSURE agreement... who is there to make sure it is not getting disclosed.... It is and now it is so open that people of second slot already knew Questions via some means or the other...We can't ignore this.

I would really urge IIMs to please took in to this matter it is something like in terror attack you and your relatives are safe so you are happy, it is not this it is a matter of lives of Lakhs of people. We still have faith in IIM's please do something positive.

The very reputed institutions built over a period has been dismantled by poor administration and leadership.
Is there a deliberate design to disintegrate the very institutations which values and honours excellence.Is Caste politics being played here also?

Kapil Sibal should own up responsibility and Govt of India to compensate all aspirants who have been put to hardship.Recover
compensation amount from the service provider.This will be a deterrent for all shoddy services.

Any system when going live will go through a thorough testing,parallel run,user acceptance tests.Has this cycle been gone through in this case.It would be apt for HRD Ministry to take the help of Nandan Nilekani for inputs.IRCTC would also provide help for online system maintenance.

Virus protection software should be mandated for all public institutions Desktops.Only licensed software be allowed.
NASSCOM to encourage OPEN software developers.Utilise the services of passing out Engineering Degree holders and provide assistance for such endevours

Let IT not be a money making machine alone.We need to leverage IT to serve humanity also.

CAT helpline to run 24/7 till the tests are over.Promptly provide alternate dates for aspirants who have not been able to complete their tests.

M.Gopalakrishnan

I am a computer engineer and with the little knowledge I have about networking, if the interface and architecture of this substandard computer network provided by Prometric is susceptible to virus attack and lack of robustness leading to crashes, makes me wander the fate of the network incase of intrusion leading to DOS.

This is cakewalk for smalltime hackers. Believe me the results will have no authenticity.

I am not able to understand, how can these people (IIM and Prometric) play with the future of thousands of students? Have they ever thought the plight of us? We put our all effort to do better on the D-day. And what we get.....rescheduling of examination after the wastage of 5-6 hours on this so called lab. I am completely shattered and surprised on this mess up. It is very unfortunate that nobody from HRD ministry came forward to clear the cloud.

hi,i am a final year engineering student from mumbai university.
mine slot of 29th NOV.,sunday was cancelled due to technical problem.2 days r gone,still i have'nt received any mail from PROMETRIC regarding my rescheduling of exam.candidate web mail is of no use..i sent dem mail twice,but no reply so far..
what to do??

There has been several glitches and delays that people are reporting like geometric figures and tables are not coming or cropped, systems shutting down by itself, screen getting refreshed or taking too much time to load during the testing time, review button not working and test ending by just clicking the review button or the mark button. This is completely horrible and CAT IIM should consider cancelling everyone's score and schedules and retest everyone on a common platform by having a pen-paper based test next month. That would be more fair and justifiable.
I am really afraid and having apprehensions about what will happen when i go for test day after tomorrow.