Shiksha Opinion: Was CAT 2014 entirely glitch-free?

On November 22, Anindo Banerjee, arrived for his CAT 2014 test at an institute in Shahpur, Thane. The second slot was scheduled to begin at 3 pm. Anindo arrived at the centre on time and went through the entire verification procedure at the gate and finally headed towards the test lab. And then what happened?

“We were made to sit in non-AC computer labs. There were just few fans in the room and with practically no ventilation. It was uncomfortably hot. Moreover, there were just three tube lights in the lab and to my dismay, one of them was not working. To compensate for the lack of light, the curtains were drawn aside. This caused problems in looking at the bright computer screens.  When I pointed out the same to the invigilator, her response was a laid back and casual ‘It’s okay',” says Anindo.

Anindo has already appeared for NMAT (NMAT 2015 score: 225) and CMAT. Being a serious MBA aspirant who devoted more than a year to preparation, Anindo set these ‘little issues’ aside and went on to attempt CAT 2014 exam.

An hour later in to the exam, suddenly his monitor went blank.

“I looked around in panic and found that everyone's PC in my lab had shut down due to some power failure. How can India’s biggest MBA examination be conducted without adequate provision of power backup?” he asks.

After few minutes, the power was back. Slowly all systems in the room stirred back to life. Except Anindo’s. “I tried to restart the system but it didn’t work. I immediately alerted the invigilator,” says Anindo.

In the next 10 to 15 minutes, the invigilators tried to restart the system. Then they moved Anindo to another system which also refused to start up. Finally, he was shifted to a new PC in a different lab. “I hardly remembered what I was thinking or writing. It was a terrifying situation and I was panicking. The new place allotted to me was even more poorly lit but the invigilators paid no heed to my complaints. My eyes were hurting due to strain,” recalls Anindo.

Luckily for Anindo, the testing console’s clock stopped during the power failure. The test resumed from where it stopped, helping Anindo not lose any precious time.

 Anindo went back to attempt his paper, trying to be undeterred by the sequence of events.

“With 12 minutes to CAT 2014 finish line, I faced another shock. My paper logged out automatically with a message 'Kindly contact the administrator'. The software person tried to login without any success. The PC had to be restarted again. After 10 minutes, the computer stirred back to life. By this time, I was no more in the frame of mind to give CAT. The entire class had already left the lab, except for one student,” says Anindo.

Hassled by the experience, 23-year-old Anindo sent a mail on Saturday evening, November 22, to the CAT 2014 authorities. He received the following response on Tuesday, November 25.

Unsatisfied by the response, Anindo wrote back:

CAT 2014 help desk has not responded to the above mail yet.

This is not a stand alone case. 

After CAT 2014 first test got over on November 16, Shiksha.com recorded two students on camera, speaking about the glitches in the testing console.

“My system stopped / hanged for approximately four times. They (authorities at the centre) moved my seat to a different location in the lab. At first, I thought I lost time,” said Tusshar Shareen, a CAT 2014 aspirant. Luckily for Tusshar, the timer stopped when the system started malfunctioning. So, he did not lose anytime.

On CAT 2014 Day 2, we spoke to several students outside a particular centre. None of them reported any glitches.

Next day, we received a frantic call from a coaching centre expert in Mumbai, informing us about ‘issues in CAT 2014 paper’.

“Quite a few good students, whom we expected to score above 95 percentile, have faced issues. There was power outrage, technical glitches and many other interruptions. In some cases, the invigilators walked up to the candidates and demanded to recheck verification more than once,” informed Sazeal Shah from Endeavour Careers.

In Anindo’s lab, there were about 40 aspirants taking the exam. Except for Anindo, no other aspirant was ready to present their point of view – some refused due to parental pressure and others refused because they ‘did not prepare for CAT 2014’.

Two other leading coaching centres also confirmed that some CAT 2014 aspirants faced problems in the testing console.

Technical glitches are not new to CAT. Ever since the exam went online, there hasn’t been a single year when test was administered completely glitch-free.

Moreover, questions over CAT normalization process are constantly being raised. In CAT 2013 some test-takers came together and filed a case against the IIMs and Prometric, asking the later to reveal raw scores and normalization method. The case is still in the courts.

This year too, CAT authorities haven’t revealed the normalization process. A leading coaching institute of the country has raised an online petition, “Bring transparency to declaration of CAT 2014 results”.

With all these issues in the background, presenting a glitch-free CAT in 2014 by TCS and IIMs was all the more important. A national-level computer-based examination like CAT should at least ensure proper power back-up at the test centres!

Often, aspirants are asked not to bother about little things like eye-straining, power failure, or technical issues and so on. For many, these are insignificant problems. But for the one taking the exam, it’s all that matters.

“Whatever I score today will not be a true reflection of my merit. A lot of effort that has been put in by me for this examination and nobody has a right to play with my future. Whom can I request to investigate into my case and grant me a fair attempt?” asks Anindo.

Anindo has been able to reach Shiksha.com and present his harrowing experience. But not all candidates are that lucky. While some candidates just accept it the way it is, few try to raise their concerns and send mails to CAT 2014 help desk. Unfortunately, in most cases, no serious action is being taken. For a serious CAT aspirant, it’s a year gone waste.