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CAT 2009

CAT 2009. Facts & Analysis By: Prashant Gahlan MT, MKCL. CAT 2009---An Overview. The test was conducted in 104 test sites across 32 centers in 10 days time period covering 2.76 lacs students. Contract worth 40m$ given to Prometric . NIIT received 10-11m$ of the deal.

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CAT 2009

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  1. CAT 2009 Facts & Analysis By: PrashantGahlan MT, MKCL

  2. CAT 2009---An Overview • The test was conducted in 104 test sites across 32 centers in 10 days time period covering 2.76 lacs students. • Contract worth 40m$ given to Prometric. NIIT received 10-11m$ of the deal. • 20 different tests for students in different batches. • 2.15 hr duration with 15 min initial tutorial about exam, 3 sections of 20 questions each. • Result to be declared on 22nd January

  3. Contract Structure • Prometric role included authoring, test development, test administration & scoring and reporting services, Prometricadded resources, including dedicated test development and support staff • Prometriccontracted NIIT to look into infrastructure and administration of exam which included installing their software on the various centers systems. All these systems were offline during exam. • Basic criteria for selecting private engineering colleges by NIIT was set to have at least 100 computers. • Colleges had to provide computers, internet connectivity, image capturing cameras, UPS & generators. • NIIT role was to provide identity cards, biometric equipment & stationary to the candidates.

  4. Is Contract to Prometric Justified? • Prometric being involved in GRE,GMAT & Toefl online tests was not able to replicated same model in CAT 09 • The target customer was totally different as the fee was not 180$ but only 31$, and services to students were not matched as was in former case • Firm not exposed and experienced to Indian Customers( Students)

  5. Student Problems - “Was CAT a fair test” • While GMAT test takers are allowed to download free diagnostic software with two full-length tests, CAT 2009 test takers had no such facility. A demo software with just 7 questions, with no scope to try out all the menu items on the screen was provided. • There are many students, more so from the rural areas, who may not have any idea of how a computer based test is taken

  6. The test software did not allow one to jump to sections as and when one wished to. One had to go through some questions to check, say, where the Verbal section started or the Quant section started. The scoring criteria were not specified. • The GMAT score is out immediately whereas the CAT takes nearly 45 to 60 days to publish the results. One fails to understand the reasons for the delay when the test is going online.

  7. Technical Problems • 2 virus Identified viz. “Conflicker” and “W32 Nimda” caused the Display to slow down. • The servers were not properly quarantined • The systems on which test was running were not properly scanned. The virus attack happened despite fire-walled systems, largely because computers used by Prometric were sourced/leased from local colleges in exam cities • 8,297 of 45,367 candidates were displaced due to software viruses, technical glitches including hardware failures (servers, network switches) and power outages. • Since, local PC’s were offline, the theory of virus attack only points to improper preparation for exam by NIIT.

  8. CAT On NTCP model

  9. Project Execution & Planning • The product was breakthrough in Indian market as nearest successful “BITSAT” caters only half the no. and 2.5 times the exam period • It was time critical project demanding delivery on all the attributes, technology was medium tech and Risk management aspects were totally understood

  10. Risk Management was not done properly. Exam failure situations should have been properly simulated and pre planning must have been done to avoid confusion • Prototype testing must have been done properly • End customers i.e. students were not educated properly about the product details involving Pre exam, During Exam & Post Exam scenarios.

  11. BITSAT—A success stroy • BITSAT started 4 years ago, no faliures • Dates in 1 month period, 19 centres across the country • BITSAT, the online test of BITS, Pilani is a success story of online tests in India. This year 120,000 students took the test and not a single student went back without taking the test! • “Eduquity” is the solutions partner for BITS PILANI for this exam

  12. Other Failure stories • Qualifications and Curriculum Authority of the UK had ended its five-year contract with ETS Europe after “serious problems with the administration and marking of tests” • IGNOU online exam was a failure. On the exam day only 2 questions popped up on screen, Yahoo being server provider reported server crashing lead to the problem.

  13. Repercussions • CAT 09 may be seen as a Unfair Tests by many and we may see Vendor change or older version of CAT coming back next year. • Many improvements on Customer education , Center Preparation and risk management system will be seen in coming time. • The students numbers may not see same growth as witnessed during last decade. • Online tests will increase the market for online mock tests coaching institutes and cost of preparation for students is deemed to rise.

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