Shiksha Opinion: IIMs finally making way for transparency and student friendly test pattern?
Earlier this year, Common Admission Test (CAT) and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) authorities were caught in the eye of a storm. Allegations of discrepancies in actual and normalised CAT 2013 scores were rife among students and coaching centres. Angry over the discrepancies and lack of transparency, a group of disgruntled candidates joined hands and filed cases in various High Courts across the country.
Result: Each High Court ordered issues notice to 13 IIMs and Prometric (CAT 2013 test-taking agency), some courts even asking to reserve seats for the affected students. The courts declared that all admissions will be subject to outcome of the writ petitions.
When we spoke to Rohit Kapoor back in February 2014, he claimed nothing could go wrong in the scores and normalised percentiles, for everything is based on a computer algorithm.
But clearly, the student’s movement has affected the entire CAT process. Analyse these:
- Test to be conducted on two days only instead of 20-day test window
- Test duration increased to 170 minutes from 140 minutes
- Number of questions up to 100 from 60
- Candidates can easily switch between sections
All the above steps point towards one thing: reducing normalisation.
Normalisation, the crux of woes for many students, is now spread over only four sessions. Chances are, only a total of 400 questions (100 questions in each section) will be developed by the IIMs. To solve the logistic issues, the test will take place simultaneously across 99 cities and over 350 sites.
Secondly, it’s a level playing field for everyone in terms of test duration. Instead of the fixed 70 minutes in each section, candidates now have a total of 170 minutes to devote to any section of their choice. So students can devote more time to the difficult sections and optimise performance in their strong sections. To maintain the difficulty level, questions have gone up to 100.
CAT 2014: New pattern, new strategies
Four slots also mean no leakage of questions. With hopefully only four set of question papers, can be assured that students cannot have an access to the previous question banks.
What else? One more month to prepare! Instead of October, CAT 2014 will be held in November. Just ensure you don’t get stressed out by the three-hour paper.
The IIMs are yet to disclose the several more details, such as the scoring and scaling process, test guides, test pattern etc. All these disclosures will come post August 6, 2014 (when registration commences). CAT 2014: Official website now available!
The new paper pattern may be a little confusing for CAT 2014 students. Right now, all coaching centres can do is guide every aspirant. Every suggestion is probably a speculation. We can know the truth only on November 16 & 22, 2014. Students have to attempt various question probabilities and Mock-tests, focus on correct attempts.
But surely we can give points to CAT and IIMs to pave way for creating a level-playing field for everyone and making it student friendly. Rest, let’s wait for the D-day.
