IIMs announces highlights CAT 2011

Kolkata, July 25 (Calcutta Tube / IBNS) Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) announced the highlights of the Common Admission Test 2011 (CAT 2011) on Monday.

Prometric, a provider of market-leading test development and test delivery solutions, is IIMs’ partner in developing and delivering CAT 2011.

The CAT 2011 will have only two sections instead of three.

The first section will focus on Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation; the second on Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning. These two sections will be implemented sequentially with separate time limits.

The examination will be 140 minutes. Candidates will have 70 minutes to answer 30 questions within each section which will have an on-screen countdown timer.

Once the time ends for the first section, they will move to the second and will no longer be able to go back. Although new in the computer-based version of CAT, this format was previously practiced in some of the earlier paper-and-pencil years.

A 15-minute tutorial will be provided before the start of the test, and candidates are advised to go through that carefully before starting the main examination. The total duration will be two hours and 35 minutes including the tutorial.

A practice test to provide candidates with a feel of the timed sections, as well as navigation and functionality of the actual test will be made available in the coming weeks. Once again candidates are advised to go though them carefully to familiarise themselves with the screens, layout, and navigation.

The number of test days has been retained at 20 days within the window from 22 October to 18 November. This would provide candidates with the flexibility of choosing a suitable test day based on their convenience. For those candidates who are differently abled, additional support will be provided as required.

“We are confident that CAT 2011 is going to help us in identifying the appropriate candidates for our programmes, and that the examination will be fair and equitable,” said Janakiraman Moorthy, CAT 2011 Convenor.

“Considerable effort has been invested in maintaining similar level of difficulty across papers. A small number of statistically and psychometrically validated questions are randomly inserted in each question paper as equating blocks. These will be used for assessing post test equality across the days.”

IIMs and Prometric have reviewed the operational processes and contingent on the continued punctuality of candidates, the check-in procedure this year will start one-and-a-half hours before the scheduled test time instead of the previous two hours. With this change, candidates are also able to have an earlier start time of 3:15pm for the afternoon session.

To offer convenience to more candidates, three new cities – Bhilai, Jammu and Dehradun – have been added to the previous 33 test locations. This will help in bringing CAT closer to the northern states of the country.

To reduce the difficulties in purchasing CAT vouchers, now candidates will also be able to purchase CAT vouchers from 201 Axis Bank branches, an increase of 30 outlets.

A video on the conversion of CAT to a computer-based test and candidate impressions of this transition will be available on YouTube by the end of this week.

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) were established by the Government of India, starting from the early 1960s as national school of excellence in Management Sciences.

The Common Admission Test (CAT) is here again, this time in a student-friendly avatar. The test, that holds the key to the most coveted seats in the 13 IIMs and other major B-schools, has gone for a format makeover. The test will be held between Oct 22 and Nov 18.

Though the number of questions remains the same, CAT 2011 will have only two sections instead of

three, and an additional five minutes to tackle the test.

According to an official statement released on Monday by Prometric, the testing agency, and IIMs, CAT 2011 will have only two sections — on Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation, and on Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning.

“These sections will be implemented sequentially with separate time limits. The exam will be 140 minutes. Candidates will have 70 minutes to answer 30 questions within each section, which will have an on-screen timer. Once the time ends for the first section, they will irrevocably move to the second. Though new in the computer-based version of CAT, this format was used in some of the paper-and-pencil years,” said the statement. You will get 5 more mins to write CAT

CAT 2011’s new format promises to be student-friendly — one section less and five minutes more to tackle the 140-minute test, though the number of questions remains the same.

The change is vital for this entrance test as admission to IIMs is based on the sectional cut-offs. “This is a move to be studentfriendly. There are many students who lose out on a seat as they would have failed to perform in one of the sections,” said Prof. Janakiraman Moorthy, convener, CAT 2011.

An additional five minutes have been added to the existing two-and-half hours available to students. This includes a 15-minute tutorial, that will guide students through the process.

“Considerable effort has been invested in maintaining a similar level of difficulty across papers. A small number of statistically and psychometrically validated questions are randomly inserted in each question paper as equating blocks. These will be used to assess post-test equality across the days,” he added.

Bringing CAT closer to northern states, Bhilai, Jammu and Dehradun have been added to the existing 33 test locations. The number of testing days will remain 20. Check-in time has been reduced by half-an-hour from the previous two hours after considering “the continued punctuality of the candidates”. With this change, the afternoon sessions will start at 3.15pm.

A practice test to help candidates familiarize themselves with screens, layout and navigation will be made available in the coming weeks. A video on the conversion of CAT to a computer-based test and candidate impressions of this transition will be available on YouTube by the end of this week. Buying CAT vouchers won’t be very tough — they will also be available at 201 Axis Bank branches, an increase of 30 outlets. Last year, around 1.85 lakh students appeared for the exam.

More details will be available on the website www.catiim.in by August 8, 2011.