Adding to the already eventful CAT 2009 registration drill (remember the furore over the absence of an ‘Edit’ button?), Prometric today extended the deadline for online registration by ten days to October 11, 2009. The sale of registration vouchers at Axis Bank branches however, will end on October 8, 2009. Prometric’s press release issued today also informed that applicants could edit wrongly entered information in their online form until October 11, now officially the last day of CAT registration.

Before this update, the CAT 2009 voucher sale was to end on October 1.

Prof Satish Deodhar, Convener for CAT 2009 claims that the reason for extending the deadline is the large number of bank holidays and the festive season disruption which made it difficult for candidates to buy and register for CAT. According to him, since the IIMs started the registration a month later than in previous years (they started in September this year as opposed to in August before 2009), they could not estimate the total number of days the banks would be closed across India and the scale of regional festivals. Hence, so that the candidates for CAT 2009 got enough time to buy the voucher and register online, the dates have been extended.

As many as 2.76 lakh students registered for CAT 2008. However this year, according to Prometric, only “over 2 lakh students have registered” for CAT 2009 till now. Had they closed the registrations by October 1 as planned earlier, the number of CAT takers would have stood at just a little above 2 lakh. This could have been a reason for the deadline extension.

Candidates should take advantage of this opportunity and register themselves for CAT if they haven’t already done so. And if you are one of those last minute people who are hyperventilating because they still have not bought their voucher, relax, time is on your side now. The dates have been extended so there is no need to worry.

The rules remain the same, so do read the instructions and fill the form carefully, although you can always edit if you have missed something (except your name).