Training institutes will be offering computer based practice and section tests, tests available through CDs and the Internet which can be taken at home. A supervised test environment will be provided at test venues such as established centers of training institutes, Internet cafes and facilities provided by partnering vendors. Test takers will be connected to the Internet while attempting tests.

Institutes plan to conduct practice tests over a period ranging between seven a ten days with there being three-four time slots on each day when students attempt tests. A detailed analysis of the test performance will be available after all students have attempted a particular test over the test window of seven a ten days.

PaGaLGuY.com contacted India’s leading MBA training institutes to understand their plans to tackle the computer based CAT. We spoke with the following officials at MBA training institutes.

Career Launcher: R Shiva Kumar, Head – Academics
IMS Learning Resources: Ashish Dikshit, National Operations Manager
TIME: Jaideep Chowdhary, Spokesperson
Professional Tutorials: Manish Saraf, Chief Operating Officer
Career Forums: Sujata Khanna, Chairperson
Erudite: Kaushik Kapoor, Director

Infrastructure arrangements

Career Launcher: aCareer Launcher has currently set up approximately 750 computers at its 150 training centers. The training institute plans to double the number of computers by the end of May by additional investments in computers or through tie-ups with local players.a

IMS Learning Resources: “The existing facilities available for GMAT will be scaled up for CAT training. Students will be in a position to practice at computer laboratories.a

TIME: aTIME is in the process of setting up computer labs of appropriate
sizes at all our offices. While students will continue to be able to
take tests from their homes, internet centres or other locations
convenient to them, they will also be able access these tests from
TIME offices.”

Career Forums: “The institute will establish 70 computers in the first phase of infrastructure expansion and eventually plans to set up 250 seats in order to accommodate the expected number of 7,000 MBA aspirants.”

Professional Tutorials: “The institute believes than an average of 15-20 computers will be required at each of its 85 centers. The institute is currently in the final stages of installation and development of computer laboratories. Currently, 30 percent of the centers are at this level and remaining centers are expected to be fully equipped in ten days from now.”

Erudite: “The institute has currently set up 50 plus computers at its three Kolkata centers.”

Online preparation and tests:

Career Launcher:aThe institute plans to provide six supervised all-India online practice tests and
this number may increase if CAT is held in December. 16 practice tests will be provided in an unsupervised test environment. Students will be provided the scores that they have secured immediately after they have submitted their test results. This feedback may be personalized. The difference across the tests held during the week-long window will be that the ordering of the questions will be different.a

IMS Learning Resources: “There will be ten online Simulated CATs (SimCATs) held. It is planned that the same question paper will be provided across the various days that make up a test window.”

TIME: aTIME will offer its students a total of 32 mock CATs including 20
AIMCATs. 14 AIMCATs will be held online and the remaining AIMCATs will
be in the standard paper and pencil format. 7 online AIMCATs and all
the paper-pencil tests will be held at T.I.M.E. controlled test centres
where invigilators will be present.a

Career Forums: “There will be 12 full length practice tests will be held in a controlled test environment. Students will see a raw score on submission of test results and their percentile scores will be updated on a real time basis. Students may also see a percentile score on submission of a test on the basis of the sample of students that has currently attempted that test.”

Professional Tutorials: “The institute plans to hold 20 computer based tests. A pool of questions has been prepared for testing purposes and certain ratings have been assigned to these questions. For a particular test window, the testing software will select questions on the basis of assigned rating and this will result in lesser commonalities between tests.”

Erudite: “Students have so far taken three-four computer based tests in computer laboratories over the past six months. The institute plans to conduct 20 computer based simulated practice tests which will be attempted in a controlled testing environment in computer laboratories.a

Costs

Career Launcher: aThe institute may increase the cost of enrollment for students who choose to register in the near future for the test series programs. Further, students who now enroll for classroom programs may face a reduction of five-ten percent in number of hours of classroom study. The institute will recover some costs through this method.a

IMS Learning Resources: “The students who enroll only for the SIM CATs will be required to pay a higher fee from last year. There will be a minimum increase of 50 percent and this increase will not result in students bearing the entire burden of infrastructure expenses.”

TIME: “There will not be an increase in fee and the institute does not plan to pass the burden of expenses to students.”

Career Forums: “The institute will be charging between Rs 2,000 a Rs 2,500 for twelve computer based tests of which two will be free of cost. These tests will be held in a controlled test environment. The institute previously offered 15 paper-pencil practice tests for Rs 2,250.”

Professional Tutorials: “There will be an increase in cost for students who enroll only for the test series program. Last year, the fee for 20 paper pencil tests was approximately Rs 2,000.”

Erudite: aThere will definitely be an increase in fee for new enrollments in test series and classroom programs.a